I had used roon for about a year in the past. Decided to try it again a week ago - and I love everything except the search engine. If I don't remember BOTH the title and the artist, it very rarely shows me what I'm looking for, unless we're talking about very, very popular stuff ( and even that isn't a given). As for the biggest positive - the radio is honestly unbelievable. I've discovered so many hidden gems over the last week!!!
Hans, The main reason I got off Roon is because 2.0 does not guarantee access to local files if your internet is out. Let me repeat, local files on a harddrive can NOT be played with certainty if your internet is out. I wish you would have addressed this issue...
John Darko addressed this “issue” with great detail. For Roon to advance in development, it must be tethered to the web. I’d rather see Roon advance than be stagnant and play music files when the internet is out. Valid points. 👍🏼
You are making a valid point and is perhaps a Blindspot for those of us with very stable Internet. For those of us blessed to have Internet, but never goes out though, it is not even a concern because on the rare times once, or twice a year when the Internet is out, it impacts everything not just our music. Meaning, I could not work from home or enjoy any other entertainment without the Internet either.
Thank you very much, Hans. What I like most about his videos is that they are not only informative but also focused solely on providing information. Nowadays, when you look at similar videos in this field on RU-vid, unnecessary animations and exhausting “extra” speech texts are added within the video script to make the channel and the content more appealing. However, Hans offers a straightforward sharing of information, diving right into the topic without any meaningless chatter. We are watching his videos with admiration and eagerly await the upcoming ones
Yes I really enjoy the multi artist feature, but I’m a hip hop fan! I love jazz too I am only mildly interested in classical La Monte Young is my favorite composer haha. It’s so great to see all the featured artists on the track and multi artist producer-rapper collab albums it handles better than any program I’ve used. I also love the cover songs section, you can have a great time just going through Bob Dylan’s even finding some I hadn’t heard. It will even make crazy connections as a fan of Aphex Twin he had a collab album with Mike Paradinas, and roon pointed out he appeared on a gag prank call he did on another track by Aphex Twin in my library. Mind blowing I had to look it up to confirm because I had no idea! It’s like rediscovering my own library. Two things I don’t like sometimes roon does not respect my metadata tags and it can not display the embedded image files for multi disc albums with different covers. If I want the first artist in the tag to appear first roon should let me and not force them to be alphabetical. Respect my tags! I also don’t understand why roon is incapable of handling two or more covers for an album to be displayed when playing tracks. If I want half the tracks to display one gatefold and half of the tracks to display another when played, but still retain the album cover in the library roon should be able to handle that for $800. I’ve had other players that are able to so I know it’s not impossible. I love tagging my songs so sometimes I will go even crazier and have the single cover for the singles if I really like the artwork embedded in those tracks, but have the actual cover embedded in the rest and saved as an image file in the folder. These things can potentially be fixed and roon is always being updated so hopefully they are able to. Sorry to talk your ear off if you read the whole thing.
Thanks Hans! This is an excellent summary of Roon. It will be a perfect introduction for my wife, whose musical tastes are much more sophisticated than mine and who is struggling a little following my journey from Tidal Connect to BlueOS and, now, to Roon. She will love it.
Great video and you have helped me in my research so I picked up a nucleus one and it should arrive next week. A little intimidated by all of the options and I just felt the server would make the most sense.
A timely video sir! I am still in the trial period of Roon... Just hate paying these monthly and yearly fees. If they were a few bucks, cool, but when you start hitting $40+ a month to simply listen to music... That will buy a lot of used CD's.
If you have the money to spare, it’s a great software, or it was, in the new version, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to even listen your own local music wihtout internet. It’s becoming more of a streaming mostly platform. I jus chose to use Volumio, it sound the same or better, and you don’t pay or if you want to pay for some features, you pay like 4 USD a month.
I like Roon. Used it for about 3 years now. Have connected it to Metrum Ambre / Singxer Su-1 and now a Singxer SU-6. Very easy setup every time - plug and play on my home network. Music interface can be a bit clunky, but it does the job. I like the easy to use DSP functions. EQ is easy to add, if desired.
