What is Reddit's opinion of
Roon?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
55 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Its an upgraded music...thing. Has a lot of functionality and information that something like iTunes doesn't. For example the info about songs/artists that used to be included in album books etc are now in the roon interface that lets you see a lot of background information in linked databases. I.E person x wrote song for person y so let me click on this link of person x and see what else he wrote. A lot of metadata, lyrics, can stream to remote devices and use multiple NAS as your library, allows any file type, smart playlists and filters....
Selling your Roon license is against our terms and conditions and will result in the license being revoked.
For anyone else reading this, please be careful! Given the user's history, this account was likely purchased with a stolen credit card. So when the license gets revoked, the buyer will be out $350 and we won't be able to help.
Paging /u/Drix1 to take down this post.
If it's just for music, take a look at https://roonlabs.com/ it is a subscription based service though, but quite nice and will stream to various devices/endpoints. There's a free 14 day trial that you can try to see if you like it. In the end, because I have a Plex pass, I stuck with Plex and mainly use Plexamp.
I like Roon. I use it to play to two different loudspeaker setups in my apartment, as well as desktop speaker/headphone setups. UI-wise, it's the only thing I've used that doesn't frustrate me to no end (I absolutely hated jRiver Media Center and all the DLNA BS that came with it, which I used before Roon). I think it's the only thing I've seen that successfully tries to be a next-step past the iTunes library management paradigm. It turns your music collection into a wiki of sorts, allowing you to surf through a lot of production/engineering metadata and editorial content provided through AMG integration. It has a server/endpoint/controller model, but those can all be the same machine if you need. I run the server in a VMWare ESXi Linux VM, keep my music stored on a NAS, play back to networked DAC, Raspberry Pi, and desktop endpoints, and control playback via iOS/OS X/Windows clients. In addition to devices that support its own protocol (RAAT), it will also play to AirPlay, Sonos, Squeezebox, and Devialet Expert endpoints. There are Roon Server packages available for Synology and QNAP NAS appliances.
The downside is that it's relatively expensive commercial software, though the cost of the regular subscription comes out roughly equal to what jRiver MC costs, if you pay for the regular upgrades.
Tidal’s catalog is better than Qobuz if you’re in the US (I gather Qobuz’s catalog is better over the pond).
At the risk of my karma, given this is a Tidal reddit, I prefer Qobuz in terms of audio quality but, like I said, whether MQA is good or bad is bit of a religious argument.
I actually have Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music, and Spotify subscriptions in my household. Some of that’s because of preferences other than my own and trying to keep the family peace. :)
I use mostly Qobuz, Tidal for stuff I can’t find in Qobuz, and sometimes Apple Music in my car because its CarPlay integration is better and it’s usually harder to tell the difference between 320 kbps and CD quality with road noise in play.
I also have a roon subscription (see https://roonlabs.com/), which lets me access Tidal, Qobuz, and my FLAC library through a unified interface to pretty much any of the speakers in my house. Depending on how crazy you get with the audiophile bug, the roon integration of Tidal is really nice.
Good luck, to you and your wallet. ;-)
Sure, it's Roon - I use it to connect to a little home server where I've ripped my CDs to in, and additionally linked it with my Tidal HiFi account - it's super convenient. Convenience has been a bit of a thing in this setup, with the all-in-one Naim Atom too.
I have a 4TB NAS and I use it w/ roon which I absolutely love. I know some don't like it because of the price, but it does everything I wanted a media player to do, and it does it very well. Right now you can use your phone as an end point, at least on iPhone, but I think there are ways around it. I'm just not sure what they are.
I've been looking at this myself lately. There are a few options.
1) If you use Chromium, select Hifi and set your system volume output to max and your volume in the Tidal web app to max, it for some reason will output Master quality. So if you have a DAC connected, it will detect and decode it (works with my Ifi Zen DAC). HOWEVER it only works well on about half the tracks I've tried, others it is garbled. Weird bug.
2) You can use Roon on Linux https://roonlabs.com/. It works perfectly, HOWEVER it is designed to run on a standalone music system, and it installs as root and provides no security, so if you are using a laptop and connect to wifi in a cafe, anyone can play or even delete your music if you have downloads. It seems a really bad idea to use it on any actual workstation.
3) You can install Roon in a VM in VirtualBox and use USB3 passthrough with extensions (assuming you have a USB DAC) and that works perfectly MOST of the time, but if you are using the computer while listening to music, the USB passthrough sometimes has issue when CPU use goes up and the music skips briefly.
