Using Roon it means the lines become somewhat blurred between what is local and what is not. I still have a chunk of stuff which is not mainstream or published to the streaming platforms which means that stuff gets played from a local source.
I also download and stream podcasts locally and listen to the radio as a stream a fair bit during the day in the background, usually BBC 6 Music.
I do go looking for CD bargains too and in terms of owning material, vinyl is my go to format.
2 Likes
I see.
I guess I am thinking…have internet radio on in the background while I work and get surprised. If I like the track, I write it down on my notes on the desk top and create a list of cd’s to buy.
1 Like
That works, there are time when listening to the radio I do not catch the artist name and find that frustrating.
With the forum threads over time there are a number of members that listen to similar music that I like so I tend to take the artists I do not know and give them a listen.
Whatever works best, I know I have listened to a lot of new music over the past few years since joining the forum and expanded into artists I never would have found on my own. Life is Grand!
6 Likes
It’s very much a changing preference, when I started with a Unitiserve/Unitiqute the preference/bias was towards own stored music. As streaming technology and providers improve the balance has shifted. Also the vast majority I have on local store I can now stream, to a high quality, through Tidal and Qobuz.
1 Like
Some interesting different angles here. My own position is that the music I love is a fundamental part of my life, that I never want to be without. For that reason it has to be streaming from my own store, because that is absolutely dependable: no internet breakup; no dropouts; no change to licensing affecting the online provider’s range; no risk of the online provider going out of business; no risk of technological developments rendering the streamer unable to connect toto the provider I like; no difficulty finding a streaming provider that stocks everything I like; and no ongoing subscription that on ceasing for any reason would take my music away. Online streaming, however is great for checking out various suggestions for things I might like - though as for that sound quality is not critical, I find free Spotify quite adequate.
2 Likes
Streaming for convenience and trying out new things, but trumped by many items I have ripped/downloaded not being available to stream at all but available for local streaming/physical playback.
1 Like
I listen to mostly streaming services which to date has been tidal but now about to make the jump to Qobuz as the sq is definitely superior, I find the overall sq on Qobuz excellent. I have about 350 albums on my Zen mini but to be honest I don’t access them that much and to me Qobuz hires is ahead. Also listen to a lot of internet radio-mostly Radio Paradise, Swiss Jazz and Jazz Groove. Occasionally listen to vinyl too but that’s more of a nostalgic thing like checking out my old sabbath albums and the like!
4 Likes
Wondering if age has something with this conservative rationale? But then I think nothing is wrong with that.
Time changes, new ideas, new technologies, new development, new habits.
I notice some young kids never own any CDs, nothing, for them anything is online.
2 Likes
I have around 600 CDs on my NAS and still buy most of my music as CD. Digital is my source, and I’ll be damned if I have to clean another LP, queue it, flip sides half way through an album, or clean a stylus. Life is too short!
YMMV 
I’m usually covered in paint and loading CDs into my server means I don’t have ever touch them or my black boxes again. The idea of taking a record out it sleeve place it on the tt than half way through flip sides. And as above cleaning the LPs is such a pain and never really removes all those crackle and pops. Different strokes for different folk.
Some of my records will probably sell for £500.00 plus each if I ever decide to get rid of them. You, on the other hand, will be flogging your CDs for 99p a pop plus P&P. Still love you, Chris! 
3 Likes
Meh…I’m a stodgy old curmudgeon and have fully embraced online streaming (Roon/Qobuz). Until I got an NDX2/XPSDR I hardly bothered with digital playback at all (I had an infrequently used ND5XS). After all these digital decades I think it has finally come of age and can compete with the record collection for my love.
4 Likes
I use Tidal to test drive recommendations either from this site or reviews, otherwise everything else is local digital source all ripped from CDs…
I buy music on CD and use EAC to rip to NAS.
Use turntable to play vinyl I don’t have/can’t get on NAS/CC.
Use YouTube or Internet Radio as well as recommendations for new music.
No Tidal/Quobus as I don’t like subscribing and my music is often missing on these services plus I have plenty of music from the above.
Roon is my streaming preference.
I play music from my ‘Roon Library’, and these days rarely bother to check whether the source music is stored on my local Synology NAS or streamed from Tidal.
2 Likes
I’d like to see system automation exposed to the Roon controller, it works fine in Sonos products.
The nice thing i’ve found with Roon, and it’s no criticism of the Naim app which is above average quality, is I can put literally everything I need in one place, I can see all my devices available and all my collated content searchable in one place.
Prior to integrating a Roon Core and indexing my local library in to it, I’d be hoping in and out of various apps to find stuff, play it and control the hardware.
The missing link is being able to adjust volume pot and mute if needed without the IR RCU or Naim app being required. I found at home I rarely used the vendor apps from Naim, Sonos etc or the native apps from Qobuz, Spotify, Tidal as everything they did could be done in the Roon app.
1 Like
I seem to recall from older threads here that the current Uniti Integrated’s do support volume control from Roon whereas the preamps and NAIT’s don’t, not checked lately, don’t have an amp to try currently!
It’s the wired connection between an ND and a Naim Preamp or NAIT to control the volume pot I’m specifically interested in seeing support for in Roon.
I have only local (classical) music. It’s ripped CDs and purchased downloads and is on my NAS (serving my Nova), an SD card in my A&K Kann (for travel and holidays) and a USB stick used with my first generation Mu-so. All files are kept on my MacBook Pro and when I buy a new download the files are mirrored (using FreeFileSync—highly recommended) to each of those destinations.
I’m afraid I have subscription allergy. Too many companies and software developers these days seem to proclaim it’s “less than a coffee a day” in terms of cost. I don’t drink coffee and why do they always assume they’re the only people you’ll need to subscribe to? A few subscriptions and it’s more like a glass of Champagne a day! 
Stephen
3 Likes
I’m curious as to how you see something in such a way:
Is it that if certain music is very important to someone, part of their soul as it were, it is conservative to want to make sure they do not find themselves deprived of it? Or that it is conservative to like some music so much that you never want to be unable to play it?
Or were you referring purely to the subscription cost part of my list of reasons for my choice? Whilst that has some similarities between home renting or buying, there is another angle: if one day money gets so tight that £240 a year (or whatever) is unaffordable, at least playing from own store is unaffected. (The electricity cost much the same either way.)
Roon does and nicely with the 1.7 release, through machine learning etc.
1 Like