Experiences with Roon, Plexamp & Symfonium in 2025 (update)

[Geertidow]

Dear fellow forum members,

The past few weeks I've been experimenting by using Roon, Plexamp and Symfonium.
The reason for doing so was that I was using Plexamp but I was missing the Tidal integration badly and I hate that Plexamp cannot stream to my KEF LSXII (something with a Cast version that is older on plexamp and has still not been fixed).

Since Symfonium can play your Plex content, also via Plex remote outside and is highly costumizable, I'd thought I'd give this a go.

Finally Roon: I've always liked the interface of Roon, and I'd be happy to pay 5 USD each month for such software, but not 15.

There have been many discussions, but I just wanted to share my findings.
I have a small collection of 600 CD's, so no huge library.
I listen at home and on bike rides/walks outside and very occassionaly in the car.

Plexamp
Pro
- Still a great user interface
- Sonic analysis, although less useful without Tidal integration, can still make great playlists
- Plexamp remote works great once you have it working with your router (and in my case Linux UFW).

Con
- Integration with Google cast just sucks. I have to repeatedly restart the app to be able to cast. No chance of walking from the living room and taking my cast with me. Pauze the song. Kill the app, restart the app, hope the cast logo's return (the don't always). Impossible to cast to KEF LSXII (known issue, but not fixed by Plex devs). It is just so frustrating.
- I don't like the way the metadata is set up. It is just so hard to get your music sorted (especially classical) in a way that you can actually find classical music.

Symfonium (in combination with Plexamp)
Pro
- Integration with Google cast is perfect
- Developer of the app is readily available for assistance. I had a wrong setup of my remote access, and he helped me to fix it by reviewing the logs.
- Very cheap to buy
- Possible to add many different sources.

Con
- No integration with Tidal or other streaming services (online)
- No access to Sonic analysis features of Plex.

Roon
Pro
- Beautiful UI and to my test very nice setup of artist information. The way you can browse through other artist who played on an album is just fantastic.
- Walk from room to room and just take your music with you. Although it is the same as for example Tidal connect, it is still great since you can also integrate your private collection.

Con
- It's just so ridiculously expensive (as compared to the rest).

All in all I decided to stick with Symfonium, but I still miss Roon.
But the price is just too much for me.

Hopefully other member can share there 2025 experiences, because I'm stil not sure what the best choice for me is.

 

[BDWoody]

I have to pat myself on the back for buying the Roon lifetime subscription back in the early days.

If you just consider it a component you plan to keep in your system like any other component, it can make that pill go down a little better.

Roon just does it's thing happily from the NAS in my laundry room, and is high on my list of favorite audio products ever.

 

[qirex]

If you just consider it a component you plan to keep in your system like any other component, it can make that pill go down a little better.

Yeah I specifically bought Roon instead of doing a hardware upgrade and don't regret it but I generally tell people "it's amazing but you shouldn't buy it unless you hit a very specific set of criteria" because your typical person needs none of it and it is silly expensive. For me during early COVID when I was working from home all the time I got nice headphones and wanted to listen from my computer. I also have a decent local library and streaming that I wanted to combine plus I already had a multi-room Sonos system that worked with it. In retrospect the side benefit I appreciate the most is breaking my dependence on the Sonos ecosystem given how badly they've been flailing the last few years, once any of that hardware dies I know I can drop in any number of replacements without issue. If I hadn't bought it I could get by with something like Plexamp, and that or Lryion is usually what I suggest to folks with big local libraries who balk at spending that much on music software (aka normal people).

 

[tonapo]

I have plexamp and roon, both lifetime subs. I think Plex was around $80 in one of their sales about 4+ years ago. I used roon for six months starting in 2017 and in 2018 I purchased the lifetime sub. Its been excellent, probably my best hifi purchase ever, more than my RME DAC (also excellent), my NAD M23 power amp (also excellent), you get the idea! I am just trying to say how highly I value Roon. Expensive, yes, but for me well worth it. Having said that, I always keep an eye on whats around should something happen to Roon. With, that in mind, I have used plexamp for a while, and although different it is also very good to use.

 

[Madlop26]

I tried Roon for 45 days, I agree, the best software to stream your music collection, sleek, stable (most of the time, 2 freezes in 45 days is still quite good), gives you tons of information about your music, DSP and so on and on ....but from standpoint of what you get, and the price you have to pay is a big no. You see; nowadays there are so many ways to stream music at home, and with even more capabilities, and for FREE!!. Now I am using "Music Assistant" I can stream my music collection from my NAS to any of my end points as Roon does with DSP, and has integration with Apple music (which Room lacks), Also I can do scene and automations. Let me give you an example: when I arrived from work, I'm ready to relax, got to my bedroom to change, music assistance detects my presence and automatically plays my relaxation playlist (shuffled of course, you dont want to listen to the same songs everyday) to my bedroom 2 HomePods minis and HomePod on synchronize music that fills the room, once I left the bedroom music stops, also i have a smart Lutron Pico remote (25 boxs) with if I want I can change volume, pause or do next song, of course you can use you cell, tablet or computer to manage Music Assistance like Roon. Do you like to listen to music while showering?, no problem, music assistance comes and automatically play you shower playlist when you get into the shower, you can do also news or podcasts, the possibilities are endless, Roon? a pass for me, give me Music Assistance baby.

 

[Soniclife]

If you just consider it a component you plan to keep in your system like any other component, it can make that pill go down a little better.

That was the logic I used years ago as well, it's worked really well so far, but the lifetime was a lot cheaper then, and there was a lot less competition, I'm not sure I would do the same now.

 

[Geertidow]

I ended up taking a 1 year subscription just to really use it for a year without the stress of purchase.

And yes, the lifetime of 850 USD is too much. I assume something better and cheaper will arrive within 8 years.

 

[tonapo]

Music Assistant

I need to try home assistant! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[FreakyKiwi]

I've just made the switch to Music Assistant from LMS after trying it a few times over the last year or so.

It has improved immensely since I last used it, with the best new feature being local playback meaning I can play music locally on my phone or PC without needing a separate receiving app as is required by LMS.

I was somewhat forced to change as I am now using Jellyfin as my media server and the Jellyfin client fails miserably to stream music to my Wiim (cast or DLNA) or other cast enabled devices.
Music assistant supports a range of players including Squeezelite, Google Cast, Snapcast, Airplay, Sonos, Bluesound and DLNA

I'm using my Jellyfin library as the music provider for Music Assistant so get the best out of both.

FWIW I did run a Roon trial last year and couldn't see what it provided of any value for me vs the free platforms such as LMS or MA.