With the advent of release 1.6’s much enhance Radio algorithms, I’m enjoying Roon more and more than ever. It’s really wonderful to now have Roon digging deep into my collection and beyond and presenting me with untold delights with no effort on my part, apart from being a willing participant . It really makes using Roon an ongoing worthwhile experience.
Then it occured to me that everyone’s use-case for Roon is different; we all have different reasons for using Roon over other software and it’d be interesting to find out a bit more about what aspect or aspects of Roon keep you coming back for more? It could also highlight to Roon themselves as to areas of further development, so don’t hesitate to put down some further dev ideas.
So, to kick off…my main reasons to use Roon over other software are:
Ability to use tags and bookmarks and sort and display effectively combinations of tagged items for exporting or playlisting. (would really love to see this expanded to allow searchable custom comments, and more boolean combinations for tags)
The excellent and robust networking and multi-room/device access on the same network. (would really love to see this expanded to mobile use; ie away from LAN)
The now excellent Radio feature which digs deep into my collection and beyond.
What are your standout/key features and how could they be improved?
Roon enhances my ability to surf & hear my collection plus control and play from a variety of devices.
My primary interest is organization of my large collection and I hope more tuning to these features continues (ie box set management). I like a lot of the features of Jriver and foobar2000 and Roon seemed to have some of that plus integration with AMG content such as star ratings and reviews but also the link to metadata so the AMG navigation experience is combined with the collection. Getting the metadata correctly linked or added to items is an ongoing task. I also like adding pictures of discs, booklets, version specific covers, etc and surfing my collection.
The integration with streaming complements my collection well
The ability to control with various devices send to various end points is a key benefit.
Players must be able to play multichannel and hi Rez so all good. Roon does a great job moving from quad discs to 5.1 to stereo
tags and focus is important and something I used with Jriver. I want to be able to see various sorts on my collection like all MFSL gold CDS
I like radio for my collection primarily and ability to explore with supplemental streaming is nice. For mostly new music I have always been able to use radio / playlist type features directly in a streamer.
A mobile version would be of interest but I have been happy with just the streamer app on my phone for mobility. It is easier to stream and download than transfer
I miss theater mode with one handed remote but iPad or laptop control is also enjoyed.
Not to have to rely on proprietary hardware, or expensive hardware it offers up more flexibility than any other software product out there. It’s ease of use, seamless integration of streaming services, makes finding and discovering music a joy, great support, constant development, great community, solid multizone, and the icing on the cake new Roon radio.
Love it. Is it perfect no? No not yet but it gets better all the time.
All of the above, but I have also come to recognize another attributes:
this is no longer “computer audio”.
I’ve got a few appliances which are connected with various types of cables, just like I did in the 70s. It extends dramatically (multi-room, content browsing, cloud libraries…). But none of that makes it look or feel like a computer.
The Computer Audiophile site changed its name.
And we don’t have Computer Automobile or Computer Photography or Computer Stamp Collecting.
It’s pleasant to use, you don’t have to be a IT geek. Not perfect, but hugely better than the traditional computer tools.
Everything you all said, but my USP is a boring feature like Tags ;). For quality reasons i could stick with audirvana, I could buy an android phone and stream MQA via UPNP too … Roon delivers everything in a box. No tinkering, no compromises.
Not perfect! And it is 10 € per month. But it has tags ;).
I am new to it. Learned by bumping into ‘things’ and asked here for suggestions. I get them, the community is very kind with information and insight. There is, or can be a lot to learn… but there is time to become a Roon Master myself. And while I learn, I can play and listen and hear things I have not listened to in years, with ease.
Wheels of Fire by Cream just popped up, I have missed so much of my ‘holdings’ and feel rich, I have a lot of stuff to listen to, things to learn, and thing to do. All the while I can listen to the music. I find the ‘sound’ to be quite nice, a surprise to experience in a way… So for me it is all good and I have not been so ‘giddy’ for many years, but it is fun to get to see what that feels like once again as well.
Is it perfect? I will say it is. Having deployed systems to a large group of folks, I know first hand that one can not please everyone, and should you please one, another will howl about the change. It is a modern marvel in that it does so much, for so many, whit such varying tastes and skill levels. My hat tips in the developers direction. Good job, well done, thank you.
