ROON what a nightmare for me.

[ejlif]

I tried ROON for 5 days. It sounded like a dream come true. I have 12K albums in my iTunes so I might be an exception to the rule. I had nothing but trouble. Literally like 10 different problems. Tonight it started playing music at 1/2 speed. Like playing a 45 on 33 speed. Way way way to much hassle and commitment needed to get it working smoothly. They don't even have a remote for the iPhone. Seems like there are a lot of devoted ROONies but damn what a POS that program was for me. It was nice and fast at first but after a couple days it's taking a long time to start up and even locked up and I had to quit and even restart my computer a number of times to get it working again. Looks like a dream come true with TIDAL integration but even that is weak they don't have brand new albums on there and frankly I am wondering if I searched for something in TIDAL on ROON if their database is even complete. It didn't bring in a ton of my music and messed up the tagging for it and I couldn't find a bunch of stuff. None of my iTunes playlists made it in, I tried to work on that for a while and no luck. Sorry to rant and rave but I wish I had looked around and read more than the rave reviews in the magazines about it. There are problem after problem with it on the forums for ROON and it just seems like way to much work to get it working and I really wonder if it's even possible when you have a big collection and it's not all the most popular and common stuff. If you had only 500 albums and it's the most known popular stuff it might be great but for me no way just a huge headache

[firedog]

Sorry it didn't work for you. For me it has basically been great with no issues.

 

No pnone app yet because the app is designed to be used on 8 inch screens and up. The Roon people are figuring out how to put in on small screens without compromising the user experience.

 

The Tidal integration works great. Obviously within Roon Tidal can't be 100% up to date; they update the common database about once a week. So for a very new release you need to actually search within Tidal. But when you add music to you Tidal account it appears in Roon.

 

Tagging? You can have it use your tagging if you prefer it, instead of their database. It doesn't actually change your tags so it can't "mess them up".

 

Slow? Did you turn off other stuff on your computer? Roon analyzes your audio files and calculates info about them for stuff like possible volume leveling. You can turn those off or give them low priority - it will probably help with a large collection like yours.

 

Problems? sure. And every forum for every software is full of descriptions of problems.

 

The Roon forum gives lots of answers and the staff there reads the questions and implements solutions to the problems raised. It sounds to me like you got into the program and didn't find out too much about how to use it before you decided it has "problems". That's your right, but doesn't mean the program sucks.

[ejlif]

Yeah I know it's a bummer. I think the sound is better than iTunes for sure. I know there can be problems with anything but compared to iTunes and TIDAL this thing is possessed for me. I'm just wondering if it's not really meant to hold tens of thousands of albums. It's probably perfect of the typical audiophile who only listens to a handful of things over and over again. The user interface is very nice looking and seems like very good at providing lots of information about the music you are listening to.

[gcoupe]

Well, as Mike said over in the Roon forum:

 

"For what's it's worth, 12k is a large library, but depending on your system, Roon should perform absolutely fine with that library. We have a few people with more than double that, although the performance of Roon is going to be dependent on your system, of course."

 

You are definitely an outlier, but not alone in having a large library. Sorry that you had issues.

[orgel]

It's probably perfect of the typical audiophile who only listens to a handful of things over and over again. The user interface is very nice looking and seems like very good at providing lots of information about the music you are listening to.

 

There's no question but that most people would characterize 12,000 albums as a large library, but I take issue with the notion that the typical audiophile "listens to a handful of things over and over again." Most of the audiophiles I know have libraries of a thousand or more albums, which I think most non-audiophiles would consider large.

 

As @gcoupe mentioned, the Roon folks go out of their way to test with very large libraries, so I don't think that's what's at the heart of your issues. I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience, and maybe you'll give it another try at some point in the future. I do agree completely that if one has a large library, switching from one kind of playback software to another can require some major adjustments on the part of the user.

 

--David

[Dr Tone]

I have just under 11,000 albums and Roon has zero performance issues and outside of some weird meta data matching issues no issues at all really.

 

This is an isolated issue directly related to the OPs computer environment.

[ejlif]

There's no question but that most people would characterize 12,000 albums as a large library, but I take issue with the notion that the typical audiophile "listens to a handful of things over and over again." Most of the audiophiles I know have libraries of a thousand or more albums, which I think most non-audiophiles would consider large.

 

I would say personally if you are 40+ years old and you have 500 albums in your collection you have lived a very sheltered musical life. I'm not hating I'm just saying that most audiophiles I've known fall into that category. The majority of people do also, not everyone has the luxury of getting to listen to music most of the day. That is how I've accumulated so much and was able to listen to so much. I'm sure iTunes and ROON are targeted at working well with a smaller collection than I have so maybe I'm asking a lot of either program to work perfect with so much? iTunes is not perfect either but nothing like the trouble I had with ROON.

