Roon review - My experience 

Sooo I just realized I can get you guys a 30 day trial to ROON. I think it's 7 normally. Follow this link and don't say I never do anything for ya 🤣🍻 roonlabs.com/r/ginFcYS3XUOkWa4H6UrYmQ

Not everyone ONLY streams music. I have thousands of CD's ripped to my music server AND I stream. Roon blends them together perfectly. It's a great music management system and I love how much artist/band information they provide.

Really like following your journey with all these products! Keep making these awesome videos. Im subbed 👍

Very nice run down and one of the best user experience videos Ive seen done by Roon. Including by Roon themselves!

This the best video on Roon I've seen! Thanks for taking the time to make this video.

I got a lifetime subscription a few years ago at $500 and I am so glad I did. Roon is the best money I’ve thrown down this audio rabbit hole and I’m never going back. I’d like to think at this point they have a stable business model and with the recent addition of Roon ARC, they solved the last major technology gap in their offering IMO.

Thank you for your in depth review Mr Chibs. I think everyone who has listened to this will have gained insight about the plus and minus aspects of Roon. It is an important music signal in todays modern world but Roon may not be up for everyone. I'm stoked to be in Barcelona, but you can call me Mr Perferifirei

great thorough explanation 👍

Very real world review. I’m going to try roon after your review.

Excellent video well done

I’m glad you love Roon, it’s always great to find something you enjoy using. I personally prefer to use the app with the streamer to integrate my streaming services, radio, downloads etc, because it’s built to work perfectly with the component. I use Auralic products, I love them and their app as my example. If you use it with a tv though, Roon adds that extra value on top of its top of the class functionality.

Very informative …and we got to see you suffer (we've all been there!). WIN/WIN! 😀 I am installing a Volumio Rivo and LHY LPS this weekend. I will be runnin Qobuz thru Volumio. After I get that up and running color me "Roon Curious"… My Rivo is even supposed to have a slight boost in Sound Quality via Qobuz/Roon….so we will see. Thanks again for all the info!

Great review... thank you @MisterChibs. May I ask what wallpaper you're using on your Mac? Thanks in advance. 😉

What do you use for your Roon Core? Thanks for the heads up on the Qobuz/Bluesound Node issue. I run my Roon Core on an old Sony VAIO laptop. My N130 is connected to my Mytek DAC via USB and the N130 connected to the laptop with an Ethernet cable. Just subscribed to Qobuz yesterday. Great video👍👍

Roon have been around for so many time now but for me it was always very pricy. Now with the monthly sub I am thinking well maybe I should try it. Its funny...I have used tidal with the MQA files(havent used Qobuz) but I always felt like I am playing the same known to me music and thats it. In the end I was spending so much more time in Spotify just because its so much easier to pick a given list based for example on a mood and thats it you enjoy so much not know to you music. I have always been into hi-res but funny enough i ended with Spotify because of the experience. Now listening to the review and the fact that with Roon I might have that experience but together with the better quality sound it really makes me think... Does it make sense if i dont have so much music on hard drive? Is it worth it if I only use it for tidal or Qobuz with the idea to improve their user experience? If I use it just for music from streaming services do I need the core(PC) running all the time or I just play the app on the phone and push the music to the roon ready device? Does this tv magic work with a modern LG oled? i do like to have the album cover on the screen...Thanks in advance.. it was very well build video!

Roon has many features. One of them is that it will scan for music tracks and albums on all devices on your local network, catalog them as your collection, then use them to search for music that you may like, and then suggest even more music to you.

Hey Mr. Chibs - great video! As a fellow Canadian, I'm just wondering how you scored the Qobuz account? I've been struggling with that for a while now...

the bottom of the screen on the tv with roon is not moving so what about burn in on oled tv's

Your analogy on Roon is perfect I couldn’t have said it any better than you did. Roon has changed my life for the better & i thank them for this. I personally have paid for a year but my next subscription will be the life time subscription this is solely because there will be nothing better out there anytime soon, come on how can anyone beat this UI & this will only get better as time goes on, i think you should go life time as well please let me know what you decide ?

I have Roon Server on Mac Mini, the Bluesound Node via USB to Denafrips Iris DDC to Denafrips Pontus II DAC and no issues. Just set it up last night. I suspect they’ve fixed the issue.

How is roon using Chord mojo 2 and quboz together

Thanks for the video. Are you still using Roon?

I bought a BlueSound Node about two years ago and didn’t like it, so I returned it. I finally got an Eversolo DMP-A6 and love it. I am using roon and though I like it, I think it is overpriced. What I don’t like, I cannot group a RAAT device with a Sonos device.

nice vid and a review i wanted always to see. i just tested it and only for streaming it makes no sense to pay for that. tidal is doing 80% the same. sure some functions are maybe missing but i reviewed them side by side and not sure i want to use that. than i do have to fiddle around with roon app , tidal app, blueos app....in terms of suggested music tidal is doing exactly the same. not worth for me but i do not have music anymore stored somewhere.....

Couldn't you simply connect your Roon core directly to your DDC Via USB?

How did you manage to get in contact with Roon (and Rebeka)? I thought they were locked in behind high fences!

Also I pay monthly, I have no idea if Tidal or Qobuz will survive the long haul. Qobuz isnt even available in Canada, so I'm stuck using tidal.

