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    The Computer Audiophile

    By The Computer Audiophile •

    Roon 1.7 With Valence Is Released

    Given that Roon 1.7 was a somewhat under the radar relase Wednesday evening, and those of us in the press were asked not to release any information until 9:00 GMT, there isn't much value to add to the official press release at the moment. The version 1.7 discussion began as soon as Roon Cores, clients and remotes beagn upgrading last night, and continues right now in the Audiophile Style forum here - https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/57706-roon-17-is-available/

     

    I have high hopes that Roon Valence is similar to Pandora's Music Genome Project, a technology that I believe it the best in the business with respect to separating musical attributes and finding different ways to link people with their favorite music (discoverd and undiscovered). I look forward to digging into Roon version 1.7 and putting Valence through its paces. 

     

    Note: The lifetime subscription to Roon has increased in cost from $499 to $699 with the release of version 1.7. The yearly cost remains $119.

     

     

    Official press release:

     

     

    Introducing Valence — finding your next music obsession with Roon 1.7!

    Roon Labs is proud to announce the largest project we’ve ever undertaken. After two years of focused design and engineering, we’re unveiling an entirely new technology we call Valence.

    Valence is a system built on a massive new cloud database, which uses machine learning algorithms – designed with our passion for music – to model the many dimensions of relatedness more deeply than ever before. And because you use Roon to explore, collect, and listen to the music you love, Valence understands you like no other.

    The secret ingredient is the Roon community; Valence learns from the musical tastes of over 100,000 expert listeners who use Roon. 

    The result is the ultimate music expert, which presents the world of music through a lens personalized just for you.

    If you’ve used the hugely popular Roon Radio, you’ve seen an early example of Valence in action. In the same way that the meaning of “radio” was transformed in Roon 1.6, today you’ll see Valence transform your understanding of ideas like “new releases for you” and “suggested for you” in Roon 1.7.

    Beyond Valence, there’s more to this update: we’ve brought the kind of experience you expect from Roon to the world of live radio, and Roon OS has received a massive performance boost. As always, feedback from the community has led to a number of other improvements as well.

     

    Roon 1.7 includes three entirely new features that are powered by Valence:

    New Releases For You

    roon valence 01.jpg

    In most streaming apps, “New releases” are just a list of everything that’s been released this week, or sometimes only certain titles that are being marketed. Valence lets Roon show you new releases you care about, based on your library and listening history. The more you use Roon, the better the “New Releases” will get!

    Recommended For You

    roon valence 02.jpg

    Valence also powers a small selection of recommendations on the album screen, selecting relevant albums and allowing you to a browse a nearly-endless supply of similar music.

    Artist Play and Composer Play

    roon valence 03.jpg

    These new play options use Valence to pick a selection of an artist or composer's best music by determining their “heyday” periods, finding their most popular albums (based on Roon users’ listening history), and digging deep to find lesser-known gems. Whether it’s an artist you know and love, or someone new you’re ready to explore, now you can just click Play.

     

    Valence now improves several long-standing Roon features as well:

    Faster, more accurate Search

    roon valence 04.jpg

    We’ve completely re-engineered our search algorithm based on feedback from the Roon community. Valence now tracks hundreds of data points when interpreting search terms, delivering more accurate and relevant results.

    Better context for classical Compositions

    roon valence 05.jpg

    Classical composer and composition views have been improved, presenting data more clearly and comprehensively. Most importantly, Valence uses the community’s listening history to allow sorting by popularity, so you can benefit from the expertise of other listeners when choosing performances of a composition.

    Credits metadata is vastly improved

    roon valence 06.jpg

    Valence has considerably increased both the coverage and quality of credits in Roon. Over 44 million additional credits have been introduced to fill gaps that existed before, and the roles associated with those credits are more consistent and accurate. This release also includes support for importing credits from file tags.

     

    Other features of the 1.7 release:

    Live Radio directory

    roon valence 07.jpg

    We’re thrilled to launch our Live Radio directory, a collection of more than 1000 live radio stations, hand curated by the Roon community. Now you can browse stations by genre or quickly find your local stations. As with all streaming content, live radio can be added to your library for easy access later. Remember, the directory is an actively maintained database; if you have questions, suggestions, or if there’s a station you can’t find, let them know in the Radio Curation category on our community site.

