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Official Roon User Impressions Thread


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@Duke40 - The answer to all your questions is YES, except we do optimize the CPU and RAM load on your Mac quite a bit. That said, it's still doing a lot more work than most players. All those waveforms, normalizations, crossfade gap detection, and pretty images cost a lot of cpu. Our goal outside of imports was to keep a single of core of your cpu ~ 5% or lower. We do use a lot of ram (which is how we perform so well with so much metadata), but it mostly depends on the size of your library.

 

Your understanding of RoonSpeakers is correct, but I must put a disclaimer that you are speaking about an app that is planned, but not released yet (RoonSpeakers iOS).

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Danny, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, as well as quick response. I appreciate it.

I have a Quad core CPU & 16GB, so all looks good.

The planned, but not released yet RoonSpeakers iOS app is intriguing to me.

Will wait until that is released before trialling.

In the meantime I will continue watching Chris video and the roonlabs website to learn more.

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

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Actually, it's because he has involvement with Latin music as well! For example: http://www.medici.tv/#!/latin-american-night-waldbuhne and a few other examples on that site

 

I was expecting this to be a bug, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out the data was better than my own knowledge. Not always the case, but here it was.

 

And Iceland Symphony Orchestra (playing orchestral music by Vincent d'Indy) appears under 'International' [World] because... ? And Mozart piano concertos under 'Jewish Music' because...? My guess for the latter is that one of the performers once performed a piece of Klezmer music.

 

This seems to me a flaw with the methodology, or even the concept of its reliant on that methodology.

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I'd say it's classical music done better than the other options :~)

 

Roon isn't for everybody. You kind of have to give up a little control and work with how it works.

 

It doesn't work as it stands. It makes a jumble of a well organised (metadata) classical collection to the point where the user is better off with another player IMO. it's not simply a matter giving up a little control. That would be fine if it worked. Maybe it will in the future, but not now for me.

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@craighartley -- we had a major metadata identification issue this weekend, and it just got resolved this morning. A new backend is being deployed later today and your metadata should automatically improve itself.

 

If you are having issue with identification, could you please post examples on our community site (https://community.roonlabs.com )? I want to make sure we don't screw stuff up!

 

Sorry I missed seeing this reply. Thank you. I'll have another look.

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After a couple of hrs use: Very nice interface, love the artist, album bios, credits, etc.

 

Niggles so far:

 

Price is a bit steep for one year.

 

Right off the bat at least one album (French) shows wrong cover. Haven't checked them all so there will probably be more and I haven't figured out how to correct this.

 

Total albums in my collection is 40 less than what Foobar shows yet I chose YES in ''show duplicate albums/tracks'' and NO in ''clean up duplicates when exporting''

 

Quite a few lyrics unavailable. No big deal for me but still...

 

Maybe I need to familiarize myself more and/or change some of the settings.

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+1 on ASIO support. The Exasound DACs are targeted for ASIO on USB. I've listened to some 24/192 through both USB with ASIO and through the coax input, and the USB/ASIO was noticeably better. And, supports DSD native.

 

That's what's got me watching instead of trying.

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Danny--

 

I think Roon is insanely great. Combined with Tidal, it is unparalleled as a music discovery tool. Is it perfect? Of course not. But I am personally confident, based on what I've seen and read so far, that your team will be working to sort out as many of the issues raised in this thread as you can. That is the beauty of dynamically evolving software. I have zero issues with your pricing model.

 

I do have a technical question that others may or may not have run into but hopefully it has a simple answer. When I imported music into Roon, I did so from several sources including 1) an iTunes library on the internal hard disk of my MacBook Pro, and 2) an iTunes library located on an external hard disk that contains the vast majority of my music and all of my 30 or so playlists. The playlists did not import into Roon's playlists. Is that because I had multiple iTunes libraries? Is there a simple way to get these playlists to import into Roon? I'd rather not manually rebuild them in Roon but I will if I have to.

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+1 on ASIO support. The Exasound DACs are targeted for ASIO on USB. I've listened to some 24/192 through both USB with ASIO and through the coax input, and the USB/ASIO was noticeably better. And, supports DSD native.

