WiiM Pro is now Roon Ready

[Achim1811]

To Nucleus or not to Nucleus....that's the question! Which was not initially part of the discussion. The ways to Roon can be very different.
What I dislike is this pricing discussion, mostly from people who never tried. Hearsay or readsay only. I can not imagine people in such a forum are not aware there are other possibilties. But not a single one seems to be ready all over or has an easy entry without diving deep in. Roon is ready and with ARC it is even more ready.

 

[Pcryan5]

BTW love the avatar. Heading out to see Dead & Co. Sunday at Fenway!

Nice. We will see them at The Gorge in Washington State this time. We travel every summer to catch a show.

 

[Billyk]

To Nucleus or not to Nucleus....that's the question! Which was not initially part of the discussion. The ways to Roon can be very different.
What I dislike is this pricing discussion, mostly from people who never tried. Hearsay or readsay only. I can not imagine people in such a forum are not aware there are other possibilties. But not a single one seems to be ready all over or has an easy entry without diving deep in. Roon is ready and with ARC it is even more ready.

As much as I agree with you, the price of admission that way is steep for a lot of folks. With a smaller initial investment folks can enjoy the benefits of a Roon installation sooner and eventually upgrade as desired.
Also as you said we are way off topic, yikes! But I am a bit of a Roon evangelist, ha, ha! If folks are interested I’d be happy to start a thread.

 

[d6jg]

To Nucleus or not to Nucleus....that's the question! Which was not initially part of the discussion. The ways to Roon can be very different.
What I dislike is this pricing discussion, mostly from people who never tried. Hearsay or readsay only. I can not imagine people in such a forum are not aware there are other possibilties. But not a single one seems to be ready all over or has an easy entry without diving deep in. Roon is ready and with ARC it is even more ready.

The only completely plug and play way in is with a Nucleus. Any other way is very similar to a multitude of other systems.
My issue is with cost for sure. The Nucleus is a ridiculously overpriced PC. The basic one is an i3 with 8Gb Ram and a small SSD for the OS. A similar spec regular PC is a quarter of the price. Fact

 

[Achim1811]

@Billyk and @d6jg
Every word is correct. I never wanted to be a crusader. And I wrote that for me and my knowledge or fun the Nucleus is the way to go. I am absolute aware that the pricing for a lot of people for the Nucleus is away from reality. But if I would like the software and the only reason not to have it are the 12 €/m then the question I have to answer first are likely not related to music reproduction. May be it reads arrogant, but I purchased it because I can. Others give money for other things. I give it for my music. And this post seems to be a good "last word" for me. I will read with interest but no more posting.

 

[Willx]

I think that’s a significant barrier to running Roon - I don’t want to have to have a PC or NUC running just because I want to listen to some music. I do have LMS on a Raspberry Pi, but that’s a low cost, low power device, almost like a small appliance.

Life is full of choices. Computers on standby use minimal power and the cost is minimal also, particularly when compared to the cost of many people’s hifi setup.

 

[d6jg]

@Billyk and @d6jg
Every word is correct. I never wanted to be a crusader. And I wrote that for me and my knowledge or fun the Nucleus is the way to go. I am absolute aware that the pricing for a lot of people for the Nucleus is away from reality. But if I would like the software and the only reason not to have it are the 12 €/m then the question I have to answer first are likely not related to music reproduction. May be it reads arrogant, but I purchased it because I can. Others give money for other things. I give it for my music. And this post seems to be a good "last word" for me. I will read with interest but no more posting.

Don’t disappear. Your views are entirely valid and this debate has caused me to revisit Roon to compare it now to LMS now.
I’m interested in ARC. Does anyone know how it works? Is there a VPN tunnel of some description created and is it bandwidth limited? if you broadband isn’t high enough you can’t get it? Or is it in fact simply a clone of your database that gets you files from elsewhere?

 

[Achim1811]

It is to difficult for me to keep fingers silent.
We use it at our (still) main location where we do not have any bandwidth issues. Setup from Nucleus was made by the dealer as normal part of the purchase who, together with our IT guy get it running through all existing VPN and firewalls. I do not even know if this was difficult, these IT anarchists are not keen to teach people. May be they fear it could make them obsolete

 

[d6jg]

It is to difficult for me to keep fingers silent.
We use it at our (still) main location where we do not have any bandwidth issues. Setup from Nucleus was made by the dealer as normal part of the purchase who, together with our IT guy get it running through all existing VPN and firewalls. I do not even know if this was difficult, these IT anarchists are not keen to teach people. May be they fear it could make them obsolete

Don’t worry us “IT anarchists” will never be obsolete while there are people who think it’s too difficult to try for themselves.

 

[Achim1811]

Got me..

 

[Billyk]

Don’t disappear. Your views are entirely valid and this debate has caused me to revisit Roon to compare it now to LMS now.
I’m interested in ARC. Does anyone know how it works? Is there a VPN tunnel of some description created and is it bandwidth limited? if you broadband isn’t high enough you can’t get it? Or is it in fact simply a clone of your database that gets you files from elsewhere?

