I have a Mac computer, an Amazon tablet and a Bel Canto Designs stereo system. I have a Bel Canto Red Stream. This is the older model of the new Stream which is Roon ready. The Ref Stream is not Roon ready. Right now I use JRiver Media on the Mac and their remote called Gizmo on my Amazon tablet to control JRiver on my Ref Stream. The Ref Stream sits on my network, it is not attached to my computer by usb. Can I do the same set up with Roon? Meaning, use the Mac as the core, the Amazon tablet as a remote and control the Bel Canto RefStream. My music is on on a WD NAS also on the network. I also have Amazon’s hi res streaming service currently but almost all my music listening is from the NAS.might as well ask if Roo n works with Amazon music also. Thanks. I have heard great things about Roo n and would like to try. Hoping it can work
Roon works with your local library plus Tidal and Qobuz. It does not work with Amazon. If your Bel Canto is not Roon ready, I think you would need to insert some sort of Roon bridge ahead of it. Then, of course, it depends if your Mac meets the minimum requirements to run Roon core.
Ok. So other then Amazon music should it work with the rest of my system? Meaning it should find my Refstream on the network even though it is not Roon ready? And is it possible to use an Amazon tablet as a remote?
Thanks
See my post above your’s. I edited it while you were posting. I don’t know about that tablet. There is a Roon app that runs on some Android tablets.
A Roon bridge is a small computer device such as Raspberry Pi that is a Roon ready device that can talk to your Roon core computer and is then connected to your DAC or receiver, etc. It basically makes your device a Roon ready device.
Ok. So without that, it definitely won’t work? Or might it still work? The new version of my streamer is roon ready but $1600. I know the raspberry pi, is inexpensive but I would like to see if I like Roo n enough to invest more money so would be nice to be able to try it in my system
Problem is right now, I get small drop outs in my music often enough to be annoying and have had a hard time figuring out why. Was hoping I could try Roon and maybe lose the problem. It could be something in J River
I don’t think so unless maybe if you can connect your Bel Canto directly to your Mac, IDK. Even then, it might need to be Roon ready or Roon tested. Someone else will need to chime it.
You can assemble a Raspberry Pi 4 with parts from Amazon for $74 but that gives you USB out. If you need something else to connect to you Bel Canto, there would be some added cost for a HAT of some sort.
Yeah. Probably won’t work then. The Bel Canto streamer connects to my network by Ethernet and then to my Bel Canto dac/preamp by a balanced ads cable but not to the computer.
Let me ask a different scenario. If I buy a streamer that is Roon Ready and an iPad, can I then run Roon using the iPad and no computer and it will also control the volume of my system? So I wouldn’t need a computer running Roon, or do you always need a computer?
Roon core runs on a computer device. It can run on a desktop, laptop, Roon Nucleus, NUC, or some others. You can control Roon with a desktop, laptop, iPhone, iPad, or Android device (some, not all).
Ok. Last question. And thanks for the help. If I bought a Roo n Nucleus, and an Ipad, would I be able to use my Bel Canto streamer or would I still need a Roo n ready streamer?
That I’m not certain. I THINK you still need a Roon ready device or Roon bridge device if not Roon ready. I believe a Raspberry Pi with ethernet out to your Bel Canto is what you need.
With the Nucleus you can use hdmi directly to your stereo HDMI input if that is of any interest to you. That is In addition to any other connections you may choose to use.
How does jriver feed the streamer currently DLNA? If so Roon does not support it. You will need some form of bridge , RPi Riopeee to link the streamer to the network
If you bought a Roon Nucleus it could presumably replace your Bel Canto streamer. In essence, the Nucleus is a streamer. So you could put the Nucleus on ethernet where your Bel Canto streamer is and then plug your Bel Canto DAC into the Nucleus by USB. So your system would look like:
Router --> Ethernet --> Nucleus --USB–> Bel Canto Dac --> Analog signal.
The Nucleus is controlled by a client (laptop, tablet, phone) via Wifi. To really get a good initial Roon experience you should use a laptop. As the size of the client gets smaller some options get dropped.
What else is on the Bel Canto streamer that is worth retaining?
Yeah. DLNA. The new Bel Canto Stream is Roon ready for $1600 but besides MQA and Roon and it’s own control app, it is the same as the old Ref Stream that I have. So it would basically be like paying.another $1600 for Roon (plus the cost of Roon )and MQA, which I may not use is a lot for the same sound quality that I have. I’m not using Tidal right now, just a NAS and Amazon hi res which is more for my daughter to play with them me
You are the one that asked about using Roon with your system. If you want to try it, you could do so by investing $74 in a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ropieee or RopieeeXL. If you want to stream music to Roon, you need Tidal or Qobuz. If you want above CD quality with Tidal, you would need to use MQA.