Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Roon alternative for Tidal streaming to DSPs

Hi,

Roon core failed to load so eventually needed to do restore. It’s made me think is there an alternative to use with my 7200SE, basically just using Tidal subscription for source?
Can I go direct from Tidal to 210 then on to 7200SE?

Regards
Kevin

Hi,

The 210 supports streaming from Roon, Spotify Connect or a BlueTooth device. There is no direct support for Tidal (or Qobuz).

It also has a USB input, but you'd still need a device that could stream Tidal via USB.

VOLUMIO could be an option.

It’s a long-running irritation that while Meridian endowed the 210 with ‘Spotify Connect’ they seem incapable of similarly implementing ‘Tidal Connect’ on the 210.

Tidal connect seems to have spread to a number of devices , High end with NAIM NAD and McIntosh, so perhaps there will be pressure to add this to 210 as part of the marketing box ticking policy.

Anyway happy with audio performance of Roon and how it works across multiple zones. Just irritated with it keep losing connection and having to run the Mac in always on mode. Plus my wife keeps closing the screen so it goes to sleep and I can’t connect from other rooms.

Kevin

I’m a Mac veteran of 35 years - but I’ve never been tempted to run Roon on my Mac - as there’s too much going on in the background in MacOS to cause the kind of problems you’re experiencing.

While others here have bought a dedicated Roon Nucleus/+ I successfully use a PrimeMini - for half the cost of the Nucleus/+. It’s much smaller, too. In the UK, you can buy one via Boston (without an OS).

Even so, an off-the-shelf NUC running Roon would give you far less grief than running Roon on Mac.

Could I just repurpose a Windows PC say with i5 and 8 GB of RAM? Then just put on the network somewhere.

What is the spec of the Nucleus?

Kevin

I used to run Roon on my iMac, but had similar problems to yourself with having to keep it powered up, etc. Quite often I would try to play music via Roon, only to find I had to run upstairs to wake up/switch on the iMac. In the end I bought a used NUC and installed Roon ROCK, and have never been happier. The iMac can now go to sleep when it wants, power down the drives and such, plus I swear there was an improvement in SQ.

At the heart of the Nucleus is a Gen8 i3 Processor - while the Nucleus+ has a Gen8 i7 processor.

Kevin,

Ask over at RoonLabs for a working solution.

Robert

In defense of Macs, I'm running Roon on a Mid 2011 Mac Mini. I upgraded the RAM to 8GB and installed an SSD, both of which were quite cheap upgrades.
There are a number of utilities that you can run on a Mac to stop it sleeping. I use Caffeine.

I also use this Mac as a Plex Server and it's fine for that as well.

There are some quite cost effective alternatives if you don't want to spend a lot of money!

It's just an alternative perspective.

Cheers
Greg

So is the Mac mini solution stable?

Thinking about getting one c. 2014 or 2018 model.

Does it need 16GB RAM and an i5 or i7 processor?

Thinking I could get one for £300 to £500. So effectively cost of DVD player in the old days.

Worth it to not constantly be going back and forth.

Kevin