Everything You Want to Know about the Roon Music Player

[@1tegman]

This video is very informative. I’ve had Roon for 6 months and can’t express how much I enjoyed it 😊

[@TheoNicolakis]

😊 So glad to hear!

[@BryanRuby]

I just subscribed to Roon this past week and decided to rewatch this video as well as others on Roon. I can't believe I missed this the first time, but I have to say I'm extremely impressed with @TheoNicolakis and his knowledge of Roon. He has to be one of the most well prepared interviewer I've seen on KZbin, especially when it comes to Roon.

[@danriley3064]

Great conversation which answered so many questions I had around Roon and its value proposition. I will definitely be downloading the trial offer. Thank you!

[@kyleo2113]

Since having Roon I can’t imagine ever going back.

[@tomclark7551]

Since dumping it I feel the same

[@kyleo2113]

@@tomclark7551 not for everyone

[@AlejandroGonzalez-AGS]

Great video…I’m on Roon! Thanks for sharing guys…be safe. Cheers..

[@doctorbritain9632]

I've used Roon for a couple of years. It's worth every penny.

[@ConnyDrivemark-r8e]

Fantastic interview and discussions. Great!

[@factoryguy8]

Just an awesome conversation and lots of good info... love Roon even more. Thanks for making this happen!

[@77rommel]

I absolutely love ROON!! Multi-room/zone, no problem. Great SQ, no problem. Go down the rabbit hole of discovering new music, no problem. Amazing control interface, no problem. Will I ever not have ROON, no fucking way!!!! I only hope to have Apple, Spotify & Amazon music as options in the future.

[@derekwebster69]

I bought the lifetime license back at v1.5? (Back then had to buy an iOS tablet, nuc, make a roon ready streamer etc) ...and never looked back. Tried a lot of software but roon just did it. The product and it's development is amazing. It's changed the way I listen to music, find new music, learn about music, tweak the music and enjoy the music. Keep it up team roon.

[@robvandendolder3157]

What a great interview. Thank you. I’m looking at using Roon in the future but didn’t know enough about it yet and the configuration I want to use. The Nucleus appears to be a great start. We have a bluesound Vault 2i. Thanks again really enjoyed and learned a lot.👍😎

[@jimf5160]

Really great interview...I learned a lot and I have had Roon for a year...

[@nickthequick]

Great programme. I am sitting here at home waiting for the delivery of my Nucleus ...

[@TheoNicolakis]

Enjoy!!

[@hifihometheater]

Great interview! Definitely some quality Q&A. Very informative. Thank you!

[@audio_acoustic_engineering]

Great video, lots of info and resources to digest here. I did not know that I could use my chrome cast to display the Roon - whoot whoot

[@BryanRuby]

Great interview. I like the concept of Roon where it merges my local digital files with subscription services. However, I don't like that we're limited to Tidal or Qobuz. Apple TV or Amazon Unlimited integrated with Roon in addition to Tidal/Qobuz would win me over rather quickly.

[@TheoNicolakis]

Glad you enjoyed Bryan! Enno indicated conversations are actively taking place with other music services. Hopefully we’ll see some additional ones added soon. Fingers crossed!

[@rafacq]

This was a great video! Thank you. There is so much that roon does.

[@tomk7087]

Thank you, Theo, for this great conversation with Enno👍👍 Love Roon, running ROCK on a NUC i3, works perfectly…

[@TheoNicolakis]

@tomk7087 thanks!

[@nielsaxelsson]

Regarding NAS: I have Roon in a Docker container running in unRAID alongside many other things (home automation, media server etc.). unRAID is among other things a NAS software that runs on essentially any hardware you would have around. It also allows you tu run docker - essentially images of software appliances like Roon. Running in a container makes it easy and virtually free, as the server is already running 24/7. So it's not necessary with a dedicated machine only for Roon.

