Room’s own website is excellent - Roon is not like any other service so it is a must read.
But basically, you install software on a powerful processor (like your home PC or Mac). You then install Roon apps on your phone or tablet which you will have with you in your listening room, to control the music.
Then you connect suitable streamers wherever you want music; as many as you like - I use a Bluesound Node, a R-Pi, a Chromecast, other Macs. If you want you can also connect a DAC directly to your main processor.
Roon finds each streamer/DAC and can send different music or the same music to any combination of them. Each end point can have a custom profile of DSP and other filters. So for example if you only use headphones with your Chromecast you can build in a DSP profile for that combination.
You hook up Roon to your NAS, to Dropbox, to your music folders on your main processor, and to Qobuz/Tidal. Roon finds, sorts, and describes what you have got, dragging in information about the music it finds and showing it to you on your controller devices as you listen. It’s like having the best LP covers of all time, for all LPs, instantly.
Best of all is the audio metadata. Roon tells you loads about your signal path quality. It is a digital fiddler’s dream.
