advertisement


Roon - taking the plunge

T

tiggers

pfm Member
I have searched and read a lot of threads on Roon, but I guess a lot of them refer to older versions etc. and don't cover completely my specific questions so hence the new thread. Apologies if it's been done to death, but I have tried so forgive me if I've missed vital threads.

Firstly I should state I am Apple Mac based in terms of computers and have iPads and iPhones to use as remote devices.

I have a fairly extensive iTunes library of CD rips, however I have decided to trial Roon/some CD Ripper as a potential replacement.

Two main reasons:

1) iTunes Remote App is dire, it's slow and doesn't mirror the iTunes functionality enough (ordering things differently etc.)

2) Many of my CD rips are poor quality as I simply ripped them through iTunes and realise now that a proportion of them threw up errors etc.

So was thinking of starting to re-rip the CDs using dbPoweramp and ensuring I get as accurate a rip as possible. Would then build a new library of rips that I could tell Roon to watch and use that to play my music via the DAC etc. In the meantime can also carry on using iTunes while that builds.

Does anyone here recommend dbPoweramp or is there something better?

What format should I rip to, currently using Apple Lossless as all my gear is Mac based?

Is this going to give me the best sound quality or is their something better than Roon?

What is the best way to ensure metadata is obtained correctly?

Any help appreciated, sorry there are so many questions.
 
Roon is perhaps only really worthwhile when you also subscribe to Tidal ( lossless streaming) if you do decide to get Tidal then only rip the CDs which aren’t in their catalogue.
Rip to AIFF, ROOn or any other playback software won’t improve sound quality but ROON’s UI is a pleasure, you run Roon on your MacBook and just plug in a USB dac.
Keith
 
If you need to re-rip CDs, just go for DBPoweramp, there are some free options too, but DBPA is great, and includes a metadata editor too.
Don't worry too much about file format, as long as it is lossless. You can convert to another format whenever you need to if future hardware/software choice needs it. On a Mac, you should use ALAC or AIFF if you want to play on Apple players like iTunes, iPhone etc. but you can still store as FLAC if the player supports it.
I find Roon a bit OTT, but you might like it. Sign up for the free trial and see what you think. For now, just run it on your Mac, and maybe consider dedicated hardware for it in future if you decide you like it. Presumably, you have a player that can function as a Roon 'Endpoint' or you will need to find a way to make it work.
 
Purité Audio said:
Roon is perhaps only really worthwhile when you also subscribe to Tidal ( lossless streaming) if you do decide to get Tidal then only rip the CDs which aren’t in their catalogue.
Keith
Click to expand...
I'm perfectly happy with Roon without a tidal subscription - more than enough purchased music to listen to and Roon's value proposition definitely isn't tied to streaming, not for me anyhow.
 
+1 re dbpoweramp. Rip to apple lossless - presumably all apple products work with it.
 
Good for you ,I find having my library interleaved with Tidal’s catalogue works really well and has introduced me to a huge amount of previously undiscovered music .
Keith
 
Thanks for the replies.

Currently use a Naim DAC-V1 asynchronous DAC to output to hi-fi system from Macbook Air (with external drive for music storage). Was planning to install Roon on the Macbook Air and use it as a dedicated Roon 'server' to output the same way to the aysnc DAC. Was then hoping to control it from the iPad and/or iPhone and stream it via the home wifi to 2 Yamaha WXAD10s to get music to the rest of the home. Is that viable?

Thanks for the info on Tidal and I like the idea of discovering new music in this way so will definitely explore that too.
 
When I first read of it, I thought what can this possibly add, but now I wouldn’t be without it.
Report back with your thoughts.
Keith
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top