Apparently Qobuz with it’s native app is also not gapless but when integrated with various players it is.
I have absolutely no way of knowing whether a roon integration could accomplish the same but that is the point of the OP.
The lack of gapless and technical integration in general is disappointing for sure. The lack of anything above redbook I personally have no interest in. But on the other hand I find roon metadata, search, radio and discovery equally disappointing.
2 days in
I am comparing albums of specific artists between Idagio and Tidal so far it’s a pretty close match, what are you seeing in Idagio that’s not in Tidal
There is little or no metadata other than track specific timings, no artist bios etc, no composition descriptions , unless I’m missing it
It’s looking like a non starter, the only bit better than Tidal is the layout of new releases, most if not all are in Tidal if a bit hidden by the multi genre nature of Tidal
I don’t have Tidal so I cannot really comment. But I am interested in your comments on coverage.
There is little or no metadata other than track specific timings, no artist bios etc, no composition descriptions , unless I’m missing it
Yes, I cannot see any artist bios, composition descriptions etc. either. Neither do I see any production credits (unless I am missing them). But neither do I see annoying pictures of tops of heads or centered text totally mismatched to centered background graphics. It is a very spartan workman-like interface to be sure.
In general hierarchies and metadata are presented differently depending on whether you are on a work or an album page. On a work page Idagio will do hierarchies to at least three levels (as opposed to roon’s two). This is particularly noticeable with more complex vocal music. For example an Opera or sacred music like a Mass. I find myself endlessly editing WORK/PART tags in roon and resorting to workarounds when the hierarchy is greater than two. This appears not to be necessary in Idagio because they have (manually I assume) done this for you as part of their label ingestion process. Also all the performers and their roles are presented upfront on the work page instead of hidden on a credits page as in roon. A refreshing touch I find is that European artists are properly accented and common European orchestra and chorus equivalents are used by default rather than Anglicisations which I have only become aware of using roon.
Out of the box, I don’t think you can go directly to an album (could be wrong). The way it seems to work is that initially you get to albums via a work drill down and then you add albums to your favorites so you can directly access them there. I quite like that idea. It replicates how I (and perhaps more importantly, my wife) used to listen to physical media. We always had 20/30 albums/ CD’s in easy reach that we listened to most and this approach sort of digitally replicates that habit.
Presentation of an album is very different to presentation of a work. Not sure why that is. Now the hierarchy is flat instead of indented and if you want the metadata there is a tiny “down arrow” icon against each track you need to open. Then all the metadata is all there, artists and roles at a track level with no manual intervention. Something similar can be done in roon for sure but my experience is that with more complex albums with multiple composers, artists, soloists, conductors, orchestras etc. mostly this level of detail is missing from roon and requires a great deal of manual intervention.
I really like the simple, logical drill down approach of the search UX. Technically it is probably considered some kind of enhanced “folder view”. But I like the way there is always 4/5 scrolling “views” on the library laid out in a very clear way. So starting with the genre “Sacred Vocal”, a favorite of mine, in just a few clicks I was exploring some unfamiliar recent recordings by contemporary composers. There is a very simple “share” option. I don’t know how this works or if you need an Idagio account but check this link out. Beautiful.
Agnus Dei you can hearing also on Qobuz.
Hello all,
I just wanted to request Roon to integrate Idagio as one of their services similarly to Tidal & Qobuz. Right now I just have the free subscription and listen to it on my phone with IEMs. When Roon integrates it, I will subscribe and listen on my stereo system.
Thanks
Roon, please, please integrate Idagio with your product.
I don’t know what the Idagio service was like in 2018 when some of the negative reviews came in. But I’ve been listening to it for about a year and a half now and I have really enjoyed it. I subscribe to the Premium version with hi-res audio streaming and listen to almost exclusively classical music. For classical music fans, I find it much better than the competitors. Their catalog is extensive (more so than Qobuz etc.), their search and metadata are fabulous, they have gapless playback (at least on apps on Mac desktop and iOS which I’ve used), and they have live performances and curated playlists from various conductors and soloists.
The sound quality is warm and fabulous, their streaming is no-fuss and works without interruptions whether in the car or home. And their product support (the one time I found a bug) was very responsive.
My two cents.
Yes pleas integrate IDAGIO on Roon. It’s great for classical Fans.
I wonder if we will have any answer regarding Idagio integration on roon…
I don’t have Chromecast!
If Idagio managed to create something like Tidal or Spotify connect I would see them more as a competitor than a partner to Roon. Why would you need Roon if you had Idagios catalogue and meta data and could stream directly gapless and lossless to your streamer? I have only used the free version of Idagio but it seems like a very great product.
Actually, a bit of a correction here. Idagio most certainly does gapless. Your problem is chromecast. The way chromecast works, it is very difficult to get gapless. When you cast something, you pass the URL of the file to the chromecast, which then pulls the file and streams it out. Each track is a file, so… You hand the URL to chromecast and it immediately (my understanding anyway) starts streaming that URL (stopping whatever was playing).
I have roon bridges all over the house and they all do gapless just fine.
It’s a very old post but I gave up long ago on Idagio because of this gapless issue with Chromecast.
How are you streaming Idagio over a roon bridge?
I was under the impression that gapless on Idagio is only available over airplay
These days, IDAGIO has much better smart/radio for classical, and search for more obscure composers is far better than tthe competition. Would be worth integrating.
IDAGIO still has the problem of how to get from stream to hifi
I ran it some years back on a Windows tablet with a USB cable lash , I had no issues with content, they fixed the gapless thing fairly rapidly. I like it’s format an I still get it’s mailshots
It’s how to get it to the streamer without lash up cables AirPlay I guess BUT …
Where is Apple Classical aka Primephonic, that would be a better option but we all know about Apple and Roon
I agree integrate it but I suspect another forlorn hope
just re-upping this. I still like Idagio and would love to have it integrated with my library and other services. Their classical ‘suggestions’ are also much better…
Maybe you should buy them.
Doesn’t Idagio top out at CD quality for Premium+ subscriber?
Yes it’s still CD , it does have some unique content and the top layer of subs has access to live concerts
I trialled it again recently but TBH i rarely found an album in IDAGIO that wasn’t in Tidal,
That said the UI is good
Since humans can’t really tell the difference between CD (“redbook”) and higher resolutions in blind tests, this doesn’t matter, unless the hi-res recordings are using better masters (which happens).
Then again, people seem to prefer hi-res mp3!
Ah, but which humans, not this human!!! 
No, just joking, as you quite rightly say its all about the source material and of course the experience of the listener - over 50 years of being a hi-fi nut I can count the number of friends and relatives on one hand who could tell my carefully put together hifi system from a boom box in the corner of the room!! 
Also, these tests usually feature small samples of material switched back and forth, when I can tell you it has sometimes taken me several weeks of listening to a component only to find when putting back into the system the old unit that it was subjectively better. Things like placement of instruments in the mix, width and height need you to listen at length and then compare.
I must say, I have also found lossy files to sound ‘better’ than the full fat version on occasion, usually with complex or dense material, harsh or nasty recordings a bit of ‘psycho acoustic’ removal of data improves the rendition no end - the brain/ear interface has much less work to do!
To each his own. I don’t believe for a second that sighted subjective comparisons contain any useful information. You might take a look at the Steve Zipser test where the listeners had weeks to compare:
But this tends to be a contentious subject. To return to my point, Redbook is all we ever needed, and Idagio’s catalogue, search and ‘radio’ function are miles better than Roon’s (or Tidal or Qobuz) for classical buffs.