I will soon update my tablet, used for Roon mostly. I also run other audio apps and occasionally use the tablet when traveling.
I always have used Android tablets, but I’m thinking of switching to an iPad. Reasons are better long-term value to the tablet and from what I hear, typically fewer bugs in iPad apps, simply because there aren’t 10,000 flavors of the OS to deal with.
An iPad Pro seems more fun, but an iPad Air probably would be fine, and less extravagant. Wouldn’t it?
I’d love to hear from anyone who switched from Android to an iPad on how it went. What was better? What did you miss?
Thanks, Mike. I am considering 13” though 11” seems better for when I use it when traveling (rarely).
Incidentally, I’m getting fed up with the planned obsolescence of tablets, which for updates have to be replaced every 5 yrs or so, even when working perfectly. I try to use things until they wear out, but that seems impractical with tablets. Same for phones. That’s what steers me to less expensive than a iPad Pro . . . that whatever I get will have to be replaced on a short timetable.
One thing to consider is weight , I sit with my iPad in front of me a lot and it does get quite heavy after a while. That said the size is magic when using Roon , the cover art simply sparkles I look for really big (2000x2000) artwork deliberately.
How anyone manages on a cell phone I will never know
I’ve always had an Android phone. Following that philosophy I tried Android tablets for quite a while, up to the most expensive Samsung Galaxy Tab for its time. The Android apps never seemed to be particularly well optimised for tablets and I eventually stopped struggling, sold them all and switched to iPads entirely.
iPad Mini was handy but too small to do justice to Roon, so I sold that. iPad Pro 13” is good for movies but feels too large/heavy for travel. iPad Air 11” is IMO the sweet spot in terms of quality, speed and portability.
I got the IPAD Pro 12.9 in 2019 because I wanted the larger screen size for Roon. It is dedicated to the entertainment system, mounted on a stand and usually sitting on a shelf beneath the wall mounted TV. That in itself keeps visitors (friends and family) from messing with it but otherwise I just say it is for system use only. I do move the stand next to my recliner when browsing music in comfort. Other than Roon, it’s only used for the Audyssey multeq editor app when running the room correction.
I am thinking about upgrading to the latest model for the much faster M5 cpu and faster wifi 7 when I upgrade my internal network this year. Mine has the A12X Bionic cpu and wifi 5 which is fine for Roon but for the Room correction the latest model will be much faster with the back and forth communication with the AVR.
I have an assortment of tablets that I use for running Roon Remote, everything from an original iPad Air to an Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet. Here’s my take.
When used only for running Roon Remote the inexpensive Amazon Fire tablets work just as well as any iPad model, however the iPads do offer much more when it comes to running other apps and doing other tasks.
The larger iPad Pros are plain and simply overkill for running Roon Remote. Buy an iPad Pro to make use of all its other functions and think of using it for running Roon Remote as a bonus feature.
Pick up a Fire tablet, usually available on sale, for use mainly to run Roon Remote and think of all its other features as a bonus. For example, these tablets, particularly the 10" and 11" models, have pretty decent screens and work quite well for watching videos. Think of the Fire tablets as entertainment devices but not as productivity devices. These tablets are inexpensive enough that you can get several of them for use throughout your home as Roon controllers for the price of one iPad. Roon Remote is fully supported on the Fire HD tablets and the app is available for free on Amazon’s app store.
On the other hand, iPads are both great entertainment AND great productivity devices, so if you are planning to use the tablet for other things besides Roon Remote then go with any flavor iPad you might want.
My 5-year-old Lenovo Android tablet runs Roon just fine, but it no longer gets OS updates (it’s stuck at Android 11) or security updates. I run many audio apps on it, and a few aren’t operating well. As a vendor of one recently put it to me: “The Android OS is open-source and sometimes the manufacturers introduce changes to the OS which can create functionality issues . . . . Your Lenovo is an example of this type of corner-case. While quite rare, they are more common on the Android side than the Apple side.”
Since I need something as compatible as possible, I think iPad will be my answer. I also have found that to get updates for 5 or 6 years after purchase, it’s either Apple or the high-priced Samsungs, so why not go with the one with wider expected compatibility? I completely agree, if it were only for Roon, the existing tablet or a Fire would be fine.
I have just updated to a “new” standard 2022 IPad. Excellent as a remote control for Roon and about half the price of the IPad mini, which was my previous controller. Any recent iPad makes a great Roon remote control, and also provides really good screen space for magazines, newspapers and whatever else you need. Incidentally, my old iPad mini is now 11 years old and can still control Roon (slowly). Apple products seem to last longer than you might expect.
