When I setup the Roon Core for testing I just quickly copied a bunch of random albums from my Foobar FLAC library - these all have had reply-gain applied. Not sure they are messing with things? I see Roon is also applying some form of volume leveling.
When I go to copy my entire library over should I make sure to strip the reply-gain settings?
I always prefer max volume. Any kind of applied leveling just changes things but if it works for you, it’s an individual choice. There’s a lot of creature comfort in not having to adjust the volume between songs.
As far as MQA is concerned, all off unless you have Tidal or if you have an MQA DAC. The idea is for Roon doing the first unfold and the DAC doing the second unfold.
This can be turned on and off (and adjusted) in the settings for each device. It’s worth playing with, definitely a personal preference setting. The Roon volume leveling is based on LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale). Do some googling on this topic. LUFS has an interesting history and range of recommend settings. I like it in general (convenient and 90% of the time I couldn’t perceive an issue) but ultimately I turned it off. The problem I ran into is some of my music is very loud and some very quiet. I wasn’t happy with the LUFS setting needed to tame my louder songs (heavy attenuation) while not boosting the volume of my quietest songs. Even when I turned the volume back up it seemed to me like something was lost.
I think (test this for your tracks) that Roon will use that information when you turn on volume leveling to set the exact attenuation / gain setting required to make the loudness of that specific track match the target LUFS you set for the playback device. If you strip it out Roon will probably analyse the track and put it back in. I don’t know if the replay-gain number Roon comes up with will be different or not. It would be an interesting experiment to find out. Either way, with volume leveling off, it should just be ignored.
I agree here. These settings are not supposed to do anything outside of Tidal playback. But I have noticed differences with them on while listening to Qobuz and local tracks. Maybe an issue that’s been fixed with recent updates. But since I don’t use MQA I just leave them off.
If you haven’t already, check out the Roon forums (https://community.roonlabs.com/). There’s some good info there for setting up specific streamers. It seems like there’s always someone on that forum who’s tried your setup and will comment on recommendations.
My strategy with Roon has been to turn everything off that I can. And when I want a “taste” of DSP, volume leveling, crossfeed, or some other setting, I turn it on, use it, and turn it off. Keeping my default as minimal as possible.
I wouldn’t bother, I think it keeps metadata on overall volume levels around regardless, I have volume normalization turned off on everything.
The only really useful settings in the audio panel is “use device volume” and “DSD over PCM” instead of conversion IF your DAC supports it.
and I’d throw in re-sync delay when switching formats. It’s very helpful with older equipment.
The Allo DigiOne sounds really nice using the BNC S/PDIF out into a Soekris dac1541. The coax S/PDIF not so much, it drops out and there is a lot of noise crackle/pop.
I thought first it was a cable issue, but not really, the cable I was using is a 75 ohm better quality digital audio cable but for trouble shooting I tried another good 75 ohm cable, only shorter (3ft vs 6ft). This made some improvement less crackle/pop but still getting drops. I tried a 3rd better quality 75 ohm (3ft) same result. Switched to BNC and all clear no drops.
Context: Both rpi Configured the same only difference is the HAT (Allo DigiOne vs Hifiberry Digi2 pro)
OS= Ropieee latest stable
rpi = ethernet connected / wifi disabled. USB audio disabled (Ropieee roon cfg)
OK, do I have a bad DigiOne or bad coax S/SPIF input on the dac1541 ?
Switched back to the original cable 6ft (Monster Silver Advanced-Performance) And connected to the Hifiberry HAT - All is good no crackle/pops or drop outs. I tried a shorter 3ft (Pro Co Sound Digital) it was also good. Heck I even tried a cheep $9 Hosa cable and it was good.
Went back to the Allo HAT retested. Crackle/pops and dropouts… Grrr. is it the HAT?
Tried the Allo HAT on a different DAC (dac1321) using the original 6ft Monster cable - no pops/crackles or drop outs - Sratching my head now - WTF. OK Try the Hifiberry HAT - It is good too. OK I got other DACs with coax S/PDIF input, might as well check m all. Took the Allo HAT over to the Bifrost 2 - Tried all cables and all good, any cable I chose from good to cheap. Did the same on a topping E30, all good there too - It appears to just be the Soekris dac1541 that the Allo HAT coax S/PDIF does not like - but yet BNC is good - pretty wacky and confusing.
Did some google and forum browsing came across one cat answering some ones question on what port is better on the Allo DigiOne and he said if you can use BNC do so it sounds better (to him) and the fact that he had issues using the coax S/PDIF on a piece of kit. Said the BNC outputs 1.0V versus 0.5V for the SPDIF RCA and the piece of kit he was using required 0.55V on its SPDIF input and had he to use an adapter on the BNC output (he noted the input was happy running over voltage by quite a bit, but not marginally under).
