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How to upgrade system - HW & SW


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5 hours ago, marioed said:

Hi flyingelephant,

 

I'll throw out a couple of general ideas & opinions, but let me preface by saying my system is based on Windows 10 and some linux based operating systems.

 

I'm currently using Roon set up as Roon ROCK on an Intel NUC pc. In the past I've used J River but I've never tried Audinirvana. Overall I prefer Roon to J River for its user interface, I'm not sure Roon actually sounds better but for multiroom use I certainly think it works better. To me it's easier to setup and use the built in DSP, I also think it's easier to integrate wifi Raspberry Pi diy endpoints with Roon. At the current price for ROON's lifetime membership I'm not sure I'd pick it over some of the less expensive alternatives.

Roon is better than JRiver - but mostly for it’s features and interface, not it’s sound. JRiver Media Center is powerful, but it has a steep learning curve and is a bit arcane. Many features are not apparent to the novice user. 
Roon puts me off with it’s sales model. $150/year or $500 for a lifetime license is, to me, obscene in the extreme. Audirvana, on the other hand, is half the price of one year’s license for Roon ($75), and that’s for a lifetime license, and includes all future updates! JRiver is $50 for an initial license, and they’ll twenty-five-dollar you to death for every new release. I like Audirvana because it gives you your locally stored music library, Tidal and Quobuz all at your fingertips, in one place; has MQA decoding in software, is easy to set-up and use, doesn’t cost an arm and a leg and doesn’t continue to “nickel-and-dime” you to death forever. Audirvana also has a shallow learning curve and is easy for even a novice to understand, yet it’s very powerful. Plus, it sounds good!

 

How do you like the NUC? I’m toying with the idea of making a Hackintosh using one of them (NUC8, Intel i5 Gen 9). I can ostensibly make one for about US$500 that will handily outperform Apple’s $1300 Mini with more memory and more storage plus it will run cooler than the Mac and that’s also better for longevity. Because I have an iPhone and an iPad, Windows is simply not an option for me. The synergy that Apple has achieved between their computers and their “i” devices has to be experienced to be believed, and I don’t want to lose that!

 

George

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2 hours ago, flyingelephant said:

How would you integrate the NUC? Would you still run Audinirvana? Thanks!

 

I’m afraid that I don’t fully understand your question. The NUK with the Mac “Catalina” OS installed, would replace my Mac mini in my home office, which is getting long in the tooth (old). The Mac I use as a “music computer”, permanently connected to my stereo, is a MacBook Pro from around 2010. It runs MacOS 10.11.6 “El Capitan”. While an old OS (it is the newest one that this laptop will allow to be installed), it is new enough to support all of the music apps I need, such as Audirvana, Amazon Music, Audacity, Audio Highjack (a program which allows one to schedule one’s computer to record music from a website. For example, I use it every summer to automatically record each day’s Proms concerts off of BBC 3’s web site). The NUC would not be used primarily for music, but rather for general computing, but since Audirvana allows installs on two computers on the same WiFi network, I will install it on the NUC. After all, I do have desktop speakers and I do like to listen to music while I work on the computer. 
 

I hope this answers your question. If not, ask again, and I will try again to answer.

George

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2 hours ago, marioed said:

Well if you want to use Audirvana you'd need to setup the NUC with either Windows 10 or do a "Hackintosh". That would still probably be cheaper than buying a NUC and a lifetime Roon license.

 

I'd really recommend you start by downloading the trial versions of Roon & Audirvana onto your current computer to see which one you prefer. That decision will have a fairly big impact on how you proceed with hardware.


 

Excellent suggestion. I looked at Roon some time ago and found it to be very impressive. Of course it had better be for what they want for it. It would have to come with a yearly “subscription” to a lady of the evening to give oral gratification before I would support such a software business model, but that’s just me😏 


I downloaded the trial version of Audirvana because, with one of their many upgrades, Tidal’s software stopped working on both of my Macs, and their tech support people seemed not too interested in helping me sort it out. They asked me the same set of questions SEVEN TIMES before I finally gave up and tried Audirvana. (Tidal still works on my iPhone and iPad though).

 

2 hours ago, marioed said:

Roon ROCK is a linux based operating system free with a Roon license, it's very easy to install and setup on a NUC but you can't alter or customize it like you can with Windows 10 or Ubuntu. That's why deciding on the software you want to use is kinda the first step. 

I can see that. So, will Roon Rock only give you Roon, or will the OS run other Linux applications as well?

George

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41 minutes ago, marioed said:

No the ROCK setup is only Roon you can't add or run anything else on it. That's one of the reasons I feel comfortable leaving it on 24/7, it runs cool, temp wise, and sounds good.

Thanks.

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I'm curious, does this mean you can only use Audirvana on two computers or one computer and one endpoint with a license? That could be a drawback if you have a large number of endpoints. With Roon you have the core on one computer but you can have controller or bridges on as many endpoints as you want. In addition any tablet, smartphone or computer with a monitor & keyboard can be used as a controller.
 

I honestly don’t know if Audirvana has provisions to add more endpoints. I never thought about it until you mentioned it!

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I know what you mean. I was fortunate I guess to buy a lifetime subscription fairly early when it was very affordable.

Yes, very fortunate.💸

George

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