To Roon or not to Roon?

taken a step towards using Roon. I've bought an old Intel Nuc with 8Gb Ram and a 128Gb SSD drive. 

Roon doesn't interface with the ap.  Roon will see your Auralic and you will control it with roon.   Or you can control it with the ap. But they are seperate.

There is no difference in the sound, they are just different ways of commanding your streamer to send the digital files to your DAC.

Jerry

Little clip of the iPAD functioning as the Roon controller and Endpoint.

Qobuz-->RoonCore--iPAD-USB-24/192-->DAC-->AudioEngine

 

 

I tried Roon on my MAC Mini  as a trial.  Didn't like the setup with all the MAC updates and the flaky behavior of my old Mac Mini (slow).  I work with DB servers as a living and have affinity for dedicated hardware.  So I jumped in with both feets and got a SGC ST and bought a year subscription of The ROONs and switch my Bryston Pi to an Roon Ready.  At first the SQ of my little Bryston BDP-pi and MPD was better.  But after network tweaks I got Roon really close.   I was on the fence about keeping ROON but when I realized SONOS connects can be endpionts I decided to keep it. I even had a W4S moded connect that actually sounds purdy good for being as old as it is.   People are  dumping the old connects left and right for dirt cheap.  I put one on a desktop and in the garage. I fired up the Roon app on my old mac mini and realized it recognized the little Audio Engine headphone DAC/amp I had connected to it so now I can stream directly to that via ROON.  Hell, I can even stream back to the iPAD that I use to control it with, crazy.   I suppose the Roon app will see audio output devices where its running. 

I switched to Roon about a month ago and have been totally delighted.  I went with a Roon Nucleus paired with an IFi Zen Streamer as the Roon endpoint... all for less than $2K.

I'm considering using Roon for my music, and possibly Qobuz.

Are there any advantages to having an Intel Nuc as the core vs a MacBook Pro?

Another plus for Roon, integration with Tidal, Qobuz, embedded HQPlayer if so inclined, great graphics, information about artists, playlists, saved personal playlists, Roon radio, excellent sound quality, I could go on and on.

 

Vast majority of issues I see are network related. Use wired network with server capable of decent processing capability one should have no problem.

 

The proprietary nature of the Lightning app and connectors is the reason I left Auralic.

I use Linn Akurate level kit as my streamer/DAC. I tried Roon, running the Core on a MacBook Pro. The Roon app is fun with a cool magazine like browser. The radio function where you get an auto feed of songs similar to the last album played is nice.

But for me Roon never really added anything I needed. I also have two homes and always having to set up the MacBook was annoying. I also found the sound quality I got from my native Linn app was better so I cancelled Roon and have not missed it.

My trial ended today. The experience to control Tidal was neat. But I am glad the non-Roon music session has much less distraction. Tidal daily discovery is super helpful for discovering new music. Honestly, playing Tidal through mConnect HD app sounds even better. The only difference being this connection is using UPnP and not the laptop USB. 

I'm using an Auralic Vega G2 as a Roon endpoint in one of my systems and have had no problems with it. But I only use the lightning app for simple setup functions, not for managing or playing music. 

I wanted to share MY thoughts on Roon, since I got to try it for more than a month now. Thanks to @mofimadness for posting on the Thanks Giving Friday Roon deal.

I will straightaway jump to MY conclusion:

Roon is the best thing for digital audio if you have all the time in the world. It provides so much more information and can upscale not only your FLACs, but also Tidal (and most likely Qobuz) to DSD. If I were to subscribe to Roon, I would straightaway choose the lifetime subscription and not the month-to-month. No two thoughts on that.

But Roon is not for me. At least not till I have retired OR have enough free time at hand to look up new music/artists/etc. My daily struggle is to find an hour to 1 1/2 hours to listen to music. So when using Roon I found that I am constantly distracted by the amazing meta data/information it provides. It tells you about the many versions of a song, biographies of artists, credits, links to other artists, and tons of information you might not even have thought of. I am no being sarcastic here - it really is a lot of useful information as an audiophile/music enthusiast. But I already am building a library in Spotify and Tidal (simultaneously) about new artists/music I come across when I read a review in a magazine or log into forums. So I want to focus on listening to the album/music. Whatever said and done, with that Roon interface on the pad, I simply cannot stop myself from not looking at it. My problem is I cannot do music as background. While most people at work put their headphones and "zone out" while doing their work, I simply cannot do that. If I do that then I would simply focus on music and not do my work. So, that reasoning for owning Roon is also ruled out. In the past few days, I figured out how I can play radio stations as "Playlists" in Foobar and control it through the MonkeyMote iPad app. So my favorite radio stations like Radio Paradise and Folk Alley are all accessible to me via the app and I don’t have to go to the desktop on the audio stand anymore. Of course, Roon makes internet radio much more accessible and presentable and gives you access to hundreds of radio stations without doing any manual configurations.

