Why I Left Roon

How do you get IDAGIO into your hi fi stream ?

Also have they implemented gapless yet ?

It’s amazing the passion that a simple explanation will generate, as if not meeting my needs does harm to anyone else’s Roon relationship.

There were many informative comments made and some assumptions that challenge rationality. Roon, like all other products, is not flawless.

A psychologist friend once told me that the secret to relationships is not finding someone with whom you are most compatible, but finding someone whose incompatibilities you can live with. The comment has universal application.

I am still in Amazon’s Music HD trial. Here is what I discovered and why trials are critical. Amazon Music HD has many tracks with high resolution but that resolution is in most instances a mirage.

Drivers are critical to delivering exceptional SQ. Any service must be able to access a DAC’s driver competently. The fact is that Amazon’s product does not do that. The “Set Exclusive On”, a must to use WASAPI successfully to bypass poor PC processing, does not work reliably. The service also does not access both my DAC’s ASIO drivers. One or the other is needed to deliver high-resolution content with the expected SQ.

In addition, I spoke to three people in technical support. All of them proved useless and I had to spend some fun time unraveling the driver angle. None of the three spoke English understandably, two did not know about DACs and the third was blissfully uninformed about a driver’s role.

My exploration’s initial excitement about the things I liked in AMHD is now tempered by two major flaws. I might yet sort out the driver issue, but I can’t hire technically competent people for Amazon. I don’t doubt they are there; they just weren’t within my reach even though I requested them.

There is no doubt I am losing some functionality leaving Roon. For me, the only offset is access to more truly high-res content. Absent that, I have time to reverse course.

Thanks to all who offered well thought-out comments containing very good information, and particularly to those who reminded others that fit with anything is a personal decision that deserves respect even if it is not what we personally would do.

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Hi Mike,
I use BlueSound Node 2i for the streaming. I’ve been very happy with it. I’m not sure about gapless; sometimes between tracks in mid-movement there’s a very brief pause or click and sometimes not.

Best,
Rob

I think that lossy files won’t be gapless, could this be what you’re experiencing?

What does the type of compression have to do with gapless play?

Sorry, I don’t know the technicalities behind this, but there are a few softwares that are unable to play lossy compressed files gapless. I think Roon is one of them.

I have an Apple Music Subscription in my Apple One bundle. But its only used when i run with my AirPods Pro. Its bluetooth SQ.

FLAC files are compressed and they play gapless in Roon. MP3 files are compressed and lossy and they play gapless in Roon as well.

I meant how do you get IDAGIO into you stream

When I tried it I could stream to my iPad and then AirPlay to my streamer but never direct as in Roon

Ie IDAGIO via Router to system , they recommend a 3.5 jack to your amp , ie using the mobile device DAC

I just took your advise and I see why you love idagio. I can use my Roon endpoints with my Mac and send them to my home stereo . Not to bad considering bluetooth limitations. I agree the way the music is listed and stored is nice feature on this service. I too would use this service with Roon it was being supported

I too subscribe to Amazon Music HD, which gives me a wider range of music than Qobuz or Tidal. I joined Roon before Amazon started streaming in HD, so the other two platforms were obviously superior then , but that isn’t the case now. I don’t think Roon is worth having without access to music outside of my library in Discovery and Roon Radio, so when my Roon subscription expires in a couple of weeks, I won’t be renewing. I will remain subscribed to the newsletter, and when Roon includes Amazon, I will re-join.

What type of music are you finding in Amazon that is not in Tidal and Qobuz? Not questioning what you are saying, just curious.

If you transfer playlist from Apple Music to Qobuz you get get quite a few tracks missing, usually newer artists.\

It must have to do with new artist, IDK.

Mostly Classical and '60s Soul.

It’s not an airport, no need to announce your departure :flight_departure: :grin:

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

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No Amazon Music in Roon is a bit disappointing so I understand where the OP is coming from. I was using Tidal, Qobuz and Amazon and Amazon is best for my music tastes. Tidal curated playlist and interface were OK but I don’t want to be tied to MQA DAC’s to get the most of it. Qobuz’s poor interface, playlists and lack of a radio feature make it the worst IMO. But I am subscribed to Qobuz for use in Roon. Everywhere else, I use Amazon music. I doubt Amazon will ever play with Roon so I don’t blame Roon.

Have you looked at Primephonic, it’s very similar maybe even better ?

Not sure what a transfer from Apple to Qobuz tells us about the Amazon service?

In my experience if you dig into the missing tracks in the playlists after transfer a lot can actually be found manually and are missed due to slight variations in naming between platforms.

I’m not suggesting you try and hunt down every track by hand of course just pointing out that the number given by Soundiiz transfers may not be the whole or definitive story on the streaming platforms’ catalogue.

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Hi everyone, I took advantage of roon free trial some time ago. My system is basically a squeezebox which connects to tidal, deezer and HD storage on my laptop via dlna. I also have a secondary system of bluesound node 2i, a HD of my music connected to the bluesound and bluesound also connects to tidal and deezer. My HD contains about 3000 CD/Lp digitised to flac files. The bluesound os is fantastic and I use Squeezepad for my iPad controller of the squeezebox which is also extremely good. After playing around with roon I am yet to find any advantage over what I already have and am perplexed by the fanatical following of roon. It’s not a bad piece of software but I can not find anything special about it that would entice me to spend more than $50.00. Am I missing something? I’ve been an audiophile for nearly 55 years and this fanatical chasing of higher bit/sampling rates is crazy. Sure it sounds slightly different but not better than 16/44.1. Furthermore mqa coding by tidal is simply messing with music by applying different alogrithms and it is not some big advance in music production. It’s no different to different dacs applying different filters. Let’s sit back and think logically about where in the hifi chain are improvements best applied and it is not in software.

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