Is Salk Streamer My Next Step?

jtwrace · « **Reply #20 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 01:07 pm »

Some screen shots of JRiver in DLNA. Literally up and running in 5 minutes.

toddc2 · « **Reply #21 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 01:31 pm »

Quote from: jtwrace on 1 Jun 2016, 01:02 pm

10 minutes with Roon and you will be hooked. It's incredible IMO. Forget the flashy GUI and the credits and all of that stuff. The discovery of new music is what I love it for. The other stuff is just an added bonus to me. However, I do use the credits more and more if I'm interested to know what other albums the bass player has played on. It's really cool. I just hope Roon is around long term. That said though, if Jim can confirm if his streamer can use DLNA then you can still use JRiver and you will be at home until you go to Roon. I'm sure he would send you one to play around with and it will not go back. The microRendu can do all of this so I'm sure his can too.

I use JRiver, Amarra Symphony, and had a trial with Roon. The Roon UI is significantly better than anything else I've used. One thing in particular that I really like about Roon is how smart it is with duplicate copies of music with different file resolutions. Roon picks the highest resolution version to display, but it has a cool "other versions" button that you can click on. JRiver shows multiple copies in one big mess, then you have to filter the duplicates out.

Just one example, but I found Roon to be much more polished and easy to use out of the box.

sfox7076 · « **Reply #22 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 02:16 pm »

BRM,

Roon is not a streaming music service. It will integrate with Tidal, but it isn't a streamer. I love that I can use it for internet radio as well. Pull up NPR in the AM and put that on while I referee my boys.

Shawn

Phil A · « **Reply #23 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 02:20 pm »

For now I use JRiver (like the interface - have seen others some of which are mentioned in this thread and not impressed). Am intrigued by Roon. About 3 months back, I finally got my NAS up and running. I have streamed to both the Windows 10 music servers (just to try it vs. the local hard drives attached - have not done comparisons at this point) and to one of my Oppo 103Ds with no issues, including DSD files. Eventually, I'll probably moved to a streamer. Just want one that can at least do double DSD and 384kHz and once it reaches that level, I'm good.

jtwrace · « **Reply #24 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 02:21 pm »

Quote from: Phil A on 1 Jun 2016, 02:20 pm

Just want one that can at least do double DSD and 384kHz and once it reaches that level, I'm good.

There are those that do DSD256. No problem.

jsalk · « **Reply #25 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 04:13 pm »

Not to interrupt the conversation...

I find JRiver to be great for home theater and there is nothing out there that will beat it. But for music, it is just too hard to get things done. MPAD works nice and I find it far easier to work with than JRiver (I've worked with just about every music interface out there). But once you try Roon, there is absolutely no going back to anything else. There is nothing else like it on the market. It is totally intuitive and provides an incredible amount of information as well. Want an artist's bio? No problem. Want to know who is playing on a particular cut. If the information is available on the internet, you have it at your fingertips. And you can link directly to a specific musician if you want to hear other tracks, say a drummer or guitar player, performs on. Want to know where a particular artist will be performing in concern next. You've got it.

Want to stream to various setups all with different capabilities? No problem. Roon knows the capabilities of each system and can down-rez on the fly if required. So you can play DSD files on a DAC in your bedroom that can only handle 16/44. You don't even have to think about it. You can play separate tracks on each system simultaneously or group them so that all systems are playing the same stream.

Couple it with Tidal and you can explore all day long. Like what you find on Tidal? Simply add it to your library and it will be there just as if you had it stored locally. Why purchase music when you can add millions of songs to your library at will? Tidal's native app is nowhere near as good as its integration in Roon.

While there are other interfaces that will get the job done, none are as polished and well thought out. Roon rocks! And I will guarantee that if you use it for a couple of weeks, you will never, ever use anything else. It is that good.

- Jim

jtwrace · « **Reply #26 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 05:07 pm »

Quote from: jsalk on 1 Jun 2016, 04:13 pm

Not to interrupt the conversation...

I find JRiver to be great for home theater and there is nothing out there that will beat it. But for music, it is just too hard to get things done. MPAD works nice and I find it far easier to work with than JRiver (I've worked with just about every music interface out there). But once you try Roon, there is absolutely no going back to anything else. There is nothing else like it on the market. It is totally intuitive and provides an incredible amount of information as well. Want an artist's bio? No problem. Want to know who is playing on a particular cut. If the information is available on the internet, you have it at your fingertips. And you can link directly to a specific musician if you want to hear other tracks, say a drummer or guitar player, performs on. Want to know where a particular artist will be performing in concern next. You've got it.

