What's coming in Roon OS 2.0 (not Roon 2.0, but Roon OS 2.0)?

[Giulio_Salvioni]

Network bridging
UEFI support
Better sound quality

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@Giulio_Salvioni

Better sound quality

Do you find the sound quality in ROCK/Nucleus to be lacking? In what setup is it lacking?

[woodford]

@danny

fixing cd ripper issue

what’s the CD ripper issue?

[Geoff_Coupe]

See here:

Nucleus/ROCK CD ripping locks up sometimes [Solved with RoonOS Build 254]

This is a known issue, and has been known to Roon Labs since at least last September (and there’s a ticket in to fix it, I believe). The issue lies in the Roon OS, not the Roon software itself. So it shows itself on the Nucleus/Nucleus+ models and NUCs running ROCK. Three things appear to be associated with the issue when it occurs: The CD Ripper stops working The Web Administration page stops working properly, e.g. the Eject button no longer works and a Reboot says that the system has succes…

[Giulio_Salvioni]

• Preamp: Lamm L2 Reference;
• Power amp: Lamm M 1.2 Reference mono blocks;
• DAC: Playback Designs MPD-8;
• Streamer: Playback Designs Stream-IF (P-Link connection);
• Server (running Rock): Intel BOXNUC7I3BNH 1356 2.40GHz i3-7100U;
• Ethernet Card (via M2 to PCI adapter): JCat NET CARD FEMTO;
• PSU (for NUC, JCat Ethernet card, Playback Designs Stream-IF): HDPLEX 200W Linear Power Supply;
• Speakers: Vivid Audio Kaya 90;
• Signal cables (analog): Neutral Cable Reference;
• Signal cables (digital): Audioquest Vodka (Ethernet), Neutral Cable Reference USB;
• Speaker cables: Kubala Sosna;
• Power: Audioquest Niagara 5000;
• Passive audio treatment: Astri Audio.

[Matte_Rocks]

I setup a rasperry pi nas only for backing up files but having the option to do that without a nas using a simple usb HDD could be much better and even using a nas I imagine doing backups with just a couple of clicks and not becoming an engineer to do that

[Margaret_Charlton]

My request is very simple. Please let me keep the Roon OS I’m using and don’t force me to “upgrade”. It is rock solid and has never caused me one moment’s trouble. I do (sort of) understand the thinking behind the forced upgrades of the GUI but, surely, we could be given the choice where the OS is concerned?

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@Giulio_Salvioni, nice setup. What makes you think it’s ROCK that needs the quality improvement?

Did you swap the ROCK something else and keep everything else the same (including the NUC hardware)?

Or do you find the whole system lacking compared to some other setup?

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@Margaret_Charlton

My request is very simple. Please let me keep the Roon OS I’m using and don’t force me to “upgrade”. It is rock solid and has never caused me one moment’s trouble. I do (sort of) understand the thinking behind the forced upgrades of the GUI but, surely, we could be given the choice where the OS is concerned?

We wont force an update, but we will phase out support for the older version. That will come with all the issues of running older unsupported operating systems, but yah…

[DanielAvasilichioaei]

@ksalno

SQ improvements - there are options on the market that still sound better than Roon in some cases (e.g., Euphony, AudioLinux, dCS Mosaic). I don’t know what they are doing but I’ve done some A:B testing and the differences are not hard to hear.

I fully agree.

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@DanielAvasilichioaei

I fully agree.

Subjective claims of hearing differences leave us with no actionable information.

I hold that if you hear a difference between ROCK, Nucleus, and another system, it’s because the rest of your environment is broken. You have bad configuration, electrical noise, improper shielding, or hearing acoustic noise from a fan, hard drive, etc…

Please show me otherwise. I’d love to do something to make Roon OS sound even better, but I’m not sure that’s possible.

[Henry_McLeod (Henry)]

@danny

network bridging

I’ve championed this for a while. I hope it makes it through the final cut. I suspect that connecting Roon Ready devices direct to a Nucleus or ROCK powered machine via Ethernet will be a very positive move.

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@Henry_McLeod

I suspect that connecting Roon Ready devices direct to a Nucleus or ROCK powered machine via Ethernet will be a very positive move.

I disagree because a software switch is far more heavyweight than a hardware switch… I’m only considering it because it’s cheaper than adding a switch in some cases.

if you really need to connect a roon ready piece of gear to a second port on Roon OS, you can already do that using static IP. Doing that, with no software switch feature, should be the most lightweight solution.

[DanielAvasilichioaei]

I listened to Roon ROCK versus AudioLinux, with Roon Core on the same audio system and installed on the same fanless Intel NUC. The only difference was the OS (ROCK / AudioLinux).
Unfortunately, I don’t have two Intel NUCs, so I can quickly switch between the two. It takes me a few minutes to switch from AuduoLinux to Roon ROCK; in the opposite direction it takes longer.

“Please show me otherwise.”
How can I “show you” the difference?..

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

It already can be done. Just add in a USB/Ethernet dongle and then set the IPs yourself.

One thing that would help setup in such a situation, would be if RoonOS ran DHCP, so the connected device can get an IP port easily, and, to allow use of those devices which cannot have their IP manually set.

However, imho, adding in DHCP is going in the wrong direction of a goal of lightweight OS with less processes running. It also begins expanding the support surfaces.

It is like a lot of tinkering things. Once Roon officially adds them in, it then owns the support of them. Kept at the tinkering level, it does not.

[Giulio_Salvioni]

Obviously yes. With this setup I have done a lot of comparative test (btw it’s part of my job) between ROCK and Roon core running on AudioLinux using HQPlayer (no up sampling) as “audio engine” (I have two NUC, so it’s easy). In my opinion this setup is not for everyone as it’s somehow complex but I consider it sonically superior to ROCK. anyway I appreciate ROCK for its stability and ease of use.

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

A minimal setup where the effect is reproducable would be a good start. Also, a way to quantify the difference, as well a mechanism to repeatedly judge that difference as good vs bad.

Until then, you will have to keep running what you think sounds best and I will continue to do nothing more

[DanielAvasilichioaei]

@danny

A minimal setup where the effect is reproducable would be a good start.

Intel NUC → Direct network cable → Devialet → good speaker. Use Devialet AIR protocol.
Some well-mastered tracks. Focus on the clarity of the sound in general, but especially on the bass. Eventually use a jazz track, with very few instruments, to be a better separation between them.

[Tekl]

In my case every change in the internal storage is automatically detected, even in subfolders of subfolders of subfolders.

[Nyquist]

I know, but that’s not what I ment.