Roon is software that acts like a storefront for all your music, bringing it in from different sources, such different apps you subscribe to (tidal/qobuz) and your hard drive (ripped CD collection), so you can access it from different devices/music players on your home network. You pay a monthly or yearly fee. It also gives you commentary on the music/artists and suggests other music you may like.
Best to try it for free for a few weeks to really understand it., it certainly changed my perception of why I would want to use and pay for it.
Hm..there are few ways to "digitilize" old setup - rather popular and universal thing to do is use something like BLUESOUND Node (version 2i or newer). Later you install roon on PC in your home network, add music files or trial account for tidal to your roon library and all should be good on analogue setup.
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It works with roon: https://roonlabs.com/partners/bluesound
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Check roon: https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks
One of the benefits of Roon is that it shows you the entire signal path and if it's being changed at all. Roon can you all sorts of endpoints, from your standard desktop / laptop speakers to dedicated devices. So yes, you can cast directly to existing ones (desktop, iPad, phone, Airplay devices, Chromecasts) and when you play back audio on any of those you can check the signal path to see what exactly is happening. Airplay and Chromecast devices support at the very least 16 bit / 48 kHz (and higher), so for most anything you toss at them they'll work losslessly. If you have high res audio you need to check the end device to see the highest quality it supports.
Keep in mind that for you to sync music across devices, they all have to be the same "type"; you can't sync Airplay playback with a Chromecast. If you don't care about playback sync'ing, then it doesn't matter.
The reason I bring up the RPi is because Roon can run on it as a Roon Bridge. This turns the RPi into a Roon endpoint, and you can easily toss a bunch of these all over your house. You can use the built in output (analog or HDMI or USB), which would then require an amp and/or DAC, or you could get something like a HifiBerry and just attach a pair of speakers; they also have other products that offer a DAC or a SPDIF output on top of an RPi so you can decide if you want to use an external amp, or an external DAC, or any combo thereof. Roon with an RPi is an incredibly cheap way to get lossless high res audio.
Roon Labs sells a music media server that has many capabilities and scales to very large libraries. It is not free. It has clients for IOS, android, MacOS, Windows, even a UI on Chromecast. https://roonlabs.com/. Designed to run on a Intel NUC or a custom hardware device you buy from an audio dealer.
I use Roon and love it. I have ~3 TB of FLAC files on a server and this system works flawlessly. It also pulls in a ton of metadata on your music and allows you to sort it in different ways - like finding all of the songs by a certain producer. It isn't free but I love it and have been using it for a few years. https://roonlabs.com/
I doubt that you'd like Roon.
The mindset behind Roon is readily apparent on their website as the first graphic:
https://i.imgur.com/p227FLw.png
And below where they talk about "turning this, into this!"
There are people who want the sit down and experience an album cover when listening to music, and there are people who want to feel like they're in a record store when picking each song individually to listen to next. There are people who agree with Bono's complaint that iTunes is like a spreadsheet. Roon is for them.
Yes, it uses a stored/cloud database as the source of truth and not ID3 tags. For the previously mentioned people, that's likely not an issue, but it's a different approach than what Apple has done with iTunes, and I hope Apple continues with the approach that it took, perhaps augmenting to provide other users with the album cover/store experience more than they are now.
No, it doesn't integrate with the system. No media library access, controls, etc...
It's funny that they use a Finder listing of music files instead of actually using iTunes, thus showing the absolutely worse representation possible and none of the advantages of what iTunes has to offer over Roon.
Roon is expensive in my opinion as subscription software. The 14 day trial requires a credit card, so... if nothing else, I wouldn't invest in the process of migrating my music to them even if I thought they were a better solution for me.
To me, as a business, they seem stuck in the middle of two models that make better sense... It seems weird to have a subscription model for purchased music and even then, there are things like Plex which provide some of the same features for music along with much more in terms of other media.
I don't think you need to spend more money on gear. Are you using a HEOS app on android or apple? With a tablet, phone, laptop? I wonder about other apps that would be better and cost no money. How is the native Tidal app on your system? I use Tidal with Roon Labs product which merges my own collection with Tidal library. I love having everything in one place. https://roonlabs.com/
Someone, please explain Roon to me.
I see them plastered around audiophile sites. What are they actually offering that has any value whatsoever? Why should I pay $500 for cover art and artist biographies? And why are they misrepresenting how music is presented on a/any computer? I mean, seriously, my music isn't actually shown through some, on purpose, mangled screenshot of OS X Finder, like they're trying to suggest here?
To me, this appears to be audio cable industry-levels of appealing to the gullibility of people.
Is there any value proposition I'm actually missing here?
