Roon on iPad with a large library?

For those with a lot of albums say over 5,000, is there any issue in seeing all of the albums because there is is only 2 GB of RAM in the iPads? Still confused on this issue. I think the server or computer has to have sufficient RAM but what about the tablets? Does the program automatically load more album covers as you either scroll through them or directly choose one so that this is not an issue?

I have over 8000 albums (7400 local / 500 Tidal) in my library and the tablet app is smooth as a knife through butter on the iPad Air 2.

Thanks, Mystic. I will probably buy the IPad Pro. How much RAM do you have on your computer or server? That would be very helpful to me to know as my Synology 1813+ (which I am not using right now) only expands to 4GB RAM. I am running Roon right now on a computer that has 22 GB RAM.

24,000 albums…no issues with iPad.

I should have phrased my question better. On a PC or server is there a rule of thumb for so much RAM per 1,000 albums.

Nick, you have 24,000 albums. That’s amazing. I hope you are retired so you can listen to all of them!

I run a MacMini late 2012 with 16gb ram and my library on a FW400 4tb drive.

My thinking was that the iPad pro would be too large and awkard to use so went with the air 2.

My collection takes up over 16 TB, a lot of it are ISO files, not yet converted and other HiRez files (96 and 192). I must have more than 5,000 albums. The music is on 5 or 6 hard drives and I only have about 2,300 albums running on Roon.

Are you up sampling Redbook cd rips to 24/96 or 192?
You must have more than 5000 album if your using 16tb to hold them all.

No they are native files, not up-sampling. I really do not know because not all of the HDs are connected and it won’t import the ISO files anyway.

Roon and RoonServer are currently 32 bit, so can’t address more than about 3.8 Gb RAM. 64 bit is planned but no timetable announced. 8 Gb is regarded as a good amount of RAM for Roon, in order to ensure space for OS and other processes. On a NAS I’d expect some of the RAM might be needed for caching.

Does the program automatically load more album covers as you either scroll through them or directly choose one so that this is not an issue?

Yes. It loads (and unloads) data on demand as you scroll around and/or change screens. The remote should not be under much more pressure on huge collections than it is on small ones.

I just purchased a new IPad Air 2 so I could use the Roon Remote program. I have about 3,000 albums right now. It was slow in downloading the album covers as I scrolled through the album pages, in fact there was a noticeable lag. I am buying both a new modem and router hoping that speeds it up or if not I will probably use the display directly connected other computer as I have been.

Hi Slingshot,

I’m using a Mini 3 with about 1,000 albums and have also noticed some lag lately. There are some known issues being picked up in the next build. I’d suggest holding off on any hardware purchase until after that build; it is likely to be released in the near future (sorry I can’t be more specific).

Okay, I need new equipment anyway so I can speed up other devices. Just as an aside, I have been having some other issues since the major build was released several weeks ago. Threw me out of the program three or four times, first time that ever happened. Hopefully the new build will solve some of these issues.

Artwork loading is completely dependent on hardware and network performance. It’s not a simple problem to load pages full of artwork in real-time while you scroll, over wifi, on a mobile device, while maintaining 60fps.

We cache artwork on the iPad, so it should be faster after the first time. Then you’re just depending on flash/cpu performance in the device.

If you’re not on an 802.11ac router, that’s definitely a worthwhile upgrade–it’s been out for several years and device support at this point is very good. It’s a big improvement over 802.11n.

The new equipment arrived yesterday. A Surfboard 6141 replaced a 6121 and a Linksys WRT 1900 AC replaced a Linksys EA 4500. I noticed the download speeds are 40 mps instead of 34 mps. Anyway, no more lag on the album cover downloads and music begins instantly. This is somewhat amazing given there is a six foot wide fireplace to the right of my sitting position theoretically blocking the direct Wi-Fi signal.

1 Like