Not the details. Install the iOS app, set up the ports on my internet equipment and it works. It required upnp enabled but once done it works. I have never had a bandwidth issue.

 

[Billyk]

Don’t disappear. Your views are entirely valid and this debate has caused me to revisit Roon to compare it now to LMS now.
I’m interested in ARC. Does anyone know how it works? Is there a VPN tunnel of some description created and is it bandwidth limited? if you broadband isn’t high enough you can’t get it? Or is it in fact simply a clone of your database that gets you files from elsewhere?

Not the details. Install the iOS app, set up the ports on my internet equipment and it works. It required upnp enabled

 

[d6jg]

Not the details. Install the iOS app, set up the ports on my internet equipment and it works. It required upnp enabled but once done it works. I have never had a bandwidth issue.

Interesting.
Must be similar to the way Plex do it.
It can be done with LMS but it really is an IT person only sort of setup.

 

[RT3rd]

Don’t disappear. Your views are entirely valid and this debate has caused me to revisit Roon to compare it now to LMS now.
I’m interested in ARC. Does anyone know how it works? Is there a VPN tunnel of some description created and is it bandwidth limited? if you broadband isn’t high enough you can’t get it? Or is it in fact simply a clone of your database that gets you files from elsewhere?

ARC has a separate app in the iOS store. The setup is done in the Roon Core settings. Im no IT person so I don't know the details. The port is opened through the Roon app. No VPN. Arc will see your Core. Requires Roon Core to be always on.

 

[Achim1811]

As soon as Roon Ready is finally ready on the WiiM I will try ARC 300 kms away from the core. Let's see what happens. With the Node X it is fine. Most times, I have to confess. Sometimes it is a little bit slow, but of course that can also be related to a network situation. Another tiny issue could be the handling of downloaded (not purchased!) Qobuz stuff. For me there is no need for it but as a confessing playchild I tried it but don't get it running. Nevertheless, the ARC can be something like a gamechanger but in my eyes this is where the most work in the Labs has to be done. But I am convinced they faced it.

 

[Willx]

Don’t disappear. Your views are entirely valid and this debate has caused me to revisit Roon to compare it now to LMS now.
I’m interested in ARC. Does anyone know how it works? Is there a VPN tunnel of some description created and is it bandwidth limited? if you broadband isn’t high enough you can’t get it? Or is it in fact simply a clone of your database that gets you files from elsewhere?AsAs

 

[Willx]

As a long term subscriber to Roon, I thought ARC was a a waste of resources as I would not use it as I can download my own files to my phone and stream or download Qobuz files when travelling. I have had to eat my words. ARC is just so much better than these other solutions as you have a similar look and feel to how you listen and search for music at home. You don’t have to think eve3ry time you leave home (except for the times you know that you cannot stream and have to rely on downloads). I now use it regularly. As with all new developments there were some problems at the start but these now appears to have been largely sorted out. In my usual sceptical manner, I thought the last upgrade to ARC was a waste of time as it allowed you to tweak the settings for headphones. I started playing around with the settings. I did a very slight adjustment to accomodate the fact that I have slightly less good hearing in one of my ears and my audio experience improved exponentially. That is the thing with both ARC and Roon, you think that it is already very good and they come up with some new approach that you thought you would never need and suddenly this feature becomes essential. I could never go back to other solutions.

This is the problem with Roon - it is a drug and I am hooked and the occasional blip causes all sorts of angst, even though I have backup solutions both in my home environment and on the go that do not rely on Roon “just in case”.

That is why so many people are passionate about it. I acknowledge, however, that it is not for everyone. It is on the expensive side, but then many people have very expensive hifi equipment that costs much, much more than a lifetime Roon subscription. Roon makes life so much easier in terms of hardware etc and now “on the move” and so much better in terms of information about the music that is at your fingertips (including access in many cases to the accompanying booklets).

 

[Achim1811]

@Willx
You made my day

 

[Willx]

As soon as Roon Ready is finally ready on the WiiM I will try ARC 300 kms away from the core. Let's see what happens. With the Node X it is fine. Most times, I have to confess. Sometimes it is a little bit slow, but of course that can also be related to a network situation. Another tiny issue could be the handling of downloaded (not purchased!) Qobuz stuff. For me there is no need for it but as a confessing playchild I tried it but don't get it running. Nevertheless, the ARC can be something like a gamechanger but in my eyes this is where the most work in the Labs has to be done. But I am convinced they faced it.

You cannot download Qobuz (or Tidal) streaming content to ARC. This is a licensing issue between Qobuz and their suppliers rather than a technical one. Of course this is only an issue if you cannot stream using ARC. ARC can be a bit slow to start up (I suspect it is updating all that new stuff, including information about your latest listening habits) but once up and running is very reliable when compared, in my experience, with the other high resolution streaming apps I have used (Qobuz and Tidal). A few days ago, I was 1200 Km from home and ARC worked perfectly.

 

[Achim1811]

That is what I meant. I tried this downloaded stuff only for curiosity not knowing it is a license question. It very few times happened that I have to wait for an album cover, but that is likely my in-the-middle-of-nowhere situation.