Giving this a try, the pricing is obviously a little high for what you get, but it'd be interesting to see it paired with Tidal (which it supports, but I don't subscribe so haven't tried). It still feels a bit 'beta' but I think has a lot of potential.
There's no doubt that Spotify has a more mature platform and because they are lazer focused on appealing to a broad audience they prioritise accessibility features (easy to use UI, ubiquity on platforms, connect features).
Tidal on the other hand focuses on HiFi, they have the best support on high end audio systems and integrate with power user tools like Roon.
Everyone has to decide which kind of user they are and pick the service that best fits that.
The recommendations are way better for me than Apple music; daily mixes, the daily discovery and the music note button on now playing is my favourite feature on any platform.
It has a good app on all the platforms and best of all, it works with Roon.
A music player and server software with a graceful UI. I like it because it offers me a similar experience to my record collection but with my digital music library. https://roonlabs.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4_arw_GV9QIVC9Z3Ch0odgXvEAAYASAAEgIu7vD_BwE
Roon is pretty great if you are only interested in music. Jellyfin/Plex/etc…is nice as well but I’m assuming you want remote access to your music which would involve opening a port.
Roon might be worth some consideration if all your interested in is streaming your own music. They do have support for synology and qnap NAS solutions. There is a monthly cost to it, but that may be worth it with the feature set provided. I don't personally use Roon, but I've seen many people say it's great. https://roonlabs.com/
Thanks again, u/FantasiainFminor! I think you've made up my mind for me.
I also use <em>Roon</em>. (Do you know it?) It offers a 'free' three month trial to (amongst other services) Idagio. Now I know what to do :-) By the sounds of it, Idagio is every bit as good as PrimePhonic.
You've got to be kidding: it helps tremendously! Very grateful for your time and effort :-)
>Hope this helps.
John Pickard is a composer whom I suspect you may well like if you like Pendercki.
Much appreciated.
I use Roon to sort and filter my music, also by tags given from my personal impressions as you suggested. Not quite cheap, but worth every penny for me as music lover. It brought back the fun in cruising my music collection I lost when I started playing less vinyl and more digital media. It could run on a NAS server or a small server, in my case as a VM on my FreeBSD server streaming to my Linn Klimax DS, but could also run on your local machine and play the music locally. Never want to miss it again...
My setup at the moment is bandcamp to purchase the music then use roon for meta data management, orchestration and local streaming. Neither package manager nor trackercontrol see any tracking by the roon app.
Roon is expensive but it does what it foes so well.
https://roonlabs.com/privacypolicy
Away from home i use Plexamp with a burner account hosted on a VPS in the netherlands. Plex does run telementary on users so this is not ideal.
Selling your Roon license is against our terms and conditions and will result in the license being revoked.
For anyone else reading this, please be careful! Given the user's history, this account was likely purchased with a stolen credit card. So when the license gets revoked, the buyer will be out $350 and we won't be able to help.
Paging /u/Drix1 to take down this post.
Similar to Jon Snow, I know nothing... about coding, so I don't know how different is to code a web player and an actual app for an OS, but this guys have an unofficial web player, and they have a GitHub to collaborate. I don't know if there is info that could help you.
What I would love to see and buy (buy, not suscribe) is a Roon style app, compatible with Apple Music. I don't know why Roon is only compatible with Tidal.
I use Roon. I've tried a lot of music manager/players thorugh the years and right now I think Roon is as good as it gets,
Spoiler: they know they're good and charge you for it.
So, it's sort of a complicated mess ( which is maybe reason enough to stay away), but amazon's own apps have a tough time playing the stream as it should be. This article dives into the details:
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/update-amazon-music-hd-is-still-lossy-r961/
In my own personal experience the Amazon hd streaming of albums that I have hdtracks copies of never sounded quite as good at the hdtracks versions when played through exactly the same audio chain. Not a huge difference, but when I saw the above article it made me feel validated that there was something up with the Amazon music hd streaming app. I've since switched to Qobuz and I would say that for music you know really well, playing through a resolving system (for me it's my Koss esp 95x headphones), you can hear a subtle difference.
Now whether this is all worth it to you is a completely different matter. Qobuz is more expensive ( I think), and has a different catalog, though I was able to find everything I listened to on Amazon Music, your mileage may vary. If Roon ( https://roonlabs.com/ ) is your thing, it's no question that you will want to at least try Qobuz.
To me, the real problem was that you can't actually trust what the Amazon music hd app says it is sending and Qobuz is really clear about that.
Hope that helps. It was a huge surprise to me too when I first heard this and I doubted it...until I noticed it myself, so I understand your skepticism.
kind of, you can't use them directly from music playback software that expect speakers to be connected to your PC. You can use software like Roon
You can stream via chromecast, etc.
