Why I Stopped Using Roon

[Matt S]

Roon was my go to front end thanks to its great user interface and the fact that everything works so well.

I have recently begun exploring surround sound and whilst Roon works brilliantly with the BluRays and DVD Audio rips on my NAS, the fact it cannot stream multi channel is a gaping hole for me.

My subscription is cancelled and I have switched to Apple Music (via HDMI to avoid the Apple spatial renderer) and Plex.

Arguably a lot of multi channel music is ropey to say the least, but there are some really good albums too. If the Roon devs were to somehow offer some support for this, I'd be right back.

 

[dwstudeman]

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

Radio Paradise streams in FLAC.

 

[Snoopy]

Roon was my go to front end thanks to its great user interface and the fact that everything works so well.

I have recently begun exploring surround sound and whilst Roon works brilliantly with the BluRays and DVD Audio rips on my NAS, the fact it cannot stream multi channel is a gaping hole for me.

My subscription is cancelled and I have switched to Apple Music (via HDMI to avoid the Apple spatial renderer) and Plex.

Arguably a lot of multi channel music is ropey to say the least, but there are some really good albums too. If the Roon devs were to somehow offer some support for this, I'd be right back.

If your own rips are multichannel files you can definitely stream that and even do your own channelmapping.

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/multichannel

 

[Matt S]

If your own rips are multichannel files you can definitely stream that and even do your own channelmapping.

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/multichannel

The lack of multi channel playback via streaming is the dealbreaker for me.

Otherwise, I did really enjoy the interface and access to information etc. It is a great, perhaps expensive, piece of software.

I'm using Apple Music now (via HDMI for the Dolby renderer) and Plex for to access music on my NAS.

 

[AdrianusG]

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

If not Roon, what?

J-River !

been using it >10 years now , I only update every 3 or so years to the newer version (not immediately mandatory) and i also only play local files, has every function you could possibly want.

 

[marin.weigel]

What finally tipped the scale for me to leave Roon after a five year subscription, is the one missing basic functionality, that is standard for all other remotely comparable and widely available software:
And this is graceful, artifact-free handling of track skipping, rewinding, fast forwarding, or DSP volume changes, by using a technique called zero-crossing-detection.
Instead, Roon's sudden jumps from one sample to the next result in more or less loud popping noises, especially when using a DAC's output directly into an amp.

Roon staff acknowledged this issue years ago, but cautioned this would need an RAAT recode.
Implementing that necessitates firmware updates to all Roon ready devices, likely taking years for implementation and testing, not to speak of major support issues.
And that’s the reason why I think this’ll never change.

This is, where I’m at since the end of '24:
I absolutely need rock solid synchronized multi room playback and speaker/room correction, using REWs inversion method convolution.

Wanting free open source software, as well as a reduction in carbon footprint by implementing all that on an RPi 5, I settled on Lyrion Music Server with CamillaDSP for my local and Qobuz media.

And all my old Squeezeboxes got a better integrated new life as the icing on the cake.

LMS community contributed plugins enable continuous configurable track queuing, lyrics and artist info fetching, as well as Internet radio station track album covers, the latter also sorely missing in Roon.
It's Material style interface looks and feels really nice.
Developers and contributors listen to the community and help is abundant.

At a certain point during my subscription, Roon chose to focus all their development efforts on too many new nice to have bells and whistles while neglecting to fix long standing core functionality issues.

Not looking back, really.

 

[mermayer]

as well as a reduction in carbon footprint by implementing all that on an RPi 5

I want to p.... from this.

 

[Juliemeikle]

I was interested in Roon until I saw the costs. I use Qobuz, having just switched from Tidal as classical music is better served in Qobuz imo.
However, the lack of ability to make folders for easier finding without endless scrolling is a pain.
Can anyone suggest any apps that would give me this? TIA

 

[Sernyl]

It depends of the music category one likes :
Only about my rather personal taste, i.e. classical music, I have never found any streaming app or software useable. Except Foobar.
No streaming here, only files on HDD (+ 2 backups ;-) ripped or bought from Prestomusic and sometimes Qobuz.
I'm using FLAC format + Foobar and can sort by any tag: composer, artist, conductor, band, date, and usually by opus (%composer% - %work%).
Yes, it takes some time to manually tag this way, but it's the price to pay.
Been doing that for many years.
I still have LMS and Volumio, but never use them.
Forgot to say that my casual listening is AAC/48 on France Musique and its many thematic streams.
May I add that when navigating in polar regions it was better to carry a portable HD rather than count on the internet ?

