Acourate with Lumin, Tidal and Roon

[wil]

Hi, Is anyone using this combination? I'm just beginning to look into it.

 

[Keith_W]

Acourate, yes. Lumin, Tidal, and Roon - no. But it is possible to get Acourate to work with Roon (and therefore with Tidal). Because neither Roon nor the Tidal app have a convolution engine, you will need one. Your options are: HQPlayer, JRiver, AcourateConvolver. There are other options as well - e.g. BruteFIR, which is Linux only and has a very basic interface. But it also has minimal hardware requirements and is very fast.

You set it up like this:

1. Create the filters with Acourate.
2. Load these filters into a convolution engine of your choice.
3. Set up your software so that Roon/Tidal outputs to your convolution engine (ASIO for JRiver and AcourateConvolver, direct output into HQPlayer).
4. Play music and enjoy!

 

[Whatmore]

Keith,
The latest version of Roon now has a convolution engine

 

[Keith_W]

Thanks Trevor. I did not know that.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Keith,
The latest version of Roon now has a convolution engine

It actually works quite well. I've done some A/B comparisons with the engine in JRiver, and Roon's implementation sounds at least as good...perhaps better. However, to get the best sound out of Roon, I've found that you really need to buy into their architectural recommndations. Setup a PC in another part of the house...away from your listening room but connected to your house LAN. Use that PC to run Roon Server. Then use a network audio adapter like the microRendu or a small, solid-state fanless PC like the Quantum Byte Fanless PC, to run Roon Bridge in your main listening room. The server PC will do all of heavy lifting, including streaming from TIDAL or your NAS, uncompressing FLAC to PCM, upsampling, applying EQ and/or convolution, and resampling/descimating the result to match the capabilities of your DAC. The resulting ready-to-play stream will be fed to the NAA or Roon Bridge PC via Roon's RAAT protocol, leaving relatively little work for the small device in your listening room to perform. All it has to do is read the stream from Ethernet and push it to the DAC via USB.

Instructions for loading convolution filters created by Acourate can be found here: https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine:_Convolution

It's pretty simple once you get the basic *.cfg file format down. Create those once, and you'll never have to change them. When you create new filters, just ZIP up the *.WAV files with the *.cfg files and upload them to Roon server from the DSP/Convolution settings for your DAC in Roon desktop (no mobile/tablet support yet).

 

[wil]

dsynder,

Thanks for that detailed description.
Why should the server PC be in a separate room from the listening room and the Roon Bridge PC?

The reason I ask is that my listening "room" is a separate building from our house (about 100 feet away).
Internet is delivered by a Netgear Powerline adaptor. The room is 60 feet long, with the listening area at one end.
Would the other end (50 feet away) provide the separation you're looking for?

Also, I take it this network of Server and Bridge can be hardwired ethernet (bypassing wireless)? I have had
nightmare problems with my lumin wireless network and so have had to go wired with Roon.

Thanks

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Generally, the Roon Server PC will be a bit more powerful than the Roon Bridge PC, requiring one or more fans to keep it cool...and fans are usually noisy! The Server PC may generate more RFI and power supply noise than you'd like to have in the listening room as well.

Agreed that wired Ethernet is definitely the way to go vs. wireless for lots of reasons. Too often, I've found that wifi drivers add significant DPC latency.

 

[Brucemck2]

Dsnyder,

Can you post a couple of .cfg files (maybe 44.1 or 88.2 and 192k)so that the format and naming conventions are apparent? It's still a bit confusing in the Roon instructions.

 

[Keith_W]

You do not want a EOP (Ethernet Over Power) to deliver internet to your system. This injects a lot of electrical noise into the mains. I suggest you run a separate CAT6 network line if your server PC is far away from your playback PC. It should be good for up to 100m (approx 100 yards).

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Dsnyder,

Can you post a couple of .cfg files (maybe 44.1 or 88.2 and 192k)so that the format and naming conventions are apparent? It's still a bit confusing in the Roon instructions.

Sure....the format looks like this for a simple passive crossover system:

==> Cor2.0_96.cfg <==

96000 2 2 0
0 0
0 0
Cor1S96.wav
0
0.0
0.0
Cor1S96.wav
1
1.0
1.0

Here's a zip file of the .cfg files that I'm currently using:

http://www.dsnyder.ws-e.com/ts/roon_cfgs.zip​

I've removed the filter files, so when you create your .zip file for Roon, be sure also to include these files that are generated by Acourate:

Cor1S44.wav
Cor1S48.wav
Cor1S88.wav
Cor1S96.wav
Cor1S176.wav
Cor1S192.wav
Cor1S352.wav
Cor1S384.wav

If you generate filters for all sampling rates, the .zip file that you upload to Roon should contain a total of 16 files...eight .cfg and eight .wav.

Here's where you upload them in Roon...choose the zone for your listening room and select "DSP Engine" from the pop-up menu:

Navigate to the Convolution tab and upload the .zip file that contains the eight .cfg and eight .wav files:

-- David

 

[wil]

dsnyner,

I'm told by Lumin that Roon Bridge is not compatible with "Roon Ready" devices such as Lumin.

So can the set up "simply" be:

Server PC >> Client PC and monitor >> Router >> Lumin ? All connected by ethernet.

For the Server PC, what do you think of using an older model Mac Pro tower, quad core with solid state boot, instead of the PC? These are very quiet.

Thanks much

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

dsnyner,

I'm told by Lumin that Roon Bridge is not compatible with "Roon Ready" devices such as Lumin.

So can the set up "simply" be:

Server PC >> Client PC and monitor >> Router >> Lumin ? All connected by ethernet.

For the Server PC, what do you think of using an older model Mac Pro tower, quad core with solid state boot, instead of the PC? These are very quiet.

Thanks much

Ummm...."Roon Bridge" is a "Roon Ready" device.

If you already have a Roon Ready device like the LUMIN, you don't need Roon Bridge. You would run "Roon Server" on your "Server PC" and setup the LUMIN as one of the zones using Roon Controller.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

dsnyner,

I'm told by Lumin that Roon Bridge is not compatible with "Roon Ready" devices such as Lumin.

So can the set up "simply" be:

Server PC >> Client PC and monitor >> Router >> Lumin ? All connected by ethernet.

For the Server PC, what do you think of using an older model Mac Pro tower, quad core with solid state boot, instead of the PC? These are very quiet.

Thanks much

Ummm...."Roon Bridge" is a "Roon Ready" device.

If you already have a Roon Ready device like the LUMIN, you don't need Roon Bridge. You would run "Roon Server" on your "Server PC" and setup the LUMIN as one of the zones using Roon Controller.

 

[Brucemck2]

David, thanks!

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

David, thanks!

Sure thing. This stuff is pretty amazing. Looking forward to hearing how this works for you.