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Do I really need a separate Roon Core (computer) to use Roon Software?

The way I understand it, there are basically 4 devices required to use Roon software to play digital music files (whether from local file storage or streaming). 1. The Roon Core on which the software is installed. 2. A streamer, which takes the datastream from the core (via Ethernet) and provides a high quality input to the DAC. 3. The DAC. 4. And finally an optional controller such as a smartphone or tablet. Seems like a lot of hardware. 
Many people rave about Roon being so fantastic, but is it really worth adding another piece of hardware, power supply, power cord, interconnect, and ongoing maintenance of that hardware?

Currently, I have a LUMIN D1, which is a streamer DAC combo, and I like it. But I’m wondering what Roon would bring to the party.

So my second question is: Is there any hardware that includes the “Core” within the streaming device instead of requiring a separate piece? I found the ELAC Discovery DS-S101-G, but it does not include MQA nor Qobuz, and seems to be obsolete already. I’m kind of old school, and prefer the one box solution for sources. I’m not interested in hooking up a computer to my rig either.  Thanks in advance for any wisdom or advice!
rockrider
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@rockrider I’m not sure, in your case, how much (the degree) Roon Support will be helpful. It might be...but it’s structured for folks who are farther along in "computer literacy." 

There is nothing wrong about not "knowing" the ins and outs of computer related stuff and "computer" based audio. Even those with deeper knowledge struggle (at times, if not often).

I suggest catching up via online introductory primers on computers, networking, etc. first. Once you have the fundamentals down and understand them, the rest will follow.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,980 posts
 
You can run a music server on any supported platform you choose and may already own.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,646 posts
 
Yes Roon DSP is wonderful.  I upsample everything to DSD128. I like that the most thus far with my Lampi Amber 3  dac. I also boost the bass by 1.25 dB from 120htz and down.   
itsjustme
683 posts
 
Not at all. You can run roon on an available device, although over time you may see some advantages to a dedicated core or even  ROCK.  For quite some time as I got to know Roon, i ran it, along with other general purpose programs, on an OLD ( i mean OLD) MacBook Pro Laptop from 2009.  yea, it had an SSD and lots of RAM (for an old machine).
Now I run ROCK as an appliance on a 6-core i5 Intel NUC.  Huge overkill, but totally stable and forget-about-it.
I now use that old MacBook Pro as a Roon ready remote endpoint and ethernet--> USB bridge - and that's in my **main** system in a dedicated sound room. So don't let anyone tell you its a power hog.  Aside from indexing and searching metadata - and unless you are doing wacky DSP - its not.  And in general you can do more harm with DSP than good unless you have a very specific problem to solve and tons of knowledge on how to go about solving it.  Room or speaker compensation jumps to mind, but again, you;d have to have a for-real problem, and a fully FFT characterized idea of what's wrong. Yea, right :-)
itsjustme
683 posts
 
And in my experience Wifi is a real problem with hifi audio and Roon in particular. Drop outs, buffer under-runs, and poor sound ensue.  Run A WIRE
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