What exactly is ROON?

Roon is a music management and playback software that organizes your music library and streams it to many devices. It's designed to provide high-fidelity audio and a rich experience for exploring your music. 

That's what Google says.

I tried Roon and it is very slick.  I really liked it.  But, what I think I learned is that it's very processor intensive and you need hardware optimized for Roon if you want optimized sound quality.  I don't have that, so I'm using the Sense app from Innuos.  It works really well and it sounds better with my hardware.

I was going to write it out but honestly it's all here:

https://roon.app/en/how-roon-works

While it’s ultimately software that can run on your computer, it runs best on Roon’s own server, the Nucleus.

and you need hardware optimized for Roon

I had it for a while but didn't really use it much. I confess I can't sit still for streaming music (or CDs for that matter) for very long before I am distracted and lose interest. 

The people who do like it seem to REALLY like it though so your mileage may vary.

 

I think if you like reading liner notes you would like Roon.  If you don’t know what liner notes are because your music appreciation evolved with iTunes you can read about them here:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liner%20notes

 If you don’t know what liner notes are because your music appreciation evolved with iTunes

This might be the greatest sentence (or partial sentence) ever posted on here!

@sls883

+1

Roon adds a comprehensive music exploration and management tool to streaming at the cost of complexity, and sometimes sound quality and added cost. Unless you are interested in mostly exploring music (as opposed to listening), and playing with technology (cause it adds a fair amount of IT complexity to your system) and cost... then using the native streamer software is a much better choice.

Learning, for instance, the Conductor App for Aurender streamers... or whatever the software provided with your streamer will provide great exploration tool that can help you find music... just learn to use them. If really elaborate musical exploration is desired... go to AllMusic.com. or the internet to find music and then use your streamer software to listen to it.

I personally want to listen to music, not go back to being an IT person and get deeply involved in software. Some folks are deeply involved in exploration and software.

Another choice to investigate would be Audirvana. A better way to stream from a laptop.If you use a computer to stream music this software has an exclusive mode that bypasses the crappy volume controls and allows for a straight signal to an external DAC.  Has other sound related features such as upsampling and high quality digital volume control. Works ONLY with Tidal or Qobuz.

 

@gdaddy1 I've used Audivarna when streaming with my dac.  Sound quality is excellent. 

Roon is a sophisticated music management platform designed for audiophiles and music enthusiasts. It serves as a centralized hub for accessing, controlling, and playing digital music from various sources. Here are some key features and functionalities of Roon:

1. **Music Management**: Roon organizes your digital music library, including local files, streaming services, and internet radio. It cleans up metadata and creates a cohesive library that enhances the listening experience by providing rich content such as artist bios, reviews, and concert dates [[2]](https://www.whathifi.com/advice/roon-everything-you-need-to-know).

2. **Multi-Device Compatibility**: Roon is compatible with a wide range of audio devices, allowing users to stream music across multiple rooms and devices. It supports various technologies, including Roon Ready, AirPlay, and Chromecast, ensuring that you can play music on almost any device in your home [[1]](https://roon.app/en/)[[3]](https://roon.app/en/how-roon-works).

3. **High-Quality Sound**: Roon is designed to deliver audiophile-grade sound quality. It supports bit-perfect playback of various audio formats, including high-resolution audio content, ensuring that music sounds as lifelike as possible [[1]](https://roon.app/en/)[[2]](https://www.whathifi.com/advice/roon-everything-you-need-to-know).

4. **Roon Core and Remote**: The Roon Core is the central component that manages music playback and library organization. Users can control the Roon Core through the Roon Remote app, available on smartphones, tablets, and computers, allowing for seamless interaction with the music library [[2]](https://www.whathifi.com/advice/roon-everything-you-need-to-know)[[3]](https://roon.app/en/how-roon-works).

5. **Roon ARC**: This feature allows users to access their entire Roon library on mobile devices, enabling offline listening and direct access to streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz [[2]](https://www.whathifi.com/advice/roon-everything-you-need-to-know).

6. **Community and Personalization**: Roon offers personalized features that adapt to users' listening habits, providing tailored recommendations and insights into artists and music [[2]](https://www.whathifi.com/advice/roon-everything-you-need-to-know).

Overall, Roon is not a music streaming service itself; rather, it enhances the music you already own or subscribe to by providing a rich, organized, and high-quality listening experience.

---
Learn more:
1. [Roon](https://roon.app/en/)
2. [What is Roon? How the music platform works and what devices are Roon Ready | What Hi-Fi?](https://www.whathifi.com/advice/roon-everything-you-need-to-know)
3. [Roon - How Roon works](https://roon.app/en/how-roon-works)

Roon is a software program that does three main things:

Combines your music: It takes all the music you own (on your computer, hard drives, etc.) and all the music you stream (like from Tidal or Qobuz) and puts it all together in one place. You don't have to switch between different apps.

