To Roon or not to Roon.....?

I am considering my next move which will include a streaming front end upgrade from my current SU. I have it in mind that my next streaming front end should be Roon compatible, but I am unsure as to whether this should be a must have feature. (I am mindful that there are lots of good value NDX and NDS streamers about at the mo)

My question to Roon users is: “Does Roon impact on sound quality”, for better or worse when compared to running the same streamer in ‘direct to Tidal’ mode?

Many thanks, Roog

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I’d say the general consensus here is that Roon is either equal to, or very close to UPnP sound quality. Perhaps even a little better, especially with Tidal.
If you want to give Roon a try, get a free trial, and it’s pretty easy to set up on an older Naim streamer just to get the feel for it. Just run Roon on a computer or NAS you already have, and use something like LMS, Airplay or Chromecast to get it onto the streamer. These workarounds almost certainly won’t sound as good as Roon with native support from a streamer, but they give you a good feel for it at virtually no cost.

Although not perhaps immediately obvious from the title, the answer you are looking for is on this thread, but do read down it as conclusions change during the thread.

.sjb

Does Roon recognise Naim’s WAV metadata on the unitiserve?

No it won’t as it cant access it and it’s proprietary data not embedded in the music files themselves. Roon only access the music files. There is an application that can extract it apparently and then embed it into flac.

I recommend trying Roon. Personally I can’t live with out now. Tidal definitely sounds equal to local music via Roon to. Enough can’t be said about the integration of streaming and local in one library, there is no disconnect between the eco systems also if your interested in Qobuz it’s also part of Roon now and the only way to get it on the new hardware gapless.

Are people going for the lifetime membership?

I’m still on yearly. On my 3rd year now. I guess I should and save myself some money. Overall it’s best investment I have made for my system.

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Roon will find its own metadata and apply that to your own music files, or it will use your own metadata. You can choose which you want to use for various different fields in Roon settings. So yes, it will see the metadata from your Unitiserve if you want it to.

No it won’t for wavs as its not in the files. Loads have had issues with this as you cant get it out .

I took the lifetime option. Roon for me was the final piece of the puzzle. Superb product and well worth the money.

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Oh yes it will!..
For example, a WAV album in N-Serve:


The same album showing separate .jpg artwork:

and the same album in Roon:

Is it actually reading metadata from the userve or getting it from folder structure. I was under the impression that the metadata was proprietary as custom edits and such don’t go through. If not then I stand corrected.

thank you for the replies, especially the few that spoke about sound quality. I shall go and read the other thread as recommended

To be honest, II’ve never really given it much thought until now, but if I edit a track name in N-Serve…


…that edit shows in Roon…

Apologies to @Roog for the diversion!

I have a Nova and getting an NDX2, also a Mac. What does Roon bring to the party?

Plenty of your favourite beer and 3 unattached attractive siblings.

.sjb

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Thats good is the the Uniti core different in what it does then? As I definitely remember Janet Mountjoy having issues with her classical metadata not transferring at all.

Best in class multiroom, nice unified UI, new music discovery, rich metadata, one library for all your music wether it’s local or via streaming services, lots of DSP if your into that, and it’s eco system is growing.

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Roon or not Roon…

I would say go for it!
You’ll love it.
Regarding sound quality… well, a lot has been said, as always :wink:

In the context of my system

  • ND555/NAC552DR/NAP300DR/SuperLumina
  • Room with acoustic treatment

I hear no difference.

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