If your going to use roon I recommend switching from the bluesound to the ifi zen stream. Works perfectly and sounds much better.

Have you tried using the H190 as an end point, then engaging the DAC Loop feature and bringing in the Denafrips?

The reasons you gave for why you would even need it are exactly my thoughts, and what it offers is also my problem. So often I sit down in my listening chair and think “I want to hear something new…” but end up going through my own playlists. Now you’ve given me FOMO, dammit! Does the month trial still work???

Tried Roon, hated it. BluOS is the bomb, behind in firmware updates. Qobuz rock's

Just wished roon would work with Apple Music. Watching an Enno interview recently, it seemed there may still be a chance. BTW, Apple Music has a similar feature that autoplays music similar to what you were listening.

Unfortunately in Canada Qobuz isn’t available

I use plex. I tried to get kodi to work reliably for years to no avail. Once plex became stable, i switched. I considered roon for years - until their last price jump. I still have a lot i want to upgrade in my system - on a budget - so, as great as roon looks, I'll probably be using plex for the foreseeable future. I paid about $75 for it many years ago. They added a dedicated music player and regularly add features, but i wish they'd just try to copy roon. ;) Well, that's one view from the cheap seats.

Awesome review! What song is that?

Why Bluesound if you already have a DAC?

Pro tip nr 1. IF you got good dac use USB :D Ofc. Then add HQplayer in to ROON and BOOM. Now you got upscaler better than the mighty CHORD M-scaler. That is if you got hefty PC. Coax isnt a reliable connection and can and most likely will suffer from jitter.

Tidal alone subscription does most of this and I don't have to pay 2 subscription fees for my streaming... ❓

What is a DDC?

Very entertaining video. Good job! I totally agree with you on roons song selection….it’s crazy good. If you can, definitely give a raspberry pi a try. It sounds phenomenal and you can use roon with it of course. I went from an Auralic Altair G1 $4000 streamer/DAC to a Pi with a Pontus 2. It’s sounds WAY better.

I've spoken to Bluesound extensively about the Roon + USB out issue. It's a software problem in the Node itself, and although the support team is aware of it and they hope to fix it in a future software update, there's no timeline for when that will happen. I was a week past the 30 day return policy by the time I figured this problem out and they refuse to give me a refund. I think it's pretty bad that they advertise that it's Roon Ready and supports USB out when those features don't actually work together (and a Bluesound rep confirmed to me that they do work together before purchase). Bluesound sux.

I think the crackling issue has been solved. I could not use USB from node to a naim. Now I do. No crackles 😊

Next time someone asks me why I don't do wireless streaming I'm just going to show them this video. There's a certain type of guy who loves troubleshooting and tinkering and doing deep dives on internet forums and that is not me - life is too short! Quite happy with the sound coming from my iPad or MacBook hardwired into my DAC, and for me Apple Music UI > Roon.

This was a good review. I don't think you mentioned it but Roon costs $12.99/month if you do monthly or $9.99 per month if you pay a year upfront. Starting January 1st 2023 their prices are jumping to $12.49 yearly and $14.99 monthly.

Right from the start, I knew I should try Roon only until I tried the other platforms, such as Amarra, AUDIRVĀNA or HQPlayer by Signalyst. Considered, but didn't spend too much time with JRiver because I didn't need a multimedia platform. After using each to their free trial limits, I proceeded with Roon. After 2 or 3 days with Roon, it was really a "no-brainer." Why anything else? It also became clear that the Life membership was the best choice. I think Roon has proved their commitment to the user community with excellent online services, continual updates and fixes, new improvements and features like the 1.7 Valance and the recent addition of ARC. AUDIRVĀNA sounds very good too, or HQPlayer with suitable filters can transform the performance, but Roon is just so much more. 🤩🤩🤩

I don’t get it. Why would you use Roon when you can simply use a really nice Spotify interface?

I learned of that problem a couple of months ago. You’re right, just use coax. Now that you have Qobuz with BluOS you are probably aware you can’t organise your albums in artist order, only in last added order. That’s an issue that BluOS blame on Qobuz and Qobuz blame on BluOS. It’s not going to change. Qobuz are set to introduce Qobuz Connect next year, that will be a work around and may also possibly allow artist order to become available within the actual BluOS app. I still have issues with the lack of albums I search for on Qobuz, I added all 700 of my albums from Apple Music to my Tidal and only missed about 15. With Qobuz it was about 120. That’s unacceptable to me. Sound quality, Tidal is better on lots of albums but Qobuz was better on some. Overall it was a wash. I don’t use a computer so Roon is not a thing. But I would still stick with the Bluesound node, it’s simple and it works.

I spent 7 hours today troubleshooting and still can't get Roon to work properly, which is how I stumbled upon your video. For a company that wants to charge $149.00 per year and $829 lifetime I'd think they could have some type of customer service other than a bulletin board full of messages ala 1990. Good grief!

man try Audirvana

For an $829 cost ill pass, Ill use the built in Wiim software for streaming and to play my local files that I have setup on a DLNA share. Roon wont be around in 3-5 years.

sweet, now that that intro gave me severe hearing loss, i odn't have to spend the money

Roon have a good product, but they are even greedier than Adobe :(

600$ for lifetime subscription is nothing lol 😂 and not worth sweating whether Roon will be around 5yrs in the future 😂

Sorry dude, I was annoyed a minute in and wont be back. Constructive criticism.