Why I Stopped Using Roon

[Fahzz]

What platforms can Lyron be loaded onto, and what brands of streamer can it be used with?

I don't use Spotify as it isn't good enough quality. Does Lyron work with Qobuz and Tidal and one's own music Library?

Can it access the world's radio stations and Radio Paradise?

I ask because I've never heard of Lyron and, if it can challenge BluOS, then perhaps I could try it, if only for its "don't stop the music" feature. Thanks

Windows, Raspberry Pi using Squeezelite, and some others. I use it with Qobuz and local tracks- I can't help with Tidal. It has full access for me for radio. The old squeezebox streamers are out of production but there are still used ones on the web. I know it can be used with Wiim and Eversolo devices, Chromecast and probably others.

As I said above I just use the mini PC as the player with one of the many plugins for the software.You do need to have a PC running the server software to use it on an external player. I believe they are also working on improving set up on Macs.

If you want to look into it:

https://forums.lyrion.org/forum/user-forums/logitech-media-server

 

[Multicore]

- No-fuss alternatives
- Roon requires a computer running in the background at all times.

These are a big deal. I used to run RPis, BubbleUpnp and stuff like that but now I've got a WiiM and Spotify an it's so much easier.

 

[obsessive9119]

Wait a minute... Roon costs money? I was thinking of trying it on my NAS server, not anymore. I'll stick with piCorePlayer.

Martin

Depending on what you want to stream to, I’ve found minimserver to be a great DLNA server. The free version works well, and if you want more configuration options the paid version isn’t too expensive (I think I paid $30 for a perpetual license).

 

[Daverich4]

I honestly thought this couldn’t be true. But I looked it up in the Roon community threads, and yes, people are rebooting all the time.

This should not be happening in 2025. Either terrible design or some fishy kernel-level stuff going on. Heck, I can even update my GPU driver without rebooting!

I’ve been a Roon user since 2017 and can’t think of one time I’ve had to reboot anything after an update.

 

[Induna]

I have been using LMS for many years. It is incredibly flexible and reliable. It supports most streaming services directly via plugins and can integrate your streaming service libraries with your local library seamlessly, if you want. The server portion can run very well on a Raspberry Pi, as well as on Linux, Windows, MacOS or on various Nases in Docker. It supports multiroom streaming with at least 6 simultaneous streams using a Raspberry Pi 4 w 4GBs. It can also sync playback among players. It supports virtually all file types, resolutions and bitrates with transparent transcoding as needed to support a wide variety of players.

The native client app, Squeezelite runs on android, IOS, MAC, Windows, Linux and all WIIM devices except the Mini. and on ESP32 controllers as well. In addition it supports Airplay, Chromecast and DLNA players through plugins that are stable and continually maintained.

Music can be played and managed on every platform with dedicated apps or through a truly excellent web interface. It is an excellent product with a great community and continuous development. And it is free. If your worried about players, well you can install PiCore which contains Squeezelite on a Pi 0 2w in about 15 minutes and plug it in to the USB input of any DAC and you are golden and future proof.

 

[MC_RME]

View attachment 443478

So you're even after 5 and a half years. In these times you have to ask yourself what you might use then, or if Roon still exists. These are crazy times where nothing seems guaranteed anymore...whatever you use and like is taken way from you the next day... (sorry for the rant)

 

[Mnyb]

What platforms can Lyron be loaded onto, and what brands of streamer can it be used with?

I don't use Spotify as it isn't good enough quality. Does Lyron work with Qobuz and Tidal and one's own music Library?

Can it access the world's radio stations and Radio Paradise?

I ask because I've never heard of Lyron and, if it can challenge BluOS, then perhaps I could try it, if only for its "don't stop the music" feature. Thanks

Windows and Linux and possibly macOS, but the Linux part makes it go on almost anything.
My current LMS is a raspberry Pi 4 with 8gb ram with an USB SSD.

I run it on Linux mint in a virtual machine… etc etc . I know tidal works .

Btw I use the highest tier of Spotify it’s 320 kbp OGG in the highest settings with no volume leveling so it’s practically indistinguishable from lossless. It’s hard to compare due to actually finding the ”same” release . But I mostly uses my own files and Spotify lets me discover stuff i eventually buy ( and Spotify’s certainly good enough for my car )

 

[Old_School_Brad]

These are a big deal. I used to run RPis, BubbleUpnp and stuff like that but now I've got a WiiM and Spotify an it's so much easier.

I agree. The whole "home server running all the time" thing feels a bit outdated now. I did it for years back when streaming services weren’t around for movies, series, and music. But now, it just seems like a step backwards in terms of convenience.

