The Roon system for cataloguing and playing
music seems to be a difficult to understand
concept to many.
Others, including me, consider it to be the
best streaming software around.
Let’s see if I can shine some light on it.
Roon, basically, is a music player for Windows,
Apple and Linux Computers.
It differs from other solutions in a number
fields though, which we will discuss throughout
this video.
Let’s start with the simplest of setups
- a stand alone setup - and end up with a
big multi room, multi user system with central
server and a different quality of audio in
every room varying from ghetto blaster level
to the highest of high-end.
Roon has a super fast user interface and a
metadata service and presentation that equals
of succeeds the vinyl album cover experience.
But let’s start at the beginning with the
simplest setup: on a laptop that contains
your music and is connected to your stereo
using the headphone output.
It could of course also be a desktop, but
let’s settle for the laptop right now.
We immediately come across the first point
where it differs from other programs: it has
relatively high system demands for an audio
player: the processor needs to be an Intel
Core i3 Ivy Bridge or better.
Which means the laptop should have been produced
mid 2013 or later.
Then it needs 4 gigabytes of RAM, an SSD boot
drive and a screen resolution of 1440 by 900.
It might run Windows 7 or later, Mac OS 10.8
or later or recent x86 Linux 64 bit versions.
The laptop also needs to be connected to the
web over wifi or network cable.
Let’s be honest, these are relatively steep
specs for a music player but not really for
a modern laptop.
What you now need to do is go to roonlabs.com,
register and download the correct version
for your hardware.
If you want to do a test run with Roon, try
the promo code below here.
You can also find it in the show notes.
If still valid, you will be granted a two
month trial period.
Otherwise you could test drive Roon for a
2 week period.
You could also subscribe right away.
When producing this video prices were 119
euros annual or 499 euros for a Lifetime membership.
The membership allows you to use the Roon
Core - the part that does the indexing and
metadata - on one computer but you can playback
over unlimited “endpoints” or rooms if
you would prefer that name.
I’ll get back to this.
Then you install the software, enter the provided
user name and access code and follow the instructions
on the screen.
You will be asked where your music is - if
you use iTunes you could use the iTunes information
- and what audio output you want to use.
That, for now, is the sound card in your laptop.
The Roon user interface will show up and Roon
will start indexing your music map.
If you use iTunes or any other music program,
don’t fear it won’t be usable anymore.
Roon just makes its own index of your music
on the SSD and will not make any changes to
the music folder.
So you could use iTunes or for instance JRiver,
Foobar, MusicBee, Audirvana Amarra or any
other program along with Roon.
Even at the same time as long as you don’t
want to use the same sound card for both programs
simultaneously.
Roon also contacts the RoonLabs server over
the internet to check for updates and check
your user account.
It then starts searching if more information
on the albums and musicians is available.
It does that at an easy pace in the background
so you can keep using your computer and internet
connection for other things too.
It also means that the first time it can take
up to some days before Roon is ready indexing
and updating the metadata.
Roon presents itself with the user interface
on the screen of the laptop.
It is the most intuitive interface I know
- although this of course is personal.
See the review of Roon for more details, the
link is in the show notes.
If the laptop is close to the stereo and not
close to your listening position, you might
use a smartphone or tablet to control Roon
on the laptop.
Android version 4.4 and iOS version 8.0 or
later are required.
Windows Tablets, like the Surface 3 and Surface
3 Pro are also supported.
The Roon Knowledge Base has more specific
info.
You can use as many tablets and smartphones
as you like for controlling the laptop and
depending on the hardware you might even be
able to control the volume or use the smart
device for playback itself.
If you have a compatible device for playback
elsewhere in the house, you could also control
that from the laptop or smart device.
For instance, a Sonos speaker, Airplay speaker,
Squeezebox or Roon Ready device elsewhere
in the house can be sent music to from your
laptop.
Depending on the playback device this can
be in the original resolution but if necessary
high-res files will be downsampled automatically.
Or, in plain english, you don’t have to
bother with anything.
Just point where you want the music to be
played and it will.
Regardless.
You might get an idea of how versatile this
is by looking at what I have connected to
my Roon system.
