Testing again after a few years

Lol stop running the core on windows, it’s not meant to be used as an appliance os (abd does a terrible job when used as such)

yes!
exactly

thats start of my search as well

UPNP was a complete disaster and frustration

went to LMS afterwards (this is still a very good alternative tbh)
and then switched to Roon

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I agree fully here. LMS is quite impressive! I started using Roon after they included the DSP engine with convolution. Before that I used the BrutefirDRC plugin for LMS (which I actually participated in developing). I still think LMS is the only real alternative to Roon when one excludes all the UPnP/DLNA out there and want to use endpoints. LMS must run on Linux if using Brutefir, so not for everyone I guess.

I would also consider iTunes / Music App a good alternative. Not as good as Roon in terms of SQ perhaps (debatable though).
Multiroom via Airplay 2 is stable and reliable, Lossless ALAC, AIFF can be uploaded and played, easy to use both on Mac and iOS devices (less so on Windows) and quite importantly, lots of end point options available from super budget IKEA Symphonisk to Naim Nova streaming amp etc.
Lots of music management options (dynamic playlists), metadata editing and mobile option also available.

Yes but iTunes/Apple Music does not do Tidal/Qobuz (or others) and no convolution? I don’t use Mac and Linux is not supported AFAIK. For a Mac household it is OK I guess, but not for others. And iTunes was a pain on Windows when I tried it last. In a multi platform view Roon is excellent

I agree, these are the drawbacks and can be deal breakers.
I guess under certain conditions (local lossless library + lossy apple music for streaming) and for an apple user, some of these drawbacks are mitigated but not all. Roon has different issues of course.

Interesting thread here…I often wonder what is it about UPnP that people don’t like? On the basis you’re metadata is robust, what can’t it achieve? I only ask this as I genuinely don’t understand what are these so-called inherent weaknesses that by the sounds of things from people here make it almost totally useless?

I think that whilst those who genuinely understand the technical details of each streaming protocol totally differ from somebody such as myself who just uses the software.

Perhaps don’t answer me, as that would derail the thread. Thanks!

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I’ve sent you a PM, so as not to derail the thread… :grinning:

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Appreciated - cheers!

I looked up LMS and it is what I knew as Slimserver back when I had Squeezeboxes. I had actually ported it to run on Solaris, and as it was written in Perl it was a horrendous CPU hog. Now of course CPUs have improved quite a bit in the last 12 years, but Roon strikes me as far more responsive and with much better performance. I dug some, and it seems to be written for the .NET/Mono platform, but with plenty of open-source add-ons like Cairo graphics, Freetype, Google Protobufs and so on.

The OP’s apparent requests like RDP are ultra-niche. I would certainly appreciate being able to access my collection when I am outside, and even better some sort of support for sync and offline use with mobile Android-powered players like my Onkyo DP-X1, but Roon Labs is a fairly small company and those are not trivial problems to solve.

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UPnP is a major security risk.

If you mean DLNA, it just doesn’t work reliably the way AirPlay or Roon/RAAT does. Also, it’s a very poorly specified and bloated protocol with way too many options, which is probably why it is so unreliable. On the plus side, it’s not limited to 48kHz like AirPlay 1 was.

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Disagreed. Very reliable if used with the correct tools. But I dont want to derail this either…

No, you’ve made the point so…
What tools? Genuinely interested to see if those tools are easier than loading Roon and using it. And should you have to be employing the “right tools“ in what should be a plug and play protocol?

I have used Minimserver in conjunction with LUMIN App for the last 7 years or so. Not as feature rich but rock-stable and pretty much bug free.

Still using it in parallel to Roon.

Everything and anything connected to the internet is a security risk.Take precautions.

I’m new to Roon with a 3TB set of audio media on a Netgear NAS (mirrored to another off site). All different file types and a couple of other sources on the home (wired) network too.
I started with an old windows laptop as the core - and Roon was OK if a bit clunky.
The lightbulb moment though was buying a secondhand Innuos Zenith Mk2 and having that both run the core and act as an endpoint for my main system.
Almost instant on, tracks and music library sorted, streaming services easy and I even have Google Chromecast Audio (gapless thanks to Roon) able to deliver the same service to my workshop where it’s not a good environment for hi-fi.
The Innuos was easy to setup, and ripping cheap CD’s (they’re a steal at the moment - especially from Discogs) is a breeze.
A cheap old android tablet from eBay controls it there, and an iPad mini serves as controller in the main room.
OK, I’m a newbie to Roon - but having had digital music for a long time, and having been an early Squeezebox user - I’m now completely sold.
Roon and the Innuos Zenith sorts out my use case really well, and any shortcomings are really minor IMHO.
I think it’s “horses for courses“ as they say…

Well that is comforting to know seeing as I have the Lumin type solution. But a very short experiment with DNLA had me hunting down my spare NUC and pressing it back into service recently. It was easier to build a ROCK powered NUC and restore a backup than trouble shoot the issues I had with DNLA while I sorted out my MOCK server.
The issue revolves around multiple copies of various CD’s on my NAS because of backups and sorting locations. The ability to point Roon only where I wanted it was a big advantage over DNLA which picked up everything. Just my personal experience.

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Can you explain why? I’ve been using windows on a nuc running core and haven’t had issues.

Smaller cpu, memory and filesystem overhead, no random windows updates forcing reboot, no random 100% disk usage due to antivirus scan, ability to run roon as a service (without logged in user), ability to run it in an isolated sandbox (docker), sane software management, sane remote management and probably a hundred other things I can’t list off the top of my head

Lol…you make it sound absolutely terrible. My nuc is a dedicated roon server, all music files are on a 20tb Synology. Updates are manual, never had space issues, no virus scan issues, no cpu, memory or other over head issues and most of all no playback issues to 5 Sonos endpoints (lan) and direct out to a yamaha receiver.

I did think about installing roon os instead but haven’t had any issues with windows that I never bothered.

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