Want to stream to various setups all with different capabilities? No problem. Roon knows the capabilities of each system and can down-rez on the fly if required. So you can play DSD files on a DAC in your bedroom that can only handle 16/44. You don't even have to think about it. You can play separate tracks on each system simultaneously or group them so that all systems are playing the same stream.

Couple it with Tidal and you can explore all day long. Like what you find on Tidal? Simply add it to your library and it will be there just as if you had it stored locally. Why purchase music when you can add millions of songs to your library at will? Tidal's native app is nowhere near as good as its integration in Roon.

While there are other interfaces that will get the job done, none are as polished and well thought out. Roon rocks! And I will guarantee that if you use it for a couple of weeks, you will never, ever use anything else. It is that good.

- Jim

I couldn't agree more!

Phil A · « **Reply #27 on:** 1 Jun 2016, 06:32 pm »

Quote from: vtvu on 1 Jun 2016, 02:35 am

Before JRiver I just used Itunes.
But that was at least three years ago.
We also used JRiver at shows for a while but now I bring the StreamPlayer.
Vinh

Vinh, does the StreamPlayer do double DSD and 384kHz? As soon as I catch up on things, I'll have to try double DSD via my Network.

vtvu · « **Reply #28 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 12:40 am »

Phil:
The question can be best asked of Jim Salk but as far as I can tell, the Streamer seems to be agnostic about DSD or PCM files. If you DAC does double DSD it will pass the bits. I know I have double DSD files that plays fine on my Streamer.
Vinh

Phil A · « **Reply #29 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 01:11 am »

Quote from: vtvu on 2 Jun 2016, 12:40 am

Phil:
The question can be best asked of Jim Salk but as far as I can tell, the Streamer seems to be agnostic about DSD or PCM files. If you DAC does double DSD it will pass the bits. I know I have double DSD files that plays fine on my Streamer.
Vinh

Vinh - thanks - my secondary system DAC can do double DSD and the main system one probably will by the end of the year. I have a few double DSD files and DXD ones and I'll have to see have it passes over the network. Have not done that yet. The purpose of getting the NAS, besides easier back-up, was to eventually move off the windows platform in the main system.

jsalk · « **Reply #30 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 06:08 am »

The StreamPlayer does not care what the format is. If you DAC can handle it, the StreamPlayer will stream to it.

With Roon, you don't have to even worry about it. It will stream to the highest capability of the DAC and down-rez if the DAC can't handle it.

- Jim

Anonamemouse · « **Reply #31 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 06:43 am »

It's just too bad Roon costs a fortune. A small fact that everyone seems to skip...
I for one am not prepared to spend $ 500 for a Lifetime Membership. What happens if Roon goes belly-up?

zybar · « **Reply #32 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 09:54 am »

Quote from: Anonamemouse on 2 Jun 2016, 06:43 am

It's just too bad Roon costs a fortune. A small fact that everyone seems to skip...
I for one am not prepared to spend $ 500 for a Lifetime Membership. What happens if Roon goes belly-up?

How is that different from any of the audio gear you buy?

George

jsalk · « **Reply #33 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 01:58 pm »

Quote from: Anonamemouse on 2 Jun 2016, 06:43 am

It's just too bad Roon costs a fortune. A small fact that everyone seems to skip...
I for one am not prepared to spend $ 500 for a Lifetime Membership. What happens if Roon goes belly-up?

I understand. It's software and people aren't generally used to paying this much for software. But there is a ton of R&D that goes into a product like this. It is a massive undertaking and programmers cost money. So it is definitely not over-priced.

But think of it this way...if you could spend $500 to upgrade your preamp and vastly increase the enjoyment of your system, would you consider it? My guess is that you would.

If you enjoy your current system, $500 for Roon would likely be the best investment you could make. It will become the the window into your system and provide access not only to your music (and Tidal's if you subscribe), but a ton of information on music and the performers. You can sit in the listening position and explore all day long, discovering new music and artists you weren't even aware of.

At $500 for a lifetime, Roon will forever change the way you listen to your system and greatly enhance your enjoyment along the way. It may well be the best $500 you will likely spend in this hobby.

- Jim

Phil A · « **Reply #34 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 02:12 pm »

Quote from: Anonamemouse on 2 Jun 2016, 06:43 am

It's just too bad Roon costs a fortune. A small fact that everyone seems to skip...
I for one am not prepared to spend $ 500 for a Lifetime Membership. What happens if Roon goes belly-up?

One needs to look at alternatives to gauge a fair value as of the cost. For example, one of the things I've been considering is the Aurender N100H. The Salk Player and Roon is still $600 cheaper as I'm not going thru a dealer network.

I like JRiver. I find it very easy to use and to me it is better than most of the things mentioned here (have not seen Roon) for audio. To me sound quality is most important. I need to start trying streaming to see how my wired network handles files.

jsalk · « **Reply #35 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 02:46 pm »

A quick note. I have nothing against JRiver. I use it and love it for home theater. There is nothing else like it and I highly recommend it.

