Just cancelled ROON and TIDAL. Sorry for that but after checking the price of Apple Music “One” and with TIDAL…no chance. Paying around 26 CHF for: Music, TV incl Family-access…the same, without TV costs me around 38 CHF…this means13 CHF less per month with Apple, total of 156 CHF per year, then calculating ROON on top…no way, really. And AM now with lossless…sorry ROON. If AM would be available on ROON, I wouldn’t cancel it, but having 2 or 3 type of streaming companies that too much…
Hope you not using Airplay as you’ll only get aac quality regardless. Only way to get bit perfect lossless or hires is via iOS an adaptor and a DAC.
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I don’t that’s correct. Airplay should support up to 24bit 48kHz. So, CD quality (lossless) should be streamed with Airplay but not anything higher than 24bit 48kHz.
Yes, but Apple Music currently will only send aac via Airplay. This has been covered in the other thread and proven by Naims head of software. Until the time they decide to change it airplay for AM is aac only. It’s the reason why Homepods don’t support it yet and there.is no mention of airplay at all in Apple’s FAQ. Everyone assumed it would but it doesn’t.
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Thanks for the info. No wonder my friend tried Airplay to his Cambridge Audio CXN and saw AAC when Apple Music is streamed. But according to him, when Tidal is Airplayed, it is ALAC. So, Airplay does indeed can streamed 16/44.1 lossless, but just not Apple Music.
Certainly Tidal Connect passes 16/44.1 to my CXN , I will try Airplay and see what I get there. Mines a V1, so Roon only passes AirPlay
This reads 16/44.1 ALAC on the CXN Screen
If you are using a Mac try to choose AirPlay system wide and not in Music app like I mentioned here:
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AirPlay 2 will, but Air Play was limited to 44.1/16. If you played anything hi-res it was downsampled with AirPlay.
The ‘problem’ is (among many, actually) is the Apple Music is not Roon, and vice-versa.
Nothing, absolutely nothing beats the Roon experience of listening, exploration and joy. I could easily spend a day with Roon, just enjoying music.
Apple Music, like other music services/providers fulfils a role. It will play what I tell it too. For some, that is enough. For me it is a Big Mac, compared to a fillet steak.
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That has to be embarrassing to Apple.
If Apple Music can take my own library (of mostly FLAC files) and present them as preferred versions over the one in their service… and give me the same kind of useful informaiton (waveform, DR, etc) that I get from Roon…
And can support casting too (and gapless playback from) my 8-zone Google Cast whole home audio setup…
And has equal or better access to “better mastered” versions (more DR, as measured by Roon) of music as Qobuz and Tidal provide… and can then play all those back natively (24/96 etc) to my main headphone rig via some protocol (I currently do RAAT to a Raspberr pi)…
And has the same kind of smooth 5 or 6 point parametric EQ capabilities Roon does (rather than a choppy 4-10 point discrete “ladder”)…
And if my preferred headphone manufacturer (Audeze) has provided them with custom EQ settings for my headset via their software…
And if their music service makes it as easy to sort by ANY metadata I want (favorite music master: Ted Jensen; etc)…
Then maybe I’ll look at switching too… If it can’t? It wouldn’t be a very good fit for me… but to each their own with provolone n’at.
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Maybe in your next life…? 
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I pay $120 for Tidal and $150 for Qobuz. I get Apple Music for free. I have already purchased a lifetime license for Roon and have a Roon Nucleus. I have no inclination to drop Roon, Tidal, and Qobuz to switch to Apple Music. They all serve a purpose for me, so I will keep them all.
I also have a lifetime license for Audirvana 3.5 for use away from home. I just paid $50 for one year of Audirvana Studio. For me, Apple Music might be reason enough to drop Audirvana, but I have a year to decide. If I was on a tight budget, then I could make Apple Music work for me to replace everything else.
EDIT: I have to admit, the temptation is going to always be there to dump Roon, Tidal, and Qobuz and sell my Nucleus, Oppo 203, and two RPi4’s. Use Apple TV 4K for streaming to Bose and Meridian Prime for headphone use. We’ll see.
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Yeah but if you could just pay Apple and use Roon with it, wouldn’t your life be a lot simpler?
No other service, not just AM, can do all of this, but ask many if they care.
At work, I do not know anyone who heard of Roon or used headphones that cost more than $300, and only because they are “hi-end” wireless. Most use Spotify, and have not heard of Tidal or Qobaz. They also try to stay away from AM, because it is “cool”
I had gotten Roon exclusively for my local music, it is great that they have later integrated with two other streaming services. Like Martin I can spend a day lost in Roon, but I can also spend a day in any other service, I’ll just have to use other websites, like last.fm, etc. to cross-reference, discover, learn. That’s how it was before Roon, even with Roon sometimes is not enough and I’ll be lost in reading blogs, etc. about some new album, artist, track I’m listening to.
Blockquote No other service, not just AM, can do all of this, but ask many if they care.
At work, I do not know anyone who heard of Roon or used headphones that cost more than $300, and only because they are “hi-end” wireless. Most use Spotify, and have not heard of Tidal or Qobaz. They also try to stay away from AM, because it is “cool”
Correct. Roon is enthusiast / “audiophile” software. The “average” (bluetooth earbuds / mono battery-powered pocket-sized speaker) consumer has little use for it… and can’t come close to justifying it’s price.
But for those of us in the enthusiast/audiophile crowd… it’s a great tool. And, for me at least, Apple Music isn’t a proper replacement (yet)… it’d be cool if it was, because I currently have paid subscriptions to Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify (mostly for my car… and maybe my kids), and youtube music (mostly for the video at this point, but at one time GPM was really nice), and it’d be cool to drop a few of those and pair down to one proper solution…
As this is turning into yet-another-Apple-Music-and-its-meaning-in-relation-to-Roon-and-other-streaming-services-thread, let’s just continue in the main discussion about AM:
I’ll close this one.