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Can someone explain ROON in layman term of setup and use ?


joessportster

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I somewhat get it here's my scenario.  I have a sonic transporter i5 (small green computer) it works. I have an external Hard drive with near 5 TB of music.  I DO NOT  have consistent internet access.

 

My understanding is. I download a ROON ap on my PC, Phone, Or tablet................That ap will recognize my i5 transporter, I connect the i5 to my DAC via usb. I connect my external hard drive to the I5 Transport. and the Roon ap will tell the i5 transporter what to play off the Drive

 

Does my dac have to be a ROON recognized DAC ?

 

With J-River I have to tell the PC what device to use for sound and I have to tell J River the same.  

 

Can anyne explain this better or ?

 

Thanks Joe

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I believe Roon only needs to connect to the internet once a week or once a month to check licensing.  You probably want it connected to the internet when identifying your local 5TB music collection too.

 

I'm assuming Roon Core is installed on your sonic transporter and it can see both your 5TB music USB drive and your USB DAC?  You do not need to have a Roon ready DAC to use Roon.  What kind of DAC do you have?  If your sonic transport can see your DAC then Roon Core should as well.  You'll have to set it up in Roon Core and tell it what kind of DAC it is, sample rate, etc (Settings - Audio).  Then you will have to tell Roon Core to scan your 5TB music library (Settings - Storage, also Settings - Library - Import Settings).  This might take a while and you want to be connected to the internet.  Roon will make a best-effort to identify everything in your local library which might be only 75% accurate if you listen to a lot of weird stuff.  If so, you can manually edit metadata.  Note - Roon doesn't move or touch any of your music files on your USB drive when you import them - it just scans the files, tries to identify them, and stores metadata on the local SSD of the sonic transporter.

 

Yes, you can download the Roon client app to whatever PC, tablet or smartphone you want.  As long as the Roon client is on the same network subnet (i.e. everything on your network has the same 192.168.1.x address range), then the client will find the Roon Core and Bob's your uncle.

 

Roon makes a lot of sense once you start using it.  Have fun and let me know if you get stuck.  community.roonlabs.com is a great resource too.

 

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1 hour ago, pbphoto said:

I believe Roon only needs to connect to the internet once a week or once a month to check licensing.  You probably want it connected to the internet when identifying your local 5TB music collection too.

 

I'm assuming Roon Core is installed on your sonic transporter and it can see both your 5TB music USB drive and your USB DAC?  You do not need to have a Roon ready DAC to use Roon.  What kind of DAC do you have?  If your sonic transport can see your DAC then Roon Core should as well.  You'll have to set it up in Roon Core and tell it what kind of DAC it is, sample rate, etc (Settings - Audio).  Then you will have to tell Roon Core to scan your 5TB music library (Settings - Storage, also Settings - Library - Import Settings).  This might take a while and you want to be connected to the internet.  Roon will make a best-effort to identify everything in your local library which might be only 75% accurate if you listen to a lot of weird stuff.  If so, you can manually edit metadata.  Note - Roon doesn't move or touch any of your music files on your USB drive when you import them - it just scans the files, tries to identify them, and stores metadata on the local SSD of the sonic transporter.

 

Yes, you can download the Roon client app to whatever PC, tablet or smartphone you want.  As long as the Roon client is on the same network subnet (i.e. everything on your network has the same 192.168.1.x address range), then the client will find the Roon Core and Bob's your uncle.

 

Roon makes a lot of sense once you start using it.  Have fun and let me know if you get stuck.  community.roonlabs.com is a great resource too.

 

I am guessing Roon uses Bluetooth to see my I5 Transporter. In that case my pc or ? with the roon ap would need bluetooth as they are not hardwired ?

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2 hours ago, joessportster said:

I am guessing Roon uses Bluetooth to see my I5 Transporter. In that case my pc or ? with the roon ap would need bluetooth as they are not hardwired ?

Roon Core on your I5 Transporter talks to all Roon client apps (on your PC or tablet or phone) via TCP-IP.  When the Roon Client app on your tablet or PC starts, it sends out a broadcast on the network to find the Roon Core running on your I5 Transporter.  Does this answer your question?

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19 minutes ago, pbphoto said:

Roon Core on your I5 Transporter talks to all Roon client apps (on your PC or tablet or phone) via TCP-IP.  When the Roon Client app on your tablet or PC starts, it sends out a broadcast on the network to find the Roon Core running on your I5 Transporter.  Does this answer your question?

Yes it does, Thank you

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Joe, I've done this 20x via PM See if this helps. 

