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The normal Roon trial period is 14-days. If you bought the AudioQuest Jitterbug, there should be a Roon 60-day trial promo card in the box with an activation code on it.
My 60-day trial was about to expire so I just subscribed for 1 year ($119 USD). I'm loving it! And decided I needed it.
It's well worth trying out if you haven't already and if you bought the AQ Jitterbug, you get two entire months free.
Because fmak hates pictures....
Follow Ups:
I'm curious about what you think about the AQ JitterBug. Does it improve the sound of the digital files with a USB DAC?
Thanks,
Best regards, Ralph
They're cheap and I had to try one. Jitterbug didn't do anything for me, but the 60-day Roon trial promo card that came in the box with the Jitterbug was worthwhile. I guess you can say the $50 Jitterbug cost me $30 because the 60-day Roon trial has a $20 value. ;-)
Edits: 08/13/16 08/13/16
nt
Best regards, Ralph
Abe, does Roon do anything for you if you primarily stream from Spotify. I have a 4300 CD library, but rarely use it. I did try Roon a few years ago, but I did not like enough to continue back then.
Cut-Throat
Roon works great with your own music library and TIDAL but it doesn't support Spotify.
To fall.
"My prediction is that Abe will be the next to fall; you wait, in another month he'll start singing the praises of Roon. Like all new paradigms, it takes awhile to adjust. For those that keep crustily protesting without actually trying to use the software, you are only limiting yourselves." --June 23
There really is no going back once you understand what it can do for your listening enjoyment. At least for me, HQP takes the SQ up another notch as well.
:)
...My 60-day trial was still active. I figured I would start my paid-for subscription after getting my free 60-day's worth. ;-)
Edits: 08/08/16
I do like HQ, tho.
I just drag and drop what I want to listen to.
The only Streaming I do is Internet Radio, on Sony Z1.
Roon has turned out to be far more than a music program with metadata. Not only is the staff extremely responsive to customer feature wishes, but the Roon Ready concept is being embraced by many in the industry for their products. I hope to be reviewing my first Roon Ready DAC soon and some comments about the microRendu.
In what way? I've been through the web site and read the reviews. As far as I can tell, the difference between Roon and most other software is in the amount of metadata it pulls down and how it uses that metadata to create navigable relations between different music beyond what you can make with ID3 tags.
Steve covered much of it as I was composing this response. You really have to try Roon for yourself to better understand it's capabilities. It took me a few weeks of digging into it (part time) with various configurations to appreciate what it does beyond library management and rich metadata.You pay for Roon on one server with the ability to stream to unlimited end-points. I played with Roon on a Mac Mini with Roon Bridge on a 2nd Mac Mini as an end point. However, you can run Roon and manage it locally if you have no networked end-points. I also played with it using my work laptop as a Roon Bridge end-point playing music from the Mini to my laptop as I work. I also have the microRendu network streamer end-point as well as two AppleTV AirPlay devices in the house.
Integration and compatibility:
- with a variety of servers and PCs, Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and popular NAS.
- with a variety of end-points including PC, Mac, DIY ARM streamers, DIY Intel based streamers, commercial RoonReady streamers, commercial RoonReady DACs, Squeezebox devices, Meridian devices, AirPlay devices. Audio synchronization to multiple rooms across multiple end-point devices (zones).
- with a variety of audio format types including WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, OGG,up to 24/384. DSD64, DSD128, and DSD256 content in DSF format. MP3, AAC.
- works seamlessly as a front-end to TiDAL and HQPlayer.
- with a variety of control points for remote control like iOS and Android devices.
- and it's very snappy and responsive. Virtually no lag in navigation, selection, or scrolling even with rich album art (requires OpenGL 3.0 or later).
- control point remotes reconnect rapidly. I can have the Roon screen up on my iPad, start a playlist or queue, disconnect and turn off the iPad and let it play. When I start the Roon app again on the iPad it automatically and immediately reconnects to the server within a second, almost no delay.