    Streaming Optimizations

    roon valence 08.jpg

    For music playing from TIDAL and Qobuz, Roon now buffers data in a less disruptive way, and there are optimizations which reduce disk activity, CPU usage, and memory traffic. This means that streaming content starts faster and slower internet connections (or lower-powered cores) may also benefit when streaming high-resolution content.

    Android audio improvements

    When playing on an Android device, Roon now plays in the background with metadata and transport controls available in the Android “notification” area. Roon performs more gracefully when the state of  an Android device’s audio output changes, including when a phone call is received, when a headphone cable is removed, when a video is started on Facebook, etc. Signal Path will also report exactly how an Android device renders audio. Like most Android apps, Roon depends on the device to set sample rates.

    Performance improvements on Roon OS

    Starting with Roon 1.7, when running on Roon OS, Roon will use the Microsoft .NET Core Runtime, which offers higher performance and improved memory efficiency.

    Library management aspects of Roon typically run 30-40% faster, use less power, and generate less heat. This also enables larger music libraries on the same hardware.

    Roon OS has always been the best way to run Roon for most users, but as of this change, we are confident that it is the best option for everyone, regardless of library size. Roon on Roon OS is now more efficient and performs better than Roon on any other platform or product.

     

    We’ve also listened to user feedback beyond the big-ticket features, and introduced a variety of little crowd pleasers:

    Zone Icons

    roon valence 09.jpg

    Roon has always included custom icons for Roon Ready and Roon Tested devices, but today’s release allows for more customization for the Roon zones around your home, with more than 40 zone icons included.

    More File Tag processing

    Roon can now automatically create “Roon Tags” from special file tags at the album or track level. This is a hugely flexible mechanism for the importing of nearly any external organizational system. This release includes support for importing lyrics and credits from file tags as well.

    Visual improvements

    Roon's font and color rendering has also undergone a major overhaul. Across the app, on all platforms, text shapes will appear cleaner and smoother, and the intent of the font is better preserved, improving readability. Additionally, the coloring of album covers should feel truer to the physical media on a wider range of LCD monitors.

    Text layout improvements

    In addition to looking better, Roon now has complete support for right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew. Faster performance in the user interface and less resource intensive rendering makes a significant impact, especially on tablets and phones.

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    Recommended Comments



    senior.god

    In my humble opinion: In relation to the prices for Amazon HD or the new Qobuz pricing the yearly Roon price is much too high.....😭

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    Thuaveta

    Well, try pricing Qobuz in Europe, it'll put things in perspective 😉

     

    (for the curious, it would appear that the Amazon-competitive pricing is just for the US. The lossless tier of Qobuz is between $30 and $35 a month elsewhere. Yeah...)

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    Account Closed
    4 hours ago, senior.god said:

    In my humble opinion: In relation to the prices for Amazon HD or the new Qobuz pricing the yearly Roon price is much too high.....😭

    The correct comparison is to something like JRiver. Amazon and Qobuz are content providers. Roon is not. I think Roon is a bargain for the functionality it provides.

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    PYP

    The New Releases for You and Recommended for You are great features for finding new music, especially using Qobuz from within Roon.  Already added a few albums to my library.  The Live Radio directory also looks promising. 

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    JDoyle

    I love the live radio improvement... to me radio is so underrated. It’s where music began for me and with the right stations, no algorithm will ever compete. Thank you Roon for getting this right!

     

    JD

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    bobbmd

    @The Computer Audiophile hi Chris well 1.7 downloaded and loaded without me saying ok actually did it twice saying it might take a while to resync my data base. Well when it came on it no longer recognizes my brand new Schiit Yggdrasil GS nor old ME2 DAC it did several hours ago in the old version what 1.6.