 

https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/196164-dacstreamers-streaming-networked-music-systems/&tab=comments#comment-2557835

 

For sure stick with it. Well worth the effort once you come out the other side. You know I have crappy Internet just like you. You need to be connected for the content to update and at leas once a month for licensing as noted above. I would suggest having as much as you can hardwired at first to make sure that is not an issue....even if you just run the cat-5 cables around your house on the floor. If you want to do the advanced stuff like DSP you need a fairly beefy machine. If you just want to use it to manage your stuff you don't need anything over the top. From personal experience once you think it is right for  you (14 day trial period). I'd strongly suggest a Raspberry Pi as the "roon bridge" between your system and your DAC. The simplest way to get going is to run all parts of Roon (Core, Control, Output) on a single computer...then move the parts away from each other as you advance. Core on your transporter, Control on a phone, etc.

 

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You're dac does not need to be roon enabled... just your player source. Roon was okay for me but I had a LOT of connectivity issues so I got rid of it. When the roon interface got disconnected from the enabled player, playback would  cease... and it happened all the time. Really annoying.

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4 hours ago, Schu said:

 Roon was okay for me but I had a LOT of connectivity issues so I got rid of it. When the roon interface got disconnected from the enabled player, playback would  cease... and it happened all the time. Really annoying.

 

That is your network and the Achilles heel for Roon support team. It like in the old days of POTS. If the telephone company knew they had a signal to your house they would not step foot in your door to help you with phone problems....Roon should do the same thing but they don't. 

 

I had some initial issues. Enterprise switches and not using your ISP's router is a big step in the right direction. Once I rid myself of consumer switches things got way better. WiFi can be an issue too, but again quality wireless extenders do the job nicely. Once I got it sorted it has been rock solid. I've easily got 1.5 of my 10 acres blanketed with music inside and out.

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OS can play a role too. I had issues of varying degress with my iPad control device when server was running on windows 10 or server 2016. I tried both full roon and the standalone server version with mild success. the best performance came when server was running on a linux vm or docker. this was pre-v2.0, however. I don't recall having many issues since their latest overhaul, but I also haven't used roon as much this year as I would have liked.

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Rune ? or ruined it ?

 

It was rumoured it cost Honda $100,000 each to make each bike and they were built as a hero model to attract American buyers away from Harley-Davidson to the Japanese brand. The Rune is basically a stripped down Goldwing, but with some unique styling features including trailing-link forks.

 

Motorious---4--2.jpg

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11 hours ago, rplace said:

 

That is your network and the Achilles heel for Roon support team.

 

^of course... but it's just not worth the effort for me to set up a system that is a compromise just for the sake of convenience. I had spent quite a bit of money on a dedicated i2s connected storage device, but in the end it was a big let down.

 

If I am personally willing to flip an LP, I am willing to change out a CD or walk over to a player and click over to my next selection on my storage device.

 

For others, I understand that convenience is the goal.

 

I find that it forces me to listen to some content that I would just otherwise forward past... and I find that a good thing.

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6 hours ago, Schu said:

I find that it forces me to listen to some content that I would just otherwise forward past... and I find that a good thing.

 

Interesting. I find just the opposite. According to Roon I've just just under 100,000 tracks of FLAC files. Anything that really matters to me is on Vinyl as well (so I have it on both). Out of my, say, 500 vinyl LPs I found I probably played the same 50-ish when I'm serious about listening. Like you I listened to the entire album and thoroughly enjoyed it. I more often than not listen to entire albums when I'm actively listening, no matter the format. If I'm at the pool or hanging with the wife for Friday dinner and drinks, the next button is often employed. Too much so I might add.

 

Since I don't stream anything all the music I have on my network is "mine" meaning I liked it enough to buy it or try it.

 

With Roon's "Roon Radio" feature it starts playing similar music it "thinks" is like the album you just played....or in the case of queuing up an single track it tries to play stuff similar to that. It misses the mark a few times, but more often than not after about a few VERY similar tracks form my library it starts to venture off just a bit. I'm constantly finding myself saying "Oh man I loved that song 20 years ago and totally forgot about it". I'm re-discovering music that actually mattered to me. Not just some algorithm cooked up by the streaming service based on what artist is paying them at the moment. I've had 10+ systems with hand held convenience of simply skipping tracks in my library. Where Roon shines is additional content it pulls along for the ride. Think liner notes, reviews, year recorded, year released, people not in the band that played on the album/track, etc. I'm sure that is not for everyone, but for me it is what differentiates Roon from all others I've tried. 

 

Its not about convenience at all, its about immersive entertainment. The total experience. I always has Cream, Rolling Stone, Spin, etc on hand...so that is probably part of it. I get is not for everyone. But for those who simply dismiss it as a playback device they are missing at least 50% of the lure, IMO. 

 

 

6 hours ago, Schu said:

I had spent quite a bit of money on a dedicated i2s connected storage device, but in the end it was a big let down.