Several Apple Airplay compatible devices,
an Elac Discovery offering three outputs,
an iMac running Roon remote control software,
a Raspberry Pi running Kodi - which I don’t
use for music by the way - a Sonos Connect,
the RoonReady SOtM sMS-200 Ultra grouped together
with the RaspTouch, A Yamaha active speaker
and a Yamaha streamer and two Raspberry Pi’s
running RoPieee RoonBridge software.
Each of these can be sent a unique music stream
or be combined if they use the same streaming
technique.
So all Airplay devices can be grouped, all
Sonos devices can be grouped and all RoonReady
devices can be grouped.
But you can’t group an Airplay device with
a Sonos device and so on.
But lets step one step back.
Up till now we presumed you would use a laptop.
But what if you own a desktop computer?
Or if your significant other doesn’t like
the laptop lying around in the living?
Well, you now know you could place the laptop
in the study or even in the attic as long
as there is a network connection.
It can feed the audio over the network to
compatible ‘Endpoints’, as mentioned earlier.
You might also use a desktop computer in stead
of the laptop to run the Roon Core on.
Perhaps now is the right time to talk about
the individual parts the Roon software is
made of.
Let’s take my automatic espresso machine
as metaphor.
it is made up of a water reservoir, a boiler,
a coffee grinder, a pressure group and a waste
basket for the used coffee grounds.
All these parts are in one place: the espresso
machine.
But there are people that use a separate grinder,
then manually put the right amount of ground
into the portafilter, mount it in the holder
of the espresso machine and pull a lever to
manually generate pressure that forces the
water through the coffee ground.
Then the coffee is ready and only the portafilter
needs to be emptied in a waste bin.
In other words: a full automatic espresso
machine contains all the parts needed while
the manual machine has several functions divided
over several appliances.
Now, with an espresso machine this is easily
understood, since there are all kinds of easily
identifiable functions to be seen.
With software - and Roon software in particular
- its functions can also be in different places
and that might - to some - be less easily
identifiable.
As I said before, it is the ‘core’ that
indexes the music, completes the metadata
and sends the music bits to whatever is defined
as the audio output as instructed by the user
interface.
A license allow you to use only one installation
of the Roon Core at one time.
Now if you have a holiday house in the south
of France and you want to have a second music
computer there, you can use the same license
but when you do, the Roon Core at home is
temporarily disengaged.
In our example of the laptop not only the
core was running on it but also the user interface
and the audio interfacing or the ‘Control
app’ and ‘Outputs’ in the Roon lingo.
But if you prefer to control Roon from an
app on a smart device, like a tablet, you
could have downloaded the Core-only installation
program - called Roon Server - to only install
the core software on the laptop.
On a laptop that doesn’t make sense but
if you have a computer that will never be
used for music reproduction but can run the
Roon Core, it might.
And if you’re like me, you could use the
tiny Intel NUC computer and run the special
version of the Roon core, named ROON Rock,
on it.
I made a three part video on how to set it
up, the link is in the show notes.
Whatever you choose, the result will be the
same.
Only the number of streams that can be processed
and sent might vary depending on the computer
used.
But that’s only relevant for people that
want to simultaneously use many streams.
My 6th Gen i3 NUC can handle at least 15 streams,
then I ran out of endpoints.
It is the Roon Core that needs all the processing
power and fast SSD drive and only for fast
searches and selections, ultrafast data provision
to the Control app, conversion when needed
for endpoints that support only lower sampling
rates and all kinds of DSP functionality that
can optionally be used.
Reading the music bits from the storage device
appears to be not critical at all.
A USB 2 drive will almost always be sufficient.
I use a USB3 drive connected to the Intel
NUC computer the Roon Core is running on.
An internal drive obviously will work too.
But if you like, you can store the music on
another computer and share that to the computer
running the Core.
Or use a NAS.
Roon uses a very robust network approach but
keep in mind that a network connection can
be disrupted by other users, for instance
when they start watching videos.
Using a hard disk directly attached to the
computer running the Roon Core is the safest
and the cheapest option.
In the laptop example, the core, the control
app and the output software were automatically
installed.
But if you install Roon on a second computer,
using the same Roon installation software,
it will detect the Roon Core on the network
and ask you if you want to install the control
app only or have its own core installed -which
would need its own payed subscription.
Since it doesn’t make sense to have a second
Roon Core running, you just install the control
app and no extra subscription is needed.
If you choose this option, the audio output
software - also called bridge - is installed
too.