I am new to HA so I’m sure others can offer better advice with the benefit of real experience, but as a Roon Labs user it seems to me that it could work nicely with HA. That’s what I’m planning anyway.
Currently I have Roon core running on a VM, a couple of Raspberry Pi 3’s as endpoints, one with a DAC connecting to a vintage Arcam Amp, and another with a Amp hat with directly connected speakers. Roon is also built in to some high end gear.
This may not be exactly what you are after, but i have to mention Roon.
Superb library software and packed with features and HQ audio. Support all major music streaming services and integrates it into your library. Does not support mobile sync yet and not free. But despite the cost; i dont even consider other alternatives anymore.
Thriving community with active Roon staff participating. Continously improving, no-hassle updating
So I just searched it and it shows two options available for Linux - Roon Server and Roon Bridge. The Roon page doesn't have a "control" icon for either of those options. Does that mean that I wouldn't be able to control the opposing device?
I love Plex for movies and TV shows and I did run my music on it for a time and was excited when Plex added Tidal, however, in the end I prefer music to be served by it's own dedicated platform which specializes in hi-res music, streaming integration, and be able to serve to devices such hi-fi equipment and receivers via chromcast, airplay or the like which is beyond what Plex is able to do.
If I had the money I'd setup a Roon server where all my music, server files, streaming services (Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, and so on) and integrate it together as a single source instead of having to switch between sources when one doesn't have the media file you want to play and to be able to do it from anywhere.
The “today” way of building a multi-room system would be to rip your media to a server (a NAS or a dedicated PC) and access your library with Roon or some other library software.
The more traditional way would be using a Multichannel amplifier.
I went through this exact same search two years ago and was discouraged to the extreme until I found Roon. https://roonlabs.com
What it doesn't do as well as iTunes:
- sync to files to phone (non-existent)
- remote streaming when not home (native support coming but not available yet)
- Roon costs real $$
What it does better - literally everything else. Some highlights:
- liner notes and information
- rich metadata database which drives fantastic discovery engine
- flac and other format support including hi-res if that matters
- multi-platform support
- imports (and syncs, kinda) to iTunes and other online services
- rich audio output controls
- regular bug fix updates and feature updates
- much more
It was hard to think about moving to a paid product, I truly couldn't be happier with Roon. Check it out and see if it might work for you.
(Edit: formatting)
LOL
I bet you are setting up a NAS to house your flac collection so you can access it from any device in your home :)
BTW, if you don't mind paying for it, I hear Roon is really awesome for accessing music throughout a home: https://roonlabs.com/
I've tried Kodi, which works great for movies, but not great for thousands of music files.
Awesome. I think it's what I need.
Here is my use case. I have two sites, connected by a routed IPSec VPN.
In site A, there is a Roon server (https://roonlabs.com/). I am able to play music on multiple devices in site A.
Now in site B, I can access all services in site A transparently via the routed IPSec (VTI), but I can't use the Roon server to stream music to audio devices.
Roon uses a mutlicast to and their own RAAT protocol to stream music.
Will look into this as time permits, but been looking for this for a long time !
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Thanks for making it happen.
You can of course continue using the music files on other computer even when iTunes or Music (on Catalina) is no longer exist. There are many other iTunes alternative but they may either be costly or not as fancy looking. I personally suggest Roon as an alternative. Loads of features that I think even better than iTunes or Music. I linked their website so you can learn more about the program/service. They have both annual and life subscriptions. Another option is Audirvana; similar interface to iTunes so this might work better for you if you prefer so. JRiver Media Center I find their interface a bit dated. Though it does the job. It can even play lossless file (just like the other two) if you eventually want to improve your library quality.
Music on Mac is okay but I find it consumes a lot of memory. There times my computer would get very sluggish while browsing through my large library. iTunes was much better at library management. Oh well... anyway, I hope you can find something you like and let us know which rabbit hole you choose to go down. :)
If you’re comfortable in Terminal, I highly suggest Beets for organization. Once you get it set up, it's awesome for tagging, organizing, converting, and querying music.
Before you decided on a player, I'd checkout Roon. It's super expensive, but I'm pretty impressed so far and I'm not aware of anything else that does what it does.
Music is stored on NAS with folders for each artist and subfolders for album. Folders are indexed by Roon and Plex. Some are copied to iTunes on NAS.
As a primary music program I'm using Roon. It's perfect except it runs only in LAN.
For the go and on mobile I'm torn between old iTunes which I hate and Plex which is good but not so nice as Roon.
This is the setup I can recomend.
