I quite like the look and feel of the current version, but still - some new and optimised visual elements would be very welcome. But, most important to me: I want an overhauled home screen that could be individualized, so I could get rid of stuff like this:
and add instead charts of like “most played albums of the month in my library”
Dan
I am avoiding dropouts by using a USB Regen but that means I cannot benefit from the advantages of Roon Ready. There have been extensive debates about dropouts with Devialet Expert 220 connected via ethernet in other threads and the general conclusion is that this is a known problem that affects some users but not others.
It is apparent that users with other hardware have similar issues. Therefore, I am wary of investing in other products that may currently still have the same random bug.
Well the context was getting dsd512
Google integration
I moved the family off Google Play Music and onto Tidal/Roon, well, because Google killed it. Everyone misses being able to ask their speakers to play something - especially the kids without a phone/tablet.
Spotify interface. And hoping Spotify offer a lossless service as well
The idea of a home screen that can be adjusted to anyone’s needs through predefined options should really be a milestone change in Roon development.
I would also opt for a more optimised music player algorithm, there is music software other that sounds better than Roon
Simple stuff:
A volume slider for Group Zones, instead of just “+” and minus “-“.
The ability to create multiple Group Zones, and ability to transfer music to individual endpoints with a Group Zone, without having to Ungroup and Regroup the Group Zone.
No more MQA dropouts with the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital.
Then you best talk to Project and John Westlake - its designer who for whatever reason never quite finished work on it (some kind of disagreement between himself and pro-ject I beleive). I think there were some posts about this on ‘pink fish media’ web site.
Best to let Roon do MQA decode and only use as a renderer, then it seem to work OK.
Personally, I will be steering well clear of anything either of them are involved in in the future if they cant put their differences aside and adequately consider customers.
Weird thing is that the dropouts never occurs when playing MQA outside of Roon. I can’t really blame Pro-ject I feel.
If you feel this is a Roon issue, then you should take it up with Roon support and get their response.
I however have experienced this issue outside of Roon and it seems to be down to whether the MQA decode is done in the DAC and seems not to be a problem when software is performing the decode. I have also noticed the it seems more likely to happen on a Raspberry PI3B and less likely on more powerful devices (PC/Mac/R-PI 64/Intel NUC with ROCK etc). This might point to the R-PI3B being an issue, however other class compliant DACs I have tried have no such issue at the same sample rates.
I actually believe the XMOS controller code just isnt very good and/or its audio data buffer is too small compared to other similar ESS based DACs and seems a lot more sensitive to host CPU speed. I have noticed this DAC struggle on a R-PIB with high sample rates when other similar devices do not at the same rate. Worth a read of the posts on the web site I mentioned if they are still there.
Interesting observations indeed. Do you think that power delivery could be part of it? Been thinking about running the dac thru a better power source than the usb-data port.
I do not believe this will change this specific issue, however you do raise another possible point of difference between hosts. As I said, on other hosts (computers with more PSU power) I has not noticed a complete absence of the issue, just a lessening of it. I have not heard of people suffering this with what appear to be almost identical similar devices from Topping, SMSL etc, though of course these other devices came out much later and may have better spec controllers, updated MQA code etc.
I see. I have also noticed that if you connect the dac to the same device that runs the roon core, the issue is much more present than if you connect the usb cable to a separate device on the network.
I havnt noticed that, but then I have a way over spec core - an i7 intel NUC that runs ROCK. I have Roon set to do MQA decode and this has been the most reliable setup for it (including DSD, high sample rates etc). I think it just works better on a host with plenty of spare CPU. Maybe if your core is heavily loaded doing DSP or otherwise isnt high spec, then what you say could make sense.
The other problem I have with it is that sometimes it becomes unresponsive and has to be fully disconnected to power cycle it. I don’t know the cause - it only happens when I start playing a track and nothing has been playing for ages. Even if Roon might be doing something odd (don’t see why it should be), it still shouldnt be able to crash it, so another reason why I feel more work was needed on its firmware before anyone could call it ‘finished’.
Anyway - live and learn, all involved are firmly on my avoid in future list 
That the library management function fixed the issues around Name, Genre, and file photos. I modified every music track to insure that artist names are Last, First. I standardized Genre as I wanted it, not necessarily what the industry uses. I did update Roon’s Genre mapping to match my settings; however, Roon tends to ignore my settings if they have an entry in their master library somewhere with another issues. The Artist names are important to insure they sort out correctly and not find albums spread across several variations of a name or when “additional” artists are credited in the industry, but not by me. One artist per album please. Combining Artist and Genre when looking up music by Genre might then work. If you open up Genre, select a Genre like New Age, then select an artist; the list of albums and tracks listed are not always those for New Age, but include all genre for that artist. For example, Genre say is New Age, Artist is Joe. Joe has New Age, New Age:Relaxation, New Age: Healing, Holiday:Christmas, etc. credited to his name, at least using how I assign and track music. I was expecting only New Age, not the rest. This makes segmentation and “mood” planning of queues and playlists much more time consuming.
As for the art item. there is another topic from mid 2020 trying to address the issues of Roon defaulting to Folder Art instead of using Album Art. A simple selection of which art to use would help. My albums focus on Album art as Folder art won’t work. I have One master folder for music, a folder for Artist (Last name, First name or group) then all the music for that artist in one flat directory.
RAM buffering or ‘fix’ Squeeze emulation so it works more consistently.
Watched the video, and it sure looks great, I love the aesthetic they’re aiming for. Clean, museum-like.
Valence I guess is for those that use streaming services. As a user with a local library of thousands of albums I have collected, it’s more a novelty for me. Kind of like hitting the “random” button. Focus on the other hand looks interesting.
But the one feature I am looking for is that ability to add my own reviews and notes to the albums in my collection. NOTHING would be mean more to me that to truly personalize the metadata of my collection with Roon.
Don’t let me down Roon.
I would love the ability to integrate my last.fm data, including the 17 years of pre-existing listening I have there. Integrating that with the data Roon have on me already, would thus enhance my recommendations going forward. It would be a joy if Roon and Last.fm worked together as partners. They could fill in each others best features and take on companies like Spotify directly for audiophiles.
A couple of interface shortcuts would be nice, such as combining multiple versions of the same album into one. Currently that takes about 5 or 6 clicks to accomplish each time.
A few clarifications for behind the scenes stuff relating to DSD, MQA and so forth. The menus are not entirely clear and take a bit of getting used to when first trying to get the best setup for your equipment.
Other than that, I am just looking forward to a new interface and new ways to (re)discover music. Great stuff.
I’m with you on this one, but not on the aesthetic they seem to be aiming for. In my opinion the old classic look was timeless and beautifully subtle, whereas the new look with its horrible glaring blues and purples is garish, bland and sterile. I very much hope it can be adjusted by the use of a ‘Dark Screen’ setting.