I guess it depends on your internet speed. When I had network problems, general search was very slow. When it was mended, general search is fairly usable.
Hello Hans, I completly agree with you. Two comments from my side: Roon is not working without an active internet connection which means for me three days off because an an excavator had cut off the line. A local Hot-Spot of your mobile phone is not a working option. For me and my HiFi friends TIDAL & Qobuz even sound better using the ROON RAAT for sound transportation to our streamers than the integrated solutions of our streamers. I have a lifetime abo, 2398 albums lokal , Cambridge Audio CXNV2 , McIntosh , Focal for listening. Br and always good sounding tracks! Martin from Hannover
I agree with you Hans, most of the noise comes from people who haven't actually used Roon. I've used it for just over 2 years, but just cancelled my subscription due to Roon 2.0 as it's not a good fit for me, as I mostly play my own FLAC files in one room. But I'm not who it's aimed at. It's unrivalled as both a music player and musical encyclopedia, nothing else comes close for a music lover. So if you haven't tried it you should, it might not be what you want, but you can't know that as an observer. It's intuitive, easy to use, looks gorgeous and it's compatibility is vast.
Hi Hans, I discovered Roon thanks to your videos. I enjoyed it and after a couple of years I recently decided to purchase a lifetime subscription. A few months later I read that Roon has been acquired by Harman International. I am looking forward to your always professional and balanced comments regarding this news. I won't hide that I am now asking myself if I have done the right choice with the lifetime subscription.... Thanks
I'm ana audio reviewer not a 'business reporter' but don't see real problems for the foreseeable future. I think dat Harman will be pleased to have the leading music aggregator and player 'in da house'. It saves them developing it themselves. I can imagine that their high end equipment in the future might come with Roon as standard. Which gives them a competitive advantage. But, hey, I'm a n audio reviewer
I love Roon! I use Nucelus as a core and as a streamer and works perfectly. I surprised you did not talk about all the EQ functions Roon offers. Again a great video, keep it up.
I also have a Roon lifetime version running on a Mac mini. A few things to point out. 1) Hardware support: HoloAudio May DAC is not selectable. Not sure it matters, but I have to use the older HA Spring DAC setting. 2) ARC does not work off-line. got it to work briefly, but then ARC "forgets" the files on my 1GB iPhone 13. It is unusable on long airplane rides. So I have to use another mobile player (Flacbox). 3) The new requirement to be Internet connected is annoying. So I still keep a copy of Audirvana around if web should go down and Roon decides to misbehave. 4) Have longtime problems with getting artwork of oddball records into Roon. That applies particularly to new indie/artists-self-releases, that are not yet in Roon. More of a cosmetic problem, but the inability to override the Roon master db is colossally annoying. Also applies if you want to add non-commercial recordings to your music library. Yes, I did submit tickets to Roon, and no solution to this. Either it is in the Roon Master db, or you are SOL. -- If it works, it is nice. no question about it.
It all points to a problem in your home network. I would suggest you switch off all gear connected to the network, switch off the router, wait 5 minutes, switch on the router, the computer running Roon Server, your Roon endpoint and the computer/tablet/smartphone you use to control. Leave all other gear (if any) switched off and see of Roon is functioning well. If not, reset you router to factory fresh and try again. If Roon works fine, one by one switch on other gear in the network, each time trying Roon for at least 10 minutes.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Hmmm, did you reply to the wrong message? HA May DAC as output device is clearly a Roon implementation issue. ARC not working off-line (i.e., designed allegedly to work *without* a network) cannot be a network problem. Mandatory internet connection of Roon 2.0 (this was a much debated problem requirement with intro of 2.0) is a Roon-designed-and-introduced "feature". Getting record art is a main cloud-DB problem. --- To be clear, I still prefer Roon over anything else, but it is not perfect.
