I’d prefer it directly connected, the primary system is, it’s just not feasible for my secondary system.
My Roon server is totally overkill, and I’ve never really had perf issues with it, most things just start and play. I did go through a period where hires tracks from Qobuz would pause for significant time between tracks which was a Roon bug they fixed.
This was just odd. It’s more interesting that it only affected RAAT, which seems to imply the protocol is finicky.
I’ve definitely had the same issue in the past with qobuz streaming causing this same issue. It’s become very rare since switching to ROCK and hard-line connections. But interestingly it did come back (for both qobuz and local files) when I tried to power a matrix x-spdif via ultraRendu. It would play 1 or 2 tracks then skip. I had to reset the uR and ROCK to get everything to play correctly again. But when I played uR directly into DAC via USB or when I switched to a different DDC (ultraDigital) I never had any glitches. Also, when I put a power supply on the x-spdif I had no issues. Probably some sort of brownout condition in the uR (or maybe under powering of the x-spdif resulting in USB errors).
Whatever it was, it’s not very impressive fault management by Roon that network playback errors results in this behavior. It would be much more useful to just stop playback and display an error message to help the user debug it.
No kidding, it was extremely difficult to debug, Roon logs were unhelpful, EERO has no logging or detailed info at all. The second bridge I tried had extensive logs that weren’t helpful.
While I appreciate it’s often difficult to present meaningful error messages to a user I certainly wish they did more.
For weeks now my ROON simply drops the stream mid song, i need to close it down, bring it back, sometimes re-start the NUC, sometimes re-start the laptop. Other times every few songs i have to close the app and open it back up. 
it started doing this to me back in early June and thus far has been the longest period of time in a very long while where no matter what i try i have not managed to get back up and operating in a semblance of normalcy.
I swapped over my main system to Innuos Sense or else i would not be able to get any listening time in at all during the week the ROON has been so completely messed up. I keep hoping that sometime soon they will push an update that clears things up, i’m well beyond my technical abilities and even though i see others with issues it doesn’t seem to be anything common to other users so I’m pretty sure it’s particular to my infrastructure 
I have been reading a lot of these comments but never experienced any dropouts, stops, skips or anything of the slightest. Mind you I am using a Roon Nucleus feeding my DDC then my Pontus 2 and then amps and powered monitors. Overall I have been quite impressed by the setup and not having any glitches at all. Strange but I suppose I should not mention it in case I jinx it. LOL!
Don’t get me wrong - Roon is generally rock solid and a great experience. My comments are more of a nagging complaint. I can’t imagine leaving Roon.
This has been my experience as well. I had a Bluesound Node sitting next to my Roku. The Roku could stream hi definition all day long without a glitch but the Node would drop and skip tracks because of network issues. I had similar issues with a Matrix Element 2i. Roon really likes a hardwired connection which isn’t always feasible.
You all are on to something. Roon did something that messed with RAAT. I had songs cutting off after 35-40 seconds. I ended up deleting my signal path and settings and starting from scratch. Thankfully, this fixed ALL of my issues…but it was a gigantic pain in the ass.
Hello,
I am thinking about a Roon Rock where I would like to connect to the network.
Unfortunately I don’t have much idea what is needed on the hardware side.
I’ve had a rough look, but I’ve read that there were problems with the Intel processor when Roon Rock was to be installed on it.
I don’t know if Roon has improved that in the meantime.
The plan would be to connect Roon Rock (Linux) with Windows Pc or if possible directly to the Dac.
At least that’s the rough draft.
The finer details could still be worked on.
I would buy (and I did) an Intel NUC10i7 with minimum 8GB RAM and the matching Akasa fanless case. Not sure what problems you’re referring to but these intel NUC are recommended by Roon and I’ve had 0 issues with installing or running Roon Rock. You could start with the NUC and do the case later if you want, there is no need to do so but I found moving to fanless was an improvement
There are slim versions (cheaper) of these NUCs without HD capability. The Akase case includes a cable to also add HD to these slim versions. I’ve disabled/unplugged all that I don’t need on the NUC like audio and wifi which is around 5v so that compensated for the extra HD in terms of power usage.