On this second computer you can play music
from the Roon core computer but you can also
connect to other rooms and send music there.
As said, these ‘rooms’ are called endpoints
in Roon lingo.
Every device that is able to play music sent
to it by Roon, is called an Endpoint.
To make things easier to understand, lets
divide the endpoints into three groups: computer
outputs, RoonReady and others.
The computer speakers or audio equipment connected
to the computer will automatically be available
when the complete Roon installation, the Roon
Core or the Roon Control app is installed.
If you do want to use a computer as an endpoint
but it doesn’t run the core and you need
not control it from the computer, you can
install the Roon Bridge software.
The computer will then present itself to Roon
as an Endpoint only.
So the Roon Bridge software effectively makes
that computer a Roon Ready device.
Roon Ready devices use the Roon Advanced Audio
Protocol that is far more advanced than what
the competition uses.
It is very robust, contains metadata to be
displayed on the endpoint and has bidirectional
control signals.
It is also unlimited as where the audio format,
sampling rate and depth is concerned.
If that’s abracadabra for you, simply remember
it currently is the most advanced protocol
that will play almost any file that contains
music.
Even more important is that - since RoonLabs
doesn’t produce audio equipment - there
are many brands that support the Roon Protocol,
from the Bluesound streamers at about 500
euros to a Brinkmann DAC costing almost 20
grand.
From the Raspberry Pi with the appropriate
free software to the dCS DAC’s costing tens
of thousands.
See the roonlabs.com site for a comprehensive
list.
It is important to know that - given the computer
Roon Core is running on works as it is intended
- the sound quality is defined by the endpoint
chosen and not the Roon software.
Of course, cables, power supply and other
audiophile tweaks can have their influence
but it is highly unlikely the Roon Core computer
has any influence on the sound.
Unless it is directly connected to your stereo
using analogue or digital outputs or USB.
Then there can be large differences between
computers due to imperfections in the clock
signals en power lines.
Here it is the computer hardware - again,
not the Roon software - that depends the audio
quality.
But if you use the network to send audio to
the endpoint, it will be that endpoint that
defines the quality and not the computer the
Core is running on.
Again, provided it runs the Core software
as intended.
It might be clear that an endpoint made of
a Raspberry Pi with SPDIF board, fed from
the standard wall wart power supply, will
not provide a clean digital signal.
Polluted and /or distorted digital signals
are more difficult to convert to analogue
signals.
I frequently get nasty remarks from people
that think that - for instance - an SPDIF
signal is a digital signal.
It’s not, it is an analogue representation
of a digital signal and distortion of that
analogue signal will change the timing of
the bits on the receiving side.
In audio technology, repairing those timing
errors appear to be far more difficult than
basic electronics suggest.
Since there effectively is no time for repair.
If you want to know how digital signals can
be distorted, see Connecting your DAC number
2; how digital can go wrong.
The link is in the show notes.
If you already have a digital to analogue
converter to use with your current streamer
or to improve your cd-player, you can use
a so called networked audio adaptor.
That can be a raspberry Pi running RoonBridge
software or - if you want better quality - products
like the Sonore microRendu or SOtM sMS-200
family of devices.
You could also use a device that combines
the digital to analogue conversion with RoonBridge
hard- and software.
A good example is the Bluesound line of streamers
that can use their own software but can also
function as Roon Endpoint.
The streamer only will set you back 549 euros.
The Auralic Aries Mini is only 499 euros and
also works with their own software or function
as Roon endpoint.
They both have analogue line outputs that
can be connected directly to the CD or AUX
input of your amp.
They also have digital outputs that can be
connected to the SPDIF inputs of an amp with
digital inputs or to a digital to analogue
converter.
More upmarket you could go for products by
Audio Alchemy, Audionet, Auralic, Ayre, Bel
canto, Brinkman, Cocktail Audio, Elac, IQaudiO,
Krell NAD, Oppo, SOtM, PS-Audio and many others.
Roonlabs wants to be the software for as many
brands as possible.
therefore they have contacted and negotiated
with many brands for RoonReady support in
their devices.
For rapid acceptation they wanted to get as
many brands as possible on board.
With Squeezebox this was impossible since
it is in production no more.
But luckily Logitech has kept the software
as open source so that RoonLabs could build
their own support.