[@Macmutton]

This has been really helpful

[@damonob1]

Simply great guys, I am new to ROON and what it offers. I think I have the solution to my music frustration, I have spent years wondering why the digital music platforms destroy my music folders and albums. iTunes just messed up my music drive again for the 100th time. Thank you so much 🤓

[@invisiblekid99]

I'm new to it too and absolutely love it. OK so it's costing you money every month, forever (beside buying the lifetime), but I love it. I do think the get the best value out of it though is to have Tidal or Qobuz. But love sending music to so many devices inc Homepod. And each member of my family can us it too, at the same time. It's brilliant.

[@RobertBorley]

What a coup, bagging Enno for an interview. I LOVE Roon, but I stopped using it because I much prefer Apple Music to Tidal or Qobuz. So for me Roon+Tidal Family plan is an additional £30/$40 per month ($480 per year) plus I’d have to manage 2 Music libraries. I’ll use it again if they do manage to integrate Apple Music in future. What a great interview about a great product.

[@robertoruizantonetti6385]

I went all in on Roon and have no regrets. I picked up a used Nucleus for $1100 from TMR Audio. Fantastic audio experience.

[@thepalmpilot3g]

that's great! i've been looking for one for awhile and have had 0 luck finding one :(

[@robertoruizantonetti6385]

I got lucky. They're on backorder everywhere. I was about to go the DIY route.

[@phototristan]

I sure hope they add Apple Music soon.

[@duranarts]

This will never happen

[@phototristan]

@@duranarts He talks in this very video about how they are talking to the major music streaming platforms right now.

[@mattmchuang]

Same here. I only stream Apple Music….. 😅😓😓

[@eespinosa64]

Very informative interview. I'm hoping that Roon can add Amazon Music HD alongside Tidal and Qobuz.

[@dihydrotestosterone]

If we could integrate DIRAC with ROON this would be great 👍

[@TheoNicolakis]

My theory is that if you run Dirac Live on a Mac or Windows PC with the Roon Core on the same machine, using the outputs of the computer, then you should be able to apply Dirac on the audio apps and outputs. I haven’t tested that and curious if anyone has or would confirm if that would work.

[@vpmm1832]

Thanks guys for this great introduction, i under it today , going to try Roon . A question to Enno, you mentioned he got Naim unity atom , I would like to know what speaker he uses with it ? As I had purchased a Naim Atom , and can’t find a suitable good speaker so for as a good match . Please kindly advice - would appreciate- thanks

[@guillermomartin8248]

I’ve tried numerous times to save some money and move away from Roon. I hate having to have my daughters iMac on all the time (Roon core) as it;s the only computer we have in the house (we all use iPads lol). That being said, I’ve gone from streamers to streamers with DACs etc. most recently the Eversolo A6, unfortunately the ecosystems don’t hold a candle to Roon. The discovery Roon has is incredible, I have found SO MUCH music I didn’t know I liked by using Roon. I am now in the process of either buy once cry once with a Nucleus or decide to build a NUC and reduce the monthly cost with a yearly subscription.

[@TheNuclearBolton]

Good luck 😂

[@billbrown5952]

WOW .... JUST .... WOW !!

[@miatafunrun3078]

Speaking of implementing features that subscribers are asking for in order to keep them, how about reading ratings tags (1-5 stars) and displaying them. Subscribers have been requesting this for years.

[@HeavyBeats24]

So with the Dsp? I think I will use my iMac for my core but I will use a blusound for my end point. Does the endpoint need to be more powerful to handle dsp or is dsp done on the core? Thanks. I’m excited to try out roon!

[@TheoNicolakis]

At the core.

[@Bigbobtube]

I’m running ROON core on a 2014 Mac mini, dsp works perfectly fine. I’m sure your iMac will be even better.

[@dmarque]

I have been a Qobuz & Roon subscriber for 2 weeks with a 2 TB Nucleus on its way. I have spent this time assembling playlists and transferring Qobuz playlists into Roon. At this point I have transferred my Qobuz Playlists into Roon and created some new playlists in Roon. I am struggling a little adding to playlists. My Question: If I have a Jazz playlist created in Roon and another tranferred in from Qobuz it seems that I cannot merge these 2 playlists into one Jazz Playlist in Roon. Is the answer to have each named differently like "JAZZ (created in ROON) and Jazz-Q (created in Qobuz) to keep them separate? Then when I add to the Roon Playlist to do it only within Roon? Is there no way to merge these together? Will they have to always remain separate Playlists? Thank you~!

