Hi David, welcome to the Roon community! I’ve got a similar Apple M1. It’s most likely that you need to setup port forwarding to your Roon Server IP address which takes a couple of minutes, but as you say, your tech skills aren’t very good. My best recommendation is to ask a friend who knows something about computers and routers and if they can open the port up for you. Good Luck! 
when it’s set up, it works a charm, and I use Roon ARC in my car on a daily basis without issue or lag of any kind.
Spot on! Great advice.
In what way does Roon need to up their game for a streaming user? I use Roon to manage ripped cds and downloaded digital files. I have no interest in streaming as I like to own stuff! All my Roon files are played through a traditional and very good quality hifi system.
You must be aware that makes you very much a minority roon user for a long time now. Roon has been shifting its focus to streaming related services and integration for a very long time. At least since (7) years ago with the roon 1.6 release when roon themselves noticed a “steep” change in usage profile:
Give what I’ve read in community discussions concerning issues with various streaming services (not to mention hardware problems) I’m quite happy to be in a minority. Having subscribed to Roon for only 18 months i haven’t noticed the shift away from music collectors (what would I actually notice in my experience?) and as long as Roon continues to work for me I’m happy:
I imagine that newer, younger subscribers will have limited physical libraries to rip (although CDs are growing in popularity again) so it’s quite natural for them to rent their music through Tidal et al. Early Roon adopters would probably have had large libraries ready for ripping (or would have already ripped them using pre-Roon services). Streaming is also a good way to discover new music but I have other ways to do that.
Well yes, of course, but roon’s own analysis was that in order to have a business case they had to appeal to a growing demographic, not an aging and declining one. I think the OP was addressing those rooners that do stream. Personally, I do not use roon massively less since streaming apps have got better, but I certainly use roon less and in a different way. It’s good, I think, that there are alternatives.
One cannot really compare Roon with the native app of a streaming service imo.
Can I start radio stations with the Qobuz app? If yes please instruct me.
Can I add a song/album I hear on the radio with 2 clicks to my library via Tidal?
Do I have streaming sevices favorites, downloaded files and ripped CDs all together, and can I edit and manage the metadata for all of these in the Apple app or any of the other streaming sevices?
Can I create playlists with tracks from both local library and streaming services?
Can I play the same or something different in other rooms? And so on…
It’s not that the native apps do not work, they just do not offer what Roon does (and that is true for most if not all apps of hardware producers as well), so it doesn’t matter for Roon if some of them even better.
Their problem is that they all stick in their own bubble, no cooperation with anything outside.
Well, some say the key things are sound quality, and stability.
There’s something to what you wrote—I used to use Roon to search for albums from time to time, but ever since Qobuz significantly improved its search algorithms, I can’t even remember the last time I used Roon. And as for sound quality, it’s practically irrelevant.
Are you suggesting that there is no discernible difference in audio quality between Roon and Qobuz Connect? While the underlying performance may be comparable, one could argue that Roon provides superior sound due to its digital signal processing capabilities.
That’s a fair statement, Roon’s DSP options are very much a functional aspect that other applications do not have.
Moderator request:
Let’s stay focused on functionality and usability, and leave the objective/subjective SQ rabbit hole for another topic.
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I use my Roon as my central management plattform for music. Qobuz is just an Extension to my local collection.
Qobuz is used to check out new stuff, liked album are still bought, either digital or as LP. I don’t like to be dependent on a streaming provider. My large collection was growing, and Roon gave me a better access to it. And even my collection is too large to run it on my Grimm MU2, I would miss Roon everyday. Best investement in a software so far.
I don’t use the Connect App, because I have 2 setups, both within Roon - no need for an extra App.
Do you mean like Roon Radio? In the Qobuz app, open the play queue and turn on the Autoplay toggle. I think it’s on by default and more people ask about how to turn it off.
If you meant live internet radio stations, then no, Qobuz and Tidal do not have the feature. Some other services like Apple Music and Spotify do.
If anything I’m using it more - still a relatively unique blend of UI quality and consolidation of multiple sources (mainly local files topped up with Tidal for new music discovery for me)
In my dreams there would be 1. a band camp integration and, 2. a magic device to display metadata when playing vinyl
I use Roon for all my music sources, I am one who had a large library at the start of Roon. I have a Tidal subscription to fill in the gaps and to provide new content going forward.
I use Tidal only through Roon (well 99%) I don’t find the native UI suits my workflow.
Since moving to Roon I tend to do >> Artist List > Filter >Artist>Discography >Pick Play
also as a classical fan the Tidal UI doesn’t have he tools to show “Beethoven” > “all symphony no.5’s” as Roon does.
I can see the native app being ok for playlists etc but Roon is just much more
Qobuz , I can’t comment as they haven’t discovered Africa yet
I’m still using it, as my amp/streamer isn’t compatible with the Connect apps. I am finding that I’m using Room Arc less and less. I’m finding it less stable, when compared to Tidal or Qobuz’s apps.
Using Roon Arc in my car, with Car Play isn’t fun at all. Slow to load and connect, then suffers from dropouts. It’s still great when I want to access music stored in my Nucleus, though.
I use Roon almost exclusively. Everything about Roon is better than Tidal. The only time I go to Tidal directly is when I am playing albums downloaded from Tidal on the phone app.
Roon is a very special piece of software, that can do a lot of things. How much mileage you get out of it depends very much on your setup and needs.
Roon aggregrates your library and connects your streaming services with your personal collection of digital files (WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC etc.). It enhances them with Metadata, it has advanced protocols for multi-room synchronization, it has advanced DSP features, it enables remote streaming via ARC, and, and, and.
Now, most of these things you can accomplish with other tools and software as well. What’s cool about Roon is that it centralizes all of these various functions and lets you use just one app for it all. How much mileage you get out of Roon depends on how many of these functions you use/need and how much you want a single piece of GUI/Software to handle all of it.
I am using Tidal more to source music, but I routinely use it inside the Roon app, rather than as the standalone Tidal app. Roon remains the core of my digital music experience.