Therefore all Squeezeboxes work fine with
Roon, as do Raspberry Pi computers running
Squeezebox emulation software.
Where the original Squeezebox was limited
to 48 kHz sampling, newer models support up
to 96 kHz while an open source tweak is supposedly
abel to open it up for 192 kHz.
The emulators on Raspberry Pi do it all without
further trouble.
The big players in the low end of the market
are Apple with Airplay and Sonos.
There brands were not interested in supporting
Roon so Roon developed their own interfacing
with products of both brands.
Apple’s Airplay still remains limited to
48 kHz, despite the rumour Apple would introduce
higher sampling rates.
And also Sonos remains limited to a maximum
of 48 kHz sampling frequency.
If your stereo has some class, the low sampling
rates might be a limiting factor if you own
high res audio files or are subscribed to
a streaming service that offers high resolution
audio.
Apart from the lower audio quality the music
will simply play since Roon knows the limits
of the endpoints and converts the music on
the fly to a lower sampling rate.
That is also true for those RoonReady endpoints
that support only lower sampling rates.
If you want to play DSD files on an endpoint,
again Roon will automatically convert them
to what that endpoint can handle.
The only thing to take into account is that
converting from DSD to PCM or vice versa does
take a fair amount of computing power and
might limit the number of streams you can
send out simultaneously.
So if you want to send tens of streams, keep
that in the back of your mind and make sure
the computer the Roon Core is running on,
is sufficiently powerful.
When Bluesound added RoonReady to all their
players - including the series that already
was discontinued at that time - some people
thought that when they bought a Bluesound
player, it would offer all the Roon functionality.
You now know that it needs the Roon Core installed
on a computer plus a subscription.
The Bluesound player can only function as
an ‘endpoint’ in an existing Roon setup.
But, hey, you got that functionality for free.
And if you want to upgrade, it is already
able to work with Roon.
Th Elac Discovery is a different story all
together, for it does contain a ‘light’
version of Roon, called Roon Essentials.
So this is a small and silent computer running
the Roon Essentials Core and it comes with
a lifetime subscription - lifetime meaning
the lifetime of the Elac Discovery.
If it dies or is passed on to another, the
license also dies or is passed on with the
Discovery to the new owner.
The Discovery also has three endpoints integrated:
two separate analogue stereo outputs and a
separate digital output on RCA and TOSlink.
Since it is a ‘light’ version of Roon,
it does have some limitations: it is limited
to indexing a maximum of 30.000 tracks, to
send out a maximum of 8 program streams, does
not support the Squeezebox, has no separate
composer screen and some other small differences
that makes it less interesting for the streaming
fanatic.
But for the average music lover it is a very
affordable way of having most of the nice
things of Roon, including a dedicated computer
and player in a small housing for only 1100
euro.
You find links to the review and update review
in the show notes.
So there is some kind of program called a
Roon Core that indexes the music collection,
completes the metadata and sends music to
a local output and/or to endpoints over the
network.
This program is often combined with a user
interface where you can read the metadata
and instruct the core to send music to one
or more endpoints.
It needs to run on a computer and that computer
can also be used as control and endpoint but
not necessarily.
You could use your normal computer for it
or run it on a dedicated computer, like an
Intel NUC.
You always need a subscription costing 119
euros per year or 499 euros for a lifetime
subscription unless you go for the - slightly
limited but very affordable - one box solution
called Elac Discovery, that comes with a lifetime
subscription coupled to all the hardware you
need.
If you are only slightly interested, use the
promocode in the show notes for a two month
trial, unless you currently can’t spare
the money to buy or subscribe.
For it is very hard to explain how different
the user experience is.
It is also very hard to go back from Roon
to other software so be aware of that if you
consider to do a trial.
For it is by far the best and most elaborate
music cataloguing, playing and distributing
software on the market and I don’t see any
other brand taking over soon.
But if that happens, I’ll be the first to
report on it.
So subscribe to this channel or follow me
on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
See the show notes for the links.
If you have a question, post it below this
video but please don’t ask me for buying
advise.
See my About Questions video to find out why.
If you liked this video, please consider supporting
the channel through Patreon and see super
exclusive videos too.
Just one dollar a month will do.
The link is in the show notes.
And don’t forget to tell your friends on
the web about this channel.
I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching
and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com.
And whatever you do, enjoy the music.
