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WTB cheap Roon endpoint
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Author:  TubeDriver [ January 21st, 2021, 12:25 pm ]
Post subject:  WTB cheap Roon endpoint

Looking to experiment with Roon endpoints, want to start off with something cheap. Anyone have any extraneous, functioning endpoints knocking around? Would need either ethernet or Wifi input. Thanks.

Author:  Jim G [ January 21st, 2021, 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

Raspberry pi 4 will do it. I'm about to set mine up and switch to Roon. Dave M and Charlie have both confirmed it works properly. The pi doesn't sound as good as a good server, but it's okay.

Author:  David McGown [ January 21st, 2021, 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

Pete,

I have a spare RPi4 that I can load a Roon Bridge on test it out. I have not tried Roon Bridge on an Raspberry Pi, but there are binaries downloadable from Roon. I think RoPieee is a headless Roon bridge (which is what you want), and there are other. Actually, Roon Server can connect to Logitech Squeezebox devices, including software endpoint implementations like Squeezelite. PiCorePlayer is a very lightweight Raspberry Pi distribution running Squeezelite. There is some debate on whether Squeezelite is better sounding as an endpoint than using Roon Bridge given LMS enabled on the Roon Core. Anyway, I am not presently using my RPi4 endpoint, so you are welcome to try it out. Let me know, and I can setup the Pi.

If you do go with the Pi, the typical upgrades are a better power supply (either a linear or one of the new iFi iPower 5V switchers). Also, I think a USB isolator like the Intona unit would be another upgrade. But you may not need that given your DAC.

David

Author:  Roscoe Primrose [ January 21st, 2021, 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

daphile runs squeezelite too....

Roscoe

Author:  TubeDriver [ January 21st, 2021, 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

Hey Dave, that would be great, thanks. No rush, but whenever you get a chance to set it up, let me know. I could swing by to do a socially distanced pickup and will give it a test run in my system. It will be interesting to see how this compares to my current setup. I do have a USB decrappifier but don't regularly use it because it sounds...... sort of crappy.


David McGown wrote:
Pete,

I have a spare RPi4 that I can load a Roon Bridge on test it out. I have not tried Roon Bridge on an Raspberry Pi, but there are binaries downloadable from Roon. I think RoPieee is a headless Roon bridge (which is what you want), and there are other. Actually, Roon Server can connect to Logitech Squeezebox devices, including software endpoint implementations like Squeezelite. PiCorePlayer is a very lightweight Raspberry Pi distribution running Squeezelite. There is some debate on whether Squeezelite is better sounding as an endpoint than using Roon Bridge given LMS enabled on the Roon Core. Anyway, I am not presently using my RPi4 endpoint, so you are welcome to try it out. Let me know, and I can setup the Pi.

If you do go with the Pi, the typical upgrades are a better power supply (either a linear or one of the new iFi iPower 5V switchers). Also, I think a USB isolator like the Intona unit would be another upgrade. But you may not need that given your DAC.

David

Author:  TubeDriver [ January 21st, 2021, 3:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

I have a Roon Nucleous+ (setup as core and endpoint) which is convenient but wondered about using the Nucleous as just a core with another external endpoint. Any thoughts on whether the core hardware/software is more important sonically than the endpoint hardware/software or vice versa?


Jim G wrote:
Raspberry pi 4 will do it. I'm about to set mine up and switch to Roon. Dave M and Charlie have both confirmed it works properly. The pi doesn't sound as good as a good server, but it's okay.

Author:  David McGown [ January 21st, 2021, 4:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

Pete,

I will take only a short time to setup the RPi4. I will try RoPieee since it is just a Roon endpoint, so all I need to do is download the image, burn it to an SD card and plug into the Pi. Piece of cake.

Better to separate out the server function from the endpoint unless you have a really fast and capable computer. Charlie has tried both.

Roscoe,

I am using Daphile running Squeezelite as my Roon endpoint. With Charlie's recommendations, I built a lightweight Intel Atom-based server with JCat USB and Ethernet PCIe cards, linear power supplies, Gigabit ethernet (no longer using 5GHz WiFi). Fantastic sounding! I have an Intel NUC running ROCK, with my music data on a Synology NAS.

David

Author:  Jim G [ January 21st, 2021, 4:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

TubeDriver wrote:
I have a Roon Nucleous+ (setup as core and endpoint) which is convenient but wondered about using the Nucleous as just a core with another external endpoint. Any thoughts on whether the core hardware/software is more important sonically than the endpoint hardware/software or vice versa?

Pete,

If you have the Nucleus+, I'd be surprised if the pi outperforms it. A dedicated server like Dave and Charlie are using, you should get better performance. Have you experimented with usb cables? Can make a bigger difference than the server.

Author:  Roscoe Primrose [ January 21st, 2021, 4:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

David McGown wrote:
Roscoe,

I am using Daphile running Squeezelite as my Roon endpoint. With Charlie's recommendations, I built a lightweight Intel Atom-based server with JCat USB and Ethernet PCIe cards, linear power supplies, Gigabit ethernet (no longer using 5GHz WiFi). Fantastic sounding! I have an Intel NUC running ROCK, with my music data on a Synology NAS.

David


I'm running daphile on a NUC, with the built-in USB & Gig-E. Been happy with it for a few years....

Roscoe

Author:  TubeDriver [ January 21st, 2021, 5:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB cheap Roon endpoint

Tried a couple cables, using a Wireworld Ultraviolet 8 USB cable now (the 5v line is separate and slightly distanced away from data line). Sounds fine to me but I have only directly compared it to 2-3 other fairly inexpensive cables.


Jim G wrote:
TubeDriver wrote:
I have a Roon Nucleous+ (setup as core and endpoint) which is convenient but wondered about using the Nucleous as just a core with another external endpoint. Any thoughts on whether the core hardware/software is more important sonically than the endpoint hardware/software or vice versa?

Pete,

If you have the Nucleus+, I'd be surprised if the pi outperforms it. A dedicated server like Dave and Charlie are using, you should get better performance. Have you experimented with usb cables? Can make a bigger difference than the server.

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