So I am quite pleased, and even thankful that I gave it a try, got it to work, and have been rewarded with such pleasure. I like the computer part of it, where some may not, but it is to so many out there, just what they are looking for.
1- integration of streaming/own files/radio in a single app
2- distributing musing all over the house for all family members, partner and kids friendly. Full control of my Devialet amp and PI-based other endpoints.
3- DSP features for speaker and room correction
4- Alarm-clock extension for musical wakeup and handling of radio accross the house, from bed to kitchen to shower
For me it is RAAT. Then the DSP. Without RAAT I would not use Roon I think. I have used a microRendu with Roon since I purchased a license. Hasn’t failed once! I also use Roon/AIR since I own a Devialet 250 Pro and find it comparable to RAAT, but I prefer the sound via microRendu (and a Mutec reclocker). My speakers and their placement dictate use of DRC. The DSP engine in Roon makes this very easy. I’m not a big fan of the ‘other’ features of Roon. I really want to disable a lot of that, but I’ve learned to ignore most of it… I only use a local library by the way. No Tidal or Qobuz. And one more thing; Roon is very solid and stable!
Why I stick with Roon? I like RAAT. The sound, and the convenience of getting sound all around the house. I also like the simplicity of it all.
But that doesn’t mean that I should “abandon ship” just because I feel the team is on the wrong track from time to time.
Paying by subscription means I pay from year to year. I totally understand new features will be implemented from time to time, the software should develop of course. But some of the requests are quite old, and many are about basic functionality, such as for instance being able to browse a box set without having to use other software to do it. Being told that’s a solution to the problem, that doesn’t surprise me anymore. So people who have a problem or two with how things are being done, or how the team makes their priorities, they should all just stop paying their subscription and start use other software? How is that a solution to anything?
Being a paying customer and having my reasons for sticking with Roon, naturally I question the priorities being made from time to time. Things are being worked on and changed as the software develop, bugs are being sorted out and so on. But much of it has nothing to do with basic functionality. Often it creates quite a stir as well, because of how it’s done. We’re all sifting through feedback about the 1.6 update still, and it’s not all positive, quite the opposite in fact. How important box sets are for me or not – shouldn’t be a factor here at all. Being able to at least have separate album covers on each item in a box belongs to the category of functionality I consider to be very basic today. I mean, come on – if I have understood it correctly even JRiver can do this. Roon shouldn’t be fiddling around with basic functionality any longer, these things should be “boxed” a long time ago in my opinion.
1 Like
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
42
Roon is polarizing, no doubt. I’ve analogized in the past that Roon is like the burger place with the best burgers in town, hands down, but for some weird reason they refuse to serve fries (“chips, no fries!”).
I have demoed Roon to folks and they’ve been heavily impressed. I’ve demoed Roon to folks and they’ve been very “meh” if not surprised that anyone would pay the price for it.
Roon does things better than any other music library software out there. Roon can’t get some very basic stuff right and seems to make very odd interface choices that you wonder how they ever got off the glass wall with the sticky post-its.
I love my time with Roon because:
Integration with Tidal and Qobuz make one’s collection feel virtually unlimited.
A virtually unlimited collection combined with some metadata helps me to identify music I should have been aware of a long time ago and makes each Roon session a new experience
The RAAT/client/core model with multiple control/display points and endpoints synchronized as enabled me to really Borg my music system all over the house
The latest Roon Radio seems to work well with the genres/seeds I have tried for the most part and has also helped me discover new music
It’s really fun to poke at the Roon fan-sters
Roon frustrates me because:
Many of the features feel half-finished…Discover, tags, box set handling, inter-operability with other library management tools (recognition of custom embedded metatags); slowness/performance
It takes too long to fix bugs and obvious missteps - artist photo cropping and zoom, lack of large album cover art in Now Playing; issues with Realtek drivers (which are not going anywhere)
It doesn’t match the other big players in terms of custom configurations and pages although it’s generally more attractive
It includes some goofy philosophical choices like no drag and drop play, no folder navigation, etc.
It is priced like it should have already solved the above issues
Bottom line, Roon is good enough to wait out the issues, but it’s perfectly reasonable for those who feel they’ve paid a substantial amount for the software to keep pushing for advertised or half-implemented features to be improved.