Hello ,Merry Christmas ,happy holiday ,and a healthy - wealthy /happy new Year ! I would like to just add one , important for some like me, negative : the lack of supported streaming services! Only Tidal is actually operating ..
Hey! I am not saying i"m against roon platform, but this fact is very important...(and little strange for me). Other platforms co-operate with dozens of services, and are costing less or nothing in some cases. From these two, Qobuz is not even available ( Greece) and in many other countries .. KKbox is only for the Asia region (i 've ve tried to sign up), and Dropbox is not a streaming..so only ONE left...(i am already subscriber FOR years). but , and to be honest, further from the sound quality, does not fully cover me. I am also parallel-using: Spotify Deezer (is my favorite regarding music content and simple interface, very acceptable sound quality) IDAGIO - best and only for Classical Music, centuries ahead of all others, very serious designing and operation APPLE MUSIC in the beginning was not something special, but lately has become very good) some RU-vid music and of course some favorite Internet Radios The so tight relationship with only Tidal (and Qobuz) is a Con!
I subscribed to Roon last year because of the promise of metadata and other background information at my fingertips. At first, I was so impressed that I nearly signed up for a lifetime subscription. As I played more of my music files, however, I kept finding errors in the metadata. Some of these errors were truly jaw dropping. I spent many hours trying to fix these errors in the database rather than enjoying my music. In my opinion, Roon is too dependent on open-source databases for its metadata and other background information. Often times, an error in one database will be used to prove that erroneous metadata being added to a second database is accurate. Roon should hire a large staff of fact checkers.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I already decided to return to an upgraded version of my old software, which uses metadata that I enter for Apple Music or metadata that I enter directly. If any of the metadata that I enter is incorrect, my error will affect only me.
Roon has several glitches for me, the biggest is the upto 30 second gap when you select a track/album to play in your library. Roon believes this relates to networks that use switches in the equation. Over time it gets frustrating and I'm now looking for a new service to replace.
I know several Roon setup and none behave like this. My setup did when I had a switch that didn't renew its list of designated IP address of the devices connected. Switching off and on that switch solved the problem. I would advise you to switch of all network devices including your router/modem - I know, it can be a fuzz and don't forget the Internet of things devices like the Ring bell or Google Home speaker - and after all devices are switched off, switch on the router first and then switch on all other devices. Perhaps that might help. It's no normal Roon behaviour, I can assure you that.
Having used Roon for sometime when I had the excellent SOtM SMS200 Ultra 3 box system I then bought a Lumin streamer which while sounded great the App was like going back to Prehistoric times . Then changed to a Innuos Zenith MK3. With its excellent Sense App which also sounded fantastic especially against Roon. After which I upgraded to the incredible Antipodes k50 server as it had great reviews with using Roon which I missed. Like most people once you’ve used Roon for sometime personally I simply couldn’t go back to anything else - I use it with Squeeze which offers the best of both Worlds - it is light years ahead of everything else I’ve used plus I’m listening to music I simply wouldn’t of known about if it wasn’t for it very clever recommendations which are amazing.
Roon Suggestion🗣️ When I scroll for music under Home▶️Recently Played, or Recently Added, the list is short and items added or played from 2-3 months fall off. I wish it would retain this info/list indefinitely-like BluOS does💡 Work around 1: In Roon I can search my Recent Listening, select the month week or day, and search by Album. But this only retains 4 weeks 2: I can search my history (all of it) but I can’t sort in this view by album. (Unless you know how…) I find these three extra step less convenient.
I agree: Roon is amazing - hence, I've subscribed for life, last month. And thank you very much, I've learned some new ways of navigating in Room from your video. I am surprised that you didn't mention RAAT - isn't that one of the greatest strengths of Roon? It guarantees bit-perfect streaming and even bit-perfect wireless high-res streaming. This may be a placebo effect, but I am convinced that playing music via Roon (Quobuz, via an Argon Audio Solo) sounds much better on my system than e.g. CD or Airplay.