I have not confirmed this or the specs, but it makes sense. I think? I’m too tired to look up now the specs for the dac1541’s S/SPIF input etc. or confirm the DigiOne coax S/PDIF and BNC out put voltages.
Anyway the BNC out sounds great and I got to compare the Allo and Hifiberry HATs on other DACs. Too tired to elaborate and should retest when I am not frazzled.
The silver lining here is that you are forced to use a cool cable that most people don’t have any experience with! I bought a name brand AESEBU XLR cable to use with my PI2AES, just because…
Good luck with the goose hunt/ troubleshooting!
For the main desk I ended up picking up a Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 and a good AES/EBU cable and have not looked back!
I am now using the Allo DigiOne at my easy-chair setup with coax into a dac1321, and it is working wonderfully. The little industrial looking stack (dac1321+V200), you know what I’m talking about Andy, lol - is doing a fine job.
Do you even bother Favoriting items in roon?
I’m a pretty linear thinker, one device for one purpose. Since I only use Roon for my desktop and my stereo, I don’t really use much in the way of bells and whistles.
Question for the braintrust. Does the Roon Server or Roon Core direct the Roon Client to the database and the client gets the stream directly? Or does the Roon Server or Roon Core actually streams the file to the client?
I’m pretty sure the audio passes through the core, whether you’re coming from a streaming service or a local file.
That’s how I understand it everything is streamed from the Core.
It pretty much has to be that way to use their own protocol RAAT.
On the plus side that means only it needs access to the storage.
This is my understanding as well. It’s how Roon can apply DSP to streaming services, not just local files. It’s also how Roon is able to make Chromecast “gapless” (it concatenates the tracks you are playing such that to the Chromecast it looks like one long track). It’s also why so many Roon user performance related issues are due to poor home networks, congested wifi, or other core issues. You can disconnect remote device (ie phone, laptop, etc) and keep the stream going as long as the core is connected. But if the core looses network connectivity it all stops immediately.
Thanks guys.
This makes a lot of sense. Thanks guys. I was debating since I’m in the process of rewiring some rooms to CAT 6a, taking some steps to also integrate a NAS to store my library. It’s actually faster then to do what I’m currently doing which is just a direct connected mirrored drive on my Core.
@Polygonhell BTW I did look into upgrading my Core to a Server. I did it and then after about a week just changed it back since I did want a head in that box just to facilitate some management without having to jump back and forth between computers. But I can see it would be more efficient and more importantly could run as a service on a dedicated server. Getting rid of the need to log in and launch the core after an update or something.
What I do is run the Server, then also run the UI on that same box when I want a head on it and it will just connect to the existing server. If you leave the UI running it’s not going to be a win.
As I said the reason I do that is at least earlier versions of Core leaked memory, and Server didn’t.
My Roon Server doesn’t have a lot of memory on it, and when I ran Core as the Server, if I didn’t restart it say weekly, it would become unresponsive. I don’t have that issue with Roon Server component.
Ahh, that’s pretty clever. Hadn’t thought of that. I’ve been monitoring the core since you alerted me to the memory leakage. I haven’t seen it thankfully so it may be resolved. Typically the box stays at about 2.8 gig of mem utilization and doesn’t stray. I reboot it every couple of weeks anyway but at least that seems to have worked.
I liked your idea though, may wind up revisiting that!
I’m pretty impressed by the variety of options Roon has made available across the board, from everything to I don’t want to know about anything solution, to fully dedicated Linux DIY. Commendable on their part. Then again, it’s not cheap so you’d expect that.
If you’re running a compatible NAS and you don’t use DSP, you can try using it as a Core. I think Roon works a bit smoother when it’s accessing local storage. I’m running on a severely underpowered Synology with mechanical drives. Even though the UI is a bit sluggish at times, playback is flawless.
When I was originally looking, I found that it was far cheaper to buy a good PC with more than enough hardware, than it was to be a Good NAS. I think you’re right that ultimately a NAS implementation may be best, but the cost is skewed towards a good used micro PC, often around $100 on ebay for a Core 5 with 8 gigs and a 256 g SSD. a Middle of the road NAD would creep into the $300 range quickly.
No doubt. A good 2 bay NAS from Synology or Qnap start around $400 without the drives. But, in terms of reliability, longevity, and services, they’re worth it for me.
Right now I’m planning on building a new Qnap that will be around $800. That will give me 4TB of redundant storage, SSD storage for the Roon database and the ability to run Plex in parallel. As much as a Roon ROCK would be cheaper (and probably faster), it just can’t do that.