I have used Roon twice and late last year started again with a one year subscription. Not sure I’ll continue as its a faff using a computer as the Roon Core and I’ve never managed to get Roon ARC working. Currently I also use Tidal. Any thoughts?
I’ve used Roon for a long while now. It runs on my SSD PC with the music on a spinning disk hard drive, also streaming from Tidal and Qobuz. The PC switches off automatically at night and I can wake it using a Wake On Lan network trigger.
Roon Arc works for me. What issue(s) are you having?
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Happy Roon user here… I like the way it integrates my own library with qobuz to give a holistic view with a single interface and permits deep views of whats available.
Arc is a nice add on but as it relies on your home internet connection and my upload speed is not brilliant it can be abit fragile.
My core runs on a nucleus with an internal ssd so a no faff turn key solution.
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It’s by no means a necessity, but most roon users have a dedicated computer, likely an intel nuc, just sat there quite happily running roon core 365 days a year 24/7. If you don’t have this, then yes I could see it being a bit more of a faff if you’re constantly launching roon core.
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Roon starts automatically when I switch my PC on. Remotely normally to save calories 
Does anyone not use Roon??? 
I started using Roon 4-5 years ago as a nice way to manage my own nas-based music library. 2tb of files. I really like its interface and metadata management.
Now I almost exclusively use Qobuz, and in that use case I think that Roon is a bit less valuable. Qobuz straight to the Naim app probably would be sufficient.
But I paid for a “lifetime” Roon subscription when they still sold those . . . so I’m ok!
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I use it and enjoy it. It keeps everything very tidy and organised and has introduced me to loads of new artists.
It’s definitely not essential, but for music lovers (presumably everyone on here) I think it’s a good investment.
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I’ve used Roon for long enough to wish I’d sprung for the lifetime license when it was a lot less expensive. I’ve never found a reason to try ARC since I no longer commute to an office to work and that would be my main use case since selling the second home.
For an application with so many options, its interface remains remarkably uncluttered. Support from the Roon community is great and being able to use a large iPad as a remote control (I assume we can do this with the Naim app, but Ive never tried) always feels luxurious.
I find Roon very beneficial for exploring new artists, often jumping from reference to reference in the bio’s or credits. For me, Roon support is a “Must Have” feature.
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Having a dedicated PC as a Roon Core improved the experience for me. I use a NUC running ROCK but there are alternative ways of doing it. I find the app intuitive and very informative. Some say SQ is inferior to streaming from say from Tidal direct but have not experienced this, infact with ability to load convolution filters or run some other DSP to counteract room modes I’d say it’s enhanced. Only downside is cost but if your primary source is streaming it’s one to consider.
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I tried Roon 5 years ago, loved it and have used it ever since. Bought a Nucleus and lifetime subscription and not looked back. Qobuz and local stored music all accessed in one place, a great user interface and the bonus of the ability to send music of all formats to a variety of devices in the house. Never used ARC as it’s a pointless feature for me.
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I like Roon particularly the way it integrates with external streaming services and the ability to discover new music. ARC however is full of bugs and not particularly useful for me.
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Might be slightly off-topic here but…
I have Tidal and very few audio files of my own (they’re trapped on an old iMac that doesn’t work well).
Now isn’t Roon and Qobuz just going to be additional costs to access essentially Tidal?
I have an Auralic and it has its own UI (Lightning DS), so I’m not using Tidal natively anyway.
Thoughts?
Full-time Roon user here.
NDS as a Roon Endpoint via the SonoreUPnP Bridge.
Multiple other zones using Chromecast Audio and other Chromecast devices.
Roon displays via Browsers and Chromecast Video
Roon ARC for all mobile listening, much better SQ than Tidal app for the same content.
Forgot to mention - Roon Core runs on an Intel NUC (NUC7i7DNKE) which is the same board used in the Roon Nucleus+, but I installed 16GB RAM and a 250GB NVMe SSD. Before this NUC I ran the core on a NUC5i3MYBE with 8GB RAM and a 240GB M.2 SSD, only changed with a growing library approaching 100k and wanted to use Convolution DSP filters for Headphones.
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For me too, because of course I have the Qobuz app on my phone and that’s certainly sufficient for mobile use. I don’t need access to my home server when I’m out of the home.
But if I didn’t have Qobuz, ARC probably could be quite useful.
I use Roon since 2018 as a lifetime user, build my systems taking Roon as the base, and Naim appeared into my life latter because of Roon. Today every device I acquire need to support Roon Ready or is not as appealing to me.
I like very much the experience of Roon, for me it looks great and after all these years all family is used to it, the support for a very large number of brands natively or by other protocols like AirPlay and chromecast is very welcome, my daughter likes to use the display option to see the cover and the lirycs on her bedroom tv while listening to her music.
In the beginning Roon was a visual choice for the computer, but latter it became the heart of the music streaming at home, the kids liked it, my wife loved it and they learned how to use it fast.
Roon is a software like many offers available, I saw it as a component of my system, an experience that is working great for us at home, but there are alternatives that can work better for others, if Roon goes away it will be difficult to find a similar experiences at the moment.
The provided software by manufacturers goes from mediocre quality to a good experience, but is mostly limited the the brand itself and that complicates integration on a home with more than one brand. It’s workable to have multiple apps, but is simpler to have one app that works with all hardware.
With Roon I can stream to the naim gear, NDX2, Mu-so 2, Atom HE, but also to the ifi zen stream, bluesound, Sotm Sms200 Ultra, the eversolo, I can open Roon on the computer and play on the connected speakers, on the phone, on the tablet, even on the car with Arc, and the library and visual experience is constant and familiar, my playlists are always there, and the shared family playlists also.
Is it perfect, never, but I love it.
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Thanks for the many replies regarding Roon and I have been receiving the 100 tips for the use of Roon from Roon but what I need is a series of YouTube videos to watch so I can understand the basics. I find the EQ on Roon is like switching the loudness button on, so it must be tuned for small equipment rather than floorstanding speakers. Unlike younger people I bemoan not having a printed manual or at least a downloadable pdk file to refer to.
Unless you have set some PEQ or Convolution then switching it on does nothing at all. It’s tuned for whatever you set it to.
I used Roon for some years running on a 2014 Mac mini but due to the heavy UI updates it became almost impossible at the end. When I later compared it to Audirvana which is a super light audio focused software running on the same hardware it was super clear that Audirvana provided a better sound quality. When reading around on this it seems like Roon these days need all the priority and power available to perform due to their focus on heavy UI features otherwise sacrificing sound quality.
When I had a chat with small green computer (sonore) he confirmed this.
" > > Roon runs much faster on a dedicated box than it does on a general purpose computer with a desktop operating system. This improves the sound."
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Yes, likewise I ran Roon for about a year and a half on my main iMac, then concluded that it compromised sound quality compared to streaming controlled by the Naim app. I also initially like the curation and features of Roon, but ultimately found them to be a distraction from just enjoying the music. So, I canceled this year before the latest price increase.
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Roon for about 5 yrs, on innuos but now using Nucleus/EE8/ Nova. used all day most days of the week even for radio with a bit of dsp for low level listening to boost bass.