What I also like about Roon is that Tidal works flawlessly. With Tidal on my PC and mobile I regularly have glitches, silences and errors. This (almost) never happens using Roon. I have to say I’m a long term (8 years) Deezer user but had to add Tidal just to have some quality content in Roon.
Hello Hans, thank you for this video and all the informative videos you publish on the channel. This is not directly related to this video but I noticed you have a copy the Eagles DSD Japan in your local library. How does one get access to native DSD files like this? Is there an online store to purchase or would one have to import an SACD and create a legal copy? (or some other method) Thanks for any info!
I don't get that. Buy a Nucleus, plug in the power and network cables, install Roon on your tablet and you're up and running. After that no maintenance is needed, Roon updates itself and the metadata. Fear seldom is a wise advisor.
So if I want the Connect part of Spotify Connect but via a different streaming service is Roon another option? To clarify I'm referring to Spotify's ability to transfer the stream of any currently playing track (mid track) on any device simply by pressing play on the other device. And also its ability to play the last played track, and maintain its position within a playlist, to any device long after the stream was paused or stopped. Not fooloroof, but it usually works quite well. When I realised the other streaming services don't offer these features, which I now rely on, I was flabbergasted! Also, if anyone has the time or patience, to what extent does it matter that all these devices are roon ready? I use several devices to stream online music but only one is 'roon ready'. Thanks ❤
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I was including all streaming services (except spotify obviously) in my question. I think you completely misunderstood what I was asking. No matter ;)
I don't use Roon myself. I sometimes play with it at a friend. Maybe I use it too little to form a good judgement. I use Bluos myself, and while Bluos is by no means perfect, it is free. Because I only use Qobuz, don't have a NAS, don't use a PC and Qobuz connect may arrive soon, I don't see the advantage of Roon (yet) for me.
Another negative for Roon 2.0 is that it requires an active Internet connection to work. This would be a major issue for anyone without reliable internet service.
As a Grimm Mu1 owner , Ive found that removing (not just disabling) all Roon cross feeds, equalizing and filters has substantially improved SQ. Have you found the same to be true?
I am a bit puzzled... I'll start by asking: What happened to just listening to music? Do I really need to know on a by pay basis who's in a band which happens to play? I subscribed to Qobuz and also to Tidal, only to cancel the second one for some reasons... Having to rip my CD collection would be a full time job for a year and I will certainly not do that. Looking-up whatever I want to listen to, which comes from the very same Qobuz service which has a search option (LOL) of it's own and paying more than for the source itself is a bit stupid, isn't it? Money are not the issue, but wasting it, is. I will subscribe on a monthly bases to find-out for myself if there is any benefit of this service, being at liberty to cancel at any given moment. Just to summarize; I'm not going to waste a year with ripping, which leaves me using a streaming service into my streamer. Again, it's not a money issue, but I will have to understand what will my benefit be from doing the search from this service, compared to the one I already pay for and on top of all, the streamer which has this service embedded, has a search of it's own...
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel This is correct, but I subscribed minutes later and fast forward two days, my question stays and all I wrote is as accurate in real listening life, as it was an assumption.
Roon worked flawlessly for me. But it’s trying to be much more than the best music player. I don’t need built-in wiki. I just want my library and all the great playback features.
i love my roon, and i hardly have ANY files on my core. Maybe 4 albums. The rest is Tidal. And it's a better Tidal than Tidal's own app :-) one of the many things I like: i can see the whole signal chain.
I like and use Roon, but the search is absolute garbage, and the most annoying thing is it's just unstable. If I open room on my iPad, I get crashes all the time. It's just not polished software. Buggy, crashes, etc.
I can confirm that to a certain degree. It doesn’t crash in the sense of the word but it seems to get stuck. In my case restarting Roon on the iPad helps in most cases (it is not a network issue)
I don't have a large local library compared to Hans, but the way I see it the value of Roon is the integration of local + subscription music AND the discovery features/context etc.
