Why I Stopped Using Roon

[Nicoff]

After being a longtime Roon user, I recently realized something surprising: I haven’t used it in months—and I don’t miss it. Who would’ve thought?

Since I’m a lifetime subscriber, cost isn’t my issue. But if I were paying monthly or annually, I’d definitely be questioning the value. Why pay more for the software than for the actual music service? That just doesn’t make sense to me anymore.

Over time, a few things have pushed me away from Roon:

- Cost – While I’m not paying ongoing fees (lifetime subscriber here), those on yearly or monthly plans should really ask: is it worth paying more for the software layer than for the streaming service? Especially when so many alternatives offer simpler, more integrated experiences for less—or even for free.
- Frequent software updates became a chore. Too often, when I just wanted to listen to music, I’d end up downloading updates and restarting my computer instead.
- The metadata overload—artist bios, album details, etc.—felt excessive. I know that’s a major selling point for some, but I found it more distracting than helpful.
- Focus was a great feature back when I primarily used my own music library. But now that I mostly stream via Spotify, it’s irrelevant.
- Limited streaming support is a major downside. Roon only works with Qobuz and Tidal—no Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music. I get that it’s not entirely Roon’s fault, but it still limits its usefulness.
- No-fuss alternatives like Spotify and Sonos have made me appreciate how seamless things can be. No constant updates, no reboots—just hit play and go.
- I also used to run HQPlayer with Roon, and while I enjoyed it, I eventually lost patience with even occasional tech hiccups.
- Roon requires a computer running in the background at all times. At this point, I’m asking myself: why bother, when streaming services let me access what I want instantly, without the overhead?

Ultimately, I don’t feel like I’m giving up anything meaningful. I can still stream in high-res when I want (Qobuz → Streamer → DAC), but more importantly, I can play whatever I want, whenever I want—without wasting time on updates, reboots, or troubleshooting. I might give up Qobuz next and replace it with Apple Music (they have an excellent Classical add-on now).

 

[rwtooley]

interesting take! most of the ppl that have it swear by it. but I can totally understand the "meta overload" though.. thanks for sharing! I wasn't aware Qobuz and Tidal were the only supported platforms, can anyone expand on why that is?

any idea if your perpetual license can be sold/transferred?

 

[julitoole]

I can of sorts.
Roon would need the possibility to grab certain information of the servers, like an api of sorts.
Services that provide this will be added those who do not will not.
And Apple and Amazon did not do that.
For this reason I do not have Roon.
You can find more information on the technicalities on the roon support post on why apple music is not supported.
But I would be extremly compelled to use Roon if it would support apple music in my case.
But the cost defintely is a huge issue in my stage of life and I could or would not afford it even if apple music would be implemented.
Spotify usually doesnt deliver a high quality but it is easy to use and often suffices for the usecase or user.
As ensuring high quality playback would be my greatest argument for Roon just using Spotify would not cut it for me but even then using equalizer apo you can achieve about the same DSP as you do with Roon so yeah Roon is nice but there are a lot of usecases where a lot of arguments stand against it and certainly it is a rather niche product in my point of view

 

[ehabheikal]

I left roon because of
1-when you like a song it likes only in roon and not the underlying streamer, though you do access the streamers favorites.
2-cost
3-Got a wiim well actually a couple of wiims

 

[terryforsythe]

I tried Roon for the free trial period. It wasn't perfect, but overall I liked it for streaming from my music library. But, for Tidal, I actually like the Tidal app better, and I stream from Tidal far more than I stream from my music library. Now I use LMS for streaming from my music library, and it serves my needs.

 

[Mnyb]

I hesitated for years and just recently got a trial membership . I’ve been aware of the service for a long time .

I do like it but it has many idiosyncratic things that’s mainly the roon team itself and thier way of making stuff that made me hesitate.

The Spotify support is actually entirely on roon , they could not compromise with thier UI a bit and makes something that works , but choosing the roon way or nothing.

Same with the truly inexcusably and insane idea that the server stops working without internet connection, their coveted search would be compromised?
Same attitude? Just make a local search that s not as good is way way better than nothing at all ?
I think it’s actually about selling our data …..

