Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Not liking Roon... Can I stream Tidal directly? How about Sooloos?

Just bought DSP3200's and 218.

I've tried Roon for almost 2 weeks but find it's too messy, complicated and I'm not enjoying it as much as the Naim app with Tidal integration I use on the Muso in my bedroom.

If I have an iMac, DSP3200's and 218. Can I send a DIGITAL stream from Tidal through either the router or iMac without any other hardware?

If not, did Sooloos have Tidal integration? If so, do I need to add a Media Core to my setup in order to run it? I believe the 218 is an endpoint but I then need a core. I‘ve the core no longer runs on OSX or my QNAP.

Feeling a little peeved... lots of expensive equipment and no longer an elegant solution to make it all work together...

Sooloos should work, you could either get yourself a QNAP or a used MD600 for the "core".

Bear in mind Sooloos is no longer being developed or fixed if issues occur.
Two weeks is a short period of time to make a judgement regarding Roon, maybe if you described what you are finding confusing we could help?

Yes, QNAP, thanks for the correcting.
I am not sure that confusion is something we can help with

Maybe not but the offer has been made.

When I bought the Muso, I was listening to music in no time at all. It has just the right feature set for me. Navigation is intuitive and requires very little input before I’m listening to music. I find Roon too confusing and time consuming and have spent more time swiping, clicking and scrolling than listening to music.

For example, the most basic task of browsing by album, artist or track requires a click to enter the menus, then a click to select my choice. Why isn’t there simply an icon on the page?

And when I’m looking at all my albums, there’s no large A-Z to indicate where I am in the collection. Instead I find myself squinting to read an album name, swiping a few times then looking at another album name.

Once I select an album, say... A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Roon shows me the cover art and a list of tracks. Even on a 27” iMac however I need to swipe, no wait, this time I need to SCROLL to see tracks 6-11. Room can’t even display 11 track names without my input. And it’s not even as if they use a large font. There’s just a heap of unnecessary space between each track name.

Meridian isn’t cheap here in the land of Oz. A pair of 3200’s with stands costs £5000. I dropped this cash in order to have some down time without tech... but now find myself swiping scrolling and clicking far more than is reasonably necessary to perform simple tasks. I was hoping Sooloos might be less IN YOUR FACE and let me listen to music. Sorry to moan but my wallet seems to be aching badly... and that’s before it gets hit with a $500 Roon membership.

Everyone’s thoughts greatly appreciated.

Ok, fair enough it doesn’t sound like it is for you, I assume you qualify for the US$500 lifetime offer for current trial users otherwise it is now US$699 which may make the decision for you.

Im still a fan of Sooloos. The biggest issue is its a dying platform, but it does work and is very usable. If you can live with the fact its obsolete, give it a go.

Have you looked at an MC200. That would give you either 500Gb or 1Tb of storage. It does have Tidal integration, I used Tidal for the free trial, but then didnt bother to keep it. At the time it didnt have much MQA material but that seems to have been addressed now.
I cant remember now how smooth that experience was to be honest.

I have a small collection, by the standards of some here, and play music that I have ripped from CD's I have bought. Works for me.

Cheers
Greg

If you're willing to spend some more, and given that you own an iMac, there are some other options...

Buy a Meridian 210 to add to your existing 218. With this, you can either...

* Connect a USB HDD containing your music library to the 210. If you have an iPad, installing Arcam's MusicLife (free) will control your music playback,

or,

* Buy/install Audirvana for MacOS on your iMac (free trial before you buy). This will wirelessly stream your music to a Meridian 210 via UPnP. Audirvana also integrates Tidal and Qobuz. Adding Audirvana iOS to an iPad facilities remote playback of your music.

The caveat is that buying a Meridian 210, plus Audirvana combined, will cost more than simply buying Roon.

I'm trying to work out the simplest way of listening to Tidal. Is there some way I can output a digital signal from my iMac to the 218? If not, then I will have to investigate an MC200. But hoping I don't have to spend more money on an obsolete system.

I don't think my Mac or QNAP can run Sooloos because it won't run on the current operating systems.

Roon is a great achievement, however it appears to be lead by programmers who like to tinker... Although Sooloos was also their creation, the interface was most likely directed by Meridian whose philosophy has always been about simplicity, elegance and getting out of the way so you can enjoy the music.

I wonder why they left Meridian? Or why Meridian didn't retain some form of partnership instead of leaving Sooloos to die in the wilderness... I think both companies are the poorer for it.

I've not heard of this AUDIONIRVANA of which you speak... I believe it warrants further investigation.

Is there a way to send its digital signal via a wired connection to the 218? Sending a signal through the ether seems like spending a pile of cash on a beautiful tiara then sending it via Royal Mail to its recipient... LOL

I believe you can stream from Tidal to your 218 with an appropriate cable between the iMac and the 218, the 218 has digital coax, optical and analogue inputs to choose from.

It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the Tidal interface.