I must say now that my totaldac d1 server is RoonReady I am very tempted to give this a try. The trouble is I have a real aversion to using my Macbook to play music, which seems to defeat the whole purpose of having the totaldac to start with.
I wonder if the updated QNAP 251+ would be capable of hosting ROON Core? I mean it can run Windows virtual machines etc:
https://www.qnap.com/i/en/product/model.php?II=195
Alternatively I would need a setup that is permanently on like my QNAP and doesn't require any manual intervention whatsoever, and I'd want to use both my iPhone and iPad to control my music.
Any ideas?!
Guillaume
There are a few threads about running Roon on Qnap or Synolgy NAS drives on the Roon forums, it looks like it can work but at the moment there are no pre-prepared packages.
The Roon guys did talk about doing a QPKG for Qnap but no mention of timing, etc.
(21-Apr-2016, 19:15)Chris Marshall Wrote: [ -> ]There are a few threads about running Roon on Qnap or Synolgy NAS drives on the Roon forums, it looks like it can work but at the moment there are no pre-prepared packages.
The Roon guys did talk about doing a QPKG for Qnap but no mention of timing, etc.
I also posted a thread on this forum that involved running ROON Core on a QNAP 453 Windows virtual machine. Definitely possible and very stable on the higher end QNAP units.
Guillaime, a 451 has a slower processor and memory limitations but I do think it could run. I would advise using a Windows 10 virtual machine as this was significantly more stable and a generally smoother experience than earlier iterations, including Windows Server variants. This will become a moot point when the ROON Qpkg is released.
W
Whilst I fully understand your reluctance to use the MacBook, just how big is your aversion? As others have mentioned, there is plenty to read on the 'Roon Community' re Roon on an Qnap, but I think it is a fair assumption that trying this will be a lot of hassle and frustration, at best resulting in mediocre Roon performance. If you try with the Mac, I reckon you'll be up and running in half an hour with top performance. So low hassle, and at least this will give you a taste of Roon (you might hate it!), plus it will give you a benchmark, good or bad, with respect to sound quality with the Roon plus Totaldac combination. Of course, you can also try to forget the Mac is there by simply running via the app and a tablet. Sounds like an easy way to have some fun and get a lot of useful information, as opposed to the Qnap route that might simply be frustrating. So just how big is your aversion to invoking your MacBook??
OK, so the last couple of nights I employed my Raspberry Pi2 as a Roon endpoint using the new Linux Arm RoonBridge.
Right now it's just a testbed, to see how it all works, so SQ isn't the highest priority - its just connected to a Jambox speaker from the Pi's headphone socket. But ignoring SQ for a minute… WOW!
I can now walk into my kitchen (which is semi-open plan to the lounge), and use the new iPhone remote to tell Roon to group my lounge and kitchen together, or just transfer music to and from each zone. So far it's like a dream. Not a single dropout while paying music over wired ethernet all night, even while running the two zones simultaneously (and keeping them perfectly in sync). I'm really impressed. What's more, even though the speaker in the kitchen is pretty awful SQ wise, it kind of doesn't matter. It means I don't have to whack the lounge hifi volume right up, and its generally a much more pleasing sound having a source in each room, rather than one loud source that's too loud in one room and too quiet in another. I'm really excited now at thinking about what to get to make this a better setup (less wires, better sound), and to be able to have music upstairs - will be a nice treat for the soon to arrive new baby to be able to listen.
I'm doubting that there are any SQ issues when using a decent set of speakers/DAC - my next plans are to try something like and Audioquest dragonfly (because I'll have it for my headphones anyway) and/or a 'built-in' Pi DAC like the hifiberry or IQaudio. Then some slightly nicer speakers maybe. Plus I want to test using the Pi2 into the Devialet instead of the Mac directly (or indirectly since I'm using the Intona).
I couldn't test the wifi, as after getting my dongle setup on the Pi, the signal in my kitchen was just too weak, so I'd need to re-instate the downstairs access point (which I'd disabled to try and save myself from excess radiation).
The only negatives so far are:
There isn't a single Bose/B&W style 'Roon Ready' speaker on the market. So, nothing I can buy to use in the kitchen and work with Roon zones. There are loads with Airplay, which work fine with Roon, but the problem here is you can only group by type at the moment (to keep them in sync apparently), so I wouldn't be able to link my lounge and kitchen that way, which would sort of defeat the whole point. I'm sure things will change but I'm guessing the RAAT uptake by hardware manufacturers will be slow (assuming there are going to be some), so it leaves the situation a little confused. For now I may have to try and find a nice box (like and old Robert's radio) and shove the Pi and everything inside - but I've got a feeling that will be a nice idea that will never come to fruition due to time. Otherwise I need a way to hide the Pi and DAC, and then use line-out to a nice speaker with a line-in. Since I don't need to group the upstairs, the world of Airplay is open to me there so will start exploring those options.
