Roon alternatives?

[Kal Rubinson]

Is that the same Lenbrook that is still flogging the dead horse that’s MQA?

Yup. Hard to understand that.

 

[godofwealth]

As a lifetime Roon subscriber, and former Logitech/Slimdevices owner, I have tried some of the alternatives, and the choices largely come down to getting a service that's tied to a specific product (e.g., Taiko, Aurender, Slimdevices, Eversolo) vs. something generic that works across platforms (e.g., Roon and a few others). My only reason for keeping options alive is that like any software company, Roon is here today, and possibly gone tomorrow. Since they're now part of Harman, we all hope they'll be around, but living in the Bay Area, I'm using to companies being around one day and gone the next. Another reason is Roon's general unreliability. In the 5-6 years I've used Roon, it's gone down countless times across multiple endpoints I've owned, and their reliability rating is below par for me. So, a healthy strategy is to keep options open, and I have two Eversolo servers that work admirably well, and bypass Roon to give me direct streaming through Qobuz/Tidal etc. and playback from a 4TB NVME drive. I'm also hanging on to my many thousand redbook CDs and SACDs collected over 40 years, the vast majority of which will never be on streaming. My general view is that streaming is great for dilettantes. If you're serious about a musical category, you need to get into physical media (vinyl for early mono releases, and redbook CDs for large classical collections, most of which are never going to be on streaming channels). There are vast number of specialized recording companies (e.g., Mosaic's fabulous jazz box sets, Lyrita's acclaimed series of British classical music, and so on) that are either not represented at all on streaming, or very poorly so. So, if you're a diehard collector of whatever genre of music you listen to, streaming is always going to be a second-best option.
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[AudioHR]

The diff in sound quality depends on which Server/Streaming bridge you are using. A standard NUC or Roon Nucleus compared to an Aurender, which has discreet linear PS etc. should sound inferior but if you use a high end Roon endpoint, the SQ is indistinguishable. Even Aurender started to offer Roon ready devices. They would not do that if the SQ would be worse than with their conductor app.

This makes sense to me as I am quite satisfied with Roon and Qobuz via my Antipodes Server/player/ PS with Ayre DAC. A hard wire Ethernet connection definitely makes a huge difference.

Mind you I have done no comparisons and still prefer vinyl.

 

[AudioHR]

As a lifetime Roon subscriber, and former Logitech/Slimdevices owner, I have tried some of the alternatives, and the choices largely come down to getting a service that's tied to a specific product (e.g., Taiko, Aurender, Slimdevices, Eversolo) vs. something generic that works across platforms (e.g., Roon and a few others). My only reason for keeping options alive is that like any software company, Roon is here today, and possibly gone tomorrow. Since they're now part of Harman, we all hope they'll be around, but living in the Bay Area, I'm using to companies being around one day and gone the next. Another reason is Roon's general unreliability. In the 5-6 years I've used Roon, it's gone down countless times across multiple endpoints I've owned, and their reliability rating is below par for me. So, a healthy strategy is to keep options open, and I have two Eversolo servers that work admirably well, and bypass Roon to give me direct streaming through Qobuz/Tidal etc. and playback from a 4TB NVME drive. I'm also hanging on to my many thousand redbook CDs and SACDs collected over 40 years, the vast majority of which will never be on streaming. My general view is that streaming is great for dilettantes. If you're serious about a musical category, you need to get into physical media (vinyl for early mono releases, and redbook CDs for large classical collections, most of which are never going to be on streaming channels). There are vast number of specialized recording companies (e.g., Mosaic's fabulous jazz box sets, Lyrita's acclaimed series of British classical music, and so on) that are either not represented at all on streaming, or very poorly so. So, if you're a diehard collector of whatever genre of music you listen to, streaming is always going to be a second-best option.
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I can see I am not into streaming like you but I have had a lifetime subscription to Roon that I purchased a number of years ago and have had no problem with it at all.