But Roon is an entirely different, special purpose, product and there is no comparison. It was built strictly as a front end for a music system. As such, it is light years ahead of anything else on the market. Once you use it, you will understand.

This is not a product that a single programmer could ever pull off. It is extremely complex, yet totally simple and intuitive from a user's perspective. There is almost no learning curve involved. You launch it and it does it's thing with practically no human intervention. Plug in a different DAC and it knows its capabilities. If you have a receiver with Airplay on your network (most do these days), it knows it is there and can stream to it. No set-up required. For such a complex product, it is amazingly simple and intuitive. It just works.

If you love what you are using, by all means stick with it. But the experience you are having will not be the same as with Roon. And only after you experience it will you understand.

- Jim

Anonamemouse · « **Reply #36 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 05:43 pm »

Quote from: jsalk on 2 Jun 2016, 01:58 pm

I understand. It's software and people aren't generally used to paying this much for software. But there is a ton of R&D that goes into a product like this. It is a massive undertaking and programmers cost money. So it is definitely not over-priced.

But think of it this way...if you could spend $500 to upgrade your preamp and vastly increase the enjoyment of your system, would you consider it? My guess is that you would.

If you enjoy your current system, $500 for Roon would likely be the best investment you could make. It will become the the window into your system and provide access not only to your music (and Tidal's if you subscribe), but a ton of information on music and the performers. You can sit in the listening position and explore all day long, discovering new music and artists you weren't even aware of.

At $500 for a lifetime, Roon will forever change the way you listen to your system and greatly enhance your enjoyment along the way. It may well be the best $500 you will likely spend in this hobby.

- Jim

In all honesty, the money I spent on my set also could have bought me a nice new BMW... So coming from there, 500 indeed isn't much. But having worked in IT myself I know how fast IT companies are born, live an explosive life, and die almost without warning. Will their product live on? In the unlikely event eg Bryston goes under my amp will not stop playing.

As for the best 500 spent on my addic-- uhm... Hobby, I would need a new streamer first. I now have a Bluesound Node 2, and am quite dissatisfied with it and their customer service... They updated their OS to include MQA (which makes even less sense than DSD, it's just a hype), and now it keeps glitching...

Just out of curiosity, how much would shipping a 230 volts gen 3 without hard disk be to the Netherlands?

audiocrazy · « **Reply #37 on:** 2 Jun 2016, 09:05 pm »

I'm using JRiver currently and have used it for many years. I was intrigued by Roon and currently evaluating it for the past few weeks. I like the interface and easy of use but there are certain things Roon does not offer that JRiver has.
JRiver provides Room Correction and Convolution engine. I can browse the directory structure in JRiver but Roon does not support that. Checked Roon forums and looks like they most likely won't support it.
To get around Room Correction and Convolution engine I downloaded HQPlayer that works ok but has minor hiccups when playing DSD files.
However I like the sound fidelity of Roon + HQPlayer better than JRiver on my SS8's.

So I might end up buying Roon + HQPlayer but at back of my mind I always wanted a pure Music Streamer and Salk Stream Player always comes to my mind.

I know Salk Stream Player can be Roon endpoint but does Salk Stream Player support HQPlayer?

jsalk · « **Reply #38 on:** 3 Jun 2016, 12:40 pm »

Quote from: audiocrazy on 2 Jun 2016, 09:05 pm

I know Salk Stream Player can be Roon endpoint but does Salk Stream Player support HQPlayer?

The short answer is no. From a hardware perspective, it certainly could. But HQPlayer will only run on one flavor of Linux - Ubuntu. Jussi (HQPlayer's author) doesn't wish to support any other Linux distribution. What's more, it requires a full graphical interface.

We built our Linux package up from scratch and only added code required for the tasks at hand. So there is no graphical user interface or tons of other applications that are useless for this particular task.

We could do a special version of the StreamPlayer with Ubuntu instead. This is very doable and we have discussed this with individuals before. And Roon does support HQPlayer in this scenario. But if there is an issue down the line, we aren't in a position to support that particular setup. And something tells me that issues down the line are definitely not out of the realm of possibility.

So, if we built a special version for a customer who wanted HQPlayer, and we certainly could, the risk involved, however small, would be the customer's. We just can't be assured that Jussi will support further development of this combination of hardware and software and don't want to risk having upset customers if the combination does not perform as it should.

I hope that makes sense.

- Jim

Paret · « **Reply #39 on:** 8 Jun 2016, 02:36 pm »

What would I need to use Roon with my Gen II streamer ?

Thank you.

Luis D. Paret
Keller, TX