Roon radio choosing mp3 over flac

[decantur]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

DietPI/ NUC Kit NUC5i3RYH/Roon Ver 1.6(Build 416)stable(64bit)

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Netgear R7800/Ethernet

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

RPI3/Allo Boss DAC/Ethernet

Description Of Issue

It appears roon radio chooses mp3 over flac. Is this expected behavior or is there some setting I have overlooked? See attachment.

[dylan (Dylan Caudill)]

Hi @decantur,

Thanks for reaching out! For information about this, check out Mike’s post about this below:

Radio playback chooses Tidal MP3 over Qobuz CD quality

Hey everyone, I understand there have been some questions about why Roon Radio picks lower quality version of a song when higher quality copies of the same song are available. First off, it’s important to understand that the goal of Roon Radio, generally speaking, is to pick the best possible music for you. These selections are based on what we know about you, and the content Radio started on (also known as “the seed”). A number of complex factors are involved in determining what the best song…

We appreciate the feedback!

[decantur]

Thank you.

I have read Mike’s explanation many times and still come away disappointed.

As a new user, and in the interest of expediency, I seeded my roon library with many v0 mp3 rips that I created for travel. I also favorite many of these in TIDAL as seen in the screenshot. My expectation would be that I would hear the highest quality version regardless. I can fully understand the potential difficulties involved if roon were to make a decision regarding versions between TIDAL and Qobuz. However, I have a hard time understanding how a v0 mp3 ripped 12 years ago with foobar2000 would be more authoritative than a flac in TIDAL. Where is the value in linking TIDAL to roon?

Sure, maybe it is my fault for seeding my library with low quality mp3s. Additionally, maybe my expectations are out of line with what roon offers as a product (are they though?). And, lastly, the tin foil hat theory that I can only expect the highest quality when it makes good business sense for the roon/TIDAL agreement (e.g., TIDAL gets a discount for streaming the track in question).

Regardless, the user experience in this scenario is a real disappointment.