I agree with you on the physical media as you don't own anything you stream. I have added my collection of CDs but I still have them. My strategy is that if I listen to something I really like I look to add it to my vinyl collection if it is available.

 

[Doc76]

I have a lifetime subscription to Roon. The Aurender N30 SA sounds amazing - even better than Roon or the Taiko Extreme. This is my experience…. others may have a different opinion as I only have a 650k system. IMO System Synergy is what decides the overall sound of the system…

 

[Gregm]

If you're serious about a musical category, you need to get into physical media (vinyl for early mono releases, and redbook CDs for large classical collections, most of which are never going to be on streaming channels).

Specially for classical, at least so far.

There are vast number of specialized recording companies (e.g., Mosaic's fabulous jazz box sets, Lyrita's acclaimed series of British classical music, and so on) that are either not represented at all on streaming, or very poorly so. So, if you're a diehard collector of whatever genre of music you listen to, streaming is always going to be a second-best option.
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Indeed! I find that my external HDD serves me well; I have most of my CDs and many vinyls saved on it.

Speaking of players I too find that Roon's GUI & facilities are outstanding but the sound leaves to be desired unless you use an elaborate system. J River seems to be user friendly enough while offering much better sound and accommodating plugins as well (REW convolutions for example).

 

[Slingblade]

Newb questions to follow so please be gentle!

My Weiss DAC is Roon ready and I typically stream Qobuz however I have a fair number of CD’s that sound better than streaming. Would it be overkill to use a Nucleus as a file server after I ripped the CD’s? My system is in my signature. My Esoteric player is long in the tooth but serves me well as a transport.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PLF]

I used to use Roon until I compared it to Audirvana (without HQ Player).

On my system, Audirvana is considerably better than Roon.

This applies to both streaming from internet (Qobuz) as well as streaming from local disks (which is what I normally do).

My tests were done with three of my DACs - MSB Select II, Wadax Studio and Mola Mola Tambaqui. All three of them quite decent, and transparent.

My streamers were Aavik S-280 as well as Wadax Studio internal streamer.

In all cases, Audirvana was the best. The difference in my experience was embarrassingly large compared to Roon.

The fact that Audrivana is cheaper than Roon is a small plus.


Pedro

 

[Stefan]

I used to use Roon until I compared it to Audirvana (without HQ Player).

On my system, Audirvana is considerably better than Roon.

This applies to both streaming from internet (Qobuz) as well as streaming from local disks (which is what I normally do).

My tests were done with three of my DACs - MSB Select II, Wadax Studio and Mola Mola Tambaqui. All three of them quite decent, and transparent.

My streamers were Aavik S-280 as well as Wadax Studio internal streamer.

In all cases, Audirvana was the best. The difference in my experience was embarrassingly large compared to Roon.

The fact that Audrivana is cheaper than Roon is a small plus.


Pedro

Based on my experience with various software options over the years, including Amarra, Pure Music, and Roon, as well as Holo Red and Holo DACs (Cyan2, Spring, and May), I agree 100%. Audirvana sounds the best to my ears. I use Roon for family and background listening because the UI is excellent, but Audirvana for when I pay attention to what I am listening to.

 

[Bartolo1]

Newb questions to follow so please be gentle!

My Weiss DAC is Roon ready and I typically stream Qobuz however I have a fair number of CD’s that sound better than streaming. Would it be overkill to use a Nucleus as a file server after I ripped the CD’s? My system is in my signature. My Esoteric player is long in the tooth but serves me well as a transport.

Thanks in advance!

That is what I do. I already had almost 2 Tb of lossless and hi res music files, and put them onto SSDs in a Roon Nucleus. A few years ago I also bought a Qobuz subscription as I lost interest for the most part in buying new music, and love the ability to listen to a lot of new music without the commitment of buying it.

So my choices when listening to digital at home are to listen to something from my local library stored on the Nucleus, or to stream via Qobuz. This makes perfect sense to me.