I use Wiim and Spotify too, and so far, they’ve been completely hassle-free for me. The only thing I’d change is having Wiim match Spotify’s loudness settings, instead of just offering one -and I can’t tell which setting that is. But that's just nitpicking.

 

[Mnyb]

I have quite a collection of lossless files 57k of them so I still feel the need for a local server.
Spotify has severe limitations to how big your collection can be and most services are actually trying to push new stuff onto you anyways

Roon runs on my intel NUC .

 

[somebodyelse]

What platforms can Lyron be loaded onto, and what brands of streamer can it be used with?

It runs natively Windows, MacOS, linux, probably most other *nix too. It's also available in a Docker container to use on those, and some NAS drives.

It works natively with Squeezebox hardware (now only available used), and more recent software implementations available for most operating systems. Some hardware streamers like Wiim now include native support.

There are free software platforms to make an appliance style streamer, server or both. piCorePlayer (for pi) and daphile (for PC hardware) are dedicated to Lyrion while many of the others have it as an option.

It has plugins that let it stream to most other streamer targets like UPnP/DLNA, Chromecast, AirPlay and probably some I've forgotten.

I don't use Spotify as it isn't good enough quality. Does Lyron work with Qobuz and Tidal and one's own music Library?

Definitely for your own library and Qobuz. Your qobuz favourites will be shown alongside your local content. I'm not sure of the state of Tidal support as they had to reimplement after Logitech finally shut down the server that the old plugin used to use. Lyrion was previously called Logitech Media Server.

Can it access the world's radio stations and Radio Paradise?

Yes. Some like Radio Paradise and the BBC have dedicated plugins. Others rely on generic streaming from a URL.

I ask because I've never heard of Lyron and, if it can challenge BluOS, then perhaps I could try it, if only for its "don't stop the music" feature. Thanks

 

[ddaudio]

More on LMS (I'm one of the developers):

As has been mentioned, the server can run on almost anything - including Android, so you can have both the server and player in your pocket.

Client-wise, the software player Squeezelite similarly is available for all platforms and is included in WiiM streamers (except the Mini, but with that you can still use UPnP). There are also plugins for Airplay (v1), Chromecast and UPnP. UPnP can be variable depending on the device - there are so many interpretations of the "standard" out there - for example my Denon Receiver doesn't advertise acceptance of *any* mime types! (But the required types can be specified in the server-side settings). It will also do UPnP gapless, as long as the device is capable of it.

There are plugins for Spotify, Tidal, Pandora and Qobuz. Your music service favourites can be integrated with your local music library.

Radio: there are plugins for lots of radio services, including a full implementation of BBC Sounds, and you can also add URLs for any stream you want.

We have recently enhanced LMS greatly for classical music, which in my humble opinion is now excellent, and we're more than open to any suggestions for improvements.

As well as recommendations from the "Don't stop the music" plugin, which has been mentioned, there is also a "Music and Artist Information" plugin which delivers biographies, album reviews and information, lyrics (with realtime scrolling &highlighting), although all these rely on (many) online sources, within the limits of an open source and volunteer project we cannot curate our own data in these areas.

If you've got a spare evening, give it a go.

 

[vddobrev]

I am an unhappy lifetime Roon subscriber. I only got about 6-7 months of using it. I was extatic initially, blinded by the "bring your own library together with streaming service". I have a good and well curated with proper tags local files from ripped CDs, and hi-res purchased files from Qobuz.
I have not touched Roon in 1 year and 3 months.
Back in November 2023, Roon pushed an update that completely broke my iOS controllers, causing crashing, disconnects, and the like. The update deemed my Roon installation unusable. I was active on their support forums from November 2023 to January 2024, when they banned me for repeatedly stating one and the same problem and consuming too much of their support and dev time, aka "axe grinding". From my point of view, the update killed my Roon experience, and when demanding service from them, they called it "axe grinding".
I never came back to their forums, but I did continue to receive updates on the threads I was subscribed. Then not too long ago I stopped following, as it seemed that after an year the iOS controller disconnet problems were not solved.

All in all, I found Roon, after a 6-7 months usage, more of a problem than a tool to play my library.

I did not like Roon overlaying their meta data on top of my well-curated and tagged files, with no option to completely turn off.
Performance problems. It became a major problem to just navigate and play my own albums, because Roon insist on rendering a metadata rich Artist View and Album view, dependent on intrnet connection and the speef of theor servers.
Also geo-location mattered. I am in Europe - Bulgaria. Last I checked their servers are in USA west cost in some Amazon center, without CDN duplication in Europe.
I don't even want to metion their search - a joke. To search my own library, I need to be online.
And at the time, to play my own files I also needed to be online. That changed as far as I know but never tried it.
ARC and CarPlay never worked reliably, always glitches, could not recover from a short outage while driving through a dead spot.
Multi-zone sync never worked with BluOS devices that are Roon certified.