 

But, "time" being the constraint for me, I will not be renewing my subscription to Roon for now. But to the folks who can manage to spend a few hours a day on music, Roon is one of the BEST option there is. I say "one of the best" because, I have not compared it to Audirvana or others that have similar capabilities as Roon. But I am glad that I gave Roon a shot and find it outstanding, if I had enough time at hand for listening to music OR if background music was my thing.

I had to uninstall Roon from my computer in order to get proper performance from the Auralic Lightning app. Now it works fine with Roon completely uninstalled and deleted.

I actually never had a problem with function - Auralic is a certified Roon endpoint - so I can’t explain the experience of the other poster having it interfere with the function of his native app.

Regardless, after thinking about it a good deal, I can understand why Roon might be a compromised solution (sound wise) for most platforms. It needs to work universally with a variety of units, all of which have different motherboards, memory cache/buffers and data stream architecture. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if users of Lumin, Linn, Innous, etc. likewise found that Roon doesn’t give them the best sound relative to their native applications.

Sounds like Roon does not play as well as it can with Auralic products. 

I’m one of those users who found Lighting DS to sound significantly better than Roon through my Aries G2.  I dropped my Roon subscription.  While I somewhat miss the UI, I find what I’m looking for easily enough and have more than enough metadata through LDS anyway.   

For a few posters above considering the Auralic Aries G2, I found it a big step up from other streamers I own or have owned.  I know of a dealer (biased yes - but he sells other brands) who says it handily betters pretty much everything regardless of price and uses it in front of 6 and even 7 figure systems. I can’t confirm that.  However, I can confirm, it’s very, very good.  
Best,

The convenience and sound quality of Roon has spoiled me so I rarely spin anything.  My primary Roon endpoint is an Ayre QX-5, secondary a Senore ultraRendu, both on a Google MESH variant of the Ethernet.  

Love Roon and the latest update is simply awesome.  Just a dream to use and to organize my music. Never had a single problem or glitch.  I use mine with an Innuos Zenith and they play well together. 

I tried to use Roon again and followed the instructions as told to me by a Roon rep by email and not only did it not work for me it screwed up my Auralic app which required to be deleted and reinstalled. I really would like to try Roon but it doesn’t seem to work for me. It will play on my google speakers if enabled, my Sony TV if enabled and my computer speakers if enabled but not my Auralic Aries G2.1 even when enabled. I really want to at least try Roon for myself and I don’t mind the fee for it but it doesn’t seem to work for me. Any advice to get Roon working would be appreciated.

Roon is by far the single most important element of my various systems. It is what links them, unites them. I use it to distribute music to different rooms, to understand the paths the signal is taking, to set different EQs for different rooms, and to have the same view of my music wherever I go.  I find it wonderful and I’d be lost without it. 

Love ROON and I hardly use the organization features or even search. The things I use most are Convolution files, Parametric EQ, zones, and recommendations. I have 4 zones that are used throughout the house. I do not use WiFi and have relied on PowerLine Ethernet distribution to rooms that do not have direct Ethernet. I also have a ROON Core server that is installed on a $400 DELL Optplex server. I use ether Sonore OpticalRendu for Fibre streaming or RJ45 Ethernet streaming. No WIFI allowed.

With regards to ROON customer support. I thought they were great. I noticed a problem with CPU usage going crazy when the ROON Client was opened while music played. This was around 2AM PST. I posted a question on the ROONLabs Forum and I got an immediate response from some ROON tech in London. He/She and I worked out the solution in a matter of an hour or 2 via Forum posts. The issue (for both PC and MAC) is that some video drivers get messed up with computer OS updates. In my case, NVidia drivers. The ROON guy even found be the proper NVidia drivers to keep around for future OS updates. Great support. 

