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

And Sooloos aka Roon really has grown into an amazing app

I stream Tidal into Meridian using a Bluesound Node 2i via dig coax. Although I am far from expert, I believe you could do the same via the 218?

The BluOS interface with Tidal may be more to your liking. I am also able to unfold MQA to 24/96 with the Node 2i and (ducking while saying this) variable digital out to adjust volume from the app. I get in the ballpark volume wise when I turn on the Meridian system, then adjust track to track variance to taste with the app. So the changes aren’t great. Bluesound purports to have a proprietary digital volume control that does not affect the quality. For the relatively small changes I’m making, I honestly can not tell any degradation.

You can pick up a used Node2i to try and easily sell it on at no loss to try it out... and comes in white or black to match your 3200’s quite nicely... I swear. No affiliation with Bluesound. Just a satisfied owner.

As an aside, when I upgraded my Powernode 2 to 2i and sold the 2, the new (now second hand owner) had some issues with noise. Although they had no obligation to do so, when the owner contacted Bluesound directly, they replaced his unit at no charge.

Oh, and the 2i supports Airplay2...

The 218 needs Roon or Sooloos to stream via network.

Sorry, my wording there was less than clear.
What I meant was that he could stream with the Bluesound INTO the 218 via its digital coaxial input. Couldn’t he?

The problem with Roon as an update from Sooloos is it doesn't support Rhapsody/Napster & they have a lot of music that I won't get with Tidal.

Roon also has Qobuz integration available it might be worth checking if that fills in gaps you see with Tidal.
Do you have examples of music that is Rhapsody only?

I bought a Roon Nucleus before owning any Meridian gear and initially resented it!

I couldn't get it to locate any of my stored music on my PC, still can't I had to go out and buy an EZ drive HD to plug into the Nucleus then dropouts with tidal were infuriating!

A sweet deal on a pair of DSP8000s and a 218 came my way and I still had to buy an iPad, but now after using Roon awhile I’m glad I endured the learning curve and the program has a great community of support there when I have specific questions the answers are there and I'm always the weak link being tech challenged as I am.

I've invested a lot in the Meridian Sooloos ecosystem over the years, but finally decided it's time to give Roon a try and got the Nucleus+. Setup was pretty easy, the only issues were network related unrelated to Roon.

Now my Roon Ready Devialet can connect directly to the Nucleus+ Roon Core via Ethernet, bypass the Meridian 218 endpoint for Sooloos. Roon definitely has much better metadata supports and seamless integration with Tidal. The Roon App has a lot of features but more complicated to use. I think the stripped down Meridian iOS App is much easier to use, or maybe I'm just more familiar with it.

Now I use Roon with the Devialet for more focused 2Ch listening and Meridian Sooloos for casual listening and house music. I'll keep using Sooloos since it's sunk cost. It's a shame that Meridian couldn't keep the Sooloos guys, keep developing Sooloos and switch it to a subscription model like Roon.

I have Roon and like its ability to interface with many different kinds of hardware. However, I still find Sooloos much more user friendly for my simple listening requirements. When I was first trying Roon I had great problems getting Roon and Sooloos to work on the same network - in fact I couldn't achieve it. Is this something you have managed to do? If so I would appreciate any tips so I can give it another try.

Hi Nick
I understand you find Sooloos more friendly but do not grasp what that means, could you explain what it is you find easier in Sooloos accepting that initial setup in Roon is more involved, as I find Roon is as easy as Sooloos for equivalent usage and then is more involved when using its more advanced features which Sooloos doesn’t have.

Russ

I have little doubt that were I to spend more time learning Roon's settings I could cut it down (though probably only with your outstandingly expert help) to an interface that when I switch it on (I use that term deliberately, though I also mean click on the Roon icon) will simply show me a screen with the start of my album library on it (locally ripped and/or Tidal) with as many nice album covers on it as can conveniently be fitted on the screen I am using - obviously, that must be my pre-set choice.

The first page should be alphabetical by composer or artist or some similar pre-selected (by me) choice and then discreetly at the bottom (or similar) a link to Tidal and TuneIn, or my TuneIn favourites and (on a separate page, to be gone to if need be) my available endpoints (thank you Roon for enabling such a choice but shame on you that you force me to use a Tidal interface or endpoint specific apps instead of Roon so that my otherwise excellent old iPads can still be used to play and control music). Default output should be the last one or group I used.

I don't want to see initially either Roon or Tidal's dish of the day, just my usual library, and Roon, please tame Tidal's pushiness for me and definitely organise Tidal's MQA masters by my choice (artist or composer etc). If I decide I want to search for something then I want to be the judge of what I am looking for and I do not want to be steered by anybody. I have a very wide taste in music, so an excellent search function is essential, which Tidal's is not. Perhaps Roon can help with that in ways that Sooloos does not.

I do have Roon, and love it’s versatility with respect to hardware and openness.

Like Longitude though, I find the Roon user interface too busy, and I have no need to see suggestions. Therefore I still use Sooloos, and just play with Roon occasionally on a separate little system.

I really wish Roon had an option for a much simpler user interface, maybe a ‘Look like Sooloos’ check box. And if that interface didn’t use OpelGL3 that would be awesome, as we could run it on our Control:10’s.

Cheers,
Jason.