Roon

[Janacek]

un peu de pub -

Darko.Audio’s Product/s of the Decade: 2010-2019
https://darko.audio/2019/12/darko-audios...2010-2019/

Citation :There is no streaming without software. In the first half of the 2010s, I bounced between desktop apps for OSX/MacOS (like Audirvana) and Squeezebox Server’s web interface + iPeng / Orange Squeeze smartphone apps. Neither came without shortcomings: the experience of remote controlling a Mac could best be described as ‘basic’, a long way short of iPeng and Orange Squeeze’s powerful functionality, but not every streamer landing at DAR/KO HQ would talk to a Squeezebox server.
And despite the slow emergence of now solid streaming platforms like Bluesound’s BluOS and AURALiC’s Lightning DS, each is tied to specific hardware. (It’s only in the last two years that Bluesound has begun licensing its BluOS streaming platform to third-party manufacturers).
None can compete with the universality of Roon, which, for many digital audio fanatics like yours truly, arrived with shock and awe. With Roon running on a Macbook or Windows PC, I could remote control it using Roon Remote. Its interface had been designed with touchscreens in mind and was the single reason that in 2015 I bought a Microsoft Surface Pro.
Four years on and Roon allows me to control streaming on AURALiC and Bluesound streamers as well as devices made by almost one hundred other Roon Ready partners where the biggest names in hi-fi rub shoulders with smaller manufacturers. The Chord Poly is one such device.
And if compatibility and ecosystem building was Roon’s only achievement with its RAAT streaming protocol, it would still be light years ahead of the patchy mess of UPnP/DLNA devices where gapless playback isn’t even a given.
Additionally, Roon can stream to Squeezeboxen, to a Raspberry Pi running Roon Ready code (or Squeezelite!), to KEF’s LS50 W and LS X (both run bespoke code), to Sonos devices, to AirPlay devices and to the Google Chromecast Audio. It’d be easier to count the number of devices to which Roon cannot stream.
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But wait, there’s more. Roon’s metadata layer gives us artist bios, albums reviews and makes hitherto hidden connections between players and releases. Its best feature, Roon Radio, has recently seen its reach extended beyond locally stored files to swim through Tidal and Qobuz; we get to re/discover long-forgotten gems as well as new music. And Roon’s digital magazine layout sidesteps digital audio’s greatest weakness by giving us something to browse in a non-linear manner, well beyond the A – Z of artist and album fields.
Not even the upwardly-revised lifetime subscription price of US$699 can dent my enthusiasm for Roon which, in the age of free operating systems, is a tough pill to swallow for some.
Make no mistake: Roon has revolutionised how many of us interact with our digital audio libraries in the high-end audio space to bring the UI on par with Spotify, where mainstreamers live. This is a staggering achievement given Roon Labs’ decentralised approach to software development, its dozen or so staffers are scattered around the globe. Our fifth and final Product of the Decade: 2010-2019.

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https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-...cade-r865/

Citation : Software
 
undefinedMusic library management and playback software has come a long way this decade. I remember opening Foobar2000 and thinking I could do my taxes and listen to music simultaneously. Cheers to its developer Peter Pawłowski for keeping the product free, as in beer. For some reason many of us in HiFi latched on to MediaMonkey in the early days. I still don't know why, especially when we have JRiver Media Center as a far better alternative. Oh well, live and learn. 
 
By far the single product that has taken HiFi by storm the quickest and has produced the largest number of fans is Roon. Roon was a game changer for many in HiFi and is the Audiophile Style Product of the Decade for software. 
 
Since its spin-off from Meridian in 2015 the Roon Labs team has continually updated the app by adding feature after feature. While the app has grown a bit more complex over the years, it's only because the Roon user base has demanded it. In addition to consumers, the number of manufacturers who've jumped onboard the Roon train, and the speed of adoption, has been amazing. It really seems like every manufacturer in HiFi has either Roon Ready or Roon Tested devices available for purchase. 
 
Like all products, Roon isn't perfect and isn't for everybody. Its' subscription pricing model is perhaps the most controversial aspect of the app. In addition, some audiophiles have what I call a starter home network. Running Roon Ready endpoints on such a network can be a recipe for disaster, leading some to abandon the app altogether. That said, the vast majority of Roon users have fallen in love with the app. I use it almost every day, but I also use many other platforms almost every day. 
 
Roon has become the app by which all others are judged and the app that generates the most feature requests to competing manufacturers. I look forward to what the Roon Labs team has in store for the next decade and to see what the competition has up its sleeve.
 
Visit Roon Labs

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AudioStream Product Of The Year 2019: Roon Software and Roon Nucleus Network Server
https://www.audiostream.com/content/audi...ork-server

Citation :Balancing acts.
Some of us walk that thin line more than others. That doesn’t stop those who rarely do it from throwing things at those who are on the line though.
I mean, not try to knock someone off? Where would be the fun in that? It’s the Internet!
Choosing a Product of The Year for AudioStream is a balancing act; there’s a lot of pros and cons to weigh when making a decision that is distilling a year’s worth of high-fidelity listening time down to one product that made such a difference that it could qualify earning such a lofty title.
But, it’s a task I’ve been giving myself either here or at other publications for a number of years now. It’s never easy, but it is satisfying. Personally satisfying that is… I mean, some of the people who read your choice will usually not be satisfied, but you can’t please all the people all the time anyway. As audiophiles we’re too disparate a group for anything but tribalism, so there’s no way to really bring everyone together happily, why even try? Because it matters, opinions are important as a reflection of standing and viewpoint. A relevant voice in this business isn’t established overnight, it’s established over time, and you can’t let a hobby with such a high signal-to-noise ratio stress you out. Like Warren Zevon sang, “Life’ll Kill Ya.”
So, with an eye to living long, I present the AudioStream Product of The Year 2019: Roon Labs Software and Roon Labs Nucleus/Nucleus+ Network Server: $119 USD/Year, $699/Lifetime. Roon Nucleus/Nucleus+ Network Server – $1,399/$2,499 USD
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AudioStream PoTY: Roon Labs Software and Roon Labs Nucleus Server.
No other two products worked together so holistically – literally built for each other, I consider them one – to allow me to so richly experience so much digital music, so easily, so seamlessly between almost every piece of digital gear I use, more reliably than this combination of software and hardware. And this was before the Valence update was released (Roon Labs 1.7), which stepped up the game of Roon as to make the user interface and listening experience become a state of high fidelity gestalt.
Nobody else does the user experience of digital-audio playback like Roon, and not everyone wants everything that Roon offers, but for those who do, there is no substitute.