    Do you or anyone else know how to get this new version to recognize my DACs---I have no way to listen to music now got to be some 'trick'/easy solution for this without having to deal with 'support' or 'community' who will ask same stupid questions what my system is ect and send a screenshot ---of what a blank screen with no zones except my apple tv mac output and chromecast google home

    thanks for anybody's assistance--have already turned ROON on/off repeatedly still no zones with my 2 DACs maybe I should a 'shutdown' or 'forced quit' of the mac mini will wait to see what you say

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    bobbmd

    @The Computer Audiophile I couldn't stand it/wait for a response--- unconnected the 2 DACs shut off the Yggdrasil GS shut everything down on the mac and did a soft quit/shutdown waited a bit restarted the mac rehooked the DACs and turned the Yggy back on A+3 TIDAL and QoBuz re-recognized the Schiit DAC (WHEW)-- turned ROON back on and it recognized both DACs BUT ROON now only plays in 'High Quality' little green light not 'lossless' what gives with that?? At the bottom of signal path it says 'OS mixer' never saw that before.

    At least everything works again but that automatic download for ROON 1.7 really screwed up my system and scared the living daylights out of me.

    Anyone experience this problem with auto download of ROON ver 1.7/setup of it and anyone know how to get ROON to play in Lossless again?

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    misterspense

    Upped the lifetime membership to 699???? 🤨 For getting a bit better recommendations, and easier liveradio? To be honest, with Roon 1.6 liveradio was not optimal, you needed to add the URL by hand. Dor instance Euphony, Volumio and LMS have selectable stations, no need to search for the URL's yourself. And they dare to ask 200 euro more for this added functionality???

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    4est
    50 minutes ago, misterspense said:

    Upped the lifetime membership to 699???? 🤨 For getting a bit better recommendations, and easier liveradio? To be honest, with Roon 1.6 liveradio was not optimal, you needed to add the URL by hand. Dor instance Euphony, Volumio and LMS have selectable stations, no need to search for the URL's yourself. And they dare to ask 200 euro more for this added functionality???

    Although I subscribe to Roon, I have balked at the lifetime price tag in hopes of a different solution. It is not that the $500 is that much, but in that the features Roon offered aren't enough. The search engine is a bit tweaky and you have to be VERY specific with spelling and such. The Roon radio is(was?) simply awful compared to the likes of Spotify and many others. Oh sure there is some artist info and if you take the time to click about the "followed by" or "influenced by" you can find some nice stuff, but even still, Amazon seems to sorta have that down as well in the "you might also like". My primary reason for using Roon is the streaming>HQPlayer DSD integration. Roon was already over priced, and this seems like a money grab for function they should have included before.

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    The Computer Audiophile
    7 hours ago, bobbmd said:

    @The Computer Audiophile I couldn't stand it/wait for a response--- unconnected the 2 DACs shut off the Yggdrasil GS shut everything down on the mac and did a soft quit/shutdown waited a bit restarted the mac rehooked the DACs and turned the Yggy back on A+3 TIDAL and QoBuz re-recognized the Schiit DAC (WHEW)-- turned ROON back on and it recognized both DACs BUT ROON now only plays in 'High Quality' little green light not 'lossless' what gives with that?? At the bottom of signal path it says 'OS mixer' never saw that before.

    At least everything works again but that automatic download for ROON 1.7 really screwed up my system and scared the living daylights out of me.

    Anyone experience this problem with auto download of ROON ver 1.7/setup of it and anyone know how to get ROON to play in Lossless again?

    Make sure your audio devices in Roon setting are allowed exclusive control. 

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    firedog
    1 hour ago, misterspense said:

    Upped the lifetime membership to 699???? 🤨 For getting a bit better recommendations, and easier liveradio? To be honest, with Roon 1.6 liveradio was not optimal, you needed to add the URL by hand. Dor instance Euphony, Volumio and LMS have selectable stations, no need to search for the URL's yourself. And they dare to ask 200 euro more for this added functionality???

     

    30 minutes ago, 4est said:

    Although I subscribe to Roon, I have balked at the lifetime price tag in hopes of a different solution. It is not that the $500 is that much, but in that the features Roon offered aren't enough. The search engine is a bit tweaky and you have to be VERY specific with spelling and such. The Roon radio is(was?) simply awful compared to the likes of Spotify and many others. Oh sure there is some artist info and if you take the time to click about the "followed by" or "influenced by" you can find some nice stuff, but even still, Amazon seems to sorta have that down as well in the "you might also like". My primary reason for using Roon is the streaming>HQPlayer DSD integration. Roon was already over priced, and this seems like a money grab for function they should have included before.

