Can I connect my Roon Server USB output to the RS 130 USB input? I’d like my Roon server to be the repository of my library with Roon. I know the RS 130 USB connection works with a Windows formatted SSD. Will it also work with a Roon Rock? If not, then perhaps since that’s Linux, maybe a Roon server running under Windows?
I very much doubt it. RS130 appears to have USB storage inputs. You can attach a hard drive, or a RID enclosure to it. Roon server (does not matter what OS it is running on, ROCK, Nucleus, setup on your Mac or PC…) can have music storage exposed over the network, and it can output to a USB DAC. It does not have any magic that would allow you to connect two hosts to a single storage device.
Why would you want to do it anyway, whole point of Roon (and of 130, inasmuch as there is a point to 130) is that you have the server as a single point of managing the music collection, and Roon sends it to the playback equipment over the network…
BorisM,
I want to do it because for some reason my Roon server (which is my Mac Studio) is only intermittently accessible via the Roon iPad app to schedule playback on the RS 130. I thought possibly a direct connection might help. Next up is a Roon Rock since this probably won’t work.
Any suggestions are welcome.
StandardModel
Just my 2 cents but you really want you roon server completed segregated from your streamer (rs 130) that is the whole point to use the RAAT transport and reduce the audio transmission noise. That is why Roon recommended your server and endpoint are two different devices. You would be introducing a whole chain of “noise,” to your rs130 if you were able to direct connect a Roon server. I would suspect if even possible you would not be happy.
OK, I’m sold. I’m going to set up a Roon ROCK. I’ll put the Roon on that and then use the RS 130 as an output device. I’m hopeful that the Roon iPad app will “see” and control the Roon server better than it has running on my Apple Studio.
Thanks for the advice.
StandardModel
Happy to help. Maybe just pickup a used Mac mini and you can run it without a monitor / headless and control it from your studio. This is what I do. I have a 2014 intel based Mac mini and control it, if needed via my Mac Studio. I rarely have to control the roon core as it does its thing with ease but I do like to check in on it to make sure that I have the latest update.
PM me if you need help.
Bidding on a used i5 NUC at eBay now.
Just keep in mind for setup I think you will need a mouse, keyboard and monitor to start but once underway you can remove all of those items.
Is it the RS130 specifically that does not show up as a Roon endpoint, or the Remote can not connect to the Roon Core itself? If it is the former, it is most likely a network issue, and direct connection might help, but it is better to fix the network… If it is the latter, it could be either a network of a problem with the Core, but direct connection won’t help… But it won’t work with a 130 anyway. If you had a more sensible endpoint (let’s say the 150 if you want to be fancy) that would have worked and would at least help with diagnosing the issue.
However, why can’t you take whatever DAC you are feeding from the 130 and plug that directly into the core? Results would at least show if the problem is in the network, core setup, or somewhere else… For that matter, can you reliably stream something from Roon to you Mac’s speakers?
If there were any “noise” making it through to the DAC (there wouldn’t really) it would be so far below anything that could possibly be heard by any human being (maybe besides Rob Watt, but he’s quite unique… or really good at selling incredibly ugly gear) that it would not be an issue either way.
It really should work perfectly fine on a Mac (although it is generally better to run a server on something that you are not using for day to day tasks. If the problem is that your Roon remote does not see the Core (rather than the 130 specifically), then the cause is not in how 130 is connected, and if the problem is with the network it might be that a ROCK won’t work either…
