Apple Music and/or Spotify as Roon sources

I tried Apple a couple of day ago and imported about 3500 classical tracks. What I got on the UI resembled 3500 card pick up. I immediately saw no need to continue, and deleted it and iTunes.

Have you tried Concertino?
It’s a classical music front-end for Apple Music.
Free app and browser-based versions.

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That won’t help my 300k+ non-classical track.

I’m looking at Concertino now - looks fantastic - will definitely enjoy exploring the app! Thanks for bringing it to our attention Tom.

Something similar exists for Spotify as well: https://getconcertmaster.com/

Actually Apple Music has had a third party integration with a user base much smaller than Roon. Specifically Porsche Taycan owners. If Apple Music can be fully integrated into the Porsche head unit, there is I reason it cannot be done with Roon IF Apple and Roon wanted it. But there IS precedent for Apple making these small user base deals.

“This is the first-ever full integration of Apple Music in any vehicle.“

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Thank you very much! Just downloaded it - looks excellent. Impressed that when you go to a composer there is then a split into Orchestral/Chamber/Keyboard etc. which drills down into that sub genre for that composer, so you get Beethoven’s Concertos for example. Roon seems to offer the same split, but actually takes you to all Concertos, which is not what I would expect or wish.

Seems like a more relevant question now that it supports lossless streaming.
https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/feature-articles/176-the-new-apple-music
Sound pretty good on newest apple tv

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I have to wonder if the integration for Porsche might be through apple radio that many cars seem to support? Interesting all the same. Once someone has a foothold.

Thank you for this link. I read your comment late, but the page was nice to read. I’ve been trying out Apple Music for a few days now and I totally agree with the article’s comment, saying:

“most audiophiles will be disappointed by Apple’s half-assed implementation of hi-rez streaming.”

The page is also correct in stating my frustration with the service:

“What if you want to play hi-rez music from Apple Music through loudspeakers? You could always hard-wire your i-device and external DAC to a full-blown audio system. Right now, that’s the best option for out-loud listening, because the alternatives involve serious compromises.”

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Well I a have a Bryston BR-20 and stream via airplay which winds up only supporting 16/44 which sounds pretty good to me. They also seem to have more music I like then Tidal or Spotify.
Of course it’s not Roon playing my 60k HiRes files but it does save me 20 a month on Tidal as I already have Apple Music on our family plan.
Never mind when it comes to trance, house their playlists are very good.
Certainly isn’t as painful as acc thats for sure

I switched this September after 5+ years on Tidal and almost 3 on Roon (life membership too). I had a great RasPi with Alo Sig Hat also.

I know I’ve chased hardware for years spending way more than the savings I’ll get from going to AM from Tidal. Abandoning my Tidal/Roon/Streamer sunk costs.

I’m back to Sonos to get a full Apple Music integration as it does sound better than using Airplay2. One unexpected savings will be NOT looking at new “audiophile” gear with Airplay integration.

For the best quality, I plug my iPhone via camera connection/USB to the DAC to also access the few hi-res tracks available. To me, just having lossless 16/44 was enough for most music. I learned that a better streamer does make a difference but after time has passed, I have forgotten how much better the Raspi or the Bluesound were. Small improvement when I got the iPhone 13 over the prior XR, especially with bluetooth in the car. I currently listen to music with Sonos Connect 80% of the time and plugged in iPhone 20%. The unexpected benefit of the Apple ecosystem is that I can still control remotely the iPhone through my Apple Watch. Siri through the watch helps also.

Saying all this, it’s still early since AM switched on lossless. I paid 5+ years of tidal for lossless quality. I got Roon to save me from the Tidal music recommendations, not for the quality. Roon also allowed me the ability to use RasPi streamers (better than Bluesound node 2i). Now that I’m on AM, I’m hopeful that Sonos will get upgraded with a new hi-res capable Port or AM will add integration with Roon or more hardware companies. Who knows. I’m okay to to use Airplay and Sonos for the whole house music but for pure 2 channel listening, if I have to use a completely different platform, I’d be okay with it. As long as I’m not paying for two music services. Rebuilding playlists was a pain already.

I will try when I get around to it Airplay through the Raspi one more time. Maybe it will be better than the Sonos Connect. From what I remember the Raspi had just a little more “air” than the Sonos. The cliche of opening up and less muffled sounding. As mentioned, I’ve forgotten and it sounds pretty good right now through Sonos.

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Apple Hi-Res or Apple High-Risk?

Many would like to see a connection between Roon, Apple and Spotify.

For a variety of reasons, that’s not going to happen. You can read about which deals these companies are really interested in here:

Are these deals more valuable than a contractually secured connection to Roon? Do you want those connections?

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I hope by some miracle Apple Music does come to Roon, but considering lossless Apple Music isn’t available on PC even with a DAC we are probably a long way off of them caring about something like Roon, not to mention their often pointless strive to keep everyone within their own product/service ecosystem.

Apple Music does now integrate with Google Nest Home and Chromecast devices and I use it all the time as my default music source there. I thought this would never ever happen since they compete with Apple’s own HomePods, so I guess there is some hope that maybe someday it will integrate with Roon? One caveat, it is my understanding that Apple Lossless is not supported on this integration, unlike Deezer.

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Interesting that Apple Music now integrates with Waze. Note the comment about not having to open the Apple Music app.

I hope these recent integrations of Apple Music on other platforms bodes well for Roon.

I imagine it just uses the Apple web Api which is made for this stuff which has already been said a million times wont work for Roon or even other hardware as it has too many limitations. Its been built to allow apps access to Apple music and to build web pages that also can.

You may be correct. However CNET reports that while initial account authentication requires an Internet connection, the service will work without one.

“Instead of relying on a tethered smartphone connection to access a user’s Apple Music library, Audi’s setup allows the owner to bypass that and access it directly through MMI. This means data will be delivered through the car’s built-in modem and is thus subject to whatever data package an owner has purchased for their vehicle. If you don’t have a data subscription for your car, CarPlay and Android Auto will continue to work just fine for accessing Apple Music.”

But is wireless lossless? Doubt it. Better to connect wired and get lossless.

The losses/not lossless sorta loses relevance inside a car with wind and road noise. Most cars.