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Official Roon User Impressions Thread


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1) yes. itll ask you about moving your machine authorization. it's really easy.

 

Great to hear. That is the way it should be.

 

2) we are going to start with DoP and a DSD->PCM solution.

 

I hope that is JUST a start. I have a LOT of experience with DoP vs Native and there is a HUGE benefit to Native. Do not see the point of DSD>PCM. But I do see the point of PCM>DSD.

 

3) we are still deciding this.

 

Please support at least up to 256.

 

4) yes. the point of the 10% off was as a "thank you" to people who were willing to commit immediately; we are a startup after all :-) however, I understand the concern of not trusting us before you've ever seen the software. Go ahead and sign up for the trial and if you love it, just contact me and I'll take care of cutting your trial short and giving you the 10%.

 

Thank you, I appreciate it. Though I do understand you being a startup I think you would generate many more sales by allowing people to take a bite out of the apple first.

 

5) We have recently reached out to Jussi of HQPlayer and are looking into options here. I hope you can appreciate that I'm not making any promises here, just being open with what we are doing.

 

VERY glad to hear that you are looking into options (I know I am not the only one). I understand and thank you for your openness.

 

 

6) yup!

 

Thought so.

 

 

The above did not format like I had hoped.

Ambassador for Sound Galleries Monaco and Taiko Audio The Netherlands 

Sound Test USA

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Sound Galleries SGM 2015 Music Server>ROON-all rates up-sampled to DSD512 by HQ Player>Sablon Reserva 2017 USB>T+A DAC 8 DSD>Merrill Audio Veritas Ncore NC1200 Mono Amps>B&W 802D>High Fidelity Cables Interconnect, Speaker & Power Cords for Amps & SGM & T+A>Power Conditioning High Fidelity MC-6 Hemisphere>T+A & Hemisphere supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini - B&W 802D & Veritas supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS>All sitting on IKEA Aptitlig bamboo butcher blocks - Taiko Audio Setchi active grounding on SGM & T+A

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JIT learning about Roon - if I didn't mention this in my other posts I need to mention that Roon is different. Though the more I play with it the more I like it. I've got things narrowed down to; a) if I want to hear a particular track from a particular album then JRiver is my go to player, b) if I want to sit and carefully listen to / enjoy an entire album then HQ Player is my go to player, c) but if I really don't have a particular mood and fell like exploring then Roon is the go to player.

 

Once again I explore and add songs to a playlist, typically I check the credits. Maybe I like the guitar work on this album, the credits tells me who it is, then I see what else he did and pick up a new grouping of albums. Select one out of there and it turns out I really like the horns, once again to the credits, find more horn work of the same artist and viola another grouping of albums. This continues until I have about a dozen tracks - once again, a grouping I would have never assembled from scratch - way cool.

 

I've been trying to do most of this with my own library but I really don't have enough in there. As much as 15,000 tracks seemed to me I guess I cover too many genres to really have a LOT of depth anywhere. That's where Tidal comes in, this opens up a whole new ball game. I find myself starting with something from my collection, then to Tidal, then back to mine, and so on - and the resulting playlists are pretty cool.

 

Jamming as I write this :)

Analog: Koetsu Rosewood > VPI Aries 3 w/SDS > EAR 834P > EAR 834L: Audiodesk cleaner

Digital Fun: DAS > CAPS v3 w/LPS (JRMC) SOtM USB > Lynx Hilo > EAR 834L

Digital Serious: DAS > CAPS v3 w/LPS (HQPlayer) Ethernet > SMS-100 NAA > Lampi DSD L4 G5 > EAR 834L

Digital Disc: Oppo BDP 95 > EAR 834L

Output: EAR 834L > Xilica XP4080 DSP > Odessey Stratos Mono Extreme > Legacy Aeris

Phones: EAR 834L > Little Dot Mk ii > Senheiser HD 800

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I've been trying to do most of this with my own library but I really don't have enough in there. As much as 15,000 tracks seemed to me I guess I cover too many genres to really have a LOT of depth anywhere. That's where Tidal comes in, this opens up a whole new ball game. I find myself starting with something from my collection, then to Tidal, then back to mine, and so on - and the resulting playlists are pretty cool.