 

That's what's got me watching instead of trying.

Apparently ASIO and DSD support are coming soon.

Main listening (small home office):

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Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

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Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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Danny--

 

I think Roon is insanely great. Combined with Tidal, it is unparalleled as a music discovery tool. Is it perfect? Of course not. But I am personally confident, based on what I've seen and read so far, that your team will be working to sort out as many of the issues raised in this thread as you can. That is the beauty of dynamically evolving software. I have zero issues with your pricing model.

 

I do have a technical question that others may or may not have run into but hopefully it has a simple answer. When I imported music into Roon, I did so from several sources including 1) an iTunes library on the internal hard disk of my MacBook Pro, and 2) an iTunes library located on an external hard disk that contains the vast majority of my music and all of my 30 or so playlists. The playlists did not import into Roon's playlists. Is that because I had multiple iTunes libraries? Is there a simple way to get these playlists to import into Roon? I'd rather not manually rebuild them in Roon but I will if I have to.

 

Could you please post this on our community site https://community.roonlabs.com ? I'm not familiar with the iTunes integration details, but Kevin and others can help you out.

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Apparently ASIO and DSD support are coming soon.

 

We are open with our roadmap, but I also don't want people getting excited and saying what they want to hear :-)

 

The first round of DSD is planned and is being worked on right now. Whatever this is released as, it will continue to improve.

 

ASIO is still under discussion. We have no schedule there. We are convinced it needs to be done, but it's not scheduled yet.

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We are open with our roadmap, but I also don't want people getting excited and saying what they want to hear :-)

 

The first round of DSD is planned and is being worked on right now. Whatever this is released as, it will continue to improve.

 

ASIO is still under discussion. We have no schedule there. We are convinced it needs to be done, but it's not scheduled yet.

 

Most of us who have invested in Roon realize that this is a work in progress. I greatly appreciate your efforts to satisfy the desires of your customers.

 

Thanks Danny

Steve Plaskin

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We are open with our roadmap, but I also don't want people getting excited and saying what they want to hear :-)

 

The first round of DSD is planned and is being worked on right now. Whatever this is released as, it will continue to improve.

 

ASIO is still under discussion. We have no schedule there. We are convinced it needs to be done, but it's not scheduled yet.

 

I am glad you guys are "convinced" and are also talking to the HQ people because as much as absolutely love the product the SQ isn't there for me compared to my alternatives. However, I am excited about where you guys are going but for me SQ takes priority over all else.

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I am glad you guys are "convinced" and are also talking to the HQ people because as much as absolutely love the product the SQ isn't there for me compared to my alternatives. However, I am excited about where you guys are going but for me SQ takes priority over all else.

 

Same for me. Ultimately, the product must be coupled with top caliber SQ.

 

Roon + HQPlayer?!?!!! In that case, you'd have built Thor's Hammer. All others will run for cover. :-)

2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

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Is the Roon forum down just now (https://community.roonlabs.com) - although I can read existing posts, I can't see any option to reply or to start a new post. I have previously posted on that site OK.

 

If you are logged into the site with your forum username & password just click the button for "+New Topic" at top of the page on right hand side

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This software looks really cool, but can someone comment on how it sounds. I've listened to a bunch of players, and they often sound different. For me, SQ is the top priority. I'm willing to live with an awkward GUI to hear the best SQ.

 

I can already tell that Roon is going to be a great way to access music, and kudos to the team, but I am likely to hold off until it sounds great too (plus adds a lazy man's iPad app).

 

Seems like Roon Is the master of library management and the HQPlayer, Audirvana, and Pure Music guys are the masters of SQ with less the ideal library management solutions. I'm hopeful there can be some teaming.

- Mark

 

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I think our reactions to Roon are partly based on our current environment: how much music we have, what formats, what software we use now to manage and to play, how much attention we have given to curating our collections. In my case I use JRiver/JRemote for playback, some 5,000 albums of which only some 260 are classical and opera (not so much complex metadata) but some 2,000 are Italian, Brasilian, African, French, Middle Eastern and Indian (inconsistent spelling and accepts) all in FLAC ripped by dbPowerAmp or HiRes downloads (just 320 albums) and these have been managed by MP3 Tag. I have been doing this since 2003 and I have invested a significant amount of time on a regular basis to ensuring that I have consistency in the metadata that I consider key and that foreign language names and titles are correct.