     

    Roon said straight out at their forum that the $500 lifetime was/is a money loser for them and not a sustainable economic model; they used it at the beginning  to get a cash injection that prevented them from needing more loans or investment. Acc'd to them, they want to end it totally but haven't done so...yet. 

     

    The large increase in  the "lifetime" price is actually designed to discourage people from becoming lifetime subscribers. Money grab? Note that they haven't upped the yearly subscription fee, which is what they want people to subscribe to. They will, at some point in the not distant future get rid of the lifetime option. 

     

    https://community.roonlabs.com/t/lifetime-price-increase-499-699/84339/2

     

    BTW, the search,  internet radio, and some other functions are all much improved in this version.  I don't have any issue with the subscription model, as they are continually improving the software and giving us something for our money (of course, I'm a long time "lifetime" subscriber, so I'm getting Roon for "free" already😁...). 

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    4est
    5 minutes ago, firedog said:

     

     

    Roon said straight out at their forum that the $500 lifetime was/is a money loser for them and not a sustainable model; they used it at the beginning  to get a cash injection that prevented them from needing more loans or investment. Acc'd to them, they want to end it totally but haven't done so...yet.  The large increase in  the "lifetime" price is actually designed to discourage people from becoming lifetime subscribers. Note that they haven't upped the yearly subscription fee, which is what they want people to subscribe to. They will, at some point in the not distant future get rid of the lifetime option. 

    Are we to feel sympathetic that they cannot figure out how to make a profit despite their software being 5x the price of something like Audirvana or most other player programs?

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    bobbmd

    @The Computer Audiophile Thank you but where do I find that if I go to device set up even in advanced there is no choices for 'exclusive control' like in A+3 where there is exclusive access/integer mode/direct mode/ Thanks-- that ver 1.7 looks pretty cool but I bought ROON for lossless not high quality(kinda hard to hear a difference but its there)-- and that price hike is unbelievable I paid 499$ and my CFO hit the roof a few years ago!

    bobbmd

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    rn701
    41 minutes ago, bobbmd said:

    @The Computer Audiophile Thank you but where do I find that if I go to device set up even in advanced there is no choices for 'exclusive control' like in A+3 where there is exclusive access/integer mode/direct mode/ Thanks-- that ver 1.7 looks pretty cool but I bought ROON for lossless not high quality(kinda hard to hear a difference but its there)-- and that price hike is unbelievable I paid 499$ and my CFO hit the roof a few years ago!

    bobbmd

     

     

     

    Screenshot_20191122-083642.gif

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    firedog
    1 hour ago, 4est said:

    Are we to feel sympathetic that they cannot figure out how to make a profit despite their software being 5x the price of something like Audirvana or most other player programs?

    No, and no one is asking you to. You are free to think the price is sky high and not worth it; that doesn't change the reality that the "lifetime" model is a bad one for Roon, no matter what you think. 

     

    Just use one of the other programs if you think Roon is too expensive. 

     

    There's lots of stuff - from audio to alcohol to liquor to watches to clothes  and furniture - that are all non essetial luxury items - that I don't buy because I think they are too expensive. I buy a less expensive alternative and am happy with it. 

     

    Why should software be any different? 

     

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    beetlemania

    I installed 1.7 a couple of days ago. On the one hand, I love the new radio stations they've highlighted. But, on the other, my iPad has been temperamental connecting to the Roon NUC. Several times it just gets stuck trying to connect. Last night I was without music for about 30 minutes trying to figure it out, finally had to reset.

     

    And is Valence something that you can access or is it just a new algorithm that picks songs for Roon radio?

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    The Computer Audiophile
    20 minutes ago, beetlemania said:

    is Valence something that you can access or is it just a new algorithm that picks songs for Roon radio?

    Valence is just the name for a set of technologies that mines data and either plays music it thinks you'll like via Roon Radio, or recommends music it thinks you will like in areas like an album page. 

