Roon alternatives?

[Kal Rubinson]

Is that the same Lenbrook that is still flogging the dead horse that’s MQA?

Yup. Hard to understand that.

 

[godofwealth]

As a lifetime Roon subscriber, and former Logitech/Slimdevices owner, I have tried some of the alternatives, and the choices largely come down to getting a service that's tied to a specific product (e.g., Taiko, Aurender, Slimdevices, Eversolo) vs. something generic that works across platforms (e.g., Roon and a few others). My only reason for keeping options alive is that like any software company, Roon is here today, and possibly gone tomorrow. Since they're now part of Harman, we all hope they'll be around, but living in the Bay Area, I'm using to companies being around one day and gone the next. Another reason is Roon's general unreliability. In the 5-6 years I've used Roon, it's gone down countless times across multiple endpoints I've owned, and their reliability rating is below par for me. So, a healthy strategy is to keep options open, and I have two Eversolo servers that work admirably well, and bypass Roon to give me direct streaming through Qobuz/Tidal etc. and playback from a 4TB NVME drive. I'm also hanging on to my many thousand redbook CDs and SACDs collected over 40 years, the vast majority of which will never be on streaming. My general view is that streaming is great for dilettantes. If you're serious about a musical category, you need to get into physical media (vinyl for early mono releases, and redbook CDs for large classical collections, most of which are never going to be on streaming channels). There are vast number of specialized recording companies (e.g., Mosaic's fabulous jazz box sets, Lyrita's acclaimed series of British classical music, and so on) that are either not represented at all on streaming, or very poorly so. So, if you're a diehard collector of whatever genre of music you listen to, streaming is always going to be a second-best option.
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[AudioHR]

The diff in sound quality depends on which Server/Streaming bridge you are using. A standard NUC or Roon Nucleus compared to an Aurender, which has discreet linear PS etc. should sound inferior but if you use a high end Roon endpoint, the SQ is indistinguishable. Even Aurender started to offer Roon ready devices. They would not do that if the SQ would be worse than with their conductor app.

This makes sense to me as I am quite satisfied with Roon and Qobuz via my Antipodes Server/player/ PS with Ayre DAC. A hard wire Ethernet connection definitely makes a huge difference.

Mind you I have done no comparisons and still prefer vinyl.

 

[AudioHR]

As a lifetime Roon subscriber, and former Logitech/Slimdevices owner, I have tried some of the alternatives, and the choices largely come down to getting a service that's tied to a specific product (e.g., Taiko, Aurender, Slimdevices, Eversolo) vs. something generic that works across platforms (e.g., Roon and a few others). My only reason for keeping options alive is that like any software company, Roon is here today, and possibly gone tomorrow. Since they're now part of Harman, we all hope they'll be around, but living in the Bay Area, I'm using to companies being around one day and gone the next. Another reason is Roon's general unreliability. In the 5-6 years I've used Roon, it's gone down countless times across multiple endpoints I've owned, and their reliability rating is below par for me. So, a healthy strategy is to keep options open, and I have two Eversolo servers that work admirably well, and bypass Roon to give me direct streaming through Qobuz/Tidal etc. and playback from a 4TB NVME drive. I'm also hanging on to my many thousand redbook CDs and SACDs collected over 40 years, the vast majority of which will never be on streaming. My general view is that streaming is great for dilettantes. If you're serious about a musical category, you need to get into physical media (vinyl for early mono releases, and redbook CDs for large classical collections, most of which are never going to be on streaming channels). There are vast number of specialized recording companies (e.g., Mosaic's fabulous jazz box sets, Lyrita's acclaimed series of British classical music, and so on) that are either not represented at all on streaming, or very poorly so. So, if you're a diehard collector of whatever genre of music you listen to, streaming is always going to be a second-best option.
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I can see I am not into streaming like you but I have had a lifetime subscription to Roon that I purchased a number of years ago and have had no problem with it at all.

I agree with you on the physical media as you don't own anything you stream. I have added my collection of CDs but I still have them. My strategy is that if I listen to something I really like I look to add it to my vinyl collection if it is available.

 

[Doc76]

I have a lifetime subscription to Roon. The Aurender N30 SA sounds amazing - even better than Roon or the Taiko Extreme. This is my experience…. others may have a different opinion as I only have a 650k system. IMO System Synergy is what decides the overall sound of the system…

 

[Gregm]

If you're serious about a musical category, you need to get into physical media (vinyl for early mono releases, and redbook CDs for large classical collections, most of which are never going to be on streaming channels).

Specially for classical, at least so far.

There are vast number of specialized recording companies (e.g., Mosaic's fabulous jazz box sets, Lyrita's acclaimed series of British classical music, and so on) that are either not represented at all on streaming, or very poorly so. So, if you're a diehard collector of whatever genre of music you listen to, streaming is always going to be a second-best option.
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Indeed! I find that my external HDD serves me well; I have most of my CDs and many vinyls saved on it.

Speaking of players I too find that Roon's GUI & facilities are outstanding but the sound leaves to be desired unless you use an elaborate system. J River seems to be user friendly enough while offering much better sound and accommodating plugins as well (REW convolutions for example).