Software is finicky in general. What works for one fails for the other. My latest software hate is all the cloud crap developed for “collaborative” building construction…BIM 360 and its brethren.
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I’ve found Roon software to be extremely stable and it never crashes in my system. I also found Auralic Lightning to be extremely stable and very user-friendly.
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Since you brought this up again, ownership is irrelevant. Rather it is the knee-jerk response of some Roon adherents who immediately come to Roon’s “rescue” whenever Roon is mentioned in anything other than sanctified, hushed tones - often writing wordy love notes to Roon with little relevance to the specific issue at hand.
Similarly, as @brett66 mentioned earlier, crucifixion awaits those on the Roon forum who question the sound quality of Roon.
It is more than a player, it is a lifestyle!
By the way, I think Roon now calls endpoints “outputs,” although I may recall this incorrectly.
That is correct. I know since I’ve been digging in.
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I used a Mac Mini for audio for 2 days and returned it to Apple. I have nothing against the Mac Mini, I own 2 of them. If you open it up, as I recently did to put in more RAM, there is a load of electronics packed in and a massive fan. There is a huge wifi receiver inside the base plate. I own an Innuos and, besides the electronics, there is a lot of thought into the physical design, it being fanless, lots of damping and vibration control, three asymmetrically placed feet etc.
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Hey, Southsider Fan: You have inspired me to try again. I managed to install MK 26. Now I just have to figure out what I did with the MK 27 download which is what derailed me a few months back.
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I, too, use Roon and Auralic’s LDS app. I occasionally experience dropouts with Roon via my Mac Mini (w/M1), but not very often. LDS has an advantage, since it is designed for their hardware and loads and plays the music directly from its internal memory. However, I cannot say I hear any real difference between the two in my system. Some people say it does sound different, but that may be just their own setup causing the difference.
Roon software is vastly superior in its feature set. LDS is a a bit basic, but highly effective and has room to grow. It just does not have all the extras Roon has incorporated over the years.
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I’ve been to the Roon community from time to time as a user for 2 years. I’ve never seen any crucifixions carried out, most of the traffic is about implementation as it is a piece of software and its performance is highly dependent in the hardware implementation.
If there are negative impacts on sound it may be due to DSP, which you don’t have to use, and I don’t use it.
People probably speak highly of Roon because they like it. Roon have wanted to get rid of the lifetime subscription because they have a very high renewal rate and the lifetime sub costs them money. They certainly don’t need defending.
Let’s get real. It’s just a music management app and a universal control point. It allows us to have one Qobuz account on the network that can play at multiple points in the house. It also means one app can be used to control all music players in the house, which is really convenient. The fact that Roon Ready controls the device, such as on/off and volume, means you don’t need separate remote controls.
Roon is just one system for Qobuz and our stored digital library. We also use Spotify, Airplay and Bluetooth on Roon Ready devices.
Roon is certainly not perfect and 1.8 should hopefully fix classical music searching, which was always much better on the Qobuz app. Improved filtering will avoid searching Coltrane and getting 364 albums.
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LDS is brilliant. Lots of Auralic users here.
I still have an Aries Mini that my son uses. It was $499 (I paid £350) and provides fantastic functionality and is Roon Ready for a crazy cheap price. I had the Femto Aries as well and the reclocking seemed to conflict with my Devialet DAC, resulting in little clicks. I put in the Aries Mini and the clicks disappeared. When Roon was implemented on the Devialet I no longer needed an Aries streamer. Apparently connecting different reclocking devices can cause issues.
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Totally.
I have a few endpoints, including two raspberry pi’s (one with a pi2aes HAT and one I run USB through the Matrix X-SPDIF 2). I’m tempted by the Matrix Mini-I Pro 3, which is a streamer and a DAC, and looks like a really cool little roon-ready device.
But for my system (Parasound HINT6 > Harbeth 30.2), perfect is the enemy of the good, and I don’t know that a $1000 streamer is gonna change my life. It’s a “living room” system, not a “listening room” system.
I think I’m at the point where I’d need to invest a massive amount of time, effort and cash into enough of an upgrade to make it count in the minds of many audiophiles.
I’d rather discover and play more music. And Roon is perfect for that.
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Bet it sounds great!
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yeah Dale funny thing is that my main system turntable is a Thorens TD-121, which only has 33-1/3 RPM. Can’t listen to any of my new 45 RPM Blue Notes on it! 
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Replace “Roon” with “PS Audio” in your post and it would apply as well, no?
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I agree with this. I just heard Roon using an SGM Extreme and it was absolutely amazing. We compared it to I believe some Innuos streamer and the difference was striking. Cool thing about the SGM was that it acts as both a streamer and server. The not so cool part was the price.
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- No company or product can be all things to all people.
- You cannot win all the time whether you’re the manufacturer, politician, designer, the sportsman, or the consumer.
- People make choices and defend them, sometimes irrationally.
- A happy Roon lifer, I am!
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Once I moved from a conventional computer OS to an Intel NUC running R.O.C.K. in mid 2019, I have never looked back.
It just seems more logical to use a a uni-tasker with an OS created and maintained by Roon Labs.
I keep the NUC a few rooms away from my audio gear.
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Ditto
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Happy Roon lifer here too.
It sounds amazing with a Nucleus +, Lumin U1 and the infamous Matrix into the DSD.
Octave might have been a possibility two or three years ago, when I was struggling with Bridge 2 and looking for an alternative, but that boat has sailed long ago, for me.
On the other hand, I am very interested in the PST, which I will try soon, as well as the DSD mk 2.
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Huh… I never got a really cool email like this from Roon. Ever.
Not a Roon hater by any means. Like @amsco15 , I may try it again for the 3rd or 4th time. I lose count.