Regards,

 

[audio_tony]

Radio Paradise streams in FLAC.

As does JB Radio (they have an AAC stream too - the quality of which is more than adequate IMHO).

Playlist | JB RADIO

jb-radio.net

 

[Haskil]

I've been using Roon for 3 years and less and less because I can't stand all the pseudo-technical talk about the separation of tasks and the sectarian spirit that is developing around this software.

Its metadata causes me concern because it is intrusive because it cannot be completely deleted. They're only useful for streaming, since publishers don't provide the platforms with the correct, complete information, and not even the PDF of the cover art in most cases. Moreover, only Qobuz and Apple provide them when publishers provide them.

But Roon's metadata is superfluous for ripped discs whose metadata has been entered, and is sometimes even tediously and irrationally musicologically pedantic: some tracks are kept in their original language, while others are translated.

I prefer Audirvana, which allows you to enable or disable Picard's metadata. It has only one flaw: scanning the HDD to update new discs inserted on the HDD takes an infinite amount of time. Roon does it immediately.

And it clearly separates streaming from the local music library.
In short, Roon isn't worth its price compared to Audirvana, and it charges dearly for its RAAT, metadata, DSP, and multiroom features.

Qobuz connect removes some of the interest for Roon and Audirvana if you don't use their DSP... There remains the colossal problem of missing or incorrect metadata and the absence of PDF for far too many discs... I'm talking about classical music here

 

[AudioJester]

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!

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.

Another early adopter here. When I initially bought Roon, it was to manage my local library. Now streaming, DSP engine (running multiway speakers), endless endpoints (even connects to my fridge!), automatic headphone eq, ARC in my car, etc. Etc. So many functions I never imagined. The DSP is so easy and effective, look at Amir's review fixes for speakers.

Iam also happy the original developers made some money, and keen to see whats next from the new owners.

There are other ways of doing it now, but Roon has been the most trouble free, complete robust package for me.

 

[Purité Audio]

Completely agree, best playback software I have used.
Keith

 

[ddaudio]

I was interested in Roon until I saw the costs. I use Qobuz, having just switched from Tidal as classical music is better served in Qobuz imo.
However, the lack of ability to make folders for easier finding without endless scrolling is a pain.
Can anyone suggest any apps that would give me this? TIA

It's a server rather than an app, but Lyrion (LMS) would allow this with its Qobuz and Online Music Library plugins (the second one is installed by default, IIRC): once you've added everything to your Qobuz favourites, you can import to your LMS library. This then allows you to browse multiple views - albums, artists, works, years, etc, though it is reliant on Qobuz tagging, which we have found can sometimes be a bit strange, but mostly they're OK.

LMS also allows you to set up playlists and hierarchical favourites from remote tracks. Best to use the Material Skin interface, see below.

It depends of the music category one likes :
Only about my rather personal taste, i.e. classical music, I have never found any streaming app or software useable. Except Foobar.
No streaming here, only files on HDD (+ 2 backups ;-) ripped or bought from Prestomusic and sometimes Qobuz.
I'm using FLAC format + Foobar and can sort by any tag: composer, artist, conductor, band, date, and usually by opus (%composer% - %work%).
Yes, it takes some time to manually tag this way, but it's the price to pay.
Been doing that for many years.
I still have LMS and Volumio, but never use them.
Forgot to say that my casual listening is AAC/48 on France Musique and its many thematic streams.
May I add that when navigating in polar regions it was better to carry a portable HD rather than count on the internet ?

Regards,

Have you tried LMS recently? We have greatly enhanced it in many ways, not least there is now comprehensive classical music functionality. We have a few happy ex-Roon users.

https://lyrion.org/downloads/ I'd start with the Stable Nightly Release, it contains some fixes.

There's an introduction to the classical functionality here: https://lyrion.org/getting-started/beginners-guide-to-classical-music-on-lms/

Suggestions for improvements are welcome - join https://forums.lyrion.org

NOTE: the new features work best when using Material Skin. With a new installation, it will default to installing this. Otherwise, install from plugins and set as your default skin.