Another +1 for Roon. Do you need it? Are you trying to solve a problem? Increase SQ? Get a better UI? Only you can answer those questions. But, if you're asking if Roon is good software, then yes. It's the best music library software I've tried by a HUGE margin - regarding sound quality, GUI ease of use, DSP features and quality, Tidal/Qobuz integration, library management, and whole-house streaming. The issues they had with 1.8 have been dealt with quickly, as far as I can tell (at least the issues I was having). IMO, the support staff is responsive, as well. People moan about the yearly fee, but it works out to about $10/month, a reasonable fee for good software. YMMV + YGWYPF (made that up - you get what you pay for)

I too love ROON. I recently had a problem with my set up which led to a lose  of sound from my speakers. It was a simple fix and not any fault of the app. ROON's customer support is lacking which has been frustrating. Having said that, e-mails we're responded to quickly. Mitchb, get in touch with ROON support for a fix to the problem you had and try the 2 week trial again. ROON needs to know of your situation. You can then decide whether you want to commit. 

mitchb how is the lightning DS interface                                        what other streamers did you look at I'm also looking at Aurender N10 
Thanks for the info 

Tom. I love the Auralic Aries G2.1. It replaced the PS Audio Bridge II which was connected to my Directstream dac. The Auralic Aries streamer is far superior to the Bridge II.

mitchb how do you like the Auralic Aries G2.1 I have been looking at it to replace my Bluesound Vault 2i 

Enjoy the Music 
Tom

Roon is the best purchase I have made in this hobby, by a large margin. Yes, compared to any other purchase I have made, and I have purchased a lot. I subscribed to Roon Lifetime over four years ago, when Roon was not a “thing”. 
Having said this, it works well for some, not for others. And since you already tried, you should know if it’s worth for you or not already.

Another +1 for Roon.
I don't own Aurilac, but Innuos, and the Roon app works great for me( albeit, I am not using wifi).
I didn't want to want to pay for another subscription, but the Roon app is very well polished. 
I could have kept using the $4 Squeezebox, but Roon makes it look like Pac Man.
Bob

I love Roon. The ability to "slice and dice" your music collection, see discographies, play various versions of records, all artists hyperlinked, is amazing. Much broader control over your music, including integrating your ripped, Tidal, and Qobuz playlists and libraries. I am hooked after only a few months using it.

Pay extra for issues?
Thumbs down.

Roon support is horrible if you have issues.  For $120/year they need a support solution. Mahler123 has put it well. You don't need it but if you want that type of organization, it could work.  I'm an annual subscriber and didn't do lifetime due to competitors popping up that will most likely do things that I care about better. One thing I highly, highly, highly recommend is hooking the Roon core up wired.  I have robust wifi in my house with 350-400 Mbps up and down and Roon chokes constantly.  When I use it wired (using an Orbi mesh system so wired to a satellite) it rarely balks. I would lean towards it not being worth the money but as with many things, you pay for convenience, not perfection.

Stick with the Lightning App. I have the G1 and use it wireless. I tried Roon a few times and could never get it to replicate my library the way I curated it. The Lightning App does this just fine. I don't need all the extra content that Roon provides either. The Lightning App is easy to use and works fine for playing music off my NAS.

I use my Aries wireless. Yes I use Wifi. I’m hesitant about Roon because of the way it knocked my Auralic and app out of whack.

Were you using Wifi??

Roon has PEQ filters if needed but I thought I read the Auralic has some in certain devices as well not sure about the G2.1 but if that's something you want or need it might be worth checking. 

Like dude, what’s the question?  It sounds like you know the answer.  Roon is just a software application to help you play and categorize your music collection.
It is a tool to increase your enjoyment, but if another tool gets you to the same end point without causing toons of issues, I would use that tool.  I would save money and aggravation and just go with Auralic app.
  Roon users love the product, but it can be a problematic.  There currently is a thread on how the latest update wrecked havoc—maybe that is your issue—but from what I’ve seen of the Auralic app it does a lot of the same stuff.  I think a lot of people have FOMO when it comes to using Roon, but it’s expensive, frequently doesn’t work, may degrade SQ, and has now spawned cheaper imitators that cover a lot of the same territory