[@TheoNicolakis]

If I’m understanding your question correctly you’re correct. Your Qobuz or Tidal playlists are independently managed.

[@thomasmead4642]

I am checking out Roon. I wish there were more plans. I would be interested in a "stream only" at a lower price option.

[@nickthequick]

You seem to have misunderstood Roon, it is NOT a streaming service.

[@thomasmead4642]

@@nickthequick Hello, I do know it's not a streaming service. It's a way to catalogue all of your digital music, streaming services and your own ripped CD's. I don't rip my CD's, I just listen to them. I do use the 2 streaming services (Tidal and Qobuz) that Roon supports. I was just wishing that Roon had a "lower price tier" for people like myself, that's it.

[@robrobertson1781]

Watched the whole video, super informative. But didn’t really answer a couple questions I have: I’m an Apple Music user, that’s the only streaming service I use. My entire library is Apple Music content, zero from other sources. With that in mind, I don’t actually “own” any of the music that’s in my iTunes. Will Roon still aggregate all of this content, and provide playback of it in full lossless every track? As an expansion on the above, some time ago apple made every track in their library at a minimum “lossless” (as stated by them). So what, if anything, is Roon providing for me SQ wise that apple isn’t? Right now I’m using an Apple TV 4K connected to my AVR via HDMI to play my Apple Music content in my primary listening room. Would that setup not still retain the lossless quality from Apple Music, and provide it perfectly to the AVR?

[@TheoNicolakis]

I’ll suggest you post to the Roon forums and anyone can correct me. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber (like me) and you download an Apple Lossless file it’s actually a DRM-managed file that you can’t play in Roon. You can only play purchased iTunes music which is only 256kbps AAC. therefore until there’s a partnership with Apple Music you won’t be able to download and play lossless Apple Music files in Roon.

[@tomclark7551]

Cautionary tale here (and I realize I'm a minority user here) I've used Roon for years. Started with a NUC but had performance issues. To try and help that I bought a Roon Nucleus +. Still had issues. Primarily with when a track was selected when shuffling my library it would take up to 12 mins for music to begin playing. Let me also say Room support is terrible. That's being kind. After a few years of pounding my head against this issue Room support finally tells me my library presents Roon with some "unique challenges". It has to do with how my music library is organized (folders and sub folders) My 143000 tracks are made up of 5 bands. All live music. Why am I frustrated with Roon? 1) in adds for Room there is no mention of it not being able to handle certain libraries. The language they use conveys the complete opposite 2) it took Room support 4 yrs to inform me of this. to me this is info everyone at Roon should know. 3) after their atrocious support caused me to send $1000's in monthly costs and a Room nucleus + they refused to refund me any $$$. They told me the issue was my library not Roon. So I'm done with Roon. The Innuos Sense app works perfectly with my library and sounds a bit better. Roon is great. If you aren't a user like me then it will be great. If u need support from the company you are in a bad place. Their support model is an insult to customers who pay for the service 1) post issue In community and hope Roon sees it and replies (days go by) 2) you get a response with very basic inquiries. once you answer days/weeks go by. It's a terribly inefficient system for what can be highly technical issues. So it can be a great product for most if you have no issues. For me it's been 4 yrs of wasted time and $$$ from a company who has no issue with taking your $$$ but will do very little to support the product if you need it And once they have your $$$ That's it Thanks for reading It's a quirky thing- great product terrible company

[@dansantoso48]

i had compared synology 1815+ with Roon core in ssd to Trinnov vs Oppo 205 modified direct play to Trinnov. The SQ is huge, the Oppo has better dynamic and analog sound. i had never try other hardware btw.

[@bobafet5363]

For me iTunes is find! I don’t need more! Thank you for the presentation!

