Let’s leave the idea of Roon for now and have the focus on the Logitech Media Server and the reasons for this being a part of my current setup. One of my favorite channels | John Darko reviewing 5200 EUR for Mytek) explains a lot! So I’ll rather keep dreamin’. And BTW, there are much better and nicer endpoints/streamers supporting Roon, like my dream Naim Uniti Atom or Mytek’s Brooklyn Bridge & AMP, but the price tag 3000 EUR (resp. The endpoints (the devices that actually play the music stream) that are based on Raspberry PIs with attached sound cards from HiFiBerry are fully supported by Roon, so even though I am describing here how to integrate the multiroom audio with LMS and I am currently using it this way, any future transition to Roon should not be that dramatic in terms of the HW changes. Every investment I made so far into the multiroom audio HW can be reused with Roon later.It supports multiple platforms and transport protocols. It logically splits the roles between control, core and output.It emphasizes the sound quality and optimizes the data stream for each of the endpoint, depending on his capabilities.Roon seems to go beyond everything I have seen so far, it reinvents the tangible factor that has vanished after the decline of vinyl record covers and CD booklets. But there is a strong reason why am writing here about it: One of my favorite channels | John Darko talking about Roon streaming platformįor me Roon represents multi-room audio platform of the future, how distant this future will be is yet unknown and depends on things I will list later below. If this was the brain-closing sentence for you, please watch few videos and check the potential of the system to see what all is behind. It is a service that costs you $119/year, or $499/lifetime. Before you ask, even if you build your own core server and install the ROCK build, Roon is not free. The “core” can be purchased as an out of box device called “ Nucleus“, or it can be hosted on a device based on Intel NUC line as “ ROCK“, which is a do-it-yourself build of Roon OS, a custom Linux based operating system for running Roon Server. It can also store the actual digital audio files or you can store these on your NAS. There is a dedicated server called “core” that manages your music collection from multiple sources, building an interconnected digital library. Just briefly, is has pretty similar architecture to the LMS. I fully recommend reading more details about the system to build up your own opinion. It looks very robust, with the focus on ultimate audio quality providing rich metadata to enrich the audiophile’s experience. This multiroom audio platform looks very promising and I have discovered its existence pretty late. Roon – Top notch streaming platform, I am still considering it for the future, see below why not now.Squeeze box with LMS (Logitech Media Server) – Currently tested solution, and the one this post will be mostly about.Flip-side is the wireless only transport, closed system and price. Sonos - Was a hot candidate for a while, mainly after they launched their Connect and new Amp.Loxone Music server solution – I left this idea mainly due to the extra audio wiring needed all around the house, the topology in general and price.I will probably get there one day as well, or it can also happen that my roadmap will divert to a different multiroom audio platform.īefore I made my decision to try Logitech Media server as the multiroom audio streaming option, I had the following options on my list: There are ways how to make it closer substitute, requiring LoxBerry the plugin-platform for Raspberry Pi. However, they customized the music server back-end to better integrate with the Loxone UI, so simple LMS installation is not a direct replacement of their boxed Music server. Historically Loxone multiroom audio solution was based on Casatunes media server, and later on switched to Squeezebox with Logitech Media Server (LMS). Moreover, I feel it is not the right Hi-Fi approach and connection to other peripherals (like turntable) would be super challenging. I kind of tend to the LAN solution, not only because of the price ( Loxone’s Music server ~1600 EUR, twelve channel Amp ~800EUR) and universality, but also technically I did no preparation for long audio cabling between multiple rooms. There are obviously pros and cons for each of the setup. It is the opposite approach to what most other multiroom audio streamers do, having centrally located storage with database and LAN wired endpoints. The topology requires audio cabling prepared between the centrally located (potentially rack mounted) amplifier and all the places where you would like to listen to your music. Loxone offers their own out of box solution for multiroom audio which consists of Loxone Music server, multi-channel Amp and various types of wired speakers.
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