 

[ahofer]

Completely agree, best playback software I have used.
Keith

Same. I’d like to see IDAGIO incorporated, including their ‘radio’ function, which blows Roon’s away for classical music. Roon’s radio has severe entropy through only a few tracks. You could start with baroque chamber music and be on some minimalist orchestral work in 15 minutes.

 

[Haskil]

It depends of the music category one likes :
Only about my rather personal taste, i.e. classical music, I have never found any streaming app or software useable. Except Foobar.
No streaming here, only files on HDD (+ 2 backups ;-) ripped or bought from Prestomusic and sometimes Qobuz.
I'm using FLAC format + Foobar and can sort by any tag: composer, artist, conductor, band, date, and usually by opus (%composer% - %work%).
Yes, it takes some time to manually tag this way, but it's the price to pay.
Been doing that for many years.
I still have LMS and Volumio, but never use them.
Forgot to say that my casual listening is AAC/48 on France Musique and its many thematic streams.
May I add that when navigating in polar regions it was better to carry a portable HD rather than count on the internet ?

Regards,

For a classical music lover, Foobar is off to a bad start: the "composer" sort doesn't exist. You have to create it.

Then, once you get used to its mediocre usability and master it, this software becomes marvelous, that's true.

However, you have to find a presentation that will please. Otherwise, it does everything well.
But it doesn't integrate with streaming platforms. Which isn't really that tragic.

On the other hand, its ripping tool isn't practical at all: iTunes crushes the competition, except for one thing: no FLAC...

 

[Haskil]

I forgot one thing that bothers me: the impossibility of natively using an external source (CD, for example) to play music through Roon and Audirvana...
Continuing on its cultish path, Roon has just announced compatible external sources that will allow you to play LPs or CDs from external devices...
As if it were so difficult to get this software to accept a source connected to a computer...

 

[Sernyl]

It's a server rather than an app, but Lyrion (LMS) would allow this with its Qobuz and Online Music Library plugins (the second one is installed by default, IIRC): once you've added everything to your Qobuz favourites, you can import to your LMS library. This then allows you to browse multiple views - albums, artists, works, years, etc, though it is reliant on Qobuz tagging, which we have found can sometimes be a bit strange, but mostly they're OK.

LMS also allows you to set up playlists and hierarchical favourites from remote tracks. Best to use the Material Skin interface, see below.



Have you tried LMS recently? We have greatly enhanced it in many ways, not least there is now comprehensive classical music functionality. We have a few happy ex-Roon users.

https://lyrion.org/downloads/ I'd start with the Stable Nightly Release, it contains some fixes.

There's an introduction to the classical functionality here: https://lyrion.org/getting-started/beginners-guide-to-classical-music-on-lms/

Suggestions for improvements are welcome - join https://forums.lyrion.org

NOTE: the new features work best when using Material Skin. With a new installation, it will default to installing this. Otherwise, install from plugins and set as your default skin.

Thank you for the information.
I will have a look on recent releases.
However, some months ago, I had found LMS difficult to cope with my (not so personal) tagging.
Regards,

 

[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), metadata, 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 FREE!!.
Now I am using "Music Assistant" I can stream my music collection from my NAS to any of my multiple end points as Roon does with DSP, and has integration with most streaming platforms including Apple music! , Also I can do scene and automations. Let me give you an example: when I arrived from work, I'm ready to relax, I enter my bedroom to change, music assistance detects I just arrived from work and automatically plays my relaxation playlist (shuffled of course, you dont want to listen to the same songs everyday) once I left the bedroom music stops, also i have a smart Lutron Pico remote, with if I want, I can change volume, pause or do next song, of course you can also 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 detects you are having a shower, you can do also news, podcasts, audiobooks the possibilities are endless.

 

[Sernyl]

For a classical music lover, Foobar is off to a bad start: the "composer" sort doesn't exist. You have to create it.

Then, once you get used to its mediocre usability and master it, this software becomes marvelous, that's true.

However, you have to find a presentation that will please. Otherwise, it does everything well.
But it doesn't integrate with streaming platforms. Which isn't really that tragic.

On the other hand, its ripping tool isn't practical at all: iTunes crushes the competition, except for one thing: no FLAC...

"composer" is an official tag, but rarely documented, I agree...
idem for "work".
Some manual work is necessary, but then ...
My FB setup works fine. I don't try to convince anyone.
Rip : flac is enough for me.