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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
geof3
1,129 posts
 

I’m not sure if I were simply running any various music app, Spotify, Amazon, or whatever, if I would bother with Roon. Don’t get me wrong, I love Roon, but it manages my NAS and the way too many songs it has on it. I can use other software, but Roon is brilliant at linking things together and “learning” how I navigate and my preferences. It does do multi room as well and that is definitely a cool feature. It also has some good DSP functions that can be helpful if you need such things. Worth the free trial right now IMO.

mhe
22 posts
 

Roon also has a good crossfeed feature if you ever listen on headphones. (It's why I subscribe.)

wsrrsw's avatar
wsrrsw
1,124 posts
 

I resisted roon as I thought SQ would suffer. I was wrong when I realised that my laptop as a roon core was causing the SQ issue.   

I got a roon nucleus and moved all my flak files onto it. My streamer is roon ready as many are. Roon runs Qobuz better that the native Qibuz software  

I got an iPad too as reading the text on my phone was ridiculous. Pandora’s box has grown exponentially  

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

lordrootman's avatar
lordrootman
383 posts
 

I have try roon for several times and never ever like it

I like tidal and my streamer’s apps Cambridge and moon mind

 

tk21
238 posts
 

Moving to Roon from other music-management applications is a little like moving to a Macintosh (in its early days) from a DOS computer.  Like Apple, the Roon engineers have developed a music ecosystem that integrates hardware, software, and data into one more or less seamless environment.  It exposes about as much (or as little) detail as the end-user wants to see (metrics, metadata etc) within a user interface that is rather consistent across devices (laptop, smartphone, iPad).  One limitation: although it works very well as a multi-room system,  it cannot be mobile.  You're tethered to one or more Core systems in your house; you cannot  take it with you in your car. 

One of my favorite features is "Roon radio",  which seems to implement a pretty good "more like this" algorithm.  It also has DSP capabilities including upsampling and parametric equalization (to boost/attenuate specific frequencies). I have an extension/app to cast a display to an Apple TV; this exposes "now playing" album art and volume/track controls onto a 43" TV screen in my listening room.  You can use Roon with Tidal or Qobuz subscriptions, but not with Spotify or Apple Music (although you can pull a library of stored music files into the Roon library).

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