Glen, if you’re listening in a single room and are content using dCS’s Mosaic (and Qobuz’s native app when needed), then I can understand why you find yourself using Roon less and less. Your current setup seems clean and straightforward.
The main reasons I prefer a Roon server setup comes down to a few things that Spotify/Tidal/Qobuz/Apple direct connect protocols just can’t do under the hood:
- Cross platform library management
- I have local files that Roon stitches seamlessly together with streaming providers’ catalog so it feels like one giant personal library. I like the unified artist discographies, relational credit linking across collections, and local metadata editing.
- Heavy lifting DSP
- Roon (and the server it runs on) is a computational engine and I use it for parametric EQ, room correction, headphone specific tuning, and recording specific tweaking. Per zone EQ is unique and useful because the music played in the garage sounds different from what’s heard from outdoor speakers in the backyard. Having a single control plane to manage them is awesome.
- Synchronized whole home audio
- I have several listening zones at home with different brands of speakers. Roon is the only solution I’ve found for controlling music playback that stays in sync without noticeable delays as people move from room to room. Used to have the first world problem of family members complaining that music was echoing from the kitchen, dining room, or living room. Now people hear a song in the kitchen, step outside to the BBQ grill, and the music follows them without missing a beat.
- DIY Flexibility
- Although Roon sells its own hardware, I like their focus on software and that they provide a DIY environment to build upon. The extensions (MusicD Remote ), 3rd party hardware integration (Roon Pilot), willingness to allow customers to tinker with Roon APIs (Roon Internal API), custom builds (DIY Hybrid Core and streamer), and so on makes Roon a true platform that continues to evolve without Roon branded lock-in.
At the end of the day, if the dCS Network Bridge and Qobuz Connect gives you everything you need for how you listen to music, that’s a solid win for your setup. But for those of us wanting fine grained and integrated control of local files, tweaking DSP, or running multi-room setups, having Roon server processing in the background is a distinctive and valuable solution.