 

Even if you have 150,000 tracks, it wouldn't be the same, as you won't stay up to date like a service will.

 

We are having a lot trouble explaining this feeling to potential members. Our TIDAL integration not the run-of-the-mill bolt-on you see elsewhere. People who think they don't need TIDAL clearly haven't used Roon + TIDAL. We've had Rhapsody, Spotify, Deezer, and others all integrated in the past, and our TIDAL integration is so radically different because TIDAL was willing to give us the full dumps of their IDs and all their raw data from the labels. We've built a mini-TIDAL in our own servers, tied to your library in a very tight way. It was a ton of work, and it's a ton of maintenance, but the experience is incredible. Even the TIDAL guys are using our software :-)

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Even if you have 150,000 tracks, it wouldn't be the same, as you won't stay up to date like a service will.

 

We are having a lot trouble explaining this feeling to potential members. Our TIDAL integration not the run-of-the-mill bolt-on you see elsewhere. People who think they don't need TIDAL clearly haven't used Roon + TIDAL. We've had Rhapsody, Spotify, Deezer, and others all integrated in the past, and our TIDAL integration is so radically different because TIDAL was willing to give us the full dumps of their IDs and all their raw data from the labels. We've built a mini-TIDAL in our own servers, tied to your library in a very tight way. It was a ton of work, and it's a ton of maintenance, but the experience is incredible. Even the TIDAL guys are using our software :-)

Jabs1542 makes a very valid point above. I've commented here before about how incredible the integration is between Roon and Tidal and it is. I was actually thinking of canceling my Tidal subscription because I hated their apps so much and I didn't feel I was really getting all I could for my money. Not the case now with Roon in the picture.

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I will give the 14 day trial a whirl but aim to start it when I know I have the time to sit down and explore it properly. That's why I am avidly reading the threads to be fore armed.

 

Currently I have my so called reference system attached to a USB dac via my macbook and A2+ with a secondary system throughout the house and my wife's studio utilising airport expresses and iTunes. She is happy with this and is of the "if it aint broke then don't fix it" school of thought.

 

My 2 questions;

Airplay is supported but does this include airport expresses as iTunes does or as just about all over programs ATV only?

Currently synchronising in different rooms is via iTunes an AE. Will Roon allow synchronisation across say 2 different computer outputs eg USB, airplay etc

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Airplay is supported but does this include airport expresses as iTunes does or as just about all over programs ATV only?

Currently synchronising in different rooms is via iTunes an AE. Will Roon allow synchronisation across say 2 different computer outputs eg USB, airplay etc

 

Roon supports AirPlay devices starting with the AirTunes2 protocol (circa 2011). Some very old devices like the original Airport Express will not work.

 

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/how-do-i-link-audio-endpoints-so-they-play-the-same-thing-simultaneously/128

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Roon supports AirPlay devices starting with the AirTunes2 protocol (circa 2011). Some very old devices like the original Airport Express will not work.

 

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/how-do-i-link-audio-endpoints-so-they-play-the-same-thing-simultaneously/128

 

So the newer AE's will work?

 

From the coommunity link

 

mike29d 1

If you have more than one endpoint, you can link them together and get the party going!

 

(note: this will only work with endpoints of the same type, meaning multiple Meridian endpoints grouped, or multiple Airplay endpoints grouped, etc)

 

Does this mean you cannot link a computer connected to a USB DAC and computer linked to multiple airplay devices?

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Yah, newer AEs work. I have one for the patio.

 

You can not link between USB DAC and Airplay. We are working on this, but it will never be great for SQ imo, because the USB DAC will use the nice clock from the DAC, and AirPlay is always forced to use the sender (in this case the computer's) clock :-(

 

I guess using AirPlay in itself is a compromise, but if you have multiple AirPlays synced, at least they are all poorly synced together. The USB DAC is nothing something we are willing to screw up for the sake of AirPlay zones.

