Why so pessimistic? As a dinosaur audiophile I am still able to find a great deal of material and products catering to me and my fellow dinosaurs. And the good news I don’t have a lifetime to worry about it!
I love ROON and everything it offers. While it’s around and apparently flourishing, why forecast its demise?
Let’s rather enjoy upgrades and the positive changes that constantly occur.
If I listen to music there is still a huge difference in quality between streaming and local downloaded files.Streamed music still sounds “flat”, even Qobuz Highres or Tidal MQA, compared to Highres local files.
To my ears that quality gap is not small.
As long as I hear a real difference streaming music serves me only as a first listen.
Let’s compare apples with apples. If you have a local recording (release) that is also available on TIDAL then they are the identical. Any difference is imagined. Unless you can offer up a rational explanation as to why they could sound different?
Agreed, Tidal sounds amazing here what ever the format. CD or MQA. I just can’t believe it’s possible but there it is. All down my old phone line… amazing.
Different masters, different releases, hardware differences in the chain (before I changed to a NUC running ROCK Tidal streams sounded markedly inferior and muddled when streaming through Roon compared to streaming directly through my Bluesound Node 2)
On the other hand local CD rips sound a lot harsher when streamed directly through the Node 2 compared to streaming through Roon.
Roon claims not to change the signal path and also claims that changing over to a device running ROCK will have no effect on sound quality but not very much of what Roon claims and boasts in the marketing blurb turns out to be true or even have much basis in reality.
It’s quite tiring really: lots of boasts and bluster, lots of yadayada about “Roon Phliosophy” but very meagre results in real life.
I’m sorry, but you are not describing my experience at all. Music via Roon has never sounded so good to me, especialy with my new (To me) Meridian DSP SE/218 system. Locally stored and streamed are basically indistinguishable to me. I also use Bluesound and the sound, to my ears, is great.
I am impressed and curious to why some are so disappointed.
I think you are overcomplicating my post and not “comparing apples with apples”. With the same setup and the same recording/ release there should be no difference.
Your Bluesound Node is applying DSP to the signal, so that’s an invalid comparison. So maybe your supposition that Roon alters the signal path is unfounded?
Yeah, well. The point is the ultimate quality of the music in the first place, I guess.
Unfortunately streaming services have two major downsides: The quality is nowhere near the quality of a lossles/uncompressed/highres file played locally - One. Second is, depending on your internet connection, (I for instance do commute a lot), streaming may not even work.
I tried the likes of Spotify when the service was still in early testing and while I loved the convenience, the sound quality for me was unacceptable.
Have you ever listened to music not from your iPhone/Beats combo but a decent setup? If you did, then you would probably understand.
As for me, it’s all right if you call me a dinosaur, though I don’t like to hoard anything. I would love a streaming service that can offer what I am looking for. Maybe in 5 years or so…
Btw. Maybe you noticed how all the hipsters are buying record players/LPs?
I teach music at university. Most of my students are in their early 20s and the vast majority of them tell me they have CD players AND (not or) record players. My three kids (between 7 and 20 years old) also have CD players AND record players. They tell me most of their friends do, too. My wife and I are both 48. To be honest, we both don’t know anyone (i.e. not a single neighbour, colleague, relative or friend) who doesn’t have a CD or record collection at home…
My family and I have Qobuz and Tidal, but that doesn’t mean we don’t collect any music.
I think Roon caters primarily to music lovers and audiophiles. Most of us that fit that description today likely have a significant music collection, but there’s nothing saying that we cannot achieve our interests using streaming services as well. Personally, I believe there will always be music lovers and Roon will continue to “cater” to that regardless of how each of us choose to enjoy it.
The risk I see with the direction of streaming services is far more about making the musicians the dinosaurs. Streaming services currently do not support musicians anywhere near what was once possible via LPs and CDs (or purchasable online downloads).
Strange what direction this thread took, seems like the buzzwords dinosaur and Spotify set people off. The post is a question on thoughts about the future of music collecting, streaming and Roon. To gather thoughts.
Amazing neighbourhood you live in, I should move there. joke aside, what you write sounds remarkable, so one can see how different personal experiences can be. Fact is still, you can hardly buy CDs in shops anymore, in London the last and biggest shop the HMV store on oxford street just closed (weep) this is definitely something that is happening in reality. Buying classical CDs in a shop where I live has changed a lot where I live, they nearly all closed down. Yes a couple of little LP stores opened up, for a new generation of vinyl lovers. But this really is a niche and they do not have classical.
As I wrote before, I am a happy Roon user and just hope they will stick around a very long time and adapting to the changes of the world as we all go along.
I guess your and my students should meet up, my streaming crowd with your physical media crowd.
That’s exactly how I interpreted/understood your post.
My “physical media crowd” is ALSO a “streaming crowd”. As I wrote above, the two things aren’t mutually exclusive. In that sense, I’m pretty sure the “hunter-gatherer” isn’t an endangered species (yet)…