And a very minor one, but there is a slight pause in the music (1-2 seconds) when grouping/ungrouping zones which I hope they will be able to remove at some point down the line, and it's a bit disconcerting for someone listening in the other room (I got a few 'looks'). Also, playback did stop once when ungrouping, but I was on the iPhone and its VERY small (also a slight negative) so maybe I pressed something. Time will tell there.
Considering this was only released a few days ago, I'm impressed. There's room for improvement sure, but where it counts - solid uninterrupted playback - they've nailed it.
WARNING: Devialet Rant to follow…please skip if you're sensitive to Devialet's feelings.
I can't resist it, so I apologise, but I'm just absolutely staggered that Devialet hasn't managed to fix AIR yet. It only runs on two operating systems, and only works with their hardware which they should know inside out. The only unknowns they're dealing with are people's home network environments. Yet despite this, years down the line they've failed to address the dropouts, crackles etc from an unreliable transport, and they've failed to fix the Windows white noise and BSOD.
This is insane. I mean it is absolutely, completely, bonkers! In less time, Roon have completely written RAAT from scratch, made it work on a variety of hardware, and also on Linux and ARM devices, as well as OSX and Windows. And they've supported Airplay and Squeeze devices, and Meridian. And this is just the transport aspect of their software. Sure there are bugs and issues on their forums right now, but very few (if any) seem to be anything to do with dropouts and crackles etc - more specific hardware at the end of the chain. And in any case ONE WEEK after that release they put a maintenance release out to address a load of the issues. I'm sure next week we'll get another one. And another again until most people are happily listening to music without issues.
I just don't know what's going on at Devialet HQ I really don't. Thank goodness Roon came along to save me, but I still want to be able to stream to my D200 over AIR, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't believe they haven't managed to get their s*** together and get it working yet. Devialet have almost managed to make a cult out of their failure, where their users are so desperate for AIR to work and so mesmerised by Devialet's incompetence, that they get excited when they manage to get a whole hours playback without issues. After a year or more of changing systems, re-installing OS's, suffering crashes, completely re-arranging their whole networks to accommodate Devialets crappy code, they get an hour or maybe two hours of uninterrupted playback, and get excited. Noooooooooo! This isn't right!!!!!!!
END OF RANT….
Ha ha, I hope you're not referring to me. In any case, it wasn't hours, but days and coming to weeks, without issues. So, I would say AIR is working fine.
(22-Apr-2016, 09:56)hk6230 Wrote: [ -> ]Ha ha, I hope you're not referring to me. In any case, it wasn't hours, but days and coming to weeks, without issues. So, I would say AIR is working fine.
No!
It's just a generic comment about all discussions that go along those lines and Im sure I've done it myself (although I am following your trials with interest too), and borne out of my frustration...
'Working fine' is one thing you absolutely can't say about AIR. Perhaps in some individual cases, but not as a whole. If it was working fine, the vast majority of posts across this forum over the past years would be about how amazing it was compared to anything that came before or after it.
Yeah, you're right. I can't absolutely say it is working fine for sure, for now. It is early days yet. I had just written to Devialet and asking if they can give us a Linux version of AIR, then I can play around with Pi.
Like Confused said, AIR is unpredictable. Let's hope my current AIR situation remains stable and brings me more listening enjoyment for a long time. And, I hope everyone can enjoy AIR without issue.
Sorry guys. My experiment ended at around 5 hours of high bitrate playback. White noise appeared! What I suspect causing this is I started a P2P downloader program using up all the bandwidth of the internet at 7MB/s. Before long, white noise appeared. No more test for today. Tomorrow I will try once more.
Synology NAS SPK package (unofficial)
For the Experimental among you….
One enterprising user has released his (unofficial) script for getting RoonServer (Core) on a Synology NAS.
I can see 1515+, 1815+, 716+, and 1511+ are all reported to be working so far. The 1815+ on a 52,000 track library….
It's not for me as my Synology is too basic and I'd rather have the Core on my Mac (since I have to connect to the Dev anyway), but I know some people are looking.
I'm sure the official packages will come at some point, but for the impatient and advanced tinkerers……
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/synolog...pment/9796
FYI all RoonServer versions are 64bit so you must have a NAS with a x86 processor.