The cheapest/easiest way to get an endpoint is use USB from a Rapberry Pi to your existing DAC and install Ropieee.
You can also just use the DAC connected to the server, but it removes much of the value.
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Hello,
Thanks for your feedback @Polygonhell
Yes, I have seen a bit of the Raspberry, it looks quite passable, but I have already seen that there is a lot to consider in terms of implementation, especially the power supply.
Can i connecting the Su 2 to the router as it would still have a usb port probably doesn’t work I suppose, stupid question?
Otherwise, I found this here, which might be a good place to start, but I have no idea which configuration to select and where it is offered.
https://allo.com/sparky/boss2-player.html
https://allo.com/sparky/usbridge-signature-player.html
The Ifi streamer doesn’t look completely wrong.
But this one is also a streamer dac, which I didn’t really want.
Somehow I find Audirvana less complex to understand than Roon, and on the hardware side Audirvana is much friendlier than Roon.
Why can’t you use Roon in the same way as Audirvana - that would actually be feasible in practice?
I’d start with the ifi streamer. It’s all you need, has some good ifi noise filtering and power supply to begin with and it will be easy to sell should you decide to upgrade.
You can’t think of Roon as a music player, because it’s not. It’s a interface to play your music but… It’s a music database that allows you to bring in multiple external and local music sources and libraries and play them on multiple endpoints independently or at the same time if you wanted to. So different people in a home can listen to different streams.
On top of that it allows you to do the same should you have multiple dwellings, you know like my flat in Paris, my wintering apartment in Tenerife and my penthouse in NYC. 
In the case of a mobile device, (iOS or Android) you can use a device as a remote control or and endpoint, the same as if you were on a computer.
I’m with you that it’s a steep learning curve but when you understand what it is and how it goes about doing it, it doesn’t care about your hardware… it just needs to see an endpoint that it recognizes and can stream to. From there you can do whatever you wish. Whether the system be hi-brow or low brow, it doesn’t care. But if you wanted to dig into the stream chain and create multiple very granular configurations for each system… you could.
For example you can create a main system endpoint (insert streamer of your choice here) and from that streamer you can digital out to whatever you want downstream. Some streamers have a DAC but IMO that’s not what a lot of audiophiles would want since they’ve already got a good DAC. Some streamers as retail endpoints like and Apple TV device, is automatically recognized as an endpoint. But Roon can be as simple or as expansive as your want to make it.
It’s been a very engaging tool when listening to music but it will require some tailoring to your own needs.
- some creative license used during the writing of this response
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You all making me want to get Roon (FOMO) haha after being a diehard Foobar fan, persuade me 
mostly what I listen to is local so whats the benefit?
Most of what I listen to is local as well. it presents your library to you in a very “browseable” fashion and from there let you dive into the artists and bands, their history and it’s a very powerful suggestive algorithmic process for other songs or artists in the genre. It’s like an interactive music magazine.
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Oh that sounds mint, how is the metadata on none english stuff? Cos thats one thing what I tried Plex streaming once for my music and it just borked all my metadata overrode it with its own which was wrong and dont even talk to me how it showed my music 
Got Foobar setup so I can see music in the folders I want to see them in, am I able to do that too think I saw someone saying its very customiseable.
That’s an interesting question. Roon has a very deep and active forum, create and account and ask there. It does just as good a job for my Latin music collection but that’s a broad and global in appeal so I’d expect that.
Id expect the Japanese metadata to be alrite then haha
I bet it does. @Towa can chime in here.
Yeah I’ve had no problems so far w/ Jap music. I set all metadata to file source instead of Roon just to make sure.
free trial!
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I think the roon free trial is really too short to “get” it.
You have to use it long enough to change how you browse music for the value to really be apparent.
It’s also probably not for everyone, depends a lot on how you consume music.
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That’s a good point.
I didn’t start to love it until about 2-3 months of using it.
Speaking of which, doesn’t Roon offer a 3-month trial for $1 every Black Friday?
I could be wrong but I’d definitely wait and jump in on that.
I started to love it as soon as I got the trial and used it to set up multiple areas in my home. It made it sooooo easy compared to every other solution. I was sold right then.
The music browsing does take longer to “get.” But I haven’t read about music since I let my Rolling Stone subscription expire many (many many) moons ago.
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I don’t read the blurb either, to me it has more to do with allowing me to select which of multiple recordings to use by default, both across local versions and streaming service versions.
In addition the fact that it organizes all the Stevie Ray Vaughan material in one place, so I don’t have to remember the track I wanted to listen to was on Family Style, which I have to remember was “The Vaughan Brothers”.
It reduced my reliance on search as a navigation paradigm, which in turn meant I looked at more of my catalog more frequently, which even without algorithmic suggestions meant I listened to more of it.
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It works decent, some albums will be unidentified but for the most part they do have a lot of Japanese music in their database. For the stuff that is not identified roon will just use the file tags instead, oh and also roon doesn’t overwrite the existing Metadata of the files so no worries about I messing up anything, it just pulls from its database for stuff it recognizes, and you can also choose how it does it, like if you want to just use the already existing metadata you can or you can mix and choose which tags are handled by roon and which ones are pulled from he file. It’s a pretty powerful tool when you delve deeper into all the options.
BTW if you want to try out the trial and want a longer trial period you can use a referral code to get a full 30days of trial, just let me know and I can hook you up with a code.
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Beautiful description, and I agree! Its one of those things where a less attentive or self aware user might not even notice why they like it more, but just that they do.
Anybody use/subscribe to Audirvana Studio?
I know this is for roon but since it’s a similar topic I thought I’d ask.
I see no reason to subscribe to studio while roon exists but who knows, maybe I’m missing something…
I haven’t used audiovarna since before the studio update, but from what I heard a lot of people did not really like what they did with the software… Unless they have changed things since
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A lot of people didn’t like what Roon did in their update either. Us audio folk are a hard audience to please.
The Roon network streaming keeps me locked in. There’s other features in Roon that I value, but I can’t really live now without Roon endpoints.
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The controversy between 3.5 and Studio is that 3.5 is a one-time $100 fee and Studio is a monthly fee.
Unfortunately, 3.5 is no longer available for purchase.
And Studio is said to be not as good as Roon.
However, the catch with Roon is that you have to have hardware to be able to use it and you also have to pay monthly.
And Studio can be installed directly on the PC and recognises the Dac and everything without problems.
That doesn’t work so easily with Roon in terms of integration.
Studio, on the other hand, is not as extensive as Roon is - that has to be said.
But Studio costs a little less than Roon.
I don’t understand the principle of Roon, which doesn’t simply work like Audirvana on the PC.
A Raspberry Pi is the minimum and above all there are hardly any good streamers worth the price.
That’s why the entry into the Roon world is connected with additional hardware costs, especially if you use older Dacs, the streamer is obligatory.
The new Dacs support Roon Ready or have a Lan connection or Wifi port or one of both.
Audirvana has unfortunately made a marketing strategic mistake by eliminating 3.5 and introducing a subscription requirement and it will take time for Studio to mature as it has only been available since May.
So it still needs some time.
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