Though everyone will have their own definition of base functionality. I think roon radio is fantastic and am really glad that resources went there. I have a few box sets which I’ve coped with.
I went to roon as it looked like sooloos which I loved for the metadata, with those links and radio it keeps me amused for hours. I’m now getting told I’m doing too much screen time by my wife.
I personally never really look at the artist pictures or album art.
For everyone that passionately cares about a feature there are those who don’t give a fig. I know there are many who don’t use the radio feature etc.
When I was talking to product owners at Microsoft about how over feature rich products are and the 3% of word/excel people know and use. They would respond with, yes but it’s a different three percent for different users.
Hmmh … It looks like there are two tribes here. I’m in the “pretty pleased tribe”. For me the positive aspects of Roon that keep me using it are:
Search. Allows me to search through a lot of albums in a more natural manner than scanning file folders. The links embedded in the descriptions are a fantastic way of looking at a collection in a non-linear fashion.
Sound quality. I think it is pretty good. At least it is definitely good enough for me.
Hardware/Software Compatibility. I’m not locked into a small eco-system. Although I do like tinkering with stuff - I prefer listening to music more.
Aesthetics of the UI. I like the way Roon looks. I’m not saying that I necessarily like everything in version 1.6 but I think that the Roon team has a good approach.
Music discovery. I was using non-Roon sources for my music discovery (primarily Amazon music). This worked fairly well but was very cumbersome. I dropped Amazon and switched to Tidal. Huge improvement. Now the Roon radio continues to improve the experience. When Qobuz gets out of its trial stage in the US, I might add or switch to that for music discovery. Due to the state of streaming (general lack of profits) I think this is a really good idea that Roon maintains a relationship with multiple streamers.
The other thing that I should mention is that I have no friends that are “into” music. So I don’t find out about new music unless I search. Roon, Tidal, and the “what are listening to” threads on this forum have been of immense help to me in finding new and new-to-me music.
Updates. The frequent updates show the commitment to the product and don’t seem traumatic when they occur. I know some have had severe issues but mine have been painless. Also, my main trauma with software updates revolve around the update not occurring/having a major functional flaw or the update changes/hides/moves stuff in an incredibly confusing fashion. I have not had these types of problems with Roon updates.
What are my negatives in Roon?
Updates. I think that Roon should have a way to temporarily roll back or a better way to delay an update. It just makes it easier for the user if they have an issue with a new release.
Classical Music. I actually think Roon does okay with this - BUT i have not seen anyone do it well. Classical is just a mess. You generally have the same orchestra and conductor but the albums frequently have multiple composers. Search is your friend in classical or setting up a lot of tags. I’m not sure of solution here . . .
Editing your library. Although Roon lets you fix some minor things inside the software, I sometimes use an external editor for some issues. I know Roon wants to stay away from being a program with a full fledged editor but perhaps Roon could team with someone to help with some Roon-centric utilities in a stan-alone editor.
There are also some things I’m pretty neutral about such as cost. I used the trial download and then bought the lifetime subscription. If Roon lasts five years I’ll be happy. Nothing is permanent and that is why I buy rather than stream when possible. So if Roon really is my lifetime solution, that is fantastic. For me, it works better than any music software I have used . . . and I hope I will be able to continue to say that for at least a few years.
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
52
There really isn’t any competition. The metadata pulls, weak as they may seem to some, are a big deal, and hard for anyone else to replicate. The integrations with TIDAL and Qobuz probably required a lot of negotiation which would similarly be hard to duplicate. And the secret RAAT protocol being adopted by so many upscale hardware manufacturers makes it a nice “moat” to protect against competition in the distributed LAN player space.
Whatta ya gonna do? Switch to Spotify or Apple Music or Google Play Music?
I guess I’m in both tribes then, because I agree with most of your points, except for aesthetics of the UI. I even agree with your positive aspects of Search, it’s just the way it currently looks I object to.
Also, I keep fairly silent most of the time, but inspired by @Jan_M_Thorsen’s post, I think it’s important to also let this perspective be heard a bit more from time to time, because the way Roon is developing up to now, I think your tongue in cheek remark about two tribes actually does contain a bit of truth.
. It really makes using Roon an ongoing worthwhile experience.
