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Sonos to roon - very basic questions..

steveinspain

pfm Member
Having been wedded to Sonos for many years I am getting totally fed up with the app struggling to connect and also fancy following some of the advice I've been given here and try some paid-for Qobuz Hi-Res stuff so am planning to get a Bluesound Node 2i and for now leave the Sonos for my wife to listen to her beloved Jeremy Vine and Steve Wright. There is the added annoyance of me having several old Sonos components and all that means.
However, I would like to have a single multi-room system before too long, so am wondering about Roon and have started to do a little research. Already, it seems like one of the best ways to find an answer is to ask questions, so here goes with my first...
I guess it would be best to stick with one brand of speakers, meaning a couple of the Bluesound Pulse Flex 2i but is it possible to use a mix of different brands (I resent spending £300 for JV and SW to annoy me) or will that mean I need different apps to control each speaker? Can I use my Sonos speakers for now with just the Roon app and will I still need the Sonos Connect ?
I doubt it is relevant, but my main source is a nas full of ripped cd flac files into an RME ADi2 dac.
Thanks for any help!
 
Next question..
I do have an old Qnap TS410 nas, but from what I'm reading a newer one with 4gb of RAM and an SSD is a worthwhile purchase even if one I'd be happy to avoid at least for now.
Any thoughts ?
 
You will need something to act as the Roon Core at the heart of the system. An old TS410 will probably not be adequate.


Myself I have a second hand inexpensive Mac Mini sitting in the corner - it is mostly headless (HDMI to the TV, with a wireless keyboard for maintenance duties)
There are loads of other ways to do it - an old PC, an NUC etc etc

My control is either a laptop(mostly) or an Ipad.
 
Roon works with Sonos speakers but AFAIK it is a workaround so they are not certified Roon end points so cannot be used with other Roon endpoints to mutiroom.

It may help us help you if you give us more information about what exactly you have at the moment and what you are thinking of buying.

.sjb
 
used to have problems with sonos connecting before i used a boost , i also found it was better moving the boost a good few way from the router so it did not give out conflicting signals . have you tried a boost . had a friend up today and the sound from the sonos via a jolida dac was first class , quite outstanding
 
.....is it possible to use a mix of different brands?
If multiroom play is what you are aiming for, you should understand that there are essentially 3 different ways to connect your Roon Core to the speakers around your home. There are devices that have native support for Roon, and others that use either AirPlay or Chromecast. You can have a mixture of these, but you cannot add different types to the same multiroom group. Ideally I would try to stick with devices that have full Roon support built in.
 
I’d leave your NAS as is and buy an i3 NUC to run Roon. Works great for me.

You will need something to act as the Roon Core at the heart of the system. An old TS410 will probably not be adequate.

Myself I have a second hand inexpensive Mac Mini sitting in the corner - it is mostly headless (HDMI to the TV, with a wireless keyboard for maintenance duties)
There are loads of other ways to do it - an old PC, an NUC etc etc

My control is either a laptop(mostly) or an Ipad.

I run my core on an old i3 laptop attached to the router via Ethernet. Works very well.

My nas is ten years old and I fear that at some stage it'll need replacing. If I have to buy anything (I don't have an old laptop etc) then to my mind it would make sense to put the money towards a nas rather than a nuc or whatever.

Roon works with Sonos speakers but AFAIK it is a workaround so they are not certified Roon end points so cannot be used with other Roon endpoints to mutiroom.

It may help us help you if you give us more information about what exactly you have at the moment and what you are thinking of buying.

.sjb

Currently I have my nas, a sonos connect and a boost, an RME adi2 dac, a March Audio and an EWA Q20 amp (I'm trialling both) and some Graham Audio LS6f's as my stereo. I also have an old play5 and a new play1. Both the connect and play5 are on death row.
I'm getting a Bluesound Node 2i. From what Whatsisnaim says, I'm thinking that I'll end up with a couple of the small Bluesound speakers to keep it all simple.

used to have problems with sonos connecting before i used a boost , i also found it was better moving the boost a good few way from the router so it did not give out conflicting signals . have you tried a boost . had a friend up today and the sound from the sonos via a jolida dac was first class , quite outstanding

I have a boost, and following your suggestion have just moved it as far away from the router as the cable will allow to see if that helps. I seem to loose connection from my phone, kindle, pc and sonos remote maybe ten times a day. Nothing much has changed in my system or its positioning aside from swapping a few amps in and out of the same position, and until a few months ago it was stable with virtually no problems.

If multiroom play is what you are aiming for, you should understand that there are essentially 3 different ways to connect your Roon Core to the speakers around your home. There are devices that have native support for Roon, and others that use either AirPlay or Chromecast. You can have a mixture of these, but you cannot add different types to the same multiroom group. Ideally I would try to stick with devices that have full Roon support built in.

Your last paragraph seems to be the way I'll go.
Thank you all for your replies and help.
I'll do some more reading..
 
Just to re-iterate - you need somewhere to run Roon Core - either a NUC (which I use, running ROCK, it’s great) or a PC/Laptop, or a reasonably high-spec NAS which can host it as well as your music.
 
Just to re-iterate - you need somewhere to run Roon Core - either a NUC (which I use, running ROCK, it’s great) or a PC/Laptop, or a reasonably high-spec NAS which can host it as well as your music.

..and I'm currently looking at various NAS's...
As I've already got a 4 bay Qnap I'm thinking of another, such as this one and increasing the RAM to 4 or 8 gb.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/qnap-ts-451-2g-4-bay-desktop-ts-451-2g/version.asp
I can swap out my 2 4gb WD Red's and will add an SSD to the new NAS for Roon (I've got no idea what sort of SSD to use, as I don't know if M2 or SATA will be best to fit)
 
It's very much your call, but my preference would be to split the NAS and Roon Control into separate boxes - the NAS drives are generally just able to run Roon whereas the NUC systems run it easily, making things like serving more endpoints, audio processing etc much easier and more reliable. My NUC only cost me about £350 or so all in. You can then update the NAS later as you need.
 
It's very much your call, but my preference would be to split the NAS and Roon Control into separate boxes - the NAS drives are generally just able to run Roon whereas the NUC systems run it easily, making things like serving more endpoints, audio processing etc much easier and more reliable. My NUC only cost me about £350 or so all in. You can then update the NAS later as you need.

Thanks for your continued help, it's much appreciated. I know so little about all this (or anything else really..) I'm only just finding out what a Nuc is.
Taking on board what you are saying about a Nuc - can you or anyone else point me towards a pre-made one that will need only basic setting up ?
I've seen these people but hey, there are ten options on the first page, and they can all be customised, it would be rather like me picking lottery numbers...

https://www.ambros.co.uk/product-ca...HmSJgOUt_ZGFfrfRvvszfRlXosNYmCPMaAgYgEALw_wcB
 


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