 

So my first experience of Roon is disappointing. To see that it has blown away my Genres is astonishing - the first law is to do no harm! I really cannot imagine how my enjoyment of my music collection is enhanced by Gustavo Santaolalla's Ronroco is officially considered the one album it defines as "Rock en Espanol". Why is there no option to build the library with no replacement of existing tags? It is not like the early adopter scenario for Roon are people with iTunes collections that have never been groomed. Is it? The second show-stopper is no importing of M3U playlists along with the library. Radio may be great, but playlists got here first.

Bottom line for me is that until Roon can give me back what I have already worked so hard for, I cannot get to the point of appreciating all the lyrics and artist art and reviews. Add to that no clear program for how Roon cores will interoperate with existing client end-points and I am happy to let my trial lapse, keep reading the blogs and see if anything significant changes. See you in six months?

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I think our reactions to Roon are partly based on our current environment: how much music we have, what formats, what software we use now to manage and to play, how much attention we have given to curating our collections. In my case I use JRiver/JRemote for playback, some 5,000 albums of which only some 260 are classical and opera (not so much complex metadata) but some 2,000 are Italian, Brasilian, African, French, Middle Eastern and Indian (inconsistent spelling and accepts) all in FLAC ripped by dbPowerAmp or HiRes downloads (just 320 albums) and these have been managed by MP3 Tag. I have been doing this since 2003 and I have invested a significant amount of time on a regular basis to ensuring that I have consistency in the metadata that I consider key and that foreign language names and titles are correct.

 

So my first experience of Roon is disappointing. To see that it has blown away my Genres is astonishing - the first law is to do no harm! I really cannot imagine how my enjoyment of my music collection is enhanced by Gustavo Santaolalla's Ronroco is officially considered the one album it defines as "Rock en Espanol". Why is there no option to build the library with no replacement of existing tags? It is not like the early adopter scenario for Roon are people with iTunes collections that have never been groomed. Is it? The second show-stopper is no importing of M3U playlists along with the library. Radio may be great, but playlists got here first.

Bottom line for me is that until Roon can give me back what I have already worked so hard for, I cannot get to the point of appreciating all the lyrics and artist art and reviews. Add to that no clear program for how Roon cores will interoperate with existing client end-points and I am happy to let my trial lapse, keep reading the blogs and see if anything significant changes. See you in six months?

 

 

I agree with you about the tag issue..Roon must give us an option at the lunch of the player to keep our tags.. I did create a folder with around 20 albums to try Roon (mi music collection is over 6 K plus Albums) and it did change some Art Covers. Eagles, Led Zeppelin... I know you can change that.. but why I have to do that extra work? specially when we already have spend hundred of hours fixing tags, art cover, etc.. Apart from that I love Roon.. Still analyzing the SQ.. Debating if I will keep with the subscription..

Just for music:Mac Mini 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 60GB SSD, 16GB RAM (Mid 2011) OS X El Capitan 10.11.3 > WD NAS 6TB > Audirvana+>Roon Server > HQPlayer >iPad for Roon Remote> Teac UD-503 DAC > Audio Quest Cinnamon USB cable > Cambridge Audio Azur 840C > Cambridge Audio Azur 840A > Polk LSi 15 > DIY Speaker Cables.

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I agree with you about the tag issue..Roon must give us an option at the lunch of the player to keep our tags.. I did create a folder with around 20 albums to try Roon (mi music collection is over 6 K plus Albums) and it did change some Art Covers. Eagles, Led Zeppelin... I know you can change that.. but why I have to do that extra work? specially when we already have spend hundred of hours fixing tags, art cover, etc.. Apart from that I love Roon.. Still analyzing the SQ.. Debating if I will keep with the subscription..

 

Agreed - my metadata is 99+% correct (there's probably still some old stuff I haven't bothered to "fix"), so why not give us the option to use what we already have? I would assume they will say we're "throwing away" all the work / integration they've done with custom metadata, but if I can't see my library they way I've carefully set it up (i.e., can't find albums by genre, can't do an accurate search on composer, etc.), what good does it do me?

