New to Streaming and Need some Help



I'm reaching out to member's to get some advice before I make my plunge into streaming.....

I have several audio/video systems and 8 zones of Sonos connected.  5 zones are for smaller rooms and the 3 other ones are connected directly to a main system.  The whole house is ethernet ready and each of the 3 main rooms has a Luxul 8 port ethernet switch.  

In my main listening area I use a McIntosh MX160 with 2 McIntosh MC1.25KW amplifiers.  My main speakers are Martin Logan Renaissance 15a and are electrostatic.  I am currently playing my his res files through the front of my OPPO BDP-103 via a  1 TB portable drive.  By using this and the OPPO app I am able to see my files on my iPhone as well as my TV.  I primarily use Tidal for streaming my music (via Sonos) or through the OPPO but don't have access to all my music in all the rooms since I only have a couple OPPO's in the house and accessing it is not that easy on the portable hard drive.

For my main area my components are hidden away from the listening area and I use Control4 or an app on my iPhone.
I have just under 2,000 albums/cds/high res through various locations including a computer and my goal is to get everything saved in one area where it can all be accessed easily.  

So, here we go.....to do this I was looking to add the Roon Nucleus+ >5 Zone Server and the Synology DS918+ NAS Disk Stat. assembled with 4 x 4TB Hard Drives.  The thinking here is that I would be able to listen to any of my music anywhere in the house through Sonos; particularly my stored hi res files that are on the portable hard drive.  I understand that Sonos does not give me the best audio, yet it should improve the quality of what I am getting now since streaming from a portable hard drive is not that easy.  In the main area I was thinking of adding the Lumin T2 Network Music Player (Do I need this or should I downgrade to the D2 Lumin for about $2K less?)  I understand that this will not deliver music into any other room but the main area; however, when I am listening in this area it will be the highest quality.

I have (primarily B&W 7.5 in wall units and B&W 6" ceiling speakers) in the other rooms where Sonos will be utilized with a Anthem amp, Niles amp, and Rotel amp)

I look forward to any upgrade or downgrade suggestions as I am clearly a novice in the streaming world.

Thanks in advance.


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I think you have it down.  I would get the Synology NAS and transfer all your files (I also have a 918+).  With streaming one important consideration is the controlling App.  Synology comes with MinimServer and LMS available.  I don’t know much about Sonos so I am not sure if you can use those file sharing systems with Sonos, you would have to investigate that.  The advantage of Minim and LMS vs Roon is that they are free and you wouldn’t need the Roon Nucleus.  If you find them wanting and really crave Roon ((I am not a Roon fan) then buy the Nucleus and add it.
  The Lumin for your main system that you are contemplating— does that have an Internal HD?  If it does I wouldn’t get it, since you have the Synology NAS.  Just get a pure streamer.
Thanks for your feedback.  The Lumin is a pure streamer with no hard drive.  

It was good to hear you are happy with the Synology DS918+.

Sonos will allow me to access my files through the ethernet connection to Roon.  The sound quality will not be as good through Sonos as the streamer; however, I'm not looking to get multiple streamers at this point and thought the Roon would be a viable solution to having all my music accessible through a central easy to use hub, in addition to hearing music in multiple rooms.

I will check out your recommendation of Minim and LMS.

Thanks again!!