You can give Roon a shot with free intro subscription no cost. It should be able to get you to a much better streaming place. It’s one of my best hifi investments in recent years. Just make sure to run the server on a suitable powered platform.
I'm at a digital loss or getting over UI mountain
So far, I hate digital audio. Let me explain...
I was an early adopter of one of the Olive machines. Easy to use, which was a big plus for my wife but it sounded terrible. Good for some background music. As the company began to disappear, so did its functionality. First the radio left when they stopped paying for it. They stopped supporting the wireless transfer. Then, Gracenote no longer updated etc.
Since then I tried to organize a digital collection in my Mac Mini and iTunes. I have thousands of CDs ripped in ALAC, thousands of pieces in FLAC and MP3. I carefully built a library in iTunes only to lose all the artwork in the iOS upgrade to Music recently. After the Olive, I bought a Sony HAP digital player which upsamples everything and sounds WAY better but, can't seem to categorize things correctly. All the careful work in the Mac Mini is lost in translation.
If I look in Genre: Reggae, for example, there should be thousands of albums and yet there are a handful. There seems to be no way to alter this. Furthermore, try find albums that should be classified as Various Artists - most get lost somewhere. And don't even get me started on Classical music and its filing system.
I usually just go over to my albums and select something to play. It never changes operating systems, its UI is excellent, taxonomy never changes, always sounds good...So why mess around with digital?
I'm intrigued with Roon and wonder if it could solve the UI and taxonomy issues but, I don't know anyone who uses it. Of course, someone just bought it so, will it be around? I can't seem to rely on Apple either although it seemed the best most stable bet.
I've agonized on whether to get a DAC/streamer but library management is most critical to me. I have been looking at the Hifi Rose lineup as I really like the one box solution (easy to use for wife). But if I implement Roon, I still need a computer somewhere to host it. Since I already have the MacMini it seems like a good place to start. However, how to deal with all the UI stuff?
Perhaps hivemind you can help me out here?
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+1 @ghdprentice To speak personally, I have decided to stop worry about managing files -- DVD’s, CD’s, etc. It’s not worth the time -- to me. Streaming is reliable, Roon is an amazing organizing tool, and even without Roon, playlists on Apple, etc. are simple to use. It’s all data -- data on vinyl, data on CD’s, data on streaming services. I would rather discover new music, compare renditions of pieces I know well, or return to old favorites in a playlist -- e.g., called, "My Music" for the CD’s I own but am now streaming -- than spend time shuffling things around in files. Life’s too short, for me.
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I agree with others that the music collection concept is fading with the availability of high quality streaming services for a monthly pittance. Look for a good dedicated streamer that has an interface touted by the folks in this forum. Aurender, Innuos and Roon are all high rated for their UI’s. I just implemented Roon on a low cost “renewed” Mac Mini running Ubuntu, easy enough, but I worked as a software engineer for thirty five years. If you don’t like to mess with tech, find the best streamer with a native solution and get a Qobuz account. |
Good points by members here about Roon, which seems to take occasional hits related to sound quality but most find it acceptable especially given the access to informative write-ups about artists, the many music choices available through Roon's administration of TIDAL and Qobuz all from one platform, and Roon Radio, which serves as sort of an AI-type musical source that plays selections based on your previously played preferences. On the downside, the costs do add up, but maybe compare to other costs we have accepted as the norm in our expanding digital world, for things like our phones, internet, and cable/streaming television. I purchased Roon Lifetime (originally $500) early on , which ended up being a good move for me, and I also have monthly subscriptions to both TIDAL ($10 or $19 if you use MQA) and Qobuz ($13). Currently Roon is $15/mo or $12.5/mo if paid annually, or $830 lifetime. You could contrast those costs against purchasing physical media, which I rarely do any more. |
In my opinion, the UI and UX Roon offers are simply unbeatable. But to get the best sound quality from Roon you will most likely need either a solid, fanless roon core with a good streamer (Lumin seems to work well in this configuration) or the top tier Roon Nucleus + used as both the Roon Core and a streamer. Another option is something along the lines of Grimm MU1, which is both the Roon Core and a streamer that comes at s much higher price. |
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