Roon allows you to view your library of Tidal, Qobuz and locally stored music files. They can be viewed as a complete single library, or split into their separate parts, at the click of a button. So you have the choice.
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From a different angle, if I want to go looking for new things, I simply select a source of such, and it is beneficial to know that is what Iâm doing - whereas if I want to play my choice of music I go to where that is. Muddling the two up would not be of value, in fact might be a disbenefit.
But as has been well established in other threads it is a matter of horses for courses: Roon suits some people and how they approach music browsing and choosing, with added features they find positive like the random track playing of Roon Radio, whereas to other people at best the features are unnecessary and so the software is an unjustified cost, or they may even be a negative experience, whether mildly such as maybe the âbusyâ interface or complete anathema such as a hate of random track playing (yes, I know that particular function can be turned off). My point here is that it is important to recognise that Roon polarises views, and whilst easy integration of the software with the player if desired is clearly beneficial for a portion of the market, it would be a disbenefit for another portion, and so undesirable to build into a streamer/player as someone suggested, all the more so if it adds to the cost. So in my view it should only ever be offered as an option, not built in without choice.
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I think you probably misunderstand what Roon does, basically it does not stop you from selecting a particular source, it does not simply muddle various different sources, it just gives a choice of what it think is better, but you do not have to pick that choice if this is what you want.
I have trialled Roon, twice. âMuddledâ was not meant literally, rather it was my simplistic term for integrating a multiplicity of sources so you donât necessarily know where the music is streaming from, unless you choose to check or segregate, which I have the impression is considered by some people to be a benefit.
One thing about streaming Iâve come to enjoy, regardless if itâs Roon or not (though Roon helps ME) is the discovery of entirely new genres of music. Not that I didnât know they existed before, but imaybe they just werenât my cup of tea. Like classical. Sure I knew who Mozart and Beethoven were but not much beyond that. Something about current world events, my age perhaps, and for the first time in my life having a really nice sounding system has engendered a new found love for much (not all) of this genre. New classical as well (i.e. ECM type offerings). So hearing a nice Vivaldi piece by Europe Galante in the car on the way home, a quick search in Roon, and itâs now in my library. Along with 49 other albums of theirs to potentially explore.
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You do known there is a symbol that tells one whether its is local, Qobuz or Tidal? And whatever versions are available, local or streaming, listed on the album page? Sorry, I donât get this particular argument against Roon at all, but keep trying.
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There is no need to be so defensive! Nothing in my posts above argued against Roon - I merely pointed out that opinions about it are split, some people liking it, and some not liking it, and some not finding whatever it offers to be worth the cost compared to other software that does what they want library/playing software to do.
You clearly are one if those who likes or maybe even loves it, and that is great for you. I am one of the others - and as I noted I even trialled a second time, when my active dislike from the first trial reduced because they had amended some aspects in the intervening time, but I found nothing positive about it for me, so the high cost is unjustified to me. And with reference to earlier discussions in this thread, one hope I had at the time of my second trail based on some peopleâs comments was that it might better deal with my collectionâs poor metadata - but it recognised less than does my present software, Audirvana.
Exactly⌠to me this is what streaming is all about, it breaks you free from the shackles of physicals.
For me itâs 90% about music, not physical artefacts, but I agree we all enjoy this hobby for different reasons. But yes I do have one or two rare CDs or artefacts⌠that are worth a fair bit or were limited local releases⌠I have integrated into my music library, but I also know where they if I want to look at the artefact.
For my perspective, simply âstreamingâ from a local set of CDs is not really streaming, itâs playing CDs with an alternate transport, a bit like the CD carousels of the 90s. Indeed I think I wrote similar things back on the previous or earlier forum. But itâs great to have the choice, local download and ripped CD play or streaming,
With respect to Roon, my one preference would be to see more competition⌠encourage faster innovation.
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Interesting. For me it is 100% about the music, though including it sounding good. Bells and whistles in software are a distraction - I just want to be able to browse/find/select and the start playing as easily and simply as possible with it sounding as good as possible. I didnât find Roon added anything positive compared to the way I do it without.
Ah well I listen to all audio including drama, audio documentaries and sound art ⌠there is more to enjoy than just music. Indeed you are correct it is interesting, very interesting. Why restrict yourself just to music? There is so much to explore in audio.
Itâs 100% about audio replay for me. 90% music, 10% other audio.
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Now that is an interesting question! Music because I love it, it stimulates me, refreshes me, relaxes me, invigorates me, consoles me, rejuvenates me. Is me. Other audio has never really grabbed me: audio comedy I have thoroughly enjoyed from time to time over the years (notable gems having been things like Just a minute and Iâm sorry I havenât a clue), but just taken as theyâve come on the radio. Audiobooks would likely just send me to sleep - Iâd rather read the book! The only audio documentaries Iâve come across have been on the radio, usually while driving a long distance, which I find good for helping keep my mind active. But nothing about these has made me seek out to enjoy for their own sake as part of leisure. As for sound art, Iâve never heard of that other than in the form of music⌠But as I am not into visual art I suspect that unless I perceive it as enjoyable music it would simply lose me.
Meanwhile with all of those other than possibly the visual art, the sound quality seems not to be anything of great import, not enhancing or detracting from the spoken word anywhere near as much as it does from music, so maybe that is also why I donât think of them in the context of a music replay system (aka HiFi).
I think youâve all missed my main point. Roon is very much a marmite product and nothing will change that. However, the functionality of being able to merge sources into one coherent library or view as separate areas is something which should be implemented by manufacturers of streamers and not a software company.
In years to come the existence of Roon will be seen as the signpost rather than the destination.
