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Your experience with Roon

Sloop John B

Sloop John B

And any old music will do…
It can be hard to judge how stable or otherwise ROON is from their forum as it doubles as a support forum, so it appears that a lot of people are we going through a lot of problems, particularly with ARC.

what is the more balanced PFM view from Roon users about their experience?

.sjb
 
I trialed it for a week. Unlike most, I didn’t like all the extra info and curation, or the interface and went back to Audirvana/Qobuz.
 
I don't use arc often, I don't see the point of it against better offerings.
I am becoming aggrieved at just how shit roon radio is, its giving me nothing, nothing new, I can literally tell you what I am going to hear next and in what order.

However, the multi room stuff from a variety of hardware keeps me hanging on. I wont lie I keep an eye out for alternatives that can do all of this, but have not found anything yet. The circa 30% increase in price has helped my desire to keep looking.

I am struggling to see any real development in roon, which is a real shame, the requirement for 100% on time with internet is a concern.

Stability rock solid in terms of the server running in docker. Not so much as an endpoint on windows where if you minimise it for more than a few minutes it will crash. Search can be a tadge slow at times, no doubt connected to the always internet connection requirement.

I still like roon. lol.
 
I was a reluctant adopter - change can be unsettling, after all.

I tried here and there including Chord Dave and Stax headphone demo rooms at Munich and appreciated the access to music. I was not that concerned and still am not that concerned about all the info (I tend not to read sleeve notes on LPs and CDs) but it doesn't get in the way of choosing music so why not?

I was given a lifelong sub to Roon as part of the package when I bought my streamer/DAC. NowI've got it, I wouldn't(t go back to the apps that come with my first, second or current streamer.

As for stability, in the four or more years I've been using Roon I've had one very short-lived incident (nothing that serious - I can't remember quite what it was).

If you're into ripping classical CDs Roon is more or less essential for the classification and cataloguing process.

I've run the Roon Core on an iMac and a Synology NAS and control interfaces on iMac, iPad and iPhone 8.
 
Ambient edm fan here and with Roon, tidal and my burned cds I absolutely love it.

arc is good, if upto date. And 4G signals are decent. On 3G you may as well forget it.

My core is a Mac mini and I had to be sure that was setup correctly - to not sleep, and auto log into Roon at a restart etc, following power cut or a switch off in error for example. Now that’s sorted, I love it, as every time I open the app the core is there, waiting.

if you have more than two systems in the house and want them both playing the same thing, at the same time, it’s the best software by a mile too….

Tidal connect is good, but only one output at a time… Yamaha’s own system (musiccast iirc) is not as good etc etc. Roon is v well thought through.

I now use Roon with Lyngdorf and it’s magic, perfect.
 
I love Roon and use it every day, but it's clear that their objectives are not my objectives, and they won't budge, so it will probably gradually deviate from what I want.

I wanted a good stable system running my own audio files in my own house, and the ability to manage my collection of music. They want something more like a cloud system with lots of information about the music, and seem quite uninterested lately in the basics of playing files. I have allowed myself to be led by them, and I enjoy the features they've added but I really just want something rock solid.

My main bones of contention have been:

* Roon ignores folder structure, so I've carefully arranged my files into genre/artist/album folders, but it will disregard in favour of its own metadata (which is often wrong)
* Roon will stop working if the internet goes down - this is a new "feature" and they don't care that some of us feel like we've lost something quite important here
* Roon has up until very recently had a delay of up to 30 seconds when switching from one album to another - they took AGES to fix it and never really acknowledged it

If they continue in the direction they're going, it's going to be hard to justify Roon over just switching to something like Spotify. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and it's helped me discover music in my own collection. I bought a lifetime license at a very fair price a very long time ago, but at the current price, with the current direction of development, I think I'd be looking at something else (Audirvana or LMS probably).
 
I liked it but dropped it a couple of years ago to save money. When I returned for a trial I didn’t like the changes and there was awful lot of it I didn’t use. I went back to LMS which has a good balance of virtues.
 
