ROON- my initial impressions

[daverich4]

I thought foobabar could rip sacd with the dsdMate plugin?

That plugin doesn't rip SACD's, it's used to convert SACD-ISO files to DSD files once the SACD has been ripped.

[blownsi]

I wasn't asked either but if Tidal went away I'd save $20 a month:) I have about 6TB of music on my server so I rarely use Tidal for anything other than music discovery but it's a nice feature. I could live with something like AM or Spotify for what little bit I use the streaming on my main system. I use streaming quite often from my phone to a bluetooth speaker in the garage and for BT headphones while on the treadmill. Obviously neither of the latter applications require lossless sound quality.

[miguelito]

On a Mac (not using Roon), I find Spotify similar to and sometimes better than Tidal HIFI but on Android, Tidal is way better....

I mostly use Spotify at the gym, sometimes TIDAL, on iOS (iPhone user). I don't find Spotify to be noticeably worse than TIDAL on iOS, but I have not done a careful test.

[Size]

I'm in no way affiliated with Roon. But I'm subscribing not only for Tidal (an audiophile quality streaming service), but for these benefits that Roon brings us:

1. Single/Centralized method for managing your libraries of music and delivery of music

2. Intuitive user interface along with a great deal of meta data that makes it more interesting than just listening to the music (just like the vinyl days)

3. Integration with various end points - soon to come Bluesound, Sonos, Airplay, DACs, Music servers, etc. through one consistent interface (along with above)

4. Flexibility to implement - RoonOS devices (plug and play), Linux or Windows versions.

5. Sound quality - to deliver audiophile quality, subjective and due to your instantiation of Roon and devices

 

From my understanding, other streaming services like Spotify are not lossless, yet. If TIDAL is no longer, which one would fill its shoes (if at all) and be integrated with Roon is the question?

[Rexp]

I mostly use Spotify at the gym, sometimes TIDAL, on iOS (iPhone user). I don't find Spotify to be noticeably worse than TIDAL on iOS, but I have not done a careful test.

Just tried the iOS app on iPad and it sounds just as good if not slightly better than Android, I'd be amazed if you don't find it way better than the Tidal Mac app and Spotify, just make sure you use offline mode.

[Melvin]

My car when I was in grad school was a base Geo Metro. Three cylinders. Manual transmission since it had too little power to drive an automatic geartrain. And I loved it.

 

I had the 2-seater convertible Metro back when. Mine was an automatic. It was a fun little car.

[miguelito]

I had the 2-seater convertible Metro back when. Mine was an automatic. It was a fun little car.

I suppose you were one of those rich dudes I looked at with scorn...

[Melvin]

I suppose you were one of those rich dudes I looked at with scorn...

 

Ha! If it were only a Porsche ...

[crenca]

I am a couple of days into a Roon trial. Just some impressions about specifics that might differ or confirm others:

 

1) Many times, I actually prefer the classical, drop down menu driven UI of JRiver than Roon's more "modern", Apple UI (or "Metro") minimalist-yet-colorful-and-pretty presentation. Give me raw substance over style is my attitude towards UI, but then I am the type of weirdo who is comfortable with a Linux command line so take that for what it's worth.

 

2) I would have preferred a UI that naturally divides your personal albums/artists from your Tidal albums/artists. I know you can do this with Focus, but to me it seems more natural to have it this way by default and not have to widdle it down. Perhaps you can make Focus selections persistent but I have not gotten that far yet...

 

3) I am not as impressed with the album pics, notes, and the artist information as much as I thought I would be. It's nice, but it is not as good as I thought it would be and it is certainly not as good as holding something, and I am surprised by how little info there is on some of my (admittedly little known) collection/selections.

 

2) Yep, the Roon to HQPlayer for Tidal is very very nice, very nice indeed. This would be enough to get me to $purchase$ a life time right here if I thought there is a future in 16/44 or higher non-DRMed/proprietary streaming, but alas I suspect this will disappear in the next 2 or 3 years. Is the Roon/HQPlayer ease $justified$ for my own collection and any 320 to HQPlayer in the future that is possible? Probably, but I am not certain. I have 12 more days to decide...

[ckpiv]

I am a couple of days into a Roon trial. Just some impressions about specifics that might differ or confirm others:

 

1) Many times, I actually prefer the classical, drop down menu driven UI of JRiver than Roon's more "modern", Apple UI (or "Metro") minimalist-yet-colorful-and-pretty presentation. Give me raw substance over style is my attitude towards UI, but then I am the type of weirdo who is comfortable with a Linux command line so take that for what it's worth.

 

2) I would have preferred a UI that naturally divides your personal albums/artists from your Tidal albums/artists. I know you can do this with Focus, but to me it seems more natural to have it this way by default and not have to widdle it down. Perhaps you can make Focus selections persistent but I have not gotten that far yet...

 

3) I am not as impressed with the album pics, notes, and the artist information as much as I thought I would be. It's nice, but it is not as good as I thought it would be and it is certainly not as good as holding something, and I am surprised by how little info there is on some of my (admittedly little known) collection/selections.

 

2) Yep, the Roon to HQPlayer for Tidal is very very nice, very nice indeed. This would be enough to get me to $purchase$ a life time right here if I thought there is a future in 16/44 or higher non-DRMed/proprietary streaming, but alas I suspect this will disappear in the next 2 or 3 years. Is the Roon/HQPlayer ease $justified$ for my own collection and any 320 to HQPlayer in the future that is possible? Probably, but I am not certain. I have 12 more days to decide...

 

1. Understand as this is a personal preference.

 

2. You need to setup Bookmarks. Once you Focus on what you want i.e. Tidal Albums then click the Bookmark top right and create Bookmark for Tidal Albums. You can save a bookmark for any of your focus queries. Took me awhile to figure this out. Makes easy.

 

3. The credits are nice as they are hyperlinked. Have discovered a bunch of new music clicking on various backing artist and seeing their other work as a individual or with other groups, etc.

 

4. The HQPlayer integration is great.

 

Roon has a lot of features but takes time to discover them. Being able to use the HQPlayer NAA and/or the Roon Bridge gives lots of flexibility in sending music throughout the house to various endpoints.

[arcman]

I like Roons gapless playback for Tidal and my hi Rez on my NAS. My oppo had to be told to do gapless on first track.

[crenca]

2. You need to setup Bookmarks. Once you Focus on what you want i.e. Tidal Albums then click the Bookmark top right and create Bookmark for Tidal Albums. You can save a bookmark for any of your focus queries. Took me awhile to figure this out. Makes easy.

 

.

 

Thanks for the tip! I will look into bookmarks.

[firedog]

Thanks for the tip! I will look into bookmarks.

 

Definitely do focus groups and bookmarks.

When I use the search function it keeps my personal library and Tidal results separate.

If you tell Roon to use only your tags, and not it's genre's, it won't include Tidal albums in your Forcus group results.

[duxservit]

When I was 18 I was driving a Yellow Citroen Dyane 6 (600 cc) very similar to this

[ATTACH=CONFIG]32742[/ATTACH]

 

Manual transmission is still the norm in Europe...

 

 

This is the only vehicle I know that has shock absorbers placed horizontally. Very clever design.

 

This means that when the car turns (e.g. Left) the distance between the right-front wheel-center and right-back wheel center expands. Makes it difficult to tip over.