Roon 1.8 (Build 987) is Live!

Hi all,

Today we are releasing a major update to the way in which Roon determines which versions of streaming content to display and playback.

Roon makes it easy to navigate across tens of millions of albums and tracks, even when multiple versions of the same album are available – the Versions tab lets you browse different formats and sources, across multiple streaming services and your library.

If you have multiple versions of an album inside your library, you can select a “primary version” for Roon to prefer. Outside your library, Valence uses its understanding of what you’ve listened to and what you’ve collected to help you find the highest quality releases.

But “highest quality” can be subjective. We’ve heard repeatedly from Roon users that they’d prefer more control in this area, and it’s become clear that a one-size-fits-all solution isn’t sufficient. We are excited to begin rolling out a set of preferences that allow Roon users to choose what kind of content Roon favors for content outside your library.

Streaming Content Preferences now appear on the General tab of Settings and have a direct impact on Roon’s behavior with regard to non-library content. While this is an easy feature to configure and use, there are some caveats that are thoroughly described in the Help Center. Please navigate to this document for more information.

Beyond Streaming Content Preferences we have also refined our handling of MQA content. Roon has always decided when to decode MQA content depending on the hardware you use to play audio. This release changes some of those decisions.

By default, users who have invested in MQA-capable hardware will continue to have MQA encoded content handled by Roon as it has been in the past. Users who don’t use MQA-capable hardware will now need to explicitly opt-in if they want Roon to unfold it.

If you’d like Roon to unfold your MQA encoded content, you’ll need to visit Settings => Audio => Gear Icon for your device => Show Advanced => Enable MQA core decoder.

This release includes numerous additional fixes and performance enhancements for which there is a complete change log below.

-The Team at Roon Labs

Roon 1.8 (Build 987) Release Notes

Roon Build 987 is now rolling out for macOS, Windows, Windows (64 Bit), Roon OS, and Linux.

Updated versions of Roon for Android and iOS have been submitted to their respective App Stores and will be available soon.

No update to Roon Bridge this time

All platforms and apps should update automatically.

Changes for Build 987:

  • Implemented a new mechanism by which users can determine how Roon chooses which streaming content to display and playback
  • Changed the default behavior for Roon’s MQA decoder
  • Fixed an issue where RoonServer on macOS would get stuck in the “Initializing” state
  • Several improvements to Roon’s search behavior and display of results
  • Implemented several improvements to Roon’s audio analysis system
  • Fixed a bug in which a scheduled Time Machine backup could interrupt playback
  • Fixed issues with TIDAL login flow
  • Fixed an issue in which the “Play Now” action was unresponsive on some playlists
  • Several miscellaneous bug fixes and enhancements
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