Makes your music experience better: It adds a lot of extra information to your music, like artist biographies, album reviews, and connections between artists. It also displays your music with high quality images. It's like having a super-detailed music encyclopedia.

Plays your music everywhere: It lets you play your music on different speakers and devices around your house, all controlled from one place. It also focuses on making your music sound the best it possibly can.
 

You don’t “need” Roon.  It helps organize music from streaming services and music that you may be storing on a server(s) into one area and then provides interesting factoids about the recording.  If you want to know how many fifths of vodka Jon Bonham drank before laying down your favorite Led Zeppelin drum track Roon might have the answer.

  Many streaming services now offer a lot of these factoids as part of the basic software package.

  I am perfectly comfortable having my NAS files in one area and my streaming service files in another and switching between the two with a few swipes, but others prefer it all integrated into one and pay for that service.

  There are plenty of audiophile writers that think Roon causes a slight degradation in SQ

@manhattan1

There are many options so I suggest you continue your review.

+1, As posted above, I also suggest you consider Audiovana for the reasons described below. I have been using it for many years and agree it is excellent

“Audirvana is a high-quality audio playback software designed for audiophiles to enhance their listening experience. Founded in 2011 by Damien Plisson in France, it optimizes sound quality by minimizing CPU activity, shortening the signal path, and supporting high-resolution audio formats up to 32-bit/384 kHz. It works with various file types like FLAC, WAV, DSD, and more, and integrates streaming services such as Tidal and Qobuz.

Audirvana offers features like metadata editing, a user-friendly interface, and the Audirvana Remote app for control via smartphones or tablets. It supports playback through connected devices or streaming via UPnP and Chromecast but lacks AirPlay support. It is available for macOS, LINUX and Windows.

Audirvana improves sound quality compared to other players through several key features:

• Exclusive DAC Access: Audirvana bypasses the operating system’s audio processing by taking exclusive control of the DAC. This eliminates unnecessary sample rate conversions, jitter, and mixing with system sounds, ensuring a cleaner audio signal.

• Optimized Playback Path: It minimizes CPU activity and follows the shortest software path to the audio output, reducing interference and preserving the integrity of the audio signal.

• Dynamic Range and Clarity: Users report enhanced dynamic range, deeper bass, sharper highs, and more natural vocals when compared to native players like Qobuz or Apple Music. Instruments are better separated, and soundstage is improved.

• DSP Options: Audirvana allows for advanced digital signal processing (DSP) through plugins, enabling further customization for connected devices.

These optimizations result in a more detailed and immersive listening experience, often likened to upgrading hardware components like a DAC.

Audirvana’s digital playback process is unique due to its proprietary technology that prioritizes audio quality by optimizing every step of the playback chain:

• Bit-Perfect Playback: Audirvana bypasses the operating system’s audio mixer, ensuring the audio signal remains unaltered and transmitted directly to the DAC for playback without loss or interference.

• Direct and Exclusive DAC Access: The software takes exclusive control of the DAC, avoiding unnecessary sample rate conversions and ensuring precise audio output tailored to the DAC’s capabilities.

• Shortest Signal Path: It minimizes processor activity and uses the shortest possible software path to reduce noise and interference during playback.

• Kernel-Level Programming: Audirvana leverages low-level programming (e.g., WASAPI, Kernel Streaming) for both macOS and Windows, enhancing system efficiency and sound fidelity.

• Advanced Upsampling: The software uses high-quality algorithms like SoX and R8Brain for upsampling, allowing the computer’s powerful CPU to handle complex processing, relieving the DAC from additional tasks.

These features collectively ensure a clean, high-resolution audio experience that preserves the integrity of the original recording”.

I use Audiovana on my Infigo Audio IS-1 Streamer that uses LINUX. I use my Apple iPad with the Audiovana Remote to control it. I stream from QoBuz and everything works perfectly. I hope this helps.

I have no experience with Roon.   

 

 

 

Re Audirvana vs. Roon, I have lifetime licenses for both and can't tell the difference in terms of sound quality running it from a dedicated computer (Mac mini). At one point Audirvana had some annoying bug with playlists, so focussed on Roon. Could have gone the other way just as easily. I only use it for local files, don't stream, as I don't like to exploit artists.

THANKS TO EVERYONE.  LOTS OF USEFUL AND THOUGHTFUL INFORMATION.

