Roon Discussion

Discussion in 'Computer Audiophile: Software, Configs, Tools' started by AllanMarcus, Jul 3, 2016.

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  1. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Not that long ago Roon's forum was not half bad as far as signal to noise ratio. Lately however threads like that and too many others are all but worthless. Perhaps this is an indication that their subscriber numbers have grown consistently. I hope so because I would like to have a real competitor to Roon someday.
     
  2. pedalhead

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    Yeah agreed, definitely a crap tonne more people posting over there these days with predictable results.

    Back to 1.8, whilst I’m a fan of Valence and really appreciate the “New Releases for You” feature, I honestly don’t feel it’s a step in the right direction for Valence suggestions to be so prominent that they actually replace the full body of data that I may be looking for.

    eg…Where we used to see an artists full discography on a specific album page or the artist page itself, with 1.8 we now get “Popular” tracks prominantly displayed. We then have to scroll down through “Recommended albums”, then click “Discography” to actually get to the meat of the thing (and furthermore, they’re missing the star ratings…aggh).

    I couldn’t give a rats arse what tracks and albums other roon users are listening to . I’d like recommendations for albums based on MY listening, in a part of the interface that doesn’t replace a core set of data like a discography. I think this move to curated/big data based recomendations being front and centre, with actual library and discography lists hidden behind buttons, is a bit of a worrying move.
     
  3. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    This is bad, real bad. If I wanted to have a Pandora/Spotify/Tidal desktop app experience why did I buy Roon?
     
  4. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    As much as I was looking forward to the improvements in handling classical music, this aspect could make me want to stay at 1.7 forever.
     
  5. Inoculator

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    I guess I am going to continue to be the optimist/contrarian on the redesign. If you have albums for an artist in your collection it shows up right below popular tracks, and before all that recommended artists/albums stuff. Even better, you can click discography at the very top of the artists page to look at just discography and none of the recommendations stuff, and the new discography page is great. You can easily now toggle just seeing discography in your collection and full discography.

    Personally, I also am very happy to finally see a Popular tracks section that is prominent. When I am first discovering an artist, for example if I just heard them on Roon radio but had never heard of them before, it is great to see what tracks they are known for. The ability to sort albums by popularity is great as well. And then for an artist I already know, I can just skip all the fluff and go straight to the discography page.

    I suppose a decent solution would be letting people re-order these sections on the artist overview page. So you could put albums in my library as the very first thing on the page if you don't want Bio/Genres/Popular tracks first.
     
  6. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    Hopefully for the excellent audio quality above all else. I finally got around to listening via 1.8 and I am impressed with how it sounds. Subtle, but I swear I’m hearing more relaxed, more reverb, more shape to the sounds. That, expectation bias, or this powerful Stout I’m drinking. Who cares, I’m happy with Roon.
     
  7. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I don't mind having the library and discography behind buttons since I don't always want to know what are every single album an artist/group released. When I'm in the mood, I just press it with my fat finger. I did that the other day and I discovered even a few albums that I didn't know that I had from an artist.

    Roon 1.8 has been working great for me with no real issues. Changes works out great for me.
     
  8. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    I guess the bigger question is... have they identified any bugs? It seems like every major version has kinks that need worked out. I'm going to have to deal with the new interface eventually, but don't want to be part of an extended beta release.
     
  9. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    Because this change to "popular tracks" alone I feel way better about not having lifetime subscription. Now I am really waiting for a competitor. When I click on the artist the only thing I want is discography and bio, not the next level of navigation.
    I think it is basic and obvious.
     
  10. pedalhead

    pedalhead Friend

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    Quite a few reported bugs, especially if you're using an ipad apparently.
     