I use an iPad Mini 6 and iPad 10th Gen. There is no need for anything more powerful or expensive just to use as a Roon client. That said, I prefer using my Dell laptop.
My old original iPad Air, in other words Air 1.0 or whatever Apple calls it, still gets occasional security updates but not iOS updates. However it still works as a Roon Remote, but a bit on the slow side compared to my other, much newer iPad Air.
The Fire tablets all still get updates from Amazon. They run a custom version of Android call FireOS (I think). Roon Remote runs nicely on all the Fire tablets.
I have a Fire HD 8 2022 that I bought as secondary to iPad Air for casual/workout use and because it had a microSD card so I could load up an additional 512GB in media.
I did the mod so it can run Google Store and therefore other browsers and even the Tidal app (which Amazon has since removed on Fire tablets and FireTV). Roon Legacy app works fine for control.
The biggest issue I have against Fire Tablets is that it’s so painfully obvious its primary goal is to send you advertisements and collect your information to send it back to the mothership. Anytime I pick it up several hours or even a day of non-use, the tablet is beyond slow. It has to update all of the advertisements, promotions, and do wallpaper downloads etc. If you open an app, it hangs up completely until it does its thing first.
Meanwhile, iPads, Windows, and Macs you can pick up after several days of non use and start where you left off. No nonsense. Even when doing a big OS feature update on these 3, if you open up apps in the middle, it will prioritize your apps over the background OS download/upgrade…which is the way it’s supposed to be, unlike the backwards Fire Tablets.
I use MX Player instead of VLC on Fire Tablet for video playback of local files because it has correct audio/video sync with bluetooth. However, MX Player spams ads as well, so I usually turn off Wifi when using it so it can run without hiccups. When it comes time to turn Wifi back on, say goodbye to the Tablet for awhile. Sometimes, I have forgotten to turn the Wifi back on right away and came back the next day and turned the Wifi back on when I picked it up and it can take 3-5 minutes for it to send you ads and finish snitching back to Bezos before the tablet becomes useful.
Even my almost 12 years old iPad Air 2 from 2014 can do basic tasks much better than this tablet when asked to at any moment.
This tablet is great once it’s up and running, but the delay and friction it causes at start of every session after a few hours off is just beyond annoying to ever consider it as a main tablet…IMO.
There are ways to disable all those ads and updates on the Fire tablets, as I have done because none of Fire tablets misbehave. Google can often be your friend.
Thanks @zoom25 for your heads-up on the Fire tablets. I knew they were crippled (which always has ruled them out for me), but since I’‘ve never used one, I didn’t know more details. Your post was a great addition to my background knowledge on tablets in general and the Fire series in particular.
I don’t have ads on my Lock Screen or Notifications pull down etc. I remember at the time of purchase there were 2 versions priced differently (one came with ads and one without). Perhaps, that was for the American market. I made sure to disable as much of that stuff as possible.
The “For You” Page still has this Trending section left. Do you get this on yours?
Repopulating this stuff, along with syncs that the OS performs, which somehow only happens right when the Tablet is woken up, and never in the background when the tablet is not being used, is what causes the initial delay.
No I don’t because I used the Fire Toolbox program to remove all of those annoying “features” from all of my Fire tablets. The program only runs on Windows. I should have mentioned Fire Toolbox earlier since using it to clean up a Fire tablet is pretty much essential.
Thanks, will look into it. I did a bunch of other mods to get the clutter down initially. Will have to retrace some of those steps and see the compatibility of those with Fire Toolbox.
The Fire Tablets will require some work from your end to get it down to near iPad level. In addition to the Fire Tablet I also had a Samsung Fire Tablet at one point that I got for free with a promotion. Like the Fire Tablet it also had a microSD slot that I used for video back then, but the iPad was still a much better experience. No finicky behaviour. Ended up giving the Samsung Tablet to a family friend kid who made good use of it.
iPads are my favourite device to use for reading and watching stuff when on the move. All streaming services apps natively supported, along with Roon. They are perfect out of the gate and require no tweaking. Much better displays and very smooth experience. Feature updates for a long time and security updates for even longer. My 12 year old iPad Air 2 still got a security update last month. Aside from the prices, zero negative.
If you get one of the middle to top end models, you are easily set for 5-10 years, if not more.
