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Thread: Big news for us Roon users...

  1. #1
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default Big news for Roon users...

    Just got the email, v1.3 is live today.
    https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-1-3-is-live/19239

    9 Months of work, listening to lots of user comments and requests.
    Big update, lots of new features.

    Looking forward to having a play tomorrow.
    Last edited by Gazjam; 02-02-2017 at 01:54.
    AC POWER
    Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
    AMPS
    Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
    SPEAKERS
    Wharfedale Evo 4.4
    DAC
    PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
    TURNTABLE
    Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
    PHONOSTAGE
    Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
    DIGITAL
    OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
    MUSIC PLAYBACK
    Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
    Ipad Roon Remote.
    Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
    SPEAKER CABLES
    Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On
    "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
    INTERCONNECTS
    All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables

  2. #2
    Join Date: Apr 2009

    Location: Oakengates, Shropshire

    Posts: 654
    I'm Richard.

    Default

    Looking forward to seeing what's new. It's fantastic to see just how much work goes into this software.

    Plus my NAD M12 pre-amp (with BluSound module) got an update yesterday that made it a Roon endpoint. I'm a very happy bunny!
    Rich

  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    sounds good fun for you roon lads. Too rich for my blood alas.
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

  4. #4
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default

    This looks a bit fancy...
    Good to have a play with upsampling in software, didn't get on with it with JRiver but this could be different.




    DSP Engine
    https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine

    Sample Rate Conversion
    https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine:_...ate_Conversion
    AC POWER
    Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
    AMPS
    Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
    SPEAKERS
    Wharfedale Evo 4.4
    DAC
    PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
    TURNTABLE
    Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
    PHONOSTAGE
    Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
    DIGITAL
    OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
    MUSIC PLAYBACK
    Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
    Ipad Roon Remote.
    Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
    SPEAKER CABLES
    Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On
    "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
    INTERCONNECTS
    All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables

  5. #5
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default

    Had a quick go with it and first impressions are very good indeed. A noticably improved experience playing back your music.

    NEW DSP AND UPSAMPLING OPTIONS
    Tried the upsampling options but like Jriver preferred the untouched signal sent to my Dac as best sounding.
    Ah well, not for me I guess.

    The Parametric EQ options is an interesting one though?

    Can make an absolute dogs mess of the sound if you go mad with it, but used subtly your able to tweak ON THE FLY using touch control on the Ipad exact frequencies up or down to compensate for hot recordings, lack of bass etc, lean sounding tracks...etc.
    Fancy graphic equaliser I guess

    ...but as its all upsampled to 64bit float before anythings done, its as transparent as doesnt matter - certainly can't hear anything switching the DSP engine on before tweaking.
    Your literally sitting back on the Ipad touch controlling frequency points that you define up or down and getting instant feedback on what your hearing.
    Its superb.
    9/10 times it'll be switched off, but there are always those albums you just wished were a wee bit, well, different sounding.
    Upsampling...naa, but this used subtly can make a positive improvement.

    USER EXPERIENCE
    Using the thing feels much slicker too?
    Browsing is noticably faster both looking through your own stuff and on Tidal.
    Some screens have been tweaked, others completely rewritten leading to a more intuitive easier to navigate way to have a rummage through your music.
    A minor thing, but really great is being able to browse any albumart images, documents or PDFs in the folder with your album on the Tablet when listening to an album.
    A lot of the SACDs I have ripped have a lot of hires albumart and its great to not have them just sitting there on your hard drive, but to be able to browse through whilst listening...just like sitting down looking through the CD booklet.
    Also,
    Have the track/artist info back on my Transporter displays again, and thats yet another nice wee nice touch that adds to the experience. VU meters are really cool too.


    FAVOURITE NEW FEATURE
    When playing a particular song that you like in Album view, beside each track it tells you how many versions of the song you have...
    tap a button and Roon searches for every other version of the track in your Library AND on Tidal!

    For instance, I have three versions on 3 albums of Frank Sinatra singing ' Fly Me To The Moon' that I knew about, but there's 246 others on Tidal!
    From that we got:
    Johnny Mathis, Nancy Wilson, Diana Krall, Sarah Vaughn, Nat King Cole, Julie London, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, Astrud Gilberto (great version!), Marvin Gaye, Wes Montgomery....you get the idea.

    Go through the list...have a listen and save it for later, build a playlist, save to favourite tracks....whatever.

    Very powerful feature and along with Tidal now doing MQA 24bit Master versions of an increasing number of albums makes the £20/Month worth it.
    Did you know a band called 'Ninja Sex Party' did a live cover of Ah-Ha's Take on Me?
    Me neither, but it's bloody great!

    Roon's terrific.

    ps: they've improved sound quality too.
    Last edited by Gazjam; 03-02-2017 at 17:09.
    AC POWER
    Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
    AMPS
    Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
    SPEAKERS
    Wharfedale Evo 4.4
    DAC
    PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
    TURNTABLE
    Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
    PHONOSTAGE
    Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
    DIGITAL
    OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
    MUSIC PLAYBACK
    Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
    Ipad Roon Remote.
    Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
    SPEAKER CABLES
    Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On
    "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
    INTERCONNECTS
    All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables

  6. #6
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: Galashiels

    Posts: 13,669
    I'm inthescottishmafia.

    Default

    Tempted to have a go with this Gaz. Have just subscribed to Tidal, brought on funnily enough by a move to Sky Q..