  11. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    Question, the artist page in 1.7 was:
    Couple lines of bio (country, where born, other bands)
    Top Tracks
    Main Albums (ie., in my library)
    Main Albums (includes Qobuz, and I assume Tidal if subscribed)
    Singles and EPs (again, assume pulling this from Qobuz/Tidal)
    Then follows with: With Various Artists; Appearances; Production; Similar To; Followed By; Influenced By; Collaborated With; Associated With​

    How is "Popular Tracks" different from "Top Tracks"?

    Maybe I should load up v1.8 on one of my systems to check it out... or, once I get it am I stuck with having to install on all my systems?

    I'm not iOS, so I guess that's a plus... for me
     
  12. Broberto

    Broberto New

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    Popular Tracks is showing most played tracks (across either all Roon users or all Tidal/Qobuz, not sure) while Top Tracks used to be YOUR most played tracks of that artist

    Which is a step back IMO - at least for the random synth pop artists that I listen to I am finding the Popular Tracks to be pretty poor choices normally for my taste, so I'd rather it show my own Top Tracks. I also liked the ability to go to an artist and quickly queue up my top 20 tracks from them, still easy but a few clicks removed

    Question for anyone who does not have a Tidal/Qobuz subscription linked to their Roon - does it just show your own Top Tracks if so?
     
  13. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    Why wouldn't they just give you a radio/checkbox to show just your top or everyone's top? Seems like a win/win
     
  14. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Despite my hesitation noted upstream I took the plunge on Wednesday and installed 1.8 on my core and remote systems (note: Roon Bridge for devices like my Pi 2/Roppieeexl install remain at 1.7 intentionally). The changes do not slap me in the face quite as hard as I thought they would. I do not like having to click buttons for discography, and some of the UI changes (e.g. the placement of the 'Roon Radio' interface) take up screen space from things I actually want to see (such as my queue), but overall not as impactful as anticipated.

    Strangely, some the discography for some artists I have looked at is broken (not showing all their albums), but bug fix builds are rolling out pretty quickly and I have already noticed this is fixed for at least one artist I looked up.

    The things I do the most - interacting/searching Tidal/Qobuz, interacting/playing my local albums, viewing/changing the queue - have remained largely the same and though the graphical changes for me are mostly change for change sake, they are not ruining the experience.
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2021
  15. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    A&K included Roon Ready in the recent SP2000 and SP1000 framework. Unfortunately, the Kann Cube framework will have to wait for this That would be a big deal for me. Kann Cube DAC has real 2x3 pin XLR output and sounds very competent feeding BHA-1, and my, still alive, Nuforce HA200 headphone amp monoblocks.
     
  16. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Is anyone using a Roon Rock for their Roon Core? Was thinking about moving the Core out of my laptop and into an Intel NUC device. Would be great to not have my laptop on all the time just for this.

    Good/Bad on doing this route is what I'm looking for. How easy to install?
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
  17. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Yup, I do. On an Intel Nuc i3. Been a while, but took about 40 minutes or so I think to setup. Just followed the setup instructions on the Roon site and it was simple. After the network is setup, everything else can be done by browser accessing the IP address. Updates are set on auto. Basically it sits there like an appliance and I reboot it once and a while if connectivity is spotty or it loses access to Tidal. I just run it 24/7 and don’t worry about it. Before that I was booting my laptop everyday or every time I wanted to listen. Nuc + Rock is so much better.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
  18. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    How's the fan nose?
     
  19. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    I sometimes hear it if I’m within a couple feet of it, but just barely. And sometimes even then not at all. The rest of the time it’s about 7-10 feet away and I never hear it, ever. It can be anywhere on your network, so just stick it somewhere you’ll never hear it or see it. That’s the beauty of it, it’s just a black box that you don’t need to interact with much at all.
     
  20. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    The CORE will be near your router as the ROCK On new NUC doesn't support wifi so I presume it won't be in your listening room and hence I won't worry about the fan noise. In my use case with little Roon upsampling I don't hear any or very little of it. But right now I'm in India and we have ceiling fans running all day long so fan noise from NUC is not an issue for me at all. Mine is NUC8 i5.
     

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