Sorry if this is posted in the wrong area.
Having done a lot of listening and now have the MELCO N1, my question is can I, and how do I use ROON with the Melco, I have the Melco in my primary system running direct into my DAC and then pre-amp, the unit is on a cat 6 network.
Any help would be greatly received.
Thanks
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Hi Tony,
The Melco N1 appears to be a network audio server. It doesnāt seem to have an accessible supported operating system, which rules out running RoonServer on the N1.
If a computer on the same network as the N1 can read/write to the drives on the N1 then you could run Roon on that computer and make the drives watched folders. Youād then be using the N1 as a storage device, but playback would be from the computer using Roonās zones and not the N1.
If you want to send music from Roon to the N1 as a Roon network zone for it to pass on to a connected DAC then Melco will need to make the N1 RoonReady, possibly with a firmware upgrade. If there is an accessible supported OS then you could install RoonSpeakers, but there was no mention of an accessible OS on the page I looked at.
Thanks for such a quick response.
I also have a Synology NAS system and computers but there was no doubt to my ears that the Melco running as a server being controlled from an app on the iPad sounded markedly better than other solutions I had tried so from your answer its seems that I would not get the benefit of the Melco if I used it in a way that was unintended by design. The Melco uses a modified version of Twonky at the moment. so lets hope they (Melco) change the options available.
Thanks once again
Tony
Which I heard on the grapevine āis in the worksāā¦.
Thanks, I have also heard a rumor or two but no real answer, lets hope its real soon 
Perhaps mine was a bit better than grapevineā¦. I donāt think youāll be disappointed. 
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It seems like both Roon and Melco need to work together to make it happen. As Melco dealer I can say that it out performed much more expensive music server or fancy computers. Having Roon take care of the UI and Melco doing its job would make a super-killer affordable server.
Cheers
Sunil @ Care-audio.com
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Iāve not seen any announcement(s) since CES on Melco supporting RoonReady. Anyone aware of an update?
Roon has also not made any further RoonReady annulments since CES that Iām aware of. Anyone else have an update?
Thanks!
Until I got Roon, my streaming road map was to try a Melco into a chord DAC to replace SBT in the Naim nDAC.
2016 promises to be interesting, Iām glad I found Roon before I started upgrading my streaming front end. As most of you know Roon is a game changer, I liken it to the difference between teletext and the Internet.
Letās hope Melco see the light.
SJB
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Lots of speculation, lots of excitement, then, suddenly, nothing happensā¦
Actually, now we have various new options, such as Linux support and RoonBridge, are there now any solutions that will allow use of Roon with something like a Melco N1A? Even maybe a solution where a PC is needed to run Roon Core, but a Melco could be used for the actual playback? Or would any solutions in this area require the Melco to be used as storage, with files going from the Melco, to the Roon core PC, then back to the Melco for playback, thus compromising sound quality to a degree compared to a Melco playing direct from itās own internal storage. What is technically possible here?
Hi Brian, Iām sure others will chime in, but Iām guessing a lot of the team are probably busy bug fixing 1.2, so Iāll add what I know in the meantimeā¦
Not really is the short answer until commercial ones become available. Unless thereās a very helpful and willing manufacturer, youād have to buy one and try your luck at hacking/re-writing itās (undocumented and probably partly proprietary) OS - hard and time-consuming even for dedicated programers Iād imagine.
In the theoretical sense, technically running RoonServer on an N1 may be possible if it has a relatively standard Linux OS, enough RAM, and space for the RoonServer database (ideally the OS is on an SSD). But whenever anyone asks if it can be done on , the devs generally say itās not a good idea as being under-specced gives a bad user experience. I suppose in time, people will shoe-horn the Linux RoonServer into all manner of devices and will take their chances on the results - maybe a lot of people will be happy with a slower experience if its convenient/cheap? But for now, with it being so new, it would probably be up to you to get your hands on a high-end Linux based audiophile server manufactured by someone helpful, and see if you could build a server setup. Or wait a bit as there are definitely plans to release them, so some will no doubt come to market soon anyway.