It’s not free, but give Roon a try: https://roonlabs.com
If you love your music collection then it’s a game changer but it only works with Tidal and Qobuz for streaming currently.
It works with your Sonos speakers which is great because you don’t need to replace anything.
Tip: Connect the speakers via Ethernet with the router.
More info: Darko: Roon comes to the KEF LS50 Wireless
This is Roon It’s a music server that can integrate with your own library as well as with Tidal and Qobuz. It has a great iPad app to control everything. And it can project the artwork and lyrics to Google Chromecast connected to your TV
I recently had to upgrade from the Raspberry Pi in my stereo set up (that thing was buggy AF) to an Intel NUC (and running Roon Labs to play/sort my music). What a fantastic difference this has made. I'm actually feeling like my stereo setup might be good as it is for a while.
Time to annoy the neighbors and play this shit loud.
Nothing I’m aware of that will combine multiple streaming services.
Plex will let you combine local media with Tidal.
Roon will as well, but doesn’t support remote access - you have to be on the same network as your Roon core (server) in order to get at the collection.
Other streaming providers don’t seem to be as open to integration as Tidal though.
Roon is a fantastic local music player / metadata curator / radio / music discovery service (especially if you pair it with a Tidal or Qobuz subscription - although that might defeat your intent). Unfortunately, it's not free though.
If you want the best quality with software to tie everything together I'd suggest taking a look at Roon. Mobile link for their partners. You will find much more freedom of choice for equipment. You really just need a Server/PC available to run the software and an endpoint for any location you want to listen. You can setup custom groups and control them from any device on your network. It's geared towards people with large digital libraries, and or streaming services. I currently use an Allo DigiOne Signature($300) as a wired endpoint and it provides a sound quality that cost a lot of money($1500) until recently, but there's plenty of options. Any gear you have will work with an endpoint in the system and your interface will remain with whatever gear you choose.
Fair point, although I’m not sure “most” people buying Sonos have libraries that large... even if the ones who do are vocal about the limitation. ;-)
But yes, you’re right, and that’s one reason I use Roonroon.
How much are you willing to pay for this device? TBH, it sounds like you're asking for a high level of performance, and you've already crossed some major players off the list. I was going to suggest Bluesound because they're leading the field on functionality for the dollar.
I think you may have a hard time finding just wireless speakers with this level of functionality without introducing another component to the mix. Something like a dedicated storage/jukebox to interface your network, internet, etc and hand off the signal to your speakers. Maybe get yourself a Roon core and some Roon ready speakers.
Also, you talk about using bluetooth as an alternative when the internet is down. If you have a home network with a router (almost everybody does) all of your local resources should still work as long as your router is up, even when the internet is down. Maybe some casting devices need the internet to work, but generally speaking you should be able to play off your nas all day long with the internet down.
Tidal is worth if it you want to stream lossless audio. That's going to come down to a combination of your sound equipment and, even then, whether you can tell the difference.
Otherwise, Spotify probably has a better offering. Their catalog seems to be a bit better/bigger, their social and 3rd party integrations are stronger (for the most part), and their artist radio function seems to be a bit better.
I find their UIs to be comparable, and prefer Tidal's a bit (certain things about the Spotify UI and apps make me crazy, and not in a good way).
One place that Tidal beats Spotify in terms of 3rd party integrations is with what Plex has done. Tidal has a similar integration with roon, and Spotify doesn't really do anything like that.
I have a family Spotify account because my family's heavily invested in the Spotify ecosystem, and I have a Tidal account for myself because I want the lossless. I actually take advantage of some of Spotify's 3rd party integration to build playlists there, and then I use Soundiz to sync the playlists to Tidal.
A subscription to Tidal might be worth looking at instead of Spotify. Or even Roon. Or both! These would fit in your budget. Speaking as somebody who has neither, if somebody got these for me I would be stoked!
True-Fi provides some very basic configuration options under Device Settings. Look for the Output Device dropdown box and choose your preferred DAC.
On my mac I'm running all audio through the OS (Core Audio) and True-Fi is the selected OS system output.
Using the above setup allows you to combine True-Fi processing with a player (like Roon) that does its own internal DSP and is designed to route directly to endpoints.
Roon > System Output [Endpoint] > True-Fi [OS Output]
If your place is also wired for ethernet, consider a networked multi-room solution too. I can't speak for Sonos or Bluesound, but Roon could supplement a single wired receiver.
If you hadn't already invested in the in-wall setup, I would have recommended moving in this direction instead. Networked multi-room audio is getting really good, and should only get better in the coming years. As for Roon, I'm a true-believer, and it's only a year or two old (v1.3).
Keep it in mind if your current project runs into any tough rooms.