I've only been using Roon for a few months, and only 6 weeks ago bought a used NUC to serve as a Core. An the moment I'm still dazzled by the choice of music and the ability to search through different recording to find what you want, e.g. I had heard a version of Paint it Black by someone other than the Stones, Roon provided a list which I just worked through until I found what I was looking for. With classical music that's even more of a boon.

Roon Radio does get into a bit of a rut. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way get if to wand off track a bit.

For me it is VFM and keeps me trying new stuff. For hours on end.
 
Used Roon for yrs and never had an issue, love Roon radio, and recently installed Roon nucleus. Used Arc once on a train and impressed. Monthly subs and I’d like to go to life but feels a lot if cash in one hit.
 
I’ve tried Roon twice and actively disliked it even before Arc and the internet issue. The fact that Roon and Innuos don’t align and the latter sounds better than Roon has of course helped.

I have tended to make myself unpopular amongst those who like this sort of discussion as much as Apple v Android by pointing out that whilst Roon have exploited a gap in the market it was a relatively small one and it will get smaller every year as manufacturers catch up with their apps. and certainly stuff like Innuos Sense gives you enough of what Roon offers without most of the technical issues and for free so that moment gets ever closer. The fact that Roon don’t listen to users isn’t helping their already weak market position.

That aside I am not a fan of being curated as I discover music exactly like I did as a teenager. I take on board recommendations and try them and I read the music press. The algorithms tend to give you bang average tepid clones of what you already have and, whilst I’m sure there are exceptions, every time I’ve heard something where a friend raves about a Roon, Qobuz, Tidal, Bandcamp recommendation I have yet to hear anything at all where I’ve thought that something exceptional has somehow slipped under the radar of a record label.

Cue a deluge of people telling us the numbers. The reality is that hundreds of thousands of devices ship with Roon stickers and Bluetooth but it doesn’t mean they all actually uses it.
 
Over the years I have tried to ween myself off playing with computers and software at home. Working with them everyday for 30yrs can do that to a person. Roon may provide useful features to some but it just seems like a techie hobby appendage to the hobby of listening to music. My preference these days is for black boxes that just need plugging in with the minimum of config. Good luck to those that get satisfaction from setting up Roon seamlessly across their network but my computer is currently in a bottom drawer where it lives for weeks on end. :)
 
I've been using Roon for about 18 months and find it invaluable for finding new music; opened up a world of jazz and blues for me. I enjoy reading the band info and record info, yes I could find the same information online, elsewhere, but I'm a lazy bugger!

I have core running on a QNAP NAS and a few end points running RoPieee, some with displays and some without. I previously used PiCore, which is good too, just not quite as polished.

I don't have many CDs rippered and on the NAS, I mainly use Roon with Tidal. ARC I've used a few times, but I usually drop to tidal for the reason that I don't have many ripped CDs.
 
Paul Hindle said:
Over the years I have tried to ween myself off playing with computers and software at home. Working with them everyday for 30yrs can do that to a person. Roon may provide useful features to some but it just seems like a techie hobby appendage to the hobby of listening to music. My preference these days is for black boxes that just need plugging in with the minimum of config. Good luck to those that get satisfaction from setting up Roon seamlessly across their network but my computer is currently in a bottom drawer where it lives for weeks on end. :)
Click to expand...

I think this post definitely illustrates that Roon is most effective with a dedicated device (Nucleus or Nuc running ROCK), it just becomes another appliance then and means, once set up, there is not much maintenance to do.

I share other posters frustration with ARC, sometimes it works, sometimes not, but that doesn't affect the in home experience which is better than any alternative I can see for my use case.
 
chiily said:
I enjoy reading the band info and record info, yes I could find the same information online, elsewhere, but I'm a lazy bugger!
Click to expand...

And this is one of the main points isn’t it. The information is pulled from the likes of AllMusic and other apps are now doing the same so Roon is ceasing to be unique in this and many other respects.

