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My first few days with Roon - thoughts and questions

There’s no doubt that Roon is a comprehensive and progressive package and very attractive to boot but the reason I don’t really miss it is not just the monetary layout, it’s the fact that I didn’t really use half of the bells and whistles it provided and I’m quite happy with LMS or the rather decent Yamaha app.
 

There’s Roon Radio based on any characteristic you choose eg. Artist, Producer, Album, Drummer, Year etc, so Roon will play music based around a chosen category. You also get lots of useful hyperlinks within album reviews and artist bios that lead you to other artists and albums. If you like a particular artist you can see links to similar artists or their influences, or people they’ve collaborated with. There’s loads more too. You can quickly find more things you like and it’s so intuitive and easy to explore.
 
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This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Whilst no doubt having your entire music library on SSD would be nice, its not necessary, but the database/library of roon works best from ssd.
 
Whilst no doubt having your entire music library on SSD would be nice, its not necessary, but the database/library of roon works best from ssd.

I put a 2TB SSD in my Nucleus and it’s all on there. A recent new feature is that you can attach a CD drive to the Nucleus (or whatever the Core is) and it will auto-rip any CDs you put in it. Roon then automatically finds all the metadata and spits the disc out when finished. Quite handy if you still pick up new CDs.
 
Using a Nucleus here as I had no idea how to set it up otherwise...
On a different note, I’ve never given any thought to the ‘sound’ of software. Just seems an absurd idea to me. I just don’t go there.
I’m pretty sure Its not the software per se that is effecting the sound quality, it is the electrical and memory demands that the software makes on the hardware running it. So if the software demands that a lot of extraneous processes occur, electrically and computationally, this can create noise and slow response time. Well-written software is created by people who are aware of these subtleties and they write the code with this in mind, so it runs fast and quiet, allowing more details to emerge. Sometimes (a lot of times, actually) the developer is in a hurry to get the product to market and so writes the code in a less-than-optimum manner, but it then gets updated, and the sound can improve from just a software update. But I believe the underlying reason for the change is how the software uses the hardware running it, not the software in isolation.
 
Recently rebuilt my QNAP TS-251+ (8GB version) with 2 x 2TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs. Which runs RoonServer, PLEX and AssetUPNP.

Installed one disk at a time ... now both disks operate as two independent drives and locations:
Inserted and setup Disk 1 as a 'static volume' called: 'Disk 1 - Media' (system).
All apps are installed here including, RoonServer, Roon database, PLEX, and Asset UPNP.
2 shared folder created called: 'Film' and 'Photos'. These are accessible via WiFi as secured and mapped drives on my laptop to allow 'drag and drop'.

Then once built and the above completed:
Inserted and setup Disk 2 as a 'static volume' called: 'Disk 2 - Music'.
This is used purely for FLAC file location and storage, no apps or databases installed.
1 shared folder created called: 'Music'. This is accessible via WiFi as a secured mapped drive on my laptop to allow 'drag and drop'.

This is a really clean and easy way to build a flexible media server that capable of doing more than just roon only.

Connections from the NAS to the system are:
Ethernet out to the amps builtin streamer for Asset UPNP via a switch.
USB out to the amps build in DAC for roonserver/player direct from NAS.
The NAS sits 1m away from the amp and is totally silent, even though it does have a fan.
Granted when roon was building its database the fan ramped up from 1000rpm to 1800rpm and was audible for a few mins/occasions, but once built it slows down again.
I see the fan as a 'bonus protection layer'.. my amp has 3 silent fans anyhow.
I use 2 x (identical) Toshiba 2TB USB HDD's as a 'hard back-up' for each drive. These are kept in a safe place away from the system.
 
Whilst no doubt having your entire music library on SSD would be nice, its not necessary, but the database/library of roon works best from ssd.

Does Roon let you install the database/library on a SSD and store the music lbrary elsewhere, like an external drive? Does the latter have to be a SSD or is it possible to use a HDD?

Putting a second SSD into a Mac Mini, or replacing the 1TB one I've got now, looks quite fiddly.

Jack
 
I'd personally replace the Mini's internal HDD with a 4TB SSD, then its all done in one. SSD's use considerably less power. An opened box 4TB SSD Samsung Evo 860 sold for £325 on eBay the other day.
 
Hi Jack.

In regards to a roon rock appliance see here:

https://kb.roonlabs.com/ROCK:_Storage_Basics

i.e. if you have a nuc you can have one further internal drive for storage or multiple external USB ones.

My preference always would be to have the server like any server away from the hifi, to that end I would be using a roon end device such as a raspberry pi as a streamer with roon running on a pc or nas elsewhere.

Finally Roon can technically pull music from anywhere on your network provided it is accessible via SMB or in a workgroup. Though that being said I am having trouble making that happen via a docker.
 


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