     

    Screen Shot 2019-11-22 at 9.23.07 AM.png

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    beetlemania
    10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

    Valence is just the name for a set of technologies that mines data and either plays music it thinks you'll like via Roon Radio, or recommends music it thinks you will like in areas like an album page. 

     

     

    Thanks, that explains why I can't "find" it 😂

    Would have been less confusing if they said "hey, here are some new improvements and features" rather than give it a name.

     

    BTW, I love Roon 😍

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    4est
    1 hour ago, firedog said:

    No, and no one is asking you to. You are free to think the price is sky high and not worth it; that doesn't change the reality that the "lifetime" model is a bad one for Roon, no matter what you think. 

     

    Just use one of the other programs if you think Roon is too expensive. 

     

    There's lots of stuff - from audio to alcohol to liquor to watches to clothes  and furniture - that are all non essetial luxury items - that I don't buy because I think they are too expensive. I buy a less expensive alternative and am happy with it. 

     

    Why should software be any different? 

     

    I never said it should be different. I simply stated that I didn't find a lot of value added for the price increase. This is a discussion forum and I have expressed my dislike for the reasoning behind a price increase as a present user. Are you suggesting then that I do not have the right to let my opinion be known in a forum where Roon seems to monitor, and others might see this and consider creating alternatives?

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    firedog
    16 minutes ago, 4est said:

    I never said it should be different. I simply stated that I didn't find a lot of value added for the price increase. This is a discussion forum and I have expressed my dislike for the reasoning behind a price increase as a present user. Are you suggesting then that I do not have the right to let my opinion be known in a forum where Roon seems to monitor, and others might see this and consider creating alternatives?

    No, and I never wrote or implied that. 

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    Foggie

    Comparing Roon to A+ (great player as well) isn’t even remotely close.

     

    The link provided explains the lifetime increase - extremely well explained and transparent.  
     

    There is no price increase otherwise and Roon is something like $10/month.  Lots of player choices available and Roon certainly isn’t for everyone 

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    bobbmd

    @The Computer Audiophile @rn701 as it turns out when i rebooted my mac and restarted ROON ver !.7   my Zone(s) for yggy gs gen5usb was now 2 different zones one with apple core audio one with OS mixer plus i now had 4 different zones i never had before or had set up one for my family room apple tv/one for my apple tv in living room/one for chromcast-google home in the kitchen and which i never automatically connected/one for my hdtv display. I have no idea why they showed up after the download of ver 1.7 and after i rebooted but all is ok for now and A+3 works just fine

    @rn701 that page you showed me is what i got if i clicked setup for the DAC that only played high quality just says device and there is no exclusive mode but if i click the other yggy DAC or ME2 dac it shows/offers exclusive mode because they are set up for Apple core audio. I have stopped trying to figure why these things happen like the bumper sticker says... "schiit(shit) happens" and trying to figure out how ROON acts and reacts is like "...forget it Jake it's just Chinatown..."

    A+3 Qobuz and TIDAL all work well alone now.

    will try to post a screenshot of what i am explained.

    thanks for all your help and i hope i have not worn out my welcome (if i ever had one) have a nice weekend and Happy Thanksgiving

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    frederick184

    Upgraded to 1.7 last night.  All went well until I tried to play music, then I got "playback was interrupted because a track failed to load".  I went to the account page to find "error retrieving account information".  I created another core on my laptop and my credentials worked just fine and I could play music, just not from my server core.

     

    I opened a ticket with Roon support, but I can tell it's going to be a lengthy process.  Yes, I did reboot my server.

     

    Colin

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    firedog
    4 hours ago, frederick184 said:

    Upgraded to 1.7 last night.  All went well until I tried to play music, then I got "playback was interrupted because a track failed to load".  I went to the account page to find "error retrieving account information".  I created another core on my laptop and my credentials worked just fine and I could play music, just not from my server core.

     

    I opened a ticket with Roon support, but I can tell it's going to be a lengthy process.  Yes, I did reboot my server.

     

    Colin

    Did you try removing the account info so your account isn't registered and  then re-entering the info and re-registering?

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