And thier own hardware where they refuse to give proper specs ?

Or that you can have only one server at the time ? To move between them requires login and online connection.

There are countless weird bussiness and software decisions.

And not to speak of it’s that it’s an enormous resource hog ?

But again Roon has some features that I really like especially the integration with my hardware and PEQ software
And many more features that I like .

You take the good with the bad so I’ll think a run it for some more time and decide later .

Due to it’s nature of online only service I need to run my LMS server on the side anyways ,should Internet go down .
So it really can’t replace anything else you have as a music server , you need to keep that too .

 

[jtwrace]

I LOVE Roon! Best audio software investment I've made. Purchased the lifetime when it first came out for $400....it has paid for itself. Although I do keep waiting for Samsung to change the rules and decide to charge another fee. Updates are nearly automatic and flawless every time. Just can't recommend it enough!

 

[terryforsythe]

But again Roon has some features that I really like especially the integration with my hardware and PEQ software

Due to it’s nature of online only service I need to run my LMS server on the side anyways ,should Internet go down .

Just in case you were not aware, there is a DSP plugin for LMS, named "SqueezeDSP", which I used. It works well. It handles both PEQs (IIR) and FIR filters. Really neat.

I used SqueezeDSP for a while, but didn't really like streaming Tidal through LMS too much. Now I apply EQ downstream from my WiiMs.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Allmusic.com is $12/year (or free with ads), has all the metadata, a great recommendation engine, and I have it integrated with Tidal and WiiM with a Chrome extension. Any needed EQ can be done in the WiiM streamers. Works for me.

 

[EasyC]

I left roon because of
1-when you like a song it likes only in roon and not the underlying streamer, though you do access the streamers favorites.
2-cost
3-Got a wiim well actually a couple of wiims

I've never used it, because I don't really see the point... DSP is on my computer with my desk setup, and on my AVR (with AppleTV) in the 'media room'. Then there's a Sonos setup in the living room, and all play nicely with Apple Music and Airplay (on Mac and Apple TV lossless). All my ripped cd's are also in AM so the only thing to gain is maybe some more metadata but not worth the cost of a subscription and a separate computer I think.

 

[Daverich4]

Same with the truly inexcusably and insane idea that the server stops working without internet connection, their coveted search would be compromised?

That’s no longer true.

 

[Chrispy]

Curious, is your lifetime membership transferable? I'm not interested in roon, just wondering.....

 

[OCA]

I am a satisfied life time Roon subscriber, too. Sound quality is the highest possible at all times and it continuously checks and confirms that it is, integration with "lossless" only streaming services Tidal and Qobuz is smooth but for me the most important factor is the state of the art DSP which they started calling Muse lately. Nothing, not even JRiver comes close to it and good DSP doubles the performance of any system easily.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

I never stream at all
I only play my own files
I like the metadata sometimes

If not Roon, what?

 

[OCA]

Curious, is your lifetime membership transferable? I'm not interested in roon, just wondering.....

I don't think there's an official method to transfer life-time service but you could simply pass your login info to someone else if need be.

 

[Brian Hall]

Roon is ok if you use Tidal or Qobuz. Not worth it just for serving local files. I use Plex for my ripped CD collection.

 

[Purité Audio]

Worth it for the multi room, eq, best meta data, most stable

I never stream at all
I only play my own files
I like the metadata sometimes

If not Roon, what?

There is a whole lot of music out there that you don’t own, I would trial Quboz .
Keith

 

[whereisbrian]

No streaming here, only FLAC files, I use Music Bee or Audacious and Foobar sometimes
No streamer, only a refurbished 10 years old laptop

 

[somebodyelse]

I never stream at all
I only play my own files
I like the metadata sometimes

If not Roon, what?

LMS for me, mostly with local files and Qobuz.

 

[Music1969]

Although I do keep waiting for Samsung to change the rules and decide to charge another fee.

Maybe have another go at their own streaming service too, with the UI being Roon