[orgel]

I'm sure iTunes and ROON are targeted at working well with a smaller collection than I have so maybe I'm asking a lot of either program to work perfect with so much?

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're sure that Roon is not designed to work with libraries the size of yours because you're not listening to what other people, including the Roon development team, are telling you.

 

I would say personally if you are 40+ years old and you have 500 albums in your collection you have lived a very sheltered musical life.

 

I'm well over 40, I have well over 500 albums, and I haven't lived a very sheltered musical life, although I acknowledge that I don't listen to nearly as much pop and rock as I did when I was younger. Not really sure how this relates to the issue at hand, though.

 

--David

[junker]

Good thing they have a free trial...

[Evo1668]

I have just under 11,000 albums and Roon has zero performance issues and outside of some weird meta data matching issues no issues at all really.

 

This is an isolated issue directly related to the OPs computer environment.

 

+1

i agree it is an issue or combination of, most likely outside the confines of the Roon, but attributable to the Op's Ecosystem - I have 15000 albums and no issues - other than issues of my own making - multiple digital feeds, HQ Player setup, incorrectly implemented output configurations, poor network configuration, cabling, computing resource capacity/performance....etc...etc..... All frustrating events for sure, I have experienced both when using Roon and other server/control software, but all attributable to the actual culprits ...in my case anyway...

nothing but praise for Roon from this happy listener

[PopPop]

Ejlif

 

Sheltered life and discerning taste are not one and the same. How can anyone appreciate the content of 12,000 albums and still keep their ear open for new releases?

[ccklone]

Hey Now,

 

Not sure how many albums my 20,000 tracks make up, many are whole concerts as a single track. I only had one issue with a Sony plug-in that the Roon folks solved before the next update. I couldn't believe how responsive they were and I was on the trial version at the time. I bought a lifetime subscription right after that.

 

I did notice that it took a long time and was slow during the set up. I use HQPlayer with Tidal and it works great. I have not had any issues except for the plug-in.

 

The user interface is terrific and with an iPad mini to boot. With my aging eyes I would not want to use an iPhone. HQPlayer and Tidal integration makes me explore so much music I was never able to afford before. It is a very nice time for music lovers. Kudos to Roon!

 

--

Finest kind,

Chris

[Zakus]

Ejlif

 

Sheltered life and discerning taste are not one and the same. How can anyone appreciate the content of 12,000 albums and still keep their ear open for new releases?

 

Have to agree, at a conservative 30 minutes per album that's 250 non stop days of playing. Also don't understand why the OP is mouthing off here after his rant https://community.roonlabs.com/t/trying-out-roon-what-a-mess/8980 "don't want to sound like a jerk", guess what!

[Paul R]

Ejlif

 

Sheltered life and discerning taste are not one and the same. How can anyone appreciate the content of 12,000 albums and still keep their ear open for new releases?

 

It's pretty easy, you listen to different stuff over the years, and find that it is an exciting thing to delver into your collection and rediscover forgotten jewels. And be amused how your taste has changed over 40 or 50 years...

 

-Paul

[sdolezalek]

I think a lot of users fail to understand that Roon analyzes every song in your collection. With a big collection and without a superfast computer, it can easily take several days for Roon to go through this process (with 7k albums mine took 4 days on an i7 9GB RAM PC . Although you can listen to songs while the analysis is going on, the experience is better after its done. Sounds like the OP never realized this or never gave it a chance.

[ted_b]

Ejlif

 

Sheltered life and discerning taste are not one and the same. How can anyone appreciate the content of 12,000 albums and still keep their ear open for new releases?

 

Yes, it's called a library. Many of us do the same for books, or vinyl. Some of it is the collecting/completist aspect, but much of it is simply the nature of time (i.e over time one obtains x, over time one listens to x). Although I listen to probably 2% of my library 90% of the time, I am very satisfied to know that the thousands of other albums are available for a whim, for a new mood or circumstance...or for a friend that visits. And I don' t delete those that are superceded (24 bit Beatles catalog vs 1999 versions, etc etc).

 

No way this forum gives people crap for having a large library, really?

[PopPop]

Yes, it's called a library. Many of us do the same for books, or vinyl. Some of it is the collecting/completist aspect, but much of it is simply the nature of time (i.e over time one obtains x, over time one listens to x). Although I listen to probably 2% of my library 90% of the time, I am very satisfied to know that the thousands of other albums are available for a whim, for a new mood or circumstance...or for a friend that visits. And I don' t delete those that are superceded (24 bit Beatles catalog vs 1999 versions, etc etc).

 

No way this forum gives people crap for having a large library, really?

 

No problem with large libraries. I was only speaking to the comments that ejlif made in the second paragraph of post no. 7, where he seemed to generalize the listening habits

of a lot of people he doesn't know , and marginalize their experience.