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Danny, will MQA be a part of Roon at some point?

If so will that permit the user to play MQA encoded files to a users DAC that does not have MQA installed on it?

Ambassador for Sound Galleries Monaco and Taiko Audio The Netherlands 

Sound Test USA

[email protected]

 

Sound Galleries SGM 2015 Music Server>ROON-all rates up-sampled to DSD512 by HQ Player>Sablon Reserva 2017 USB>T+A DAC 8 DSD>Merrill Audio Veritas Ncore NC1200 Mono Amps>B&W 802D>High Fidelity Cables Interconnect, Speaker & Power Cords for Amps & SGM & T+A>Power Conditioning High Fidelity MC-6 Hemisphere>T+A & Hemisphere supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini - B&W 802D & Veritas supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS>All sitting on IKEA Aptitlig bamboo butcher blocks - Taiko Audio Setchi active grounding on SGM & T+A

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Danny,

 

Roon should have support for users of ASIO. I do not see how support for ASIO is a problem for Room to add. Almost every other server I can think of has support for ASIO.

 

I have an exaSound DAC and use their ASIO Driver and it most definitely sounds better then CoreAudio. And I know of other users of ASIO that say it sounds better then WASAPI.

 

There are many users of ASIO so you should add support for it.

Ambassador for Sound Galleries Monaco and Taiko Audio The Netherlands 

Sound Test USA

[email protected]

 

Sound Galleries SGM 2015 Music Server>ROON-all rates up-sampled to DSD512 by HQ Player>Sablon Reserva 2017 USB>T+A DAC 8 DSD>Merrill Audio Veritas Ncore NC1200 Mono Amps>B&W 802D>High Fidelity Cables Interconnect, Speaker & Power Cords for Amps & SGM & T+A>Power Conditioning High Fidelity MC-6 Hemisphere>T+A & Hemisphere supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini - B&W 802D & Veritas supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS>All sitting on IKEA Aptitlig bamboo butcher blocks - Taiko Audio Setchi active grounding on SGM & T+A

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Danny, will MQA be a part of Roon at some point?

If so will that permit the user to play MQA encoded files to a users DAC that does not have MQA installed on it?

 

From your question, I'm pretty sure you get it, but I'm going to explain a bit extra, for others that may not be so familiar with how MQA works.

 

MQA is PCM, but can hold extra stuff in that PCM stream that can't be played by your speakers. If you send MQA data to your non-MQA DAC, you will hear CD quality PCM, but nothing better.

 

If you play MQA bit perfect to your MQA DAC, that DAC will notice that the stream is MQA, and decode the extras out of the PCM data, and turn that into something else. MQA's "extra stuff" can be deduced from the name MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). Master Quality implies that it'll be high-resolution content, and Authenticated implies that there will be some form of digital signature to ensure that the data has not been altered from the master recordings. In this case, the experience a MQA endpoint can deliver is not only high-res audio, but also an indicator to tell you the data has not be altered. Pretty sweet, mostly because your signal chain does not need to support MQA, just the endpoint.

 

For Roon to support MQA if you own a MQA DAC, all Roon has to do is play the MQA file bit perfect. No problems there.

 

However, the wrench is how you get the high-res content out of the MQA without a MQA DAC. You can wait for your hardware provider to support MQA, or you need a software MQA decoder. We are working with Meridian to get that MQA software decoder.

 

If you haven't already figured it out, Roon Labs is very open with our plans and roadmap, however, it's not in my right to speak more about MQA here.

 

There are no MQA dates or announcements made yet, so I can't say anything more than I already have (which is all public information), but this stuff is really sweet.

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From your question, I'm pretty sure you get it, but I'm going to explain a bit extra, for others that may not be so familiar with how MQA works.

 

MQA is PCM, but can hold extra stuff in that PCM stream that can't be played by your speakers. If you send MQA data to your non-MQA DAC, you will hear CD quality PCM, but nothing better.

