[mofunz]

Hello!

New to the site, and I'm looking around to see where my interests will fit in. I think this area will be a good fit, as I'm all about the convenience of what modern music servers have to offer.

My personal setup: Roon on QNAP NAS, streaming mostly to AirPlay2 endpoints, but also a Ropieee on RPI3. Unfortunately you can't link those zones together, so I've been researching possible RAAT endpoints to spread around my house and link together for whole-home listening opportunities.

I don't particularly need the other rooms to have stellar sound quality, so I'm aiming for decent but affordable endpoints. For example, Ropieee is compatible with the RPI Zero 2W, which I can match with a Hifiberry DAC/amp or DAC for as little as $50. I need as many as 7 of these, so cost is pretty important. I want the possibility of music around the house first, and then I'll upgrade in areas where it makes sense.

What are the strengths/weaknesses of this approach, and what other options are popular with the community?

[mgalusha]

I run roon core on a QNAP nas and have various end points, I use DietPi on all of them, one is a pi 4 and the others are fanless Intel boxes, anywhere from an old Atom to an 8th gen i7. I like the DietPi setup because it's really light weight and has been totally stable. Debian based FWIW.

For what you're describing, I'd use some RPI's with roon bridge on whatever Linux, DietPi in my case.

[jtwrace]

RPi4 running RoPieee is a no brainer to me.  Auto Updates etc.  Super easy to use and takes 10 min to setup. 


https://ropieee.org/xl/

[newzooreview]

+1 for Raspberry Pi running Ropieee for the use you describe.

For $130 you could get an Allo Boss 1.2 Streamer/DAC and put Ropieee on it as a Roon end point. Add amp and speakers of your choice.

https://www.allo.com/sparky/boss-player.html

I've used the Allo DigiOne Plus and although they don't supply Ropieee pre-flashed on a card, I downloaded Ropiee, flashed it onto a card using Balena Etcher (free -- https://www.balena.io/etcher/ ) and let it boot for about 30 minutes (sometimes it takes a while for Ropieee to grab the drivers it needs, but maybe that's running faster than when I tried it a year ago).

Ropieee works with all of the Allo devices, so no worries there. Ropieee is well maintained and regularly updated (as noted above).

Allo also makes a $120 DAC+Amp (50W Tripath Class D amp), so then just add speakers and be done. This will also run Ropieee and be a Roon endpoint.

I'm talking myself in adding some sound to a few rooms!

Update: I meant to note that the prices above are for the kit from Allo with the case, power supply, microSD card, Raspberry Pi, and DAC (or DAC-Amp) depending on which you get. I'm not sure what would be less expensive, although it does get up to nearly $1000 for 7 of them. I'm not sure how much cheaper it will get, however.

[mofunz]

Allo also makes a $120 DAC+Amp (50W Tripath Class D amp), so then just add speakers and be done. This will also run Ropieee and be a Roon endpoint.

Update: I meant to note that the prices above are for the kit from Allo with the case, power supply, microSD card, Raspberry Pi, and DAC (or DAC-Amp) depending on which you get. I'm not sure what would be less expensive, although it does get up to nearly $1000 for 7 of them. I'm not sure how much cheaper it will get, however.

I’ve found ways to do it for a bit cheaper, but it’s a little risky. An RPI Zero is $20, and a Hifiberry dac/amp for $22, case for $12 - $54 plus power and SD cards, but only 3 watts, which is possibly enough for background listening maybe? I will say, The Allo with the 50w feels safer, and all said and done isn’t much more than the hifiberry option. I was aware of their standalone DACs, but somehow missed this - thanks for the tip! Honestly that feels like the sweet spot I was hoping for.

I'm talking myself in adding some sound to a few rooms!

You’ve got extra speakers hanging around, right? Just do it!