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With the current incarnation, I don't see Roon as a replacement for my current players but as another tool to augment my music needs. I too have meticulously tagged my library so that I know how to find things, one of the most significant things I did was to control Genre so it would be easier to use it as an effective filter.

 

Maybe down the road they will figure a way to; a) integrate with HQPlayer as the back end, and b) recognize our current tagging/organization so we can maneuver to our files quickly. When that happens Roon will start to displace other players we may still be using.

 

It's quickly becoming a crowded space, I'm running JRiver, HQPlayer, Sonos, and Roon as players; Spotify (free), Tidal, and Sonos radio for streamers, and we still have MQA looming over the horizon. As much as I enjoy having options I see this as market confusion for newbies.

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Agreed - my metadata is 99+% correct (there's probably still some old stuff I haven't bothered to "fix"), so why not give us the option to use what we already have? I would assume they will say we're "throwing away" all the work / integration they've done with custom metadata, but if I can't see my library they way I've carefully set it up (i.e., can't find albums by genre, can't do an accurate search on composer, etc.), what good does it do me?

 

You are correct, that is what we'd say :-) Roon is pretty to look at and fun to use, but it really shines when you have all the extended data. That said, we are working on some features that will help you do what you want.

 

Right now, there is a terrible process deep in the correction popups, that lets you revert back to your data 100% and throw away our data completely. it is our opinion that this is exactly where this belongs, because throwing away our extended data should only be done when we messed up.

 

More importantly, we NEVER throw away your groomed data. Our database is structured as 3 layers:

 

1) your directory/file structure + file tags

2) the metadata from our metadata servers

3) edits you make to the metadata

 

You see the data from #3, and if it doesn't exist, you see #2, and if that doesn't exist, you see #1. This is not done as a whole, but on a field by field basis.

 

#3 isn't really exposed right now, and we are working on a full database editor that will let you create your own works, performances, etc, and edit pretty much any piece of data you see.

 

#2 is what you are complaining about. The feature I'm actually working on at the moment lets you reverse the priority for certain fields of #1 vs #2. For example, right now, if you get a metadata match with our servers, we hide your album title and artwork. This new option will let you keep our credits data, or classical composer/work/performance structure, but use the album title + artwork from your tags.

 

We feel this is the best of both worlds. No product, or groomer, has depth to their metadata like we do, but your tags are built the way you want them. This lets the end experience include both.

 

I wish we could have launched with this stuff, as a bunch of potential Roon members want this, however, we had to cut some features from the list as we moved our launch up from August to May. Be assured, we understand what you desire, and the tools to accomplish it are coming!

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This software looks really cool, but can someone comment on how it sounds. I've listened to a bunch of players, and they often sound different. For me, SQ is the top priority. I'm willing to live with an awkward GUI to hear the best SQ.

 

I can already tell that Roon is going to be a great way to access music, and kudos to the team, but I am likely to hold off until it sounds great too (plus adds a lazy man's iPad app).

 

Seems like Roon Is the master of library management and the HQPlayer, Audirvana, and Pure Music guys are the masters of SQ with less the ideal library management solutions. I'm hopeful there can be some teaming.

 

Well Mark, I have been spending the last two days evaluating Roon just for SQ. I have been doing pretty intensive testing with my HUGO and LCD-X.

 

Here is my take for what it is worth. On Mac, it doesn't compare to the alternatives. JRiver direct in integer mode v. Roon, no comparison.

 

On a PC, same, no matter how I pimp out the PC direct JRiver v. Roon, SQ is much better on JRiver.

 

Here is the caveat though. With WDM you can route ROON through JRiver and SQ is pretty comparable, with the following caveat. No matter how much I adjust the latency I can't get Roon to start an album without an initial stutter. I have tried every combo and it is worse the higher the resolution of the album. Once the album or track begins all is OK and if you play a whole album one track to another is OK. It is ONLY occurring when selecting "play" for a new selection.

 

IF that could be worked on, it would be apples to apples for me. However, SQ direct of one v. the other, IMHO, no comparison.

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