Good questions @Deleeh, but maybe to help clarify exactly what you’re trying to do…
Have you used Roon before? If so, what was the hardware setup you used?
Is there a particular reason you want to use ROCK as your Roon core?
How large is your music library?
Do you plan to stream from qobuz/tidal?
Do you have a hard-line network in your house or wireless?
Do you have a budget in mind for this?
What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow? 
Hello,
Yes, I am currently using Roon on the PC, so I have some experience.
I stream actually only mainly, but have on other hard drives still music from earlier as Mp3 where maybe times would be nice to hear again.
And at my home everything is connected with cable, no wifi for such things.
Why now,I have just tested 2 daps a Hiby R2pro and just the Cayin N7 Dap,and when I connect them via Bluetooth to the Dac,they are wonderful.
And I can hear differences between them and the PC.
There seems to be something somewhere where it is an advantage if the streaming unit does the main job before it flows into the music chain.
That actually makes me want to go back to something that makes sense.
Roon Rock seems to be a good solution just because of the use of Roon Arc.
This also works wonderfully for me on the N7 as long as the PC and Roon are active.
Nice! Makes a lot of sense.
If you specifically want to run ROCK you need to get a NUC from the recommended list:
I’ve heard other NUC can work, but it’s probably not worth the headache.
The above link is the best source for getting setup with ROCK.
There are other options for deducted Roon core setups, such as the Roon Nucleus or Small Green Computer SonicTransporter. It really just depends on how much DIY you want to take on.
The other option that doesn’t get too much attention is using an older mac mini. It turns out a first gen M1 Mac Mini is an outstanding Roon core. The Core just runs as a background service on the Mac.
Roon Rock is a separate network device, unless you want to complicate things network wise I would stay away of this approach.
That I would not recommend, it’s a server that does a lot of computation, a simply pi streamer with decent PSU would be more suited for this task imo. I would just add it to your network via UTP cable.
If you’re in the USA I’m probably open to selling my ROCK NUC in the fanless case and the raspberry pi I have in my second setup.
I thought Roon Rock was a dedicated PC and easier to use thanks to Linux-based software, or rather the software was supposed to be more streamlined than on Windows.
And I assumed that the Rock only has to be connected to the router.
The rest would actually be routed via USB to the Singxer Su 2, which does the rest.
My Matrix element H card would then be omitted for once.
At least that’s how I understood it, that it works with Roon Rock with a Nuc or am I barking up the wrong tree?
ROCK is a custom OS from Roon (Linux based) that runs only on NUC hardware. It turns the NUC into a “network appliance” that only runs Roon Core. So you just plug it into your network and configure it via web interface. You can play from a NUC setup with ROCK via USB connection. But most people stream from it over the network to a Roon Endpoint.
Exactly, that’s how I read and imagined it.
Thank you for the information.
At least that’s how I intend to set it up when the time comes.
Thank you.
This is a simple common setup with Roon Rock:
Today, Roon Rock and Computer are likely in the same box since Roon server runs on your computer.
I’m not sure how to interpret, is the rest, routed via USB, then via the USB out from the Roon Rock or via USB out from your computer or how should I see this?
If the primary goal is to decouple Roon from the computer so that you always have roon running and accessible without the computer on, then moving Roon to a NUC with Roon Rock is the right move.
If the primary goal is to remove the computer as a USB source for your DAC, then it might be more appropriate first looking into a dedicated streamer/endpoint and keep Roon server running on the computer for now.
Hello,
Yes, the computer must currently be running because the Dac or DDC is connected to it via USB.
The ideal would be to leave the computer out and then connect it via Roon Rock to the Dac/DDC and let it run.
I thought Roon Rock could also be used for streaming if it works as a core.
Of course, if I were looking for a streamer that was Roon ready, that would probably be out of the question.
The question would be what would be better?
Or am I misunderstanding something here?