I certainly donât love Roon (Iâm a huge critic of the UI over on their forum, which in many aspects is bordering on abysmal) but I do like it and find it very useful - for the cost way more so than some exotic cable or piece of gear. Sorry, I just found your criticism really confusing, as to most new or prospective users one of the key positives of Roon is the integration of sources, so I hope anyone using this thread to research Roon doesnât come away with the idea integration is a bad thing. But yes, of course itâs not for everybody, for many reasons, just as I trialled Audivarna, JRiver, and a few others that ultimately werenât for me. I started the whole streaming thing seven years ago with a Small Green Computer Vortexbox, so been down the path.
They are teasing a few screenshots of the next big release on their sales website, so it will be interesting to see what improvements they make with the UI. And it took me two trials over a few years to be finally convinced it was worth the money - like Simon said, when it was only a fancier local transport it didnât have the worth, until it integrated streaming services. I also like the fact that the Roon remote works on practically every device in the house, from my Mac Pro desktop to my iPad to my MacBook to my Android phone. Having control from my laptop or desktop makes it much more useful (to me) than the Naim app or other tablet only based devices.
But Iâll take your point and not try to be so defensive about it - it is only software after all! Each their own and YMMV!
âmarmiteâ - does that mean polarizing? I love marmite, but havenât had it in many years - and I know others that detest it (but then again I love Japanese natto as well). Not a common product here for us Yanks- I was introduced to it by an Australian friend back in my college days.
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I only use Roon with my local server and donât take advantage of the integrated streaming services from Qobuz/Tidal. I still find it worth the subscription (OK, lifetime subscription) and it makes my experience of playing music, discovering the links between artists etc. significantly better.
The DSP also helps with headphone use (and Iâm sure with proper measurements room/speaker interaction).
So from my perspective its worth isnât just in the service integration, the transport/metadata/linking of metadata is also of value.
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I think weâve both partially misunderstood the other (a flaw of stilted text communication), and I apologise for suggesting you may be one who loves Roon. I wasnât so much criticising its integration of sources as saying I donât find it to be an advantage, because when I go online streaming rather than from my own store it is a deliberate action seeking out something new to me.
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Hi. Still confused as to what you mean (sorry!) because if one is using Roon (which I totally respect the fact itâs not for you) you can still go to online streaming via Roon (albeit at this point only Tidal or Qobuz) and find something new entirely divorced from your local files. If I see an artist I havenât heard of in the Qobuz whatâs new section (for example Iâd never heard of Roisin Murphy until seeing her latest release last week) I can then click on the artists name and it will bring up all of her available releases on Qobuz. Or I can browse via genre whatâs newly released, or by most popular. It does get a bit tricky searching non-new releases via genre, and not at all via label - in that case I go to the native Qobuz app, and âheartâ something I might want and it automatically shows up in my Roon database (though not added to the library until I command it).
So Iâm wondering how you do it thatâs different? Or is it because you use a streaming service that doesnât integrate with Roon? Not trying to be difficult, just curious that maybe you didnât fully utilize Roon when you had the trial.
As I indicated earlier, I was picking up on the praise for the seamlessness Integration so one doesnât necessarily know where the music is streaming from, pointing out that it is not necessarily a benefit, e.g if someone wants to steer to an online streaming site. I donât subscribe to either Tidal or Qobuz, or any other subscription service: instead when I want to sample new music I go to a free site. I suppose if Roon integrated all free sites and took me to one stocking what I am seeking when I choose to go on a sampling spree that it would potentially be beneficial, though as such sites are generally lower sound quality or have other disbenefits Iâm not sure Iâd want to accidentally go to them without forewarning.
My first trial of Roon was to find out what all the fuss was about - and I took a strong dislike to it. My second, two of three years later, was partly in the light of people making it appear that some of the worst of the original features had gone or had been made selectable, and partly to investigate the supposed ability of Roon to identify poorly tagged music and add metadata. On both occasions I was only interested in it to do what I want, so no I didnât fully utilise Roon, which has features that are of no value to me. (E.g. integration of online subscription streaming services, Roon Radio (which I experienced accidentally and hated), and pupups telling me about albums and artists, oddly not including the one thing that would potentially have been of interest: the album artwork and sleeve notes!) Clearly some or all of these features are valued by a Fair proportion of people, who find the benefits to them worth the money - fortunately we have choice!
Roon started off as Sooloos music server hardware with software and were acquired by Meridian. The current Roon CEO departed Meridian and established Roon. (I do not know details of departure, IP, etc. but Sooloos is no longer developed, I believe.)
Software development for historically hardware-focused companies can be tricky to establish and meet the same expectations their customers come to expect from the hardware.
I see great advantage in Roon being open to a broad set of hardware companies. Whether there is long-term business success for them in that regard, remains to be seen.
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Ah, I see. Yeah, without Qobuz and Tidal integration itâs half-baked, so to speak, and I can see how it wouldnât be worth it to many. I have a feeling the pop-ups you refer to are initial âhelpâ pop-ups for new users and will disappear after awhile or can be disabled from the get go because I certainly donât have any.
I love bandcamp and use it both to purchase downloads and to read articles for music discovery (which I can then often find the albums on Qobuz via Roon). Amazon and Spotify I stay far away from for ethical reasons, which is out of the scope of this discussion. Roon Radio is pretty hit or miss I would agree - though I do like the shuffle options, esp compared to the extreme limiting factor of the Naim app. I have a feeling better integration of sleeve notes may be coming (vs opening a separate pdf file on a browser), but thatâs tricky because it depends on what the label gives to Qobuz - I donât think by law Roon itself could scan and offer beyond that scope, though I could be wrong. Roon did finally implement an internet radio function which is nice, though I rarely use it.