Sonic.Build's Sonic DAC; difference between a Roon Server and Roon Endpoint

[Angular Mo]

I read about this device recently, and it is described as an endpoint.

 

Roon newbie questions;

 

what is the difference between a Roon Server and a Roon Endpoint?

 

if I store my music on a NAS, do I still need Roon Server hardware, or is Roon Server software that I can install on my Netgear Ready Cloud NAS?

[kennyb123]

Start with this:

https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks.html

[Angular Mo]

Thank you.

 

any more reading suggestions, please?

[kennyb123]

any more reading suggestions, please?

 

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Just Google "Roon review" and read a few reviews.

 

Also at the bottom of that page I suggested previously, see the What's Next section.

[kennyb123]

if I store my music on a NAS, do I still need Roon Server hardware, or is Roon Server software that I can install on my Netgear Ready Cloud NAS?

 

You won't be able to install Roon Server on that NAS. So you will need to run it a Mac or PC.

 

I run Roon Server on a Mac while my music is on a Synology NAS.

 

I use a bunch of different devices to control Roon (iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air). Depends on which is in closest proximity.

[Angular Mo]

Sorry I asked for help here.

[pvanosta]

I too found Roon confusing. Here is my understanding of things today (someone will correct me if wrong):

- Roonserver can run on SOME NAS, but I don't believe your Netgear is one of them. Compatible NAS which support Roonserver today, are either Synology or QNAP.

- This means you must run Roonserver on a PC or laptop which connects to the library on your NAS

- using a Roon control app (running on Tablet or even smartphone), you can scan, search, browse your music library and push the signal to a Roon Control point (a device which is supported by Roon and which acts as the DAC to convert the signal to analog audio.

[orgel]

I too found Roon confusing. Here is my understanding of things today (someone will correct me if wrong):

- Roonserver can run on SOME NAS, but I don't believe your Netgear is one of them. Compatible NAS which support Roonserver today, are either Synology or QNAP.

 

This is correct. See here for some more info.

 

- This means you must run Roonserver on a PC or laptop which connects to the library on your NAS

 

This is correct, as long as by "PC or laptop" you mean a fairly capable computer that runs Windows, macOS, or Linux. See here for some more info.

 

- using a Roon control app (running on Tablet or even smartphone), you can scan, search, browse your music library and push the signal to a Roon Control point (a device which is supported by Roon and which acts as the DAC to convert the signal to analog audio.

 

This needs a little clarification, IMO. You can control Roon by running the full-fledged Roon application (Roon Server plus a GUI) on a laptop or desktop computer (which can be performing just the control function or both the control and server functions). You can also control Roon using Roon Remote on a fairly large number of iOS and Android tablets and phones. (You can find hardware requirements on the Roon community site.) It's worth noting that on iOS, the phone app has a subset of the functionality one gets with the iPad or Android apps.

 

Roon or Roon Server is always what "push[es] the signal to a Roon" endpoint (not a control point). A Roon endpoint may or may not include a built-in DAC. I don't have hard data, but my overall impression is that most Roon endpoints do not include a built-in DAC (e.g., Auralic Aries, exaSound PlayPoint, Sonore microRendu & Sonicorbiter SE, Raspberry Pi). One example of a Roon endpoint that has a built-in DAC is a PS DirectStream DAC with a Bridge II installed; another is a Raspberry Pi with a DAC add-on card.

 

Use of an endpoint is optional, since you can connect a DAC directly to a desktop or laptop running Roon and use the software that way with no issues. One big advantage of having endpoints in the system is that they can be connected via Ethernet (so you can have multiple endpoints scattered around your home); another is that they have the potential to improve SQ.

 

--David