But my biggest gripe is the Roon team/support attitude towards their paying clients. I did not have a good experience, and will never return to Roon, I deemed my paid lifetime subscription as a loss and continued on.

DSP - I could not care less, I have Dirac Live, DLBC, etc. on all my players. Plus Roon never got replay gain rigth, from my point of view.

Currently, I am using BluOS app, and I get an easy way of playing my library, no curration at all, and complete sync while playing several zones together.

I do not miss Roon one bit, but I regret being blinded by their marketing. So please do research before you buy, it is very easy to get impressed with their meta data thing. If and when I want to research an artist/album etc, there are great online resources.

Bottom line - I hated their in your face meta data overload without an option to turn off completely. It was more of an annoyance to me, and coupled with their perfirmance issues like delay in rendering Artist and Album pages, it did not prove to be a solid library management and playback software/service.

 

[LtMandella]

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).

you listed all the reasons I never went for Roon, except perhaps the metadata. I would like the metadata, but I ain't paying what they are asking just for that...

 

[Snoopy]

Im a lifetime user since 3-4 years now. Sure sometimes roon has issues but since I run roon on my M4 Mac mini (lan connection to everything) it has been perfectly solid.

When roon looses its endpoints after a update, that’s a Mac OS issue. I just turn a VPN on and Off, restart roon and that fixes the issue.

So no big deal really.

I think there is no better way to combine Local Library with streaming especially for someone that owns multiple versions of the same album.

Also rooms DSP engine is actually really good. The option to Channel map Multichannel Blu-ray / SACD rips to Stereo and apply Convolution Filters or have everything upsampled with HQplayer.

for someone that only uses Spotify or tidal and doesn’t care about different masters and needs only a simple PEQ option there are cheaper things out there .

Lifetime license is the way to go.

 

[lordhumungous]

View attachment 443478

I paid 499 for lifetime . I like Roon but don’t love it . Would I pay 829 ?Absolutely not .

 

[Arindal]

I could not imagine listening to music, and foremost discovering new music, without roon. Particularly with anything that makes browsing based on composers, compositions or back catalogues attractive, like classical, jazz or rock, it is outright perfect in my opinion. Every time I occasionally cannot use it (with ARC not being available) but have to fall back to Apple Music or Qobuz, I feel like I am back in the stone age of streaming.

There were some performance and stability issues like 1 or 2 years ago, but it has dramatically improved. Yes, it is still a complex piece of software, and requires stable networking, updates and restarts, but it is absolutely worth it in my understanding.

 

[KMM]

Roon user for more than 5 years, lifetime a few years ago.
Best UI I know of
Metadata brings back the old LP cover feeling
Perfect integration of various multi-room endpoints
Hassle free with the exception of ARC (don't use it anymore, still too geeky)
Runs perfectly well on my NAS server (no additional hardware)
Ability to customize many features
Constant evolution of the software

Some inexplicable crashes and access issues with remote units

I have 7 different endpoints with Roon Ready or Roon Bridge connected devices and I am going to keep it that way. Waiting for the integration of my CD player though.....

 

[Arindal]

Hassle free with the exception of ARC

ARC has improved a lot, if one meets its minimum requirements, like either full IPv6 integration on both ends, or fixed/non-CGNAT IPv4 address, plus 5G mobile and Upnp-capable router. Unfortunately they do not really communicate the details, and roon server just gives non-intuitive messages why it would not work.

Runs perfectly well on my NAS server (no additional hardware)

That is one of the positive aspects of roon which are not promoted actively. Most of people with a large library anyways run or need a NAS, and if you choose the right one, it is actually a very smooth experience.

 

[WisEd]

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).

If you ran Roon from a Nucleus you wouldn't have any of those issues. I do all my streaming from Tidal anyway! The nucleus also becomes your server when you add a hard drive. In effect you can run everything from your phone!

also becomes your server thus

 

[lordhumungous]

I was one of the original lifetime subscribers and have enjoyed it over the years for its multi room functionality.
That being said I am using the Eversolo app to play Apple Music in high res now and am using it less and less .
I still have a qobuz account but the library is lacking and ultimately will go to Apple only as I have iPhones and iPads in the house .
If Apple went to a Connect feature like Spotify I would be done with Qobuz completely . Their iOS app is not great and downloading albums takes forever unlike Apple or Spotify .