[audiomuze]

I'm sure iTunes and ROON are targeted at working well with a smaller collection than I have so maybe I'm asking a lot of either program to work perfect with so much? iTunes is not perfect either but nothing like the trouble I had with ROON.

I'm running a library over 2x the size of yours and having no issues with Roon's performance or functionality. Afraid this is a case of PEBCAK...the Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard. If you insist the problem's not you then it can only be your hardware.

[gstanley75]

This is beginning to sound like a case of mine is bigger than yours. LMAO[emoji3]

[ejlif]

Good to know. I might give it another try at some point. It was possessed for me, crazy shit like playing music at 1/2 speed and major latency (delay) that required re start. I have other things going on in my system and it all works smoothly so we can only assume that there is a clash going on here and ROON doesn't like something in my rig.

[hifial]

Good to know. I might give it another try at some point. It was possessed for me, crazy shit like playing music at 1/2 speed and major latency (delay) that required re start. I have other things going on in my system and it all works smoothly so we can only assume that there is a clash going on here and ROON doesn't like something in my rig.

 

Maybe I missed it but why don't you post the specs of your PC, what other programs you have and use on it when playing audio and how you interface with it when playing audio. Maybe there is something others can see could be causing a problem and help you with.

 

Just a thought.

[johndean]

Good to know. I might give it another try at some point. It was possessed for me, crazy shit like playing music at 1/2 speed and major latency (delay) that required re start. I have other things going on in my system and it all works smoothly so we can only assume that there is a clash going on here and ROON doesn't like something in my rig.

 

Well I have only 1500 albums but I have seen nothing of what you have experienced .

Do you have a USB cleaner , isolator or converter between the computer and dac ?

[miguelito]

I tried ROON for 5 days. It sounded like a dream come true. I have 12K albums in my iTunes so I might be an exception to the rule. I had nothing but trouble. Literally like 10 different problems. Tonight it started playing music at 1/2 speed. Like playing a 45 on 33 speed. Way way way to much hassle and commitment needed to get it working smoothly. They don't even have a remote for the iPhone. Seems like there are a lot of devoted ROONies but damn what a POS that program was for me. It was nice and fast at first but after a couple days it's taking a long time to start up and even locked up and I had to quit and even restart my computer a number of times to get it working again. Looks like a dream come true with TIDAL integration but even that is weak they don't have brand new albums on there and frankly I am wondering if I searched for something in TIDAL on ROON if their database is even complete. It didn't bring in a ton of my music and messed up the tagging for it and I couldn't find a bunch of stuff. None of my iTunes playlists made it in, I tried to work on that for a while and no luck. Sorry to rant and rave but I wish I had looked around and read more than the rave reviews in the magazines about it. There are problem after problem with it on the forums for ROON and it just seems like way to much work to get it working and I really wonder if it's even possible when you have a big collection and it's not all the most popular and common stuff. If you had only 500 albums and it's the most known popular stuff it might be great but for me no way just a huge headache

Have you posted to the Roon forums? This is bizarre, Roon has been bliss for most people.

[orgel]

Have you posted to the Roon forums? This is bizarre…

 

Yeah, he has:

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/trying-out-roon-what-a-mess/8980/4

 

--David

[orgel]

I felt compelled to post this so that people who haven't used Roon don't get the wrong idea from reading this thread. Here's what "mike", a member of the Roon team, said on the corresponding thread on the Roon forums:

 

"Roon is different from other music apps in many, many ways. It can be a bit disorienting at first, but many of those who braved the learning curve and kept an open mind have told us it was worth it, and that Roon changed their view on what a music app can be."

 

In general, the overall software situation for computer audiophiles is pretty great: There are lots of choices, and you can download a trial version of whatever captures your fancy and see how you like it, whether that just means sound quality or includes UI/UX.

 

Roon is a major piece of work, and it offers a new paradigm for what music software can be like, especially in terms of user interface and experience (not to mention distributed computing architecture). It's just not like iTunes.

 

Some software applications are easier to learn (and I'm talking about acquiring a modicum of expertise and comfort) than others. If you download a trial and decide it's not for you, then I'd suggest you just move on and explore other options. (I've done that several times with playback software, even after purchasing a license.) If, on the other hand, you try something and find it interesting or appealing, then make an effort to learn how to use it. In the case at hand, the Roon forums provide a really excellent place to get help if you need it, and to suggest improvements if you have a good idea. I've been using commercial software for close to 30 years, and I have to say that the Roon team is as good at listening to its user base and offering assistance as any I've ever seen.

 

I still use and enjoy other playback software, but for me, learning the ins and outs of Roon has been revelatory, and when it comes to SQ, Roon/HQP integration is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

--David