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Why do people like/use Roon?

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Mariner9

Mariner9

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I ask because I'm in the process of deciding between the D&D 8C Home or Studio Versions; the only difference in functionality is that the Home version is (almost) "Roon ready". As the cost difference is significant, there's no point paying for functionality I won't use.

I trialed Roon, using it as a music library and player and concluded it simply doesn't work for me - but it seems very popular so I'd like to understand what I'm missing.

I currently use Foobar as a general media player, Mixx for DJ'ing and ProTools for recording studio mixes. I don't use any streaming services (nor am I likely to) and play music from lossless downloads or rips of my CDs and vinyl. ~95% of my music collection is "dance" music (which is why Roon doesn't work for me).
 
Four main reasons why people use Roon, which may or may not be relevant to you:

1) Seamless integration of your library with Tidal and/or Qobuz (the latter is only available in a limited number of countries)
2) Very good DSP capabilities
3) Ability to control various zones with one system
4) Good metadata integration (except for classical)

If some or all of those don’t resonate with you, then it’s probably not worth it. For me, the DSP makes it worth it alone.

I’m not sure I understand your comment around “dance” music meaning Roon not working. I have heard many classical music listeners struggle with it, but anything else should be fine.
 
Thank you for your answers.

"I’m not sure I understand your comment around “dance” music meaning Roon not working."
  • it pulls metadata based on release. For example, if I ripped one track from an EP, Roon thinks the whole EP is available and shows up artists and tracks that aren't in my collection
  • it assigns the wrong genres to tracks and artists. Some of these seem to have been made up (what the heck is "Clubjazz"? Or "illbient"?), others are simply wrong, like labelling indie rock as "experimental techno" - whatever that is. This makes it very difficult to find music by genre
  • images associated with tracks are applied incorrectly which makes a scan based on album / EP / single covers impossible
  • liner notes seem to have been written by people with no knowledge of or interest in the music they're writing about
 
I love Roon and have had a lifetime subscription for years now so it has paid off. There are certainly other ways to do it but having one platform everywhere within the house that everyone knows how to use along with the studio just is hard to beat. Also, the curating of music and integration is second to none IMO.
 
Time is money I would say is the best way to put it. It is not perfect, but for the most part, it means not having to deal with a lot of potential integration issues and library issues.
 
audio2design said:
Time is money I would say is the best way to put it. It is not perfect, but for the most part, it means not having to deal with a lot of potential integration issues and library issues.
Click to expand...
For me, that is exactly where it fails. Roon's (mis)management of classical music metadata imposes a heavy burden on my patience.
 
Mariner9 said:
I ask because I'm in the process of deciding between the D&D 8C Home or Studio Versions; the only difference in functionality is that the Home version is (almost) "Roon ready". As the cost difference is significant, there's no point paying for functionality I won't use.

I trialed Roon, using it as a music library and player and concluded it simply doesn't work for me - but it seems very popular so I'd like to understand what I'm missing.

I currently use Foobar as a general media player, Mixx for DJ'ing and ProTools for recording studio mixes. I don't use any streaming services (nor am I likely to) and play music from lossless downloads or rips of my CDs and vinyl. ~95% of my music collection is "dance" music (which is why Roon doesn't work for me).
Click to expand...

I like that it integrates with my homeassistant easily. I have buttons to start playing certain playlists in certain zones of the house. The built in dsp is nice too.

have to be honest though, it's been buggy for me lately with trouble streaming when there shouldn't be. Lags and drops out.

I'm glad I haven't bought the lifelong membership because I might be motivated to try something better and more reliable.

it also isn't good for classical, and on that note, still waiting for Roon to integrate with primephonic or some other classical streaming. If Sonos can connect with any streaming service under the sun, for free, it's ridiculous that Roon has so far only onboarded tidal and Qobuz

since I'm complaining already, it'd be nice if there was an option to prefer higher quality Qobuz version if I already have an mp3 of something.

how do you guys like volumio?

what alternatives are there that provide multi zone control, library browsing, Qobuz integration?
 
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Mariner9 said:
I trialed Roon, using it as a music library and player and concluded it simply doesn't work for me - but it seems very popular so I'd like to understand what I'm missing.
Click to expand...

I've reviewed Roon several times now, with the most recent being two weeks ago, and never particularly cared for it either - I find its Windows interface to be rather poor, in all honesty. I suppose that if I used either Tidal or Qubuz I might appreciate its integration, but I don't use either and probably never will. I'm either streaming from my own library or Internet Radio the vast majority of the time, with a smattering of Spotify, Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

The ability to apply DSP per endpoint I can see as quite useful, but I have alternative ways of rather easily implementating that if necessary. None of my speakers are so bad as to require extensive EQ anyway - they're Harman designed and manufactured - and I can do without it when I'm not listening critically, which is most of the time. And my mobiles have system wide EQ for when I'm streaming to them.

Some people seem to like Roon's metadata facilities, but I just look at them and shrug. Emby, my personal multimedia server package of choice, links into Wikipedia, Musicbrainz, AudioDB and Listenbrainz for metadata to the extent that I don't feel that I'm missing out.

Also, subscription model software pisses me off. Just sell it to me outright at a reasonable price ($700USD for a home server application isn't) and stop trying to suck money out of me like a vampire on a monthly basis.
 
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win said:
I'm glad I haven't bought the lifelong membership because I might be motivated to try something better and more reliable.
Click to expand...


Ditto, I saw this more of a financing the company thing and if I want to be an investor I want that choice :)
 
I begrudgingly use Roon, it's just the easiest way for me to integrate Tidal with my own Library and Zone different parts of the house together. It's way overpriced for what it is if another product came out that could orchestrate my music and rooms I'd jump ship in a heartbeat.

The lack of remote access really annoys me for its price point, and because Tidal's playlist and search sucks I have a premium sync account to sync our playlists from Spotify to Tidal just to get the hires versions. I wish Spotify did hires.
 
So yea, all the Roon haters, please share your solution with us.
 
BillG said:
You're misinterpreting technical assessments for emotion. I don't hate Roon, I just don't view as a good price vs performance and functionality proposition.
Click to expand...

i genuinely want to switch off of Roon and genuinely want alternatives
 
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