Just updated my virtual system

@erik_squires ,

 I really like that butcher block stand! I might have to start saving for my next birthday present to myself.😁

All the best.

JD

@erik_squires You gave me the push I need to pick up a Tidal sub. Tying Tidal into Roon immediately filled out more of the music library I've been missing when using Qobuz only. I've been wanting to consolidate my subscriptions, but instead, they're expanding. For now, I have Youtube, Spotify, Roon, Qobuz, and now Tidal. Playing with Roon over the last couple months has been interesting, but unless I can find a must-have feature, I might see if I can consolidate the last 3 or 4 subs into just Apple Music. The downside to Roon is being tied to a Roon Core. But I may keep Roon if one of the following pans out: (1) I get into music ownership, (2) if my local server sounds significantly better than a cloud server, (3) or if I get into upsampling. Maybe a fourth option is discovering that I can download music in Roon, and that playing back the downloaded music sounds better than streaming from the cloud. 

I'll check out Blue Coast Records. I haven't gotten into labels, or producers, or formats yet. 

It sounds like you use the LG TV as your streamer for video and music. That's interesting. I figured that with your setup, you would have had a dedicated music streamer. I can make a couple recommendations. (1) I put an AQ power cable on my TV. That power cable made a stupid big improvement on the picture quality. In your case, a TV PC upgrade may improve the audio too. (2) It used to be the case that the streamers built into TV's didn't age well--probably a combination of a handful of things like TV manufacturers ceasing to update the software after a year or two, the streaming hardware being cheap to begin with so that the TV meets a certain price point, and the major streaming services prioritizing major streamer apps over TV's apps. I've tried the major streamers over the years, and my current favorites are the Chromecast with Google TV and the Nvidia Shield TV (Pro). I believe the CC has the best streaming UI on the market, and the Nvidia Shield is snappier because of its more powerful hardware, it has AI 4k upscaling, and it boasts the latest video and audio standards from the streaming services. If your TV streamer ever feels sluggish or unpolished, you can keep the TV panel and keep the software experience separate. 

It sounds like you use the LG TV as your streamer for video and music.

@classdstreamer That is absolutely not correct. The TV only does the video streaming.

I figured that with your setup, you would have had a dedicated music streamer.

As I wrote elsewhere, I use Roon and there’s a Raspberry Pi 4 in a fanless case acting as a Roon endpoing which is off-camera. There’s a USB connection from there to the Mytek Brooklyn.

The Anthem HT receiver has built in Chromecast but I never use it.

There’s a point I wanted to make about having a dedicated audiophile streamer for audio.

I don’t like them for a number of reasons

• Cost
• Reliability
• Lack of continuous improvement / upgrades will eventually end
• Vendor lock-in on hardware, UI and even the music library

I’ve been using Roon with a mini x86 server as the core and Raspberry Pi 4 as the end point. I’ve never had the need to shut them down and call a dealer or even reset them. My mini PC is about 12 years old, so the fan on the power supply started giving out. $79 later and I got a replacement. While replacing it I accidentally shorted the disk drive (with an actual spinner inside) which was also at least that old. $89 for 1 TB. Imagine any streamer charging less than a grand for a 1TB internal disk. 🤣. Reinstall Linux, install Roon, restore my music from back up, which took the longest amount of time, and bam. I’m back.

My subscription to Roon ensures that the software is constantly upgraded and keeps up with the latest audio formats and services (well, except Amazon music). Using Ubuntu LTS ensures that I get the latest OS and security patches until 2025.

Honestly I trust Roon will be around for at least a decade.  I don't trust any of the streamer vendors to be around that long, to constantly improve the feature and service set or to ensure my current hardware is compatible with the next release.  It's nearly impossible for a hardware vendor to put the same kind of effort into their software as Roon can.  Also, I really like Roon.

I suppose if I put together a mini PC Roon core and Pi 4 again I’d probably be out $600 vs. say $3k minimum for commercial offerings. Sorry that’s a jump I can’t make. Partly the DIY in me and partly the frugal.

I am however looking for a DAC with built in Roon endpoint. Not core. I’m tempted by the Mytek Manhattan II as well as the Bricasti but have heard neither so far.

PC + Raspberry Pi 4 + Roon as server, streamer, and library management software. Gotcha. 

I resonate with your argument against the business model of HiFi streamer manufactures. As soon as we introduce software into hardware, its shelf-life diminishes. AVR's are a good case in point. Since 2015, video standards have quickly evolved from 1080p to 4k, then HDR, and now we have forking HDR standards of HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, and recently 4k at 120Hz became a thing. Just like the audio chain, to have the video features you want, every piece in the video chain has to be compatible: video streamer, HDMI cables, AVR, and TV. If one of those is behind, you lack some feature. For now, I'm content with 4k 60Hz, base level HDR, and chroma subsampling of 4:2:0. It's not the latest and greatest, but it's good enough for the major streaming services. Plus, being on the cutting edge is costly.  

Besides the points you made, I would point to their revenue model as the culprit: one-off streamer sales are not likely to support continuous software development. When sharing my iFi Zen Stream ($400) streamer with other audio folks, the biggest criticism was the lack of amazing library management software. That is, consumers seem to want convenience, high quality, and a low price--in business, it's usually a pick two of the three. 

If I do stick with Roon (plus Qobuz and Tidal) instead of Apple Music, I'll put together a server that I leave always on. Having to walk to another room and boot up my main computer just to listen to music isn't convenient enough. And if I go with a NAS, I might be able to also store and stream movies too, which is a lot cheaper than Kaleidescape. But I have to see if Plex and Roon can be used together.