r/roonlabs

I researched and researched the advantages and benefits of Roon, yet still can't see why I need it if I'm not interested in creating a library of my music collection. I have zero interest in burning my thousands of CDs onto a hard drive just for the convenience of listening via Roon's server. Plus, that's another high ticket expense on top of the monthly Roon subscription. I already subscribe to Tidal, Spotify and Amazon Music, which all allow me to built playlists and collections. So what does a Roon subscription offer besides expanded info about the artist and album credits?

After years of annual subscriptions I finally pulled the trigger on the lifetime subscription. I was hesitant but I have to look at the past subscription fees as sunk costs. I love this platform and cannot imagine not needing it. The breakeven point for me is 4 1/2 years assuming no changes in price which is unlikely.

Quick update for those who've been following along. A few things have changed.

The pricing is now $9.99/yr or $29.99 lifetime. Every early supporter who paid the original price got a credit for the difference, and every yearly subscriber was upgraded to lifetime at no cost. The people who showed up first should come out ahead.

Adventurous depth is now a paid feature. Free users still get 3 playlists with Essential and Balanced depths. If you've been curious about the cross-genre side of the engine, Adventurous is where the interesting connections live.

A major new platform integration is in the works. More on this soon.

Playlists still land directly in your Tidal or Qobuz library, ready to play through Roon the moment they're created.

I also started a blog if anyone wants to read more about the thinking behind the engine: https://sonicoracle.ai/blog

Thanks to everyone here who's been supportive. This community has been one of the best from day one.

Alessandro

Curious to know if you leave the unit on at all times?

I’m keen to start using Roon, will only be used with streaming services so assuming a simple NUC will be more than powerful enough but what do people recommend? Guessing there must be a £200 NUC or am I better off getting a used Mac Mini M1/M2?

I have a Dell Inspiron 14 running Windows 11. ROCK is running on a NUC if that matters.

Anyway, running the Roon app on this laptop, the laptop's own sound hardware does not appear as one of the output options. If I go into the Audio section of the settings, there is no sign of the laptop's Realtek audio, no way to enable it.

The laptop's audio appears to be working fine in Windows settings. I can play Youtube videos just fine.

Also, when I plug my iFi hip DAC into the laptop, the computer recognizes it, but it doesn't show up in the Roon options either.

The laptop's internal audio doesn't concern me that much as the built-in speakers are terrible, but not being able to use the DAC is a problem.

I have restarted both the ROCK and the laptop multiple times. That doesn't make a difference.

EDIT: Roon Bridge is running. This is a new problem. Roon used to be able to access both the DAC and the internal audio on this machine.

Anyone ever have a similar problem?

Background:
Roon is running in Container on my QNAP, latest version. All Roon apps are also the latest version.
QNAP is wired on 2.5gb network port and Sonos devices are on wireless. Devices are in the same VLAN.
Network is Ubiquiti.

Issue:
My Sonos One's (configured as a Stereo pair) often play songs where one speaker sounds like its running the wrong polarity. This happens only when using AirPlay2.

If I use Sonos streaming, songs often skip, but never sound like one speaker is running incorrectly.
Sonos playback is 100% rock solid if I use the Sonos app rather than Roon.

What is going on?

I recently added a few albums to my library. They're not super obscure and are available on Tidal but for some reason they are not automatically adding album artwork. The tags and links are all correct loaded from Roon. Any ideas?

Albums are Jonsi and Alex Riceboy Sleeps and Owen At Home with Owen