As to sound quality, I've always used servers that are hard-wired to a home network many rooms away from where the hi fi is. My streamer player is connected also by ethernet, and more recently with an Ansuz switch between the streamer player and the ethernet wall jack. I could spend more on a server, and that Nucleus is at least 8 years old, but if it's going to live far away on a home wired network Im not convinced I'd hear any difference.

 

[Bartolo1]

I used to use Roon until I compared it to Audirvana (without HQ Player).

On my system, Audirvana is considerably better than Roon.

This applies to both streaming from internet (Qobuz) as well as streaming from local disks (which is what I normally do).

My tests were done with three of my DACs - MSB Select II, Wadax Studio and Mola Mola Tambaqui. All three of them quite decent, and transparent.

My streamers were Aavik S-280 as well as Wadax Studio internal streamer.

In all cases, Audirvana was the best. The difference in my experience was embarrassingly large compared to Roon.

The fact that Audrivana is cheaper than Roon is a small plus.


Pedro

What hardware do you use as a local server?
I use a Naim streamer-player which while Roon Ready does not support Audirvana.

 

[PLF]

What hardware do you use as a local server?
I use a Naim streamer-player which while Roon Ready does not support Audirvana.

I use a headless Mac Mini M2 CPU with 16gb of RAM and external SSD.

 

[Bartolo1]

I use a headless Mac Mini M2 CPU with 16gb of RAM and external SSD.

I have some time on my hands these days; maybe I'll try a 30-day trial of Audirvana this way and see if I hear any improvement over Roon on a NUC. In the past I've been able to A/B Roon on a NUC vs. Asset or Minimserver on a Synology NAS and they all sounded the same to me.

 

[jasond]

In all cases, Audirvana was the best. The difference in my experience was embarrassingly large compared to Roon.

Many users discovered that Roon is lacking in sound quality. It’s interesting how Audirvana or JPlay or HQPlayer can improve things.
Have you tried JPlay etc too?

 

[PLF]

Never tried JPlay. I have tired some others including Amarra, Minimserver, Qobuz Connect and Tidal Connect. In my system and with other people's set ups. Really can not recommend Roon from my experience. Audirvana for me for now. I use it without HQPlayer.

 

[sbo6]

I've used HQplayer, InnuOS, HiFi Rose, ROON and many others, by a long shot ROON is by far the best. The GUI is level better than any others, configurable, indexing, etc., and has DEQ built - in. Sometimes you get what you pay for. ;-)

 

[jasond]

I've used HQplayer, InnuOS, HiFi Rose, ROON and many others, by a long shot ROON is by far the best. The GUI is level better than any others, configurable, indexing, etc., and has DEQ built - in. Sometimes you get what you pay for. ;-)

Well the Roon app is having problems for year like choppy scrolling and even though it’s structured and provides a lot of very useful information, its user experience doesn’t match for example JPlay.

 

[AudioHR]

Well the Roon app is having problems for year like choppy scrolling and even though it’s structured and provides a lot of very useful information, its user experience doesn’t match for example JPlay.

Hmmm.....choppy scrolling? Could it be that Roon is not your real issue?

 

[jasond]

Hmmm.....choppy scrolling? Could it be that Roon is not your real issue?

This is well documented at Roon forum - and they confirmed it too. The reason is known as the Roon app is not a native app rather than some mobile framework.
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/laggy-choppy-scrolling/291921 and many more bug reports for years. But that is just the tip of the iceberg, many reports about lacking sound quality etc.
(And it’s also known that users get silenced when repeatedly asking for bug fixes or not behaving like their moderators want them to be.Bur that is a different story. Just so you get a better understanding of the mindset and the approach of Roon‘s team)

 

[PLF]

I've used HQplayer, InnuOS, HiFi Rose, ROON and many others, by a long shot ROON is by far the best. The GUI is level better than any others, configurable, indexing, etc., and has DEQ built - in. Sometimes you get what you pay for. ;-)

Roon's GUI is indeed superior, but the sound quality is relatively poor in my experience. Glad you enjoy Roon, but I much prefer Audirvana.