Hey, Community friends, I want to share a question with you that I frequently get when talking to current and prospective customers, Roon partners, reviewers, and sundry music lovers:
What do you like most about Roon?
I have numerous answers to this question, but I’m basically thee most biased person somebody can ask!
So, I thought it would be fun to ask all of you and then create a poll from your answers—similar to your speaker responses —and see if there’s a Roon feature/trait/solution to rule them all.
I’m always surprised in my conversations to hear what other users find most compelling about Roon. Sometimes, it’s stuff that I rely on heavily, and other times, it’s something I hardly pay attention to — but other customers find essential.
I’d love to get your take — what does Roon do that REALLY does it for you? Let’s leave our niggles at the door on this one and share our gratitude. I’m interested in getting your insights. New users, with us from the start, taking a Roon trial…? Everybody is welcome! I’ll share my own favorite in a few posts. I don’t want to color the responses right out of the gate.
Unified music library: Seamless integration of local files and streaming services (Qobuz/Tidal/KKBOX) in one place
Rich metadata: Artist bios, album reviews, artwork, and detailed information that enhances the music experience
Music discovery features: Finding new music and rediscovering forgotten gems in my collection through related artists and recommendations
Multi-room audio capabilities: Synchronized playback across different zones and devices throughout my home
User interface: Beautiful, intuitive navigation and search experience that makes browsing my music collection enjoyable
ARC Remote access: Having my entire library and Roon’s best features available anywhere I go on mobile devices
Library organization/customization: Tags, playlists, profiles, and curation tools that help manage large music collections
Audio fidelity: High-resolution playback, DSP features, and bit-perfect sound quality
Reliability: Rock-solid performance that “just works” consistently without issues
Device compatibility and connectivity: Support for various playback endpoints (Roon Ready, Airplay, Chromecast, Sonos, USB, HDMI, etc.)
Developer API and ecosystem: The ability to integrate with third-party apps, power switches, wall-mounted remotes, and various extensions that extend Roon’s features
The “Now Playing” Visual experience: Showcasing the attractive “now playing” screen on TVs and display devices
MUSE DSP suite: Advanced audio processing features, OPRA headphone tools, EQ, room correction, and other signal processing options that improve sound in different scenarios and acoustic environments
Live Radio integration: Access to internet radio stations from the same interface as my music library
User Profiles features: Ability to organize and customize different libraries, listening preferences in multi-users households
“Listen Later” function: an easy way to save music for future listening without cluttering my library or creating playlists
Community support: The excellent, active, and knowledgeable forum of Roon users
Signal Path: Full hardware playback transparency display featuring clear information about audio processing across devices
The fidelity of the music is unlike anything else that I have along with having all of the content in one place. Learning curve was very easy to learn. For the listening experience, it is a complete package for me which I have spread out thru my domain. Btw, a lifer. Another plus.
Roon enabled me to listen to my music whenever and wherever I want, after working out what I needed to make it happen it simply works for me; thank you.
Having my consolidated music library displayed in an organised format, with the artwork, artist pictures, reviews and information regarding versions, linked content. It allows me to find albums to play, either known & well played or new discoveries pulling in content from multiple internet streaming services.
Ability to access internet Radio stations from the same GUI.
Then have playback management across different zones, irrespective of hardware equipment, whether playlist management, transfer between zones and grouping of zones.
Discovering the relationships between everything in my music collection without having to go to AllMusic separately (even though I pay for a subscription to that).
Support for all my hi fi equipment for bit perfect playback when desired.
Remote access via ARC (even though I’ve had this with Synology DS Audio for a long time as well)
Lifetime subscription was the cheapest part of my entire HiFi kit.
Basically, running my own streaming service for myself without paying a monthly subscription.
I like the look and feel of the UI (the typography and overall visual presentation) very much, even though I know that feeling is not universal.
Discovering something related to an album I’ve long loved - either by clicking hyperlinks within the song info, or by following the carousels of related albums, or credits, or “in their prime” or “collaborators”. And discovering something long lost in my library by going into Discover (hint hint, bring it back!).
For all that I love plexamp’s promise for “lean a little further forward” playlist generation, and my quibbles with Roon Radio, discovery and having music at my fingertips is magic. Plus with the community around here (community remote? RooMax? Ropieee) I have learned so much about computers that I thought I never would. And i listen to great music while I am. 'nuff said.
It dumbs down to only one thing really. Ability to listen to all of my music, irrespective of source, no matter where I am.
In practice this means multiple things working together like the below… but at its most basic it’s just the ability to listen to all “my” music wherever I am.
Tidal/Qobuz music merged with local (in both library and playlists)
different zones and ability to group so I can send music to whichever room(s) I’m in
RAAT support (both Roon Ready hardware and ropieee)