[@AlanSpackman]

I have problems using Arc on the go. The problem is opening ports or trying to find a way of opening- it seems a labyrinth work around.

[@BillyKueekSG]

I am a headphone user. I subscribe to Apple Music and I use MacOS and iOS devices. Apple Music is more for getting new songs and making a playlist I use at work. Most times, I listen to my 20TB collection of Hi Res music (DSDs, FLACs, ALAC, etc) but most of the tracks are not labeled and have no information. I have to use Shazam to recognise the music and then input the details one at a time. Using Mac also means I have no EQ. Would Roon be suitable for me such as filling up the missing information.

[@scslite5206]

For those that have a Nucleus how are the power supplies on them with regards to noise? My home network WiFi switch is in the bedroom so is it loud like a PC or server?

[@thepiecesfit5049]

I feel like Roon should have a pricing model for users with a few devices. Light users who want to use it but only have a few devices like their AVR and mobile phone should get a price break vs heavy users that have many devices. $12.50 with a yearly sub is basically the cost of a high fi streaming service.

[@scottb721]

Are there any 3rd party interfaces like Roon that lets me link my KZbin Music service? They all seem to do everything but.

[@TheoNicolakis]

As of today Tidal and Qobuz are the only two that natively tie into Roon. Other competing music software platforms don’t seem to integrate either. JRiver appears to do KZbin but not KZbin music.

[@dmarque]

How long do you estimate before Anthem is Roon Ready "Certified"?

[@TheoNicolakis]

Once I get into my AVM 90 review I’ll be able to explore that question with Anthem.

[@pablohrrg8677]

An app that has access to my files AND uses this information AND I have to pay?

[@ekjellgren]

Enno working from NASA HQ? :)

[@BrandonRyan]

Seems he likes his modular synthesizers. 🙂

[@EVMYT]

Id like Roon ARC in Tesla.

[@juanmillaruelo7647]

Apple music would benefit enormously from Roon (and viceversa) Apple has massive libraries. Usability ok, but could be improved. Roon would provide the user friendly environment and value added services to the Apple databases.

[@Nightjar726]

Can you guys ask Marantz to make their products Roon ready? And is Marantz going to finally make a standalone Streamer/DAC ? With the technology of the SACD 30n. No one wants to buy a whole SACD player to stream. Thanks!

[@TheoNicolakis]

I will continue to be that squeaky wheel. Roon Ready is what I’d like to see. Just note that if you have your Roon core connected to the Marantz via HDMI or S/PDIF you solve all the other issues and nothing more needed.

[@Nightjar726]

@@TheoNicolakis Yeah but from what I understood from the interview ( which was great btw ) RAAT offers a better protocol for audio quality? Thanks again! From a fellow Greek ( my name is Nikos).

[@TheoNicolakis]

@@Nightjar726yiassou Niko. You’re correct for network streaming to an endpoint via RAAT. If it’s Roon ready it uses a protocol like AirPlay or Chromecast. RAAT is Roon’s native protocol and goes beyond 48 or 96kHz. I’m using RAAT right now to stream 192kHz Saint Saens to my Cambridge Audio CXNv2 and it’s sending that to my Anthem AVM 60 at 192kHz. Now if you’re connecting your Roon core via HDMI for example it eliminates that issue altogether and neither Roon Ready or Roon Tested come into play.

[@Nightjar726]

@@TheoNicolakis ugh, I’m confused. And I’m 53 and educated πανάθεμά με, lol. So if I got something like the Marantz SACD and connected it to my LA4 preamp (as a DAC) , I could use Roon from my Roon core on my laptop to connect wirelessly to the Marantz into my stereo? And would that support all the sampling rates of the Marantz? Sorry bout that. Some of this stuff confuses me.

[@TheoNicolakis]

@@Nightjar726the ideal scenario is to get a network player that is Roon Ready if you want to stream. Roon Ready will support Roon’s hi-res streaming protocol. You can then use the Network Player’s digital or analog outs to your preamp. I have my Roon core streaming to a Cambridge CXNv2, which is then connected to an Anthem AVM 60 preamp. The Cambridge Audio is Roon ready. Does that make sense?