The RoonReady partners section of the website is really useful for the products that exist, but beyond that its difficult to find information. Hopefully someone like @robdarling from the Roon Team will update the website again very soon to clarify the whole RoonReady / RoonTested situation - I really think thereās a lot of confusion and uncertainty here especially for new users. They need to make clear (as far as NDAās will allow) what products do what, what are in the pipeline, the difference between a RoonReady endpoint and Roon Ready server, prices, capabilities, anticipated release dates, etc, etc. Iām guessing some of this is beyond their scope, but whatever they can do will really help as their user base grows.
Unless Iām misunderstanding, this is basically the case with any RoonReady endpoint that exists now. The files get pulled from the device to the Core, processed, and sent back via RAAT. You would hope that there would be no compromise on sound quality, since RAAT is implemented on the device by the manufacturers, and thatās what Roon Certification is supposed to guarantee.
Any partner who is willing to talk about upcoming products is listed. The information breaks down there, however, because these are generally upcoming products that are still loosely specāed at best, so there is no real information to give.
If a partner is not listed, they have asked not to be.
As for the Melco devices, they are using an ARM processor at this point, and would need to introduce an x86 device in order to run the Roon Core.
As the partners begin introducing the new devices, you will find the partner section more useful over the coming months.
Hi Rob
Would the Arm processor run be able to run Roonbridge, at least in theory?
Thanks
Chris
Yes, a Linux ARM board should be able to act as a Roon Ready endpoint.
So it looks to me that you could indeed use a Melco plus a PC or a Mac with Roon, in theory at least. Also, the majority of what Steve has written looks sensible, although for me I think that having your files stored on the Melco, pulling them to the āRoon Coreā, then back to the Melco as an āEnd Pointā would have some negative impact on sound quality. If you look at the Melco ethos of clean power supply, isolation etc., then playing directly from the Meloās hard drive to the Melco as a player without a trip to a ānoisyā PC has to the optimum for sound quality.
This may all seam a little crazy, I am sure that most people would simply want a music player with sufficient processing power to act as a stand alone āRoon Readyā music server, but I can see some merit in all this. You could have something like a Melco that would run Roon with an associated PC (maybe simply accepting the small loss of SQ), which would suit well when in the he mood for browsing / music discovery. Then if you just wanted background music, or wanted to listen to a specific album in critical listening mode, you donāt actually need Roon, and something like a Melco could be run standalone as designed, no PC required in the chain. I absolutely agree with Steve that this would need manufacturer buy in to achieve, or at least someone more talented in the realms of audio IT than I am.
But yes, a fatter processor equipped machine with full Roon would appear more sensible. Having said that, if you look at hardware currently available in the UK, there isnāt anything currently. Certainly not anything with the kind of sound quality per pound ratio Melco currently offers. Time will tell how all this will develop. For me, if such a āhackedā Melco existed, I would be very tempted!
The ānoiseā of the pc is an issue when your DAC is in some way attached to it.
Isolating USB from a PCās noise is devilishly difficult. This is why people get so nuts about the nuances of PC audio.
Isolating a network device from the PCās noise is much easier. This is why our architecture works the way it doesā¦
Roon Ready is VERY lightweight (much more so than DLNA, since there is no decoding, playlist management, etc), so you can have the brains on a PC and audio output isolated elsewhere on the network in a low-noise device running lightweight software.
So, the roundtrip would not add ānoisinessā to the Melco playback, since the Melco does a stellar job of isolating itself from the network.
In theory, the Melco as a Roon Ready endpoint is doing less and could sound better, since it doesnāt have to run a player, decode files, etc.
Point taken Rob, interesting input! I actually thought my idea was slightly crazy, but it did appeal to me in many ways. Maybe not so daft?
Nope, you are not daft, that is how we designed Roon.
If you havenāt read Brianās Knowledgebase Article on sound quality and Roon, you should check it outā¦ the architecture of Roon has been seriously thought through to enable the absolute best audio playback possibleā¦
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Hi,
Sorry if this has been covered before if so please point me to where i should be.
Iāve recently purchased a Melco N1A and I would like to add Roon as I had previously on a QNAP NAS unit (unfortunately this bit the dust never to play again).
Could somebody please tell me if itās possible to have Roon on the Melco, and be controlled with an iPad Pro.
I need it in lay mans terms as Iām not total computer literate.
Thanks for your help
Simon