Paul Hindle said:
Over the years I have tried to ween myself off playing with computers and software at home. Working with them everyday for 30yrs can do that to a person. Roon may provide useful features to some but it just seems like a techie hobby appendage to the hobby of listening to music. My preference these days is for black boxes that just need plugging in with the minimum of config. Good luck to those that get satisfaction from setting up Roon seamlessly across their network but my computer is currently in a bottom drawer where it lives for weeks on end. :)
Click to expand...

I think this has been a trend only accelerated by the pandemic. At one point I had eight Naim boxes with all the cable nightmares that periodically entails. By the end of this year I will have three and the overall quality will be at least the same and most likely better in most respects.

Like yourself I have found the need for a clear work/life divide. I laugh when people make claims about their Mnii Mac or post pictures of the VDU atop their otherwise neat system. Who wants that in their living room.
 
I trialled Roon some years ago. I couldn’t see the point in it but a friend suggested I try it as personal experience was the only way to find out if it would be suitable. I was so taken with it I bought the lifetime license (just before it jumped in price - it’s since gone up yet again, so for once my timing was excellent, and it’s now technically ‘free’ for me).
I use a Linn KDS and much as I love the hardware, I think Linn’s software is woeful in comparison. The Linn app is improving steadily but Roon’s user experience is in another league.
After running the core on our main pc under Windows for a while, I purchased a then current NUC (8i5BEH) and installed ROCK. The NUC sits on the network in our 'office' area (a small loft conversion) so it's out of sight. Even running Roon’s early access (ie beta) software, I have pretty much no issues. The ‘always on’ internet requirement is not a problem for me as our internet connection is extremely reliable, and in the very unlikely event of an outage, I can still use Linn’s control points to play locally stored albums or, gasp, I could even spin an LP or two.
Edited to add - I've tried ARC on a few occasions and it works fine. Having a BT 'Smart' hub I did have to manually tweak the router's settings to get ARC to work, but that took seconds and my brief tryouts with it suggests it's reliable.
 
I’m happy with Roon, (though I don’t use ARC). Run it on a headless MacMini, and use my iPad or iPhone as a control point. It does a good job of integrating my own rips with Qobuz into one library, the search is now decent, the album/artist information and links between musicians and albums is very good. The forum is hopeless, support is poor. Can’t see there’s an alternative (tried Audirvana and LMS). Subscribe yearly. Worth it to me.
 
Using Roon has proved very good to manage my extensive music library, it's very solid, streaming to several end points is a big plus and the UI is a delight to use.

The only negative things I've found so far are:
- CUE files playing is not supported;
- ARC takes ages to download offline content to a phone;
- ARC when not used with an external DAC does not bypass Android's audio (unlike UAPP).

For Home use I strongly recommend it. For use on the go with ARC I don't think it's good enough.
 
garyi said:
I don't use arc often, I don't see the point of it against better offerings.
I am becoming aggrieved at just how shit roon radio is, its giving me nothing, nothing new, I can literally tell you what I am going to hear next and in what order.

However, the multi room stuff from a variety of hardware keeps me hanging on. I wont lie I keep an eye out for alternatives that can do all of this, but have not found anything yet. The circa 30% increase in price has helped my desire to keep looking.

I am struggling to see any real development in roon, which is a real shame, the requirement for 100% on time with internet is a concern.

Stability rock solid in terms of the server running in docker. Not so much as an endpoint on windows where if you minimise it for more than a few minutes it will crash. Search can be a tadge slow at times, no doubt connected to the always internet connection requirement.

I still like roon. lol.
Click to expand...

Logitech Media Server has always done multiroom and optional syncing of devices to play the same across the house since way before Roon was invented.
It's also free and used in conjunction with Pi based streamers using Picoreplayer is very cost effective. The optional material plugin gives you Roon like info on music even giving Lyrics of track playing. It will work with all the streaming services by installing the appropriate plug in.
 
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