[@joemartin6439]

Iike to get Roon on my IPad to control my Blue sound Vault. I have 2 hundred tidal musics an 400 bought Jazz alblums . Cam I get all on my Apple IPad Handle Roon on my BlueSound just to run in my music room

[@tebbywafer1665]

can you find my tidal downloaded music on my phone?

[@TheoNicolakis]

If you have a Tidal subscription you log into that and you have access to the full Tidal library. If you’re asking if Roon ARC will access your Tidal downloads from the Tidal app then the answer is no.

[@tebbywafer1665]

@@TheoNicolakis thanks, the latter was my question.

[@adamjj85]

It's a great concept with a nice UI, but I don't know, I think these guys are dreaming with their pricing. No support for Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon HD Music, or KZbin Music. Clearly they must be targeting the high end audiophile market. To me their current feature set is worth maybe 1/4th of what they're asking. I guess they are the Kaleidescape of the music world.

[@guillermomartin8248]

Clearly… Do you actually consider Spotify, Apple Music, or KZbin music as hi resolution audio lol? Apple makes you go through hoops to get lossless music in your system which is a joke and poor implementation on their part. I actually also have Kaleidescape as well and yes it’s a niche product but, I am unsure why you are stating they are “dreaming”? No-one else does what these two companies do, at least with respect to Roon the others don’t do it nearly as well; with Kaleidescape it’s not even close.

[@HowardSokoloff]

i can not get Arc to work!!

[@TheoNicolakis]

ARC requires port forwarding to work. Many newer firewall routers will accommodate automatically. I suggest going to the Roon forums for some more in depth assistance. Typically if ARC isn’t working then port forwarding is the Roon cause. I recommend launching ARC while you are on the same network as your Roon Core. It will then connect and tell you if ARC is configured to work properly or if there is an issue.

[@HowardSokoloff]

@@TheoNicolakis thanks but i have no idea what port forwarding is.

[@TheoNicolakis]

@@HowardSokoloffno worries. Connect ARC when connected to your home WIFI and then post to the RoonLabs forum with any errors you get along with your router/firewall model.

[@HowardSokoloff]

looked into port forwarding and figured it out. Thanks

[@TheoNicolakis]

@@HowardSokoloffnice! Glad it worked.

[@idrismansoor7993]

Is Enno in the Dr Who tardis 😂

[@kumz14]

Mac mini best roon core!

[@Meerlu]

Daphile offers nearly everything roon does.. for free

[@derrickdavis7917]

Daphile interface is windows 95 tier. I enjoy reading information about artists and looking at the credits and such in Roon. It's amazing. Opening up PDF files in the app of the whole album booklet.

[@Meerlu]

@@derrickdavis7917 Look harder. You can do that. Lyrics too. (hint.. Material Skin),.Though it cannot open pdf as far as I can tell. However, I think I might have 5 albums with pdfs in nearly 2TB of flacs. Cheers :P

[@Dave30867]

i was interested but i dont need this really have thousands of cds and records im not paying for that luxury if you call it that . $889.00 lifetime payment um no.

[@brianw.36]

Tech Support non-existent :-( I became a lifetime subscriber during the pandemic, and aside from the obvious, really enjoyed all the different write-ups on the artists and the producers, etc. When I had a technical problem, someone from their team replied by email, very promptly, and after a couple of exchanges, they got the issue addressed. But just try and do that now… It’s impossible. Roon sadly, like so many other technical companies uses the notion “community” as a replacement for technical support, you could spend hours searching through their forums to get an answer to something, that, presumably a knowledgeable technician could answer right away, but just try to get that email question into their system now days. Shame Shame

[@tonyt.5771]

I use my phone to stream Spotify with a fantastic sound coming from my Yamaha A4A. Tidal sucks btw.

[@salihguler3876]

very expensive=(((

[@thecaptain2000]

Good software but overpriced, in my opinion.