@oberoniaomnia

I am sorry you had an issue with Audiovana playlists. I also had an issue with their playlist and posted my issue on the Community Audiovana forum. please see link below. I received their response in about 24 hours and was told what I needed to. In my case, it was my error, and, everything is working now. I used the Audiovana community forum several times and promptly received a very useful response. I hope this helps.

https://community.audirvana.com

This forum is meant to help Audirvāna users find answers and share their experiences. If you have a question, please search for it 🔍 or browse the related topics using the various tabs. You can create a new post/question using the button + New Topic.  

Want to add a couple of things. 

Roon is a split software system, with the core and end points.  The core is a little CPU and storage heavy.  This is partly because they index your music and add a lot of metadata to seamlessly blend music you own and music from streaming services.  The other part is that the core can do a lot.  It can do transcoding from one PCM resolution to another or DSD to PCM, and vice versa, so no matter what the limitations of your DAC, or your preferred data encoding method it will work.  The other thing that consumes CPU is the built in EQ via DSP capabilities.  Those are pretty amazingly thorough, to the point of users investing an enormous amount of time to do Dirac Live like convolutions. 

If you aren't fully utilizing the DSP or transcoding capabilities the CPU needs are quite lite.  Unfortunately (I think) this is still keeping Roon from embracing low power, high efficiency ARM based chips and mini servers.

My point is, I think the CPU needs of Roon are a little exaggerated.  You get a lot of convenience in integrating your music with streaming services and a great UI on most devices (Web, iPhone, Android) and as a subscription I never worry that it will be outdated like say, a TV that can't play Netflix anymore.

I was a little skeptical when I became a Roon  user but now I would hate to be without it. Rather than add complexity, I think it adds simplicity in managing your music.
I don’t use the DSP features, but I know many who do and are quite happy with the performance. I have a high-quality dac With its own music management app, which is very good and going back-and-forth, there is no difference in the sound quality. For me, it greatly enhances the listening experience, and I think most who have tried it have found that to be true.  As with most things in this hobby, I suppose that’s subjective so your experience might be different. Roon has helped me discover artists I enjoy very much and would likely never have found otherwise. For me, that’s the greatest benefit.

I used Audirvana with a PC before I started buying dedicated streamers.  It was an excellent and inexpensive product.  There were a few bugs that may have been fixed in the years since I used it

@mahler123 

Thanks.  Music servers that have Audirvāna pre-installed or are compatible include:

• Antipodes Audio Music Servers (e.g., K22 and K40) with some limitations for setup.

• 3D Lab Music Servers.

• Fidelizer Audio Servers, which are fully tested and integrated with Audirvāna.

• Infigo Audio IS-1 Streamer, which includes Audirvāna software.

Additionally, Audirvāna supports UPnP-compatible devices, making it usable with a wide range of streamers and speakers like KEF Wireless HiFi systems and others certified under the “Plays with Audirvāna” program.  

As noted above, my Infigo Audio IS-1 Streamer already has the Audiovana LINUX version installed.  I use my Apple iPad with the Audiovana Remote to control it.  I stream from QoBuz and everything works perfectly.   There may additional music servers that have Audiovana installed but I am not aware of them. 

 

Can either ROON or Audirvana do something like Genre random play by Album or Artist?

With Roon it is simple to shuffle an album playlist, or to click play on an artist's page to start a random play of that artist's songs.

There is also the Roon Radio function to start playing similar songs when any playlist ends.

BTW- I thought this thread, "What exactly is ROON" was about Roon. There seems to be some confusion.

Few months back on another thread I posed the question about some unique features that ROON had that I had not seen on other products such as Audirvana, native Qobuz app and streamer software I have used.  I basically ask what other products out there have these features. The response?  Crickets.   

@tonyptony

If I remember correctly in ROON. You can play and artist track and then it will continue to play "like" tracks. I think most of the interfaces have a "artist radio" functionality that achieves this?  Also very easy to kick off Genre radio. Just took me 2 clicks to fire up Jazz genre stream. 

@jbuhl 

But can you go to your own music, select a Genre, and then play Random by either Album or Artist?

@tonyptony

 

There is a setting "limit roon radio to library". I have not played with the setting so not sure how it works.

Also from the Services menu its very easy to Disable/Enable the service without logging out. 

I use Roon for playback in concert with a Linn Akurate DSM/3. The core is installed on a Mac Mini M1 that is used solely for this purpose. It allows me to access Qobuz, streaming radio and the music files stored on an SSD. I do a lot more streaming than playing my vinyl rig, and Roon's interface is easy to use and actually leads me into some very interesting musical territory. The playlists that it creates gather music from my files and Qobuz. It's like a really good non-commercial radio station.