    It's an annoying thing that Sky have gone backwards on connectivity with Q. With my old HD box, you had optical and coax digi out, as well as anologue outs. You also had four Ethernet ports on the router. With Q, there is only one optical out on the box, and only two Ethernet ports on the router. Not much good when your dac only has coax spdif input, and you need at least three ethernet connections on the router.

    So, I bought an Ethernet switch to expand available ports on the router, then started looking at dacs so I can connect the box to my system. Upshot of that is I ordered a Mytek Brooklyn, which has come today. Given it's the first non Meridian dac that can process MQA, of course I have to try Tidal..

    So the Q has ended up costing a fortune. Bear the lack of connectivity in mind folks, if you are considering changing.

    The Mytek looks a great bit of kit though, very versatile and great sounding according to the reviews.
    “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel. I have always needed fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio”

    Hunter S Thompson

  7. #7
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default

    Mytek looks a great bit of Kit Ali, look forward to hearing it at Mine maybe...playing "proper" MQA through Roon.
    Should be a blast.
    Bit of a bugger with Sky Q, optical can be ok if the implementations good.

    Should Try Roon, only snag is you need an "endpoint" (digital renderer) thats compatible?
    With V 1.3 I know there's a whole list of compatible new hardware, so worth a look.

    Cant remember what you use (used to use? ) for digital, will be fine though if you still use the TFS, just load the Client version of Roon on the 'poota.
    Good info here:
    https://kb.roonlabs.com/Architecture
    AC POWER
    Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
    AMPS
    Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
    SPEAKERS
    Wharfedale Evo 4.4
    DAC
    PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
    TURNTABLE
    Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
    PHONOSTAGE
    Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
    DIGITAL
    OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
    MUSIC PLAYBACK
    Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
    Ipad Roon Remote.
    Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
    SPEAKER CABLES
    Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On
    "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
    INTERCONNECTS
    All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables

  8. #8
    Join Date: Feb 2012

    Location: Falun, Sweden

    Posts: 2,245
    I'm Mike.

    Default

    Good posts Gaz!
    I like the dynamic range labeling/control and R128 compliance among other things. And of course the DSP functions which allows me to customize ouput to my headphone rig where the DAC is a bit particular. And not to mention the crossfeed!

    Very pleased! Who gives a shite about MQA compliance when you can upsample the Tidal streams to 24/352.8 or DSD128 if you're som inclined!

    Mucho pleased! So pleased i went lifetime!

  9. #9
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: Galashiels

    Posts: 13,669
    I'm inthescottishmafia.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Gazjam View Post
    Mytek looks a great bit of Kit Ali, look forward to hearing it at Mine maybe...playing "proper" MQA through Roon.
    Should be a blast.
    Bit of a bugger with Sky Q, optical can be ok if the implementations good.

    Should Try Roon, only snag is you need an "endpoint" (digital renderer) thats compatible?
    With V 1.3 I know there's a whole list of compatible new hardware, so worth a look.

    Cant remember what you use (used to use? ) for digital, will be fine though if you still use the TFS, just load the Client version of Roon on the 'poota.
    Good info here:
    https://kb.roonlabs.com/Architecture
    Not sure what you mean by endpoint mate?

    Yes still using the TFS.

    Had a go with MQA, it's sou ding very good so far. Good thing with this dac is you can enable or disable MQA playback with the press of a button, so it's easy to hear the difference. Am preferring MQA, it seems to resolve low level detail better, makes the whole seem more musical and draws you in to the performance more.

    Difference is easily discernable, see what you think at the next board meeting.
    “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel. I have always needed fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio”

    Hunter S Thompson

  10. #10
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default

    Its a term the Roon guys use Ali to describe the final part of the 'architecture' of their playback system...

    3 parts to it as described here:
    https://kb.roonlabs.com/Architecture

    The 'Core' is the Roon software doing all the number crunching, installed on a NAS or server computer.

    The 'Control' is how you tell 'Core' to put what music you want on, Ipad, think Android phone, laptop and the like.

    The Output...or 'Endpoint' is the box connected to your server computer /Nas that the 'Control' tells 'Core' to play to and finally outputs the bitstream to your Dac.
    Roon describes the endpoint as 'the Box that make noise...'

    You CAN use Roon like Jriver and have the software on your TFS outputting to the Dac by the normal means (usb/coax) but the whole philosophy with Roon is to make sure what hits your dac is wholly governed by what comes out of your 'endpoint' (streamer, squeezebox etc) rather than be subject to USB cables, noisy PC's and the like.

    I've done a direct comparison between hooking the dac up directly to a server with Roon installed and doing it the Roon way... its 'no brainer' better keeping everythngi seperate.
    Honestly, know I keep banging on about this but for digital audio Roon's a real next level real changer.

    But your a vinyl guy now so....


    Has your valve Dac finally now been toppled?
    It took on allsorts over a long number of years and won!
    Last edited by Gazjam; 02-02-2017 at 21:45.
    AC POWER
    Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
    AMPS
    Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
    SPEAKERS
    Wharfedale Evo 4.4
    DAC
    PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
    TURNTABLE
    Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
    PHONOSTAGE
    Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
    DIGITAL
    OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
    MUSIC PLAYBACK
    Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
    Ipad Roon Remote.
    Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
    SPEAKER CABLES
    Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On
    "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
    INTERCONNECTS
    All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables

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