Which PC should be my Core?

Roon Software Discussion
1

  1. ORCUS - My powerful PC with tons of fast storage is at my computer desk. I don’t listen to music there. Then I would use Roon to send music to SWIZX.

  2. SWIZX - A tiny AMD Windows 11 PC (MINI FORUMS) that’s connected to my Marantz SR5015 receiver and uses a slow USB 3.0 hard drive (external). It will have various USB DACs connected to it (and from there to the receiver). This is where I will listen to music through the receiver. Either through the PC itself via my TV, or through Roon on my Android phone.

What should I do?

Thanks.

2

You can use either so it doesn’t matter too much.

Some will say that you shouldn’t connect directly to the core, but many do with no issue. I started that way and ended up moving to a dedicated NUC running ROCK.

I assume you will put Roon client on the other device and it will send the music around your network so feel free to Play with both options.
There is nothing too prescriptive that you cannot try different setups with Roon

3

Put it on the ‘fast’ computer because power and memory never hurts Roon. However I can’t find anything about the other PC to make a judgement on it.

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I agree, I recommend installing the core it on the fast machine (ORCUS), and then probably install Roon Bridge on the AMD W11 computer to aid in connecting RAAT to the Marantz and USB DACs.

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5

Wow. I don’t even know what the Bridge does. Yet. But I’ll look into it. Thanks!

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Does listening directly from the machine with the installed core really make a difference? I imagine the advice to host the Roon Core on a separate machine and then connect with another device is more directed at low power machines or am I missing something?

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Roon Bridge is a small software installation that allows a computer (PC, Mac, Linux, or Raspberry Pi ecosystem) to connect a Core using RAAT to then connect to another device (direct, USB DAC, optical, etc.), but keeping RAAT end-to-end. Since it does not require a user interface or access to anything other than the Core’s datastream, it can run on more lightweight devices while keeping the signal path clean and in timing synchronization to the Core.