 

If you play MQA bit perfect to your MQA DAC, that DAC will notice that the stream is MQA, and decode the extras out of the PCM data, and turn that into something else. MQA's "extra stuff" can be deduced from the name MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). Master Quality implies that it'll be high-resolution content, and Authenticated implies that there will be some form of digital signature to ensure that the data has not been altered from the master recordings. In this case, the experience a MQA endpoint can deliver is not only high-res audio, but also an indicator to tell you the data has not be altered. Pretty sweet, mostly because your signal chain does not need to support MQA, just the endpoint.

 

For Roon to support MQA if you own a MQA DAC, all Roon has to do is play the MQA file bit perfect. No problems there.

 

However, the wrench is how you get the high-res content out of the MQA without a MQA DAC. You can wait for your hardware provider to support MQA, or you need a software MQA decoder. We are working with Meridian to get that MQA software decoder.

 

If you haven't already figured it out, Roon Labs is very open with our plans and roadmap, however, it's not in my right to speak more about MQA here.

 

There are no MQA dates or announcements made yet, so I can't say anything more than I already have (which is all public information), but this stuff is really sweet.

 

Danny, thank you for your candor.

Ambassador for Sound Galleries Monaco and Taiko Audio The Netherlands 

Sound Test USA

[email protected]

 

Sound Galleries SGM 2015 Music Server>ROON-all rates up-sampled to DSD512 by HQ Player>Sablon Reserva 2017 USB>T+A DAC 8 DSD>Merrill Audio Veritas Ncore NC1200 Mono Amps>B&W 802D>High Fidelity Cables Interconnect, Speaker & Power Cords for Amps & SGM & T+A>Power Conditioning High Fidelity MC-6 Hemisphere>T+A & Hemisphere supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini - B&W 802D & Veritas supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS>All sitting on IKEA Aptitlig bamboo butcher blocks - Taiko Audio Setchi active grounding on SGM & T+A

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Thank you for your input, we're getting a lot of feedback about this and it's clear that we need to re-think the priority of ASIO and DSD Native support. We'll be having discussions internally.

 

I just purchased Roon. And yes, ASIO and DSD are pretty important to me.

 

Thanks

Steve Plaskin

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Also, would a win8 tablet with

Intel Baytrail-T Z3735D 1.33GHz Quad-Core CPU

And 2GB Ram be able to run Roon in "remote" mode?

 

It should, but I wouldn't run it on that. It'll kill your poor tablets battery to run x86.

 

I would get a nice beefy Android tablet for when we release android in a week or two, or a top of the line ipad for when we release ipad support next month :-)

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Thank you for your input, we're getting a lot of feedback about this and it's clear that we need to re-think the priority of ASIO and DSD Native support. We'll be having discussions internally.

 

Danny, that is good news, especially if it leads to support of both.

 

Also see PM.

Ambassador for Sound Galleries Monaco and Taiko Audio The Netherlands 

Sound Test USA

[email protected]

 

Sound Galleries SGM 2015 Music Server>ROON-all rates up-sampled to DSD512 by HQ Player>Sablon Reserva 2017 USB>T+A DAC 8 DSD>Merrill Audio Veritas Ncore NC1200 Mono Amps>B&W 802D>High Fidelity Cables Interconnect, Speaker & Power Cords for Amps & SGM & T+A>Power Conditioning High Fidelity MC-6 Hemisphere>T+A & Hemisphere supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini - B&W 802D & Veritas supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS>All sitting on IKEA Aptitlig bamboo butcher blocks - Taiko Audio Setchi active grounding on SGM & T+A

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A plugin to another player is worth looking into with priority #1. Roon takes care of the front end and selection of music, it's specialty.

 

Playback software of those music files is another speciality taken care of by a specialist application that's stable and with user familiarity well established. I fear if Roon take on this high level of expertise, other sections of the software will start to flake. Still early days just yet, but DSD playback is not so easy to get right, just ask Jriver, still a WIP....

 

An ASIO interface out of Roon is a great start, if we can achieve this happening, it might even convince me to buy a license of Roon.