 

What was a let down, the storage device or Roon? I'm confused.

 

I can't possibly see how that factors into using or not using Roon. Actually, I can't see how the storage mechanism matters...but I've also not heard everything on the planet. I would want all my storage/network/delivery equipment miles away form my listening space and it is.

 

As long as your toes are tapping and you are smiling while listening, that is all that matters. You at least gave it a try. Many of the luddites just like to cast stones. I'm not getting rid of my vinyl anytime soon. CDs are another thing entirely. Good riddance....same a any movie discs.

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I've discovered a lot of new music through Roon's features and interfaces - part of the "immersive experience" that @rplace mentions above.  "Immersive experience" can quickly lead to an hour or two of exploring links and meta-data on artists, albums, reviews, building playlists etc.  I've got it integrated with Qobuz which enhances the experience, but not mandatory.  My turntable doesn't see much use anymore.

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My only internet is tethering to my cell phone for 10Gb monthly...................What prompted this is I have had a problem with music fading in and out at random. Upon looking that up everything was pointing to Windows 10, I tried Linux Mint, Problem persisted, I tried older versions of J-River MC, Problem Persisted, I tried 3 different DACs, Problem Persisted. I was positive it had to be PC / Software related.  I have found threads discussing a failing tube or cap could cause this. I am now on that hunt.  My internet access does not currently allow for optimal use of Roon, Sadly I am still with J-River and have a Small Green Computer sonic transporter i5 setting in wait

 

I dont understand these companies that seem to assume everyone has decent connectivity. It effectively leaves out a LARGE portion of the population from using there services. There are a lot of posts on Roons own site speaking about this, with no clear answers

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5 hours ago, joessportster said:

My only internet is tethering to my cell phone for 10Gb monthly...................What prompted this is I have had a problem with music fading in and out at random. Upon looking that up everything was pointing to Windows 10, I tried Linux Mint, Problem persisted, I tried older versions of J-River MC, Problem Persisted, I tried 3 different DACs, Problem Persisted. I was positive it had to be PC / Software related.  I have found threads discussing a failing tube or cap could cause this. I am now on that hunt.  My internet access does not currently allow for optimal use of Roon, Sadly I am still with J-River and have a Small Green Computer sonic transporter i5 setting in wait

 

I dont understand these companies that seem to assume everyone has decent connectivity. It effectively leaves out a LARGE portion of the population from using there services. There are a lot of posts on Roons own site speaking about this, with no clear answers

 

Video uses a lot of data, text, web pages, and music don't use all that much in the grand scheme of things. I'd "guess" roon initially would need to pull down a lot of meta data when it indexes your library pulls the artwork, content etc. Still nothing near a single movie's worth of data.

 

Assuming you could get past the initial hurdle you only have to be connected to roon around once per month...from what I've read it varies slightly on the timing of when it tries to connect. But it is around 30 day. That connection to the intent is to prevent piracy of Roon software licenses. You would also need it for updates which they are constantly improving...thus the monthly/annual/lifetime fee. It is constantly evolving. I've read about several people on Roon forms that have limited connectivity and they make Roon work. 2nd houses off the grid and things like that.

 

Personally I think it is worth the effort. I only have cellular Internet too. Minus the last 3 months I too have had a 10GB limit. They just throttle you back to 600K speeds when you go over the 10GB limit they don't cut you off entirely.

 

I say minus the last 3 months because I've discovered a plan from T-Mobile business where you can get a Data only SIM card (thing that is your service on a cell phone) that has 100GB a month. It has been working out very well for me, the last 3 months, for my business. Now that post covid I'm home 100%. I needed more data to support clients where I have to remote into their systems and lot of Zoom screen shares. Point being I got Roon to work with a 10GB limit for over a year. The amount of data is not that much.....ONCE you are past the initial set up...which I too did on a 10GB limit. Now if you want to stream Tidal/Qobuz that would be a different story. I'm reasonably certain you don't currently do that nor do you want to. Like me you want to access your entire local library. 

 

In a perfect world you would be connected all the time, but I am certain you don't have to be. Roon is not for the weak at heart tech-wise. You need to know a little bit about connecting things on a a network. Initially it not quite plug and play. It is if you buy a Nucleus, but they are expensive for what is basically a headless computer in a nice case. I'd guess if you have installed Linux and configured that you know enough to download the Roon software, install it and plug a few things into your network.

 

Does your sonic transporter have a Solid State Drive (SSD)? The Roon database must reside on a SSD. It does not have to be big, only 64GB from memory. Once you have the Core (brains of roon) running (Win10, Linux, ROCK, Mac, etc.) you can simply hook up your 5TB drive via USB for the music file side of things. All of my music resides on "spinning" hard drives....which means slow compared to SSDs.

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