To ROON or not to ROON ?

@toro3 Fingers crossed:

Hopes were high that it would launch several months ago when a Reddit user spotted a HiFi icon in their Spotify iOS app. Then there was a leaked video, posted online by another Reddit user, that seemed to offer a brief tour of the streaming giant’s much-anticipated lossless audio tier.

After months of dormancy in the Spotify camp, it has just been awoken by a Reddit user who, upon cancelling his Spotify Premium account to switch to Apple Music, claims to have been sent a survey by Spotify mentioning a hypothetical premium tier called... Spotify Platinum. Oh. The survey supposedly asked user u/nearlymind if they would consider switching to Spotify Platinum in the "next 30 days" for features that include ’HiFi’ and various others including ’Studio Sound’, ’Headphone Tuner’, ’Library Pro’ and ’Playlist Pro’, for a rather steep monthly fee of $19.99. So Spotify could be rerouting down this Platinum path now.

Like you, I also love Spotify’s playlists. Roon’s playlists don’t measure up, even when I populate Roon with both Qobuz and Tidal libraries. Other benefits to Spotify include the social elements like users being able to build a playlist together, and being able to share links to a playable song on the app. Roon ARC is a step in the right direction, but is just a baby step from a consumer’s perspective. I want to be able to share song or album links with people, but with Roon I’m limited to sharing a picture. With Spotify, a link is included that takes the recipient to that song or album in their own app.

When I allow Roon to play similar songs after the requested song, Roon Radio sometimes doesn’t even stay within the genre. Spotify, on the other hand, seems to have a much better handle on sub genres and sticks to them. Spotify’s understanding of sub genre’s is seen in the variety of playlists. And, being able to leverage user data is an importance piece in music discovery, and Spotify can rely on input from its giant user base to feed its discovery algorithm. This "network effect" allows big businesses to pull even further ahead vs smaller competitors. 

I admire what Roon continues to accomplish, but it’s hard for boutique software companies to compete with software giants. Still, I’ll continue to run Roon on my nicer listening systems until a Spotify HiFi tier comes out, or until I decide to dabble in Amazon or Apple Music again.

Roon is good for music discovery and good for music lovers.

So is Plex/Plexamp which I use and costs less for those streaming from their own music library and Tidal only at present.

If I did not already have Plex I might try Roon. However Plex allows one to stream from anywhere via internet connection or download. Home, work, car , anywhere. That and cost are two areas that Plex beats Roon.
 

Plex/Plexamp also has advantage of running on most any common computer tablet or smartphone so no special hifi devices needed for CD resolution streaming.

Well, All these posts are very interesting. Problem is when we ask if something is worth it or not, we dont know how wealthy the person giving the advice is. If I make $600 a week, is ROON worth it? No it is not. But if somebody make 500k/year, of course is worth it because $700 is not that much to that person.

To me is not worth it at all and I make $250k a year.  It is just a convenience but I dont think is worth that much. $500 would be a good deal but $700 can get me 5 years of Qobuz music. I like the program ROON but I dont think is worth that much. You cant even create an extra user for your wife or son. Only one person can use it - even without Qobuz or Tidal.  This lifetime model still can be seen in TIVO lifetime, a DVR for TV,  You get a hard drive to record 600 hrs of TV shows and TV listings for lifetime. It is a better deal for the TV world.  Now Tivo has a problem The FCC no longer forces cable companies to service TIVO anymore, so the TIVOs may stop working and then you are left with a box good for nothing. Something similar could happen to ROON. So Im not willing to gamble $700 for Roon. Lifetime. Thats my 2 cents

Roon integration is fraught with problems that are common among developers who want to make a difference in the world. It is impossible to make a change without having the ability to get it right. I would like to use the native app to get the best results. Today there is no one solution for the issue but the best solution is to get a better app that will allow for the best results. 

@tee_dee 

What’s your set up that’s troublesome?

Maybe I misunderstand you but Roon integration done right is smooth. If you are a coder or builder, then lucky you  I use off the shelf stuff.

By done right I mean a Roon nucleus as a core and cleaned up ethernet with a fast enough connection. The app is easy to use.  Lot’s here you can read up on.