AS Profile Equipment List        Say NO to MQA

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There seems to be some minor confusion on the zones and remote access, so let me clear that up:

 

3) Remotes have a thing we call "Private Zones". They are zones that are exposed by the remote, but only accessible from the remote. This is because while every remote can access the Zones the Core manages, you wouldn't want your kids playing music on the zone in your hands. Also, these zones are meant more for like private auditioning.. The use case we were thinking was listening to something "in bed" before you go to sleep.

4) We have a audio streaming protocol called RoonSpeakers. We use it internally, but we are also working with hardware partners, the first of which includes Auralic, to add RoonSpeakers natively to their hardware (the Aries in the case of Auralic). This will allow the Aries to be discovered and use the full Roon experience with zero sound quality sacrifices.

5) we also plan to release RoonSpeakers as an app for your Mac/PC/Android/iOS, so you can create a permanent zone out of your gear you already have lying around. There is even a Raspberry Pi version of this in the works, and I use a non-packaged version for Windows/Mac every day. This is coming shortly.

 

 

Thank you for your post to clear up some confusion ... though I am having some "technically challenged" moments :)

 

Current setup :

I currently use an IOS app (JRemote) where I can select "this device" and it will stream up to 24/96 to my iDevice.

JRemote in "This Device" mode reads from JRMC (running on my Macbook).

Library is stored on a modded Apple Time Capsule (router I modded with an internal SSD).

 

To convert to Roon :

1) I would run Roon on my Macbook ... is it CPU/Memory intensive ?

2) I would then point Roon on my Macbook (in the setup) to find my library files on my Time Capsule.

 

My questions focus mainly on Roon "Remotes" and "RoonSpeakers ... which I would like to use on an iDevice.

From points 3, 4 & 5 of your post ... I think I understand that "Private Zones in a Remote" and "RoonSpeakers"

will do similar things ... that is output music to the iDevice. Though "RoonSpeakers" is an optimised streaming protocol.

 

1) Will I be able to stream 24/96 using RoonSpeakers IOS app ?

(similar in the way I already use "this device" in JRemote).

 

2) Will I be able to "push" the stream from Roon on my MacBook ... to the RoonSpeakers IOS app ?

(this I currently can not do with JRMC/JRemote. JRemote in "This Device" mode "reads" from JRMC ... though I can not "push" JRMC on my Macbook to JRemote).

 

3) Will the IOS RoonSpeakers apps be limited just to iPad ... or is iPhone possible ?

(I am thinking more of the iDevice as an endpoint, rather than a remote control)

 

If my question 2 above is possible, then this would make Roon more attractive to me, especially while browsing Tidal and adding music to my Tidal playlists.

Speaker : iPhone 6S Plus > UpTone Audio USB Regen (x2) > Benchmark DAC1 Pre > Pass Labs INT-30A > Focal Micro Utopia BE

Headphone : Auralic Aries > Auralic Gemini 2000 > Audeze LCD-X

Power & Tweaks : Heaps of Balanced & Isolation Power supplies, Dedicated Line, Vinnie Rossi MINI PURE-DC-4EVR, HD-Plex LPSU, iFi Audio DC iPurifiers, DIY Resonance/Vibration platforms using Townshend Audio Seismic Isolation Pods

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I'm using Mac Mini and Devialet. How do you enable higher than 16/44.1 bitrates to Devialet AIR? Currently, all music is streaming only 16/44.1 to Devialet even though the music source has higher bitrates.

 

Also, will Roon+Tidal automatically select the highest bitrate for playback in accordance to user's Tidal account?

 

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Devialet 200, KEF LS50, NUC (Roon), Sonos Connect

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I'm using Mac Mini and Devialet. How do you enable higher than 16/44.1 bitrates to Devialet AIR? Currently, all music is streaming only 16/44.1 to Devialet even though the music source has higher bitrates.

 

Also, will Roon+Tidal automatically select the highest bitrate for playback in accordance to user's Tidal account?

 

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

We really shouldn't litter this forum with the specifics of tech support questions. I've posted your question on the Roon community site here: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/devialet-air-tidal/717

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