Why Roon?

[sritacco]

I'm curious about what others find compelling about Roon.

I've used a Sonos Connect and the Sonos apps to play flac music ripped from CDs for over 10 years and due to COVID boredom I started looking at some new alternatives. I had a few DVD-Audio and SACD titles from years ago (and players that broke and I tossed) that I ripped so I picked up a Topping E30 DAC and attached it to an old mini-PC I had on hand. First I tried Volumio. I liked it so much, I bought it. It only seemed fair. Such a nice piece of software...
I've played with Kodi a bit... thinking about an open DVR solution because TiVo seems to be on the way out.

Then there is Roon. A subscription to listen to my own music? Honestly, WTF? I loaded it too. I'm listening through it now. I don't expect I'll pay for it.
It just seems crazy.

 

[GDK]

Here is my answer from a different thread:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...why-do-people-like-use-roon.18173/post-591381

 

[sritacco]

Here is my answer from a different thread:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...why-do-people-like-use-roon.18173/post-591381

Thanks for the link. Yeah... I think Volumio is probably just fine for me.
I would like to be able to play some multi-channel content in the future and I guess if you assemble the right parts, Roon can do that right now.
Hopefully if multi-channel DACs get more popular, Volumio will add support.

 

[sritacco]

I also have a pet peeve about how subscription model software is being abused in the US.
You buy something and a year later the charge shows up on your card if you want it still or not.
Then they won't give you your money back.
This sort of stuff used to be criminal, and it should be again!

 

[sritacco]

Well, I did just discover the first thing I do really like about roon. I played an album, and when it was over it seems to have auto-generated a nice mix of tracks that are in the same "context" and kept playing. That's kind of cool.

 

[sritacco]

Once I hooked Roon up to my AVR with HDMI and discovered it could play every format I had without trouble, it did sell me on it. I'll be buying it for a year at the very least.

 

[sailor2005]

Once I hooked Roon up to my AVR with HDMI and discovered it could play every format I had without trouble, it did sell me on it. I'll be buying it for a year at the very least.

Why not try JRiver MC?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Well, I did just discover the first thing I do really like about roon. I played an album, and when it was over it seems to have auto-generated a nice mix of tracks that are in the same "context" and kept playing. That's kind of cool.

I hate that. (Fortunately, it is defeatable.)

 

[Zensō]

Roon is nice if you have a mix of different sources (local files plus streaming) and end points (Sonos, Airplay, wired DACs, etc.). The large amount of metadata they pull in is great, but I find the interface sub-par on iOS devices, which are my primary controllers. I'm looking at other solutions now due to their inability (or refusal) to develop a native iOS app (people have been asking Roon for a native app on iOS for years).

 

[Pluto]

their inability (or refusal) to develop a native iOS app

This has more to do with their business relationship with Apple than anything technological.

 

[JustJones]

Roon doesn't auto charge for the next year unless you sign up for it. My year subscription just ran out and that was that. I liked the user interface, hated the auto play from roon radio when a CD ended, turned it off. Roon did nothing I needed that my Lumin App didn't provide.

 

[jruser]

With Roon it's just easier. I had a DLNA setup before that, and something was always broken or needed tweaking. Roon makes it where I spent far less time tweaking, and far more time listening to music.

And the wife factor is far better. She'll use Roon if I'm gone, but never would have bothered with the old setups I had.

 

[Zensō]

This has more to do with their business relationship with Apple than anything technological.

My understanding is that Roon is developed as a single application and is then ported to various platforms. They could certainly choose to develop a native iOS app; this has nothing to do with Apple.

On the other hand, incorporating Apple Music as a streaming service within Roon would require Apple modifying their AM API to allow use on the Roon platform, something which will never happen.

 

[ezra_s]

the only thing that is a pain from Room, aside from the subscription price is to have a dedicated piece of hardware and that one not being able to be a raspberry pi, which consumues next to nothing. I know I know, DSP processing, etc..

Still I subscribed for a year to really see if It helps me enjoy my music better. I may look into a small form factor computer possibly fanless with an i5 or similar to see if I can have the room core in my room without making a single noise and not wasting too much energy, but I assume 300€ at least.

So factor in a specific computer for it, unless you will just use it when you turn on your main pc or the likes, I rather be able to use it whenever I want, so 24x7 it will be, or programmed stop/start for night/morning.

 

[sritacco]

the only thing that is a pain from Room, aside from the subscription price is to have a dedicated piece of hardware and that one not being able to be a raspberry pi, which consumues next to nothing. I know I know, DSP processing, etc..

Still I subscribed for a year to really see if It helps me enjoy my music better. I may look into a small form factor computer possibly fanless with an i5 or similar to see if I can have the room core in my room without making a single noise and not wasting too much energy, but I assume 300€ at least.

So factor in a specific computer for it, unless you will just use it when you turn on your main pc or the likes, I rather be able to use it whenever I want, so 24x7 it will be, or programmed stop/start for night/morning.

I did exactly that... I picked up a decent i5 NUC off ebay (cheap) and loaded ROCK. That cost a third of what a Sonos player costs...

 

[sritacco]

Why not try JRiver MC?

I might give it a try. What do you think the advantages are?

 

[muslhead]

I also have a pet peeve about how subscription model software is being abused in the US.
You buy something and a year later the charge shows up on your card if you want it still or not.
Then they won't give you your money back.
This sort of stuff used to be criminal, and it should be again!

Vote with your wallet. Bitching and complaining will do nothing. It is the path to additional profits and why it has been adopted by almost all software companies. Those that didnt are mostly out of business. Take your pick

 

[muslhead]

i use jriver and it does not have a subscription model. update when you like. Future upgrades do not cripple past ones, the older versions just dont include the new content/upgrades. I am extremely happy with it. YMMV as it requires a specific types of connection that some may not currently have (ie, dlna, etc.)

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I might give it a try. What do you think the advantages are?

Fast, reliable, flexible and customizable.

 

[sritacco]

I hate that. (Fortunately, it is defeatable.)

For me, it's a nice way to rediscover parts of my music collection that I don't play too often.

Vote with your wallet. Bitching and complaining will do nothing. It is the path to additional profits and why it has been adopted by almost all software companies. Those that didnt are mostly out of business. Take your pick

Absolutely, I do. On some level though it's inescapable. I bought a teamviewer account for some contract work I was doing a year ago and WHAM they charged me again and wouldn't refund.