advice on roon hardware

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bakufu

advice on roon hardware
« on: 2 Sep 2020, 04:09 pm »
i'm currently running roon on a mac mini.  my music library (~3tb) is resident on a local disk-drive.  i do not use any streaming services nor do i plan to, and my only application consists of a single audio system.  my current setup is:  mac mini -> schiit ygdrassil -> ambrosia 2000 series 2 preamp -> ampzilla 2000 series 2 amps -> ohm f-5015 speakers.

my goal is to eliminate fan- and spinning disk noise, and of course to improve sound quality.  this caused me to look at roon hardware with an internal 4tb ssd.

both the nucleus+ and the small green computer hardware require an ethernet connection to the internet, even though the roon server running on my mac does not.  what concerns me is that this requirement makes my music system dependent on having an internet connection (or so it appears -- am i mistaken?  is the ethernet connection only necessary for access to the local network?).  our most recent internet outage lasted four days -- the pole carrying the fios line was knocked over during a hurricane.  for obvious reasons, i'm reluctant to create this additional dependency. 

any suggestions here?


Dynky

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 42
Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #1 on: 2 Sep 2020, 05:18 pm »
Regarding the need of an internet connection, look at their forum to this thread

The post on March 23 from danny (COO RoonLabs) answers your question.

bakufu

Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #2 on: 2 Sep 2020, 06:30 pm »
thanks for the link.

i now deeply regret jumping the gun and purchasing a lifetime license for roon.

i'm not persuaded by the argument as given.  a lifetime license should exempt one from perioding license-checking. 



Dynky

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 42
Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #3 on: 2 Sep 2020, 06:56 pm »
But if the only actual concern in your situation is the loss of internet for a couple of days...then what is the problem, really? :?

bakufu

Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #4 on: 2 Sep 2020, 07:07 pm »
thanks for replying.

partly it's a matter of excessive complexity.  as i said, a lifetime license should exempt one from periodic checking.  i mean, what is there to check?  it's not as though i can ever be in a situation where i owe roon more money.

moreover, if i were to go the roon hardware route, i have to run an ethernet cable from my router to the location of my audio system.  why?  if roon runs wirelessly on my mac, why should custom hardware require a hard connection?

i find roon's inflexibility with regard to these matters just irritating (the forum entry you provided is a perfect example of this attitude.)  it discourages me from further investment in roon-specific hardware. 



MttBsh

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 691
Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #5 on: 2 Sep 2020, 07:58 pm »
I recently bought a Channel Islands DMC-1 which creates its own hotspot and has 4 USB ports so that you can attach hard drives and USB sticks and play music without internet access. Of course you can also plug in the internet and stream. The sound is absolutely first rate. I moved to this from a Sonore product.

firedog

Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #6 on: 3 Sep 2020, 07:58 am »
There seems to be some confusion here. Roon requires an internet connection, not an ethernet  wired connection.
I think the Roon thread explained it quite well - they need to collect data for royalty payments regarding the use of metadata by users. The license works for 30 days after it has last connected to the internet. So anyday you use the software with an internet connection, it will work for the next 30 days.

That would seem to be a fine solution for almost all situations. If you are going to be without internet for more than 30 days on a regular basis, then it probably isn't the software for you.

bakufu

Re: advice on roon hardware
« Reply #7 on: 3 Sep 2020, 01:08 pm »
roon *hardware* (nucleus, SGC) requires an ethernet connection.  neither system supports wireless comms.

andrew at SGC suggested using homeplugs to avoid drawing an actual ethernet cable from the router to my audio system.

i stand by my assertion that requiring periodic checkin with the roon polizei makes no sense for users who have a lifetime license.

(i would be perfectly happy to use a stripped down version of roon which did not involve metadata for which royalty payments were required.  i am ONLY interested in high-quality music reproduction.  i am NOT interested in reading song lyrics, reviews, &c.  nor am i interested in roon's touted AI engine making recommendations about what i should listen to next.  but i suppose this marks me as an idiosyncratic user ...)