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a remarkably basic question about Roon

I'm considering trying out Roon and, despite hours spent on their too-busy website, I'm still not entirely sure what it would do for me. (Trying to get through their "support" section is an exercise in misery all around.) 

Here's my clueless question. I currently stream music through a Bryston BDP. I use the Bryston software, "Manic Moose," on my laptop or phone to create playlists, move between digital sources (flash drive, Qobuz, radio), and as a remote control for volume, song choice, etc. The Bryston software isn't at all elegant but it's functional.

So, if I get Roon, would I be doing the same thing from the Roon app on my laptop or phone? Would I be completely bypassing "Manic Moose"? and doing everything on the Roon app, including such things as volume and song selection? I understand that Roon is an effective organizer of music from multiple sources; is it also a "media player?? (I have a traditional two-channel set-up and don't do multiple rooms.) The Manic Moose software is clunky enough that I'd consider swapping it out for Roon, if that's in fact what I would be doing. 

Thanks! 

northman
jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
953 posts
 

@northman

I have a BDP -pi

If you look on the lower left corner of the MM Dashboard you will see a button that says Playback. Its a dropdown and if click it you will see "Roon Ready". Just select that and MM shuts down and ROON will show on the display. Now when you fire up a roon core and go look for endpoints you with see the BDP. Thats all there is to it.

I dids the The Roons (TR) trial on a iMAC to test it. MM sounded better than TR . Then I bit the bullet and got an SGC ST i5 and rehosted TR Core, Upgraded my cabling and now TR sounds as good as MM. Except for the Radio Paradise app in MM. RP still sounds better streamed from the app withing MM than TR.

Note: I also put a mesh wifi in my house and put one of the nodes next to my rig and hardwire the i5 and the BDP. Dropouts are rare

Do the TR trial and fill us in on what the SQ results are between MM vs TR.

There still is a fair number of users out there that think that MPD (music player daemon) inside MM sounds better than TR.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,535 posts
 

What part of 3 months for a buck has you questioning instead of trying?

northman OP
237 posts
 

That's exceptionally helpful, @jbuhl. I'm hoping to avoid the SGC bullet-bite, but I can certainly see why it's valuable. I have already added a mesh booster/node to hardwire the BDP, and it absolutely helps with dropouts. 

I'm going to sign up for Roon this evening and will enjoy playing with it over the holidays. I'll report if I can detect any difference in sq, and more likely I'll be back with questions! 

northman OP
237 posts
 

And @fuzztone: the part of me that has a job and a family and a million projects around the house; the part of me that has limited internet speed and isn’t interested in technology or flashy interfaces but just wants to listen to the music; the part of me that knows that these monthly subscriptions add up (e.g., the two music streaming services I use, the four or five video services, etc); and especially the part of me that doesn’t want to spend hours (which I don’t have) on something that I simply don’t need....

But I get your point and I AM going to give it a try. I suppose the worst that can happen is that I like it!

cdc77's avatar
cdc77
34 posts
 

Switched to Innuos Sense a few months ago when Innuos released its new App for those of using their servers.  No doubt the music sounds better than when processed through Roon.   I am not familiar with the Bryson app in the post that started this thread, but I don’t think you can assume you will get better sound through Roon.   It may go the other way.

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