- settings are easy to access and reconfigure locally on the Roon server or via the control point.... iPad Mini in my case.
Here's what I'm playing with this week along with some sample Roon Settings screen shots.
Mac Mini running Roon Core streaming to the networked microRendu with it's USB output driving the W4S uLink USB to S/PDIF converter to the Mytek Digital Stereo 192-DSD-DAC. I also run the Mytek DAC direct to the Mac Mini but I'm testing the W4S uLink USB to S/PDIF converter primarily for use on an older CDP/DAC I have down in the basement.
Because fmak hates pictures....
Some Roon settings. There's much more that I didn't capture
The blue Enable buttons are devices that have not been Enabled. Only the microRendu has been selected in
this example. Once a device is Enabled additional screens appear for configuration settings.
Signal path example to microRendu streamer
Signal path example to HQPlayer (to microRendu streamer>
Edits: 08/09/16 08/09/16 08/09/16 08/09/16
Thanks for the additional info.
The interoperability and integration is less of a selling point with me because I've already got there using DLNA infrastructure and apps & devices supporting OpenHome. I have a single server, 9 playback devices from 6 different manufacturers, and control apps for iOS, Android, OS X and Windows. Some of my devices are a little clunky/buggy but overall I'm happy with how it all works. Ambitious LMS users have got there too.
With Roon, it's mostly the enhanced browsing experience that I'm interested in. I still use YouTube a lot for discovering new music because of the links and suggestions it makes and good search. If Roon could fill that role it would be great.
But from what I've read, it sounds like a closed ecosystem so if I really like it I'd be faced with the prospect of buying all new Roon-ready playback devices. That's what has kept me from trying it so far.
The RAAT streaming technology moves bit-perfect streams to Roon Ready networked devices and outputs connected to devices running Roon, Roon Server, or Roon Bridge.
Roon supports many different kinds of output devices, including:
Roon Ready Networked devices.
Connected outputs, including USB DACs, sound cards, and built-in outputs
AirPlay devices
Logitech's Squeezebox devices
Meridian Audio's networked endpoints
HQPlayer
My concern is a recent post on AudioCricle suggesting that Roon's network protocol might be dropping information. There was clearly loss, but it is not fully understood why. I'd like to see more quantitative work done in this area.
I wonder if this could be one reason some folks are getting better sound with Roon and storage on a single server connected directly to the DAC... rather than via endpoints and/or NAS.
I am curious, as I'd like a Roon-based solution.
Cheers,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I suspect that the quality of the network might have an impact. No issues here with wired Ethernet.
There was clearly loss, but it is not fully understood why.Did someone prove this? And was there a problem with the network that this was tested on?
I haven't had any such issues with Roon. It sounds just as good 'locally' as it does streamed across my network to my end-points.
Edits: 08/09/16
And Roon sounds great! I'm on the fence with HQPlayer. I'm not sure that I need it but it sure is nice that HQPlayer and Roon work nicely together. HQPlayer w/o Roon is a bit of a chore as the HQPlayer interface is not great IMHO.
Looking forward to your RoonReady DAC review Steve. Might it be the PS Audio DirectStream Jr? You don't have to answer that. I'll just keep an eye out for your review.
I thought it was a way to organize the Music Library.
Roon provides an intuitive and fluid way to navigate your library on the local computer or with a remote control device like a tablet (iPad or other).The overall Roon architecture and the Roon Advanced Audio Transport (RAAT) network protocol for audio distribution are responsible for audio quality.
Best thing to do is visit http://roonlabs.com and read up on what it is and what it does. To get a better understanding, download the software and give it a try.
Edits: 08/09/16
I've been playing around with Roon for a couple of hours. It is a useful and informative (if not quite intuitive) UI. And it does sound better (than my iTunes anyway), possibly because of WASAPI, which I've never turned on before in my Windows 10 box.
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