[@scslite5206]

I kind of agree. Yes it does have some nice features and DSP etc. But it’s really an overlay to coral and organize your music library. If it was 50% lower it would make more sense. For it to cost just as much as the streaming services which they regurgitate in the end is too expensive.

[@BrandonRyan]

But overpriced compared to what? What's the competing product?

[@scslite5206]

@@BrandonRyan probably just a matter of time. However, I was thinking more in terms of operational costs. Mostly software development whereas the streaming services have large data storage and rendering conversion etc.

[@thecaptain2000]

@Brandon Ryan there isn't a competing product I am aware of, yet it cost the same as a music subscription, if you compare the amount of work that went into producing the music collection, you see it is overpriced .

[@hintzde]

Yes, it is overpriced compared to my hand grabbing a hard copy and putting it on or in a player (with superior royalties having gone to the artist).

[@VladimirYerokhin]

Too bad roon can't play local files without an internet connection.

[@junior-OG]

really ?

[@VladimirYerokhin]

@@junior-OG Yes. I wish the interviewer would pose that question

[@TheoNicolakis]

This is apparently a requirement in the new 2.0 build from what I’m reading. If you want offline only then it says to use the prior 1.8 build.

[@VladimirYerokhin]

@@TheoNicolakis why did Roon purposely cripple their software? This is just pushing away its users to other platforms

[@TheoNicolakis]

@@VladimirYerokhinI’m not sure of the architectural shift. I was only made aware of it from the comments. There are several threads on the RoonLabs forums on this topic. The flip side is Roon 2.0 has ARC which is the mobile app. You NEED the Core connected to the internet for ARC to work. You are connecting to your Roon Core from the internet in that architecture.

[@swayne1441]

Roon is semi cool software but it can 99% be replaced by something free. IMO Roon is only proof a fool is easily parted from his money. I am someone who has no issues spending 1000s on the system but Roon is just not it.

[@BrandonRyan]

What is the "something free" that does 99% of the same thing? Curious.

[@Lauren080508]

@@BrandonRyan I have a Sinology NAS and I have access to my music collection through PLEX to all my iOS devices (5), Macs (3) windows (2), $120 lifetime subscription instead $840 of Room, I agreed way overpriced. And yes, if you have a NAS there are several ways to get to your music, most free or low price music player softwares in windows and MAC can access your music in a NAS, on iOS is a little harder but still possible, but when Apple Music became lossless and HD, made my music collection quite irrelevant, 100 Million Songs my friend, I don't see the point of a roon subscription, my main gear is a Denon 3700 in a 5.2.4 system, 4 Revel speakers and the rest JBL , These day I listen to music from an Apple TV to my Denon, mainly ATMOS music!, the soundstage, it is a whole new experience, I love it.

[@kyleo2113]

And what is this free software that offers dsp, upsampling and merges your files and streaming services in a single user interface providing capabilities to make playlists across sources and providing additional data regarding artists etc. I am sure you could get a bunch of free software to accomplish each task but that is the point of Roon - it puts it in one piece of software. To me it’s worth it. If you are someone using Spotify or a single service it’s probably not for you.

[@Lauren080508]

@@kyleo2113 It seems you did not read all my comment; anyway , up sampling? do you really believe is useful? I only need DSP in my main listening room, which is handle by the Denon receiver,. Who needs to merge song if you have Apple music which have 100 million songs which are lossless, and good percentage are HD and ATMOS songs, playlist also so easy to do, and accessible in all platforms, song information is available and almost all have lyrics, again Roon no real value IMO

[@kyleo2113]

@@Lauren080508 if you are using only one streaming service and don’t have tracks on a drive somewhere it may not be a good option. I use the eq primarily for headphones but could also be useful if you don’t have a dsp in your device chain or like to tweak. I also have Tidal and Qobuz so I like the way it integrates those two services together. It really does come down to the individual use case and for me Roon has greatly improved my music experience. If someone is happy with Apple or Spotify or whatever that’s great! For me Roon has provided a huge upgrade to my music experience YMMV