Big news for us Roon users...

[Gazjam]

Just got the email, v1.3 is live today. :eek:
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.

[lovejoy]

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!

[struth]

sounds good fun for you roon lads. Too rich for my blood alas.

[Gazjam]

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.

http://roon-kb.s3.amazonaws.com/bda12ffa-b2dc-49fb-8329-8a5506e3a975.png
http://roon-kb.s3.amazonaws.com/8ceb230d-fd36-412b-8011-851f14dbe302.png

DSP Engine
https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine
(https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine)
Sample Rate Conversion
https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine:_Sample_Rate_Conversion

[Gazjam]

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. :thumbsup:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/20170202_103554_zpsjok5cneg.jpg

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.

[Ali Tait]

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.

[Gazjam]

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

[AlfaGTV]

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! :)

[Ali Tait]

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.

[Gazjam]

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!

[Ali Tait]

LOL wouldn't say it's been toppled, though I need to let the Mytek run in first.

I need the connectivity though. Valve dac only has one spdif input, I now need one opto for Sky Q, coax for TFS (might try USB later) and I'm trying AES XLR for the Teac P 30.

So to do it the Roon way I would need a streamer connected to the TFS, to output a digi signal to the Mytek?

[Gazjam]

Spot on mate, exactly that.

I know it sounds like your doubling up (at least on paper...) but seperating the 'box that makes noise' from the box that number crunches your music library really makes a helluva improvement.

I used to sweat bullets over this stuff, but I trust the Roon guys.
They have worked with Meridian for so many years and they really know thier sh*t.

Roon is genuine step change next level stuff in my opinion, and as much a part of the music chain as any dac, valves or fancy cable. (Or expensive fuses :D)

It all matters.

[Ali Tait]

Dang, just what I need - another box. :-)

Will have a look into it mate.

[brian2957]

Och you've only got a couple of boxes laddie . I'll have to get one of your other boxes back to you :D

You have PM Ali .

[Ali Tait]

Replied. :-)

[Ali Tait]

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! :)

From what I read, MQA is at least as good as DSD, some say it's superior.

[mikeyb]

Deleted

[Cycleallday]

From what I read, MQA is at least as good as DSD, some say it's superior.

I would say that modern DSD recordings are a significant improvement on either MQA or normal high res files. My views are based on listening to MQA test/demo files played through a Meridian Explorer 2 DAC, high res files from 2L music and DSD files from Blue Coast Records. Sample files from Blue Coast played through my Pi/Audiophonics v3 DAC/Meridian Amp/Falcon LS3/5a speakers are some of the best sounds I have heard.

I have to say that modern high res and DSD recordings from the likes of Blue Coast and 2L really do sound head and shoulders above older so called high re files from old master tapes.

Roon is a player I have not yet tried - I will take a look this weekend as digital music is slowly drawing me away from my large vinyl collection

Mel

[Ali Tait]

Ok cheers, not compared yet myself, seems worthwhile trying.

[BilliumB]

Good evening Roon users!

I'm currently running Vortexbox software on a Nuc in the hall next to the router, which is then feeding an Audiocom modified squeezebox classic and a Fidelity Audio modified squeezebox touch via Ethernet in different rooms, and then on to dac(s) for conversion to analogue. I use an iPad and an iPhone both running ipeng to control everything - sometimes I use the squeezebox controllers if the kids have got the iMachines!

It's been running well for some long time. The vortexbox software (running bliss for album art, tags etc) works ever so well, especially the simple ripping of CDs - you just pop them into the attached CD drive and it all just gets sorted out (admittedly you sometimes have to update the album art to the right version). Spotify premium works fine, although I don't find that 'music exploration' is quite as natural on ipeng as I find it on the iPad spotify app when I'm using the iPad stand-alone.

If I went for Roon, how big a change would it be for me? Would I still run vortexbox, if not what would I have to do to rip CDs.

Would it be worth it?. How much hassle would it all be?

Cheers Bill

[loonytunes]

I understand that the Squeezebox Touch can be a Roon endpoint - so does this mean that devices that 'emulate' a Touch (such as Squeezelite and Daphile) also be an endpoint for Roon?

[AlfaGTV]

Apologies for not responding @Bill!
I cannot say for sure whether Vortexbox and Roon Core could coexist peacefully but i have successfully ran a Roon Bridge on a Vortexbox so i actually played music from Roon at the same time as i was ripping BlueRay films... In other words, i'd wager the odds are with you! :)

And regarding using Squeeze emulators as endpoints, yes, i belive so, even if i have some difficulties seeing why? The Endpoint is really light software and available for almost any os/hardware?

[BilliumB]

Thanks - it looks like I need to do some research!

Cheers. Bill

[mikeyb]

Yeah you can run a Pi as a Roon endpoint with Bridge. Works great. I also had Spotify Connect running on it at the same time so could switch between both services when needed.

[Jimbo]

Spot on mate, exactly that.

I know it sounds like your doubling up (at least on paper...) but seperating the 'box that makes noise' from the box that number crunches your music library really makes a helluva improvement.

I used to sweat bullets over this stuff, but I trust the Roon guys.
They have worked with Meridian for so many years and they really know thier sh*t.

Roon is genuine step change next level stuff in my opinion, and as much a part of the music chain as any dac, valves or fancy cable. (Or expensive fuses :D)

It all matters.

Having just experienced Roon, I have to agree with you Gaz it is superb and makes most other systems look dated and a bit prehistoric. Great to use and really does take digital software interface to the next level.:cool:

[Gazjam]

Having just experienced Roon, I have to agree with you Gaz it is superb and makes most other systems look dated and a bit prehistoric. Great to use and really does take digital software interface to the next level.:cool:

Nice one james. :thumbsup: