Roon 2.0 - is it a worthwhile upgrade?

Roon - that software beloved of audiophiles has recently been updated to version 2.0, and it has added some great functionality in the form of the Roon Arc app.

But there are drawbacks too, including the price hike and the need for internet connectivity. Check out what v 2.0 has to offer, and whether it is still worth your while.

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[Permitmon]

Best Roon explanation I’ve seen or heard. Well done. Thanks.

[VintageStereoCollectorChannel]

Great vid! I like you use an M1 Mac Mini. I recently bought it because of the release of Roon 2.0. Connected to my Bluesound Node N130 via an Ethernet cable and I store my FLAC & DSD files on an external Samsung SSD. Roon has been running mostly flawlessly and Roon ARC is nice and easy to use. This entire process had me leaving on my APC power conditioner and streamer 24/7. No problem as you said the Mac Mini is quiet and uses little power. I also installed a new Apple TV 4k in the living room and installed an app to run Roon via my old plasma TV with Apple Airplay.

[andrehendrik]

Great explanation - thank you. I don't have a Roon subscription at the moment, but my impression is that access to library files outside of one's home isn't that big of a priority for the average Roon user. I imagine that the average Roon user has invested substantial time and money in hifi equipment for home listening/relaxing. But maybe I'm underestimating Roon users that want to play their files in their car, for example. Hope you post a guide/review of those competing services. Cheers

[JGNotts]

Very interesting, thanks for that. I’ve been wondering about Roon for a while now since I saw one of your videos the other year but having seen the price increases I can’t see me getting it. I’d be very interested to hear about the alternatives and what your opinion of them are.
My circumstances may be a little different to others because I have Sonos speakers throughout my house and currently stream FLAC files from my NAS drive. The Sonos software is reasonable but not great so I may be tempted by software that is Sonos compatible.

[hpwrotethis]

I started using Roon with the introduction of Roon Arc/2.0. I bought a year's subscription right before the price hike. I use it on my Pixel 7 and laptop. I want to like it but the UI/feature list from the desktop app to the mobile roon arc app to the roon remote app is inconsistent. The Roon remote app on android is super responsive / lightweight while Roon arc app is slow/lags. There are a couple features I like that either are not implemented on the roon arc app (Listening to only hearted songs which I can do on room remote) or how you either heart to ban a track is cumbersome on both apps. I want to like it but it still feels not as reliable as the major streaming services (specifically Spotify). I have around 1000 albums I am loading into the Roon server.

[eleventhvolume]

Thanks for this video. I have to say though that there's something I don't understand and hopefully you can explain it to me. I finally signed up to a music streaming service six or so months ago. I chose Apple Music because I'm a longtime Apple user with a MacBook Pro, an iPhone and a music library of about 22k songs. Not large I know, but carefully curated in iTunes over many years. After I signed up, a fairly lengthy process began of my music files automatically uploading to Apple. I was a little nervous about that, but when it finally completed, I found that I was able to access my entire music library on my iPhone and my work laptop as well as my personal one. That streaming is lossless and, where available, in Dolby Atmos. 

I've really enjoyed not being limited to only whatever's on the particular device I'm using. I can also stream to any connected speakers in the house and I'm currently listening to lossless Autechre streamed to my Sundara headphones from my iPhone via my Chord Mojo 2. Neither you nor John Darko in your coverage of Roon Arc mention that Apple already makes availability of one's entire library available seamlessly. I don't love the Apple Music app on my laptop (much prefer the adaptability of the wonderful Marvis Pro on my phone), and clearly Roon's metadata and editorial approach is much better, but I use RSS feeds, Last.fm and MusicHarbor to keep on top of new releases and find recommendations as well as the underwhelming Apple algorithm. I can't therefore see the value in Roon. But please do tell me if I'm missing something!

[robintaylor]

Roon to me is essential. I know that it's expensive, but the integration of end points is just so easy. And it is very quickly becoming the standard. Although Roon itself has to be very careful because if they are seen to become too expensive, people will drop them after all its not needed for life is it.

[charliewood]

I've just moved to Roon + Qobuz from Apple Music. Quite emotional as I've had AM from day 1 and had a huge iTunes library before that, built since I was a teenager.

Have to say I won't be going back - I love the intergration of local and streamed music and being able to stream my CD library out and about.

[warrenjones]

Hi I'm quite new Hi-Fi and I currently stream music directly from my android phone into my hip DAC. Would a dedicated streamer like the ifi zen result in much better audio quality.

[michaeloconnor]

Lifetime = 5.5 years, that's hardly lifetime. That is misleading.

[javonazul]

Hello! Thanks for the video. Have you by any chance shared your FLAC collection somewhere online? I guess thats not legal in an case 😂.

[timoleary]

Been a Roon user for over 2 years, but Roon 2.0 was the end for me, my subscription has just expired and I won't be renewing it. It's a shame, Roon's great but not being able to play my local music (4, 000 FLAC albums) if the internet goes down is a deal breaker. I've gone back to using JRiver and Tidal separately, so I can still play music without the need for a 100% reliable internet connection by using JRiver MC.

So, goodbye Roon and thanks for all the fish.

[Phil_fandbethere]

I signed up last March for 12 months subscription. I loved it at first but the magic soon wore off! I haven't used it since September and have deleted it with no intention of ever going back. Reasons are:
1. Constant updates - approx every 10-14 days, meant I had to update Roon Server and Roon Core on my laptop and the iphone app. Sometimes the process was seamless, sometimes it was glitchy and frustrating.
2. The release of Roon arc meaning we could now take music outside of the house meant it was being transferred to a cloud based topology. All well and good, except if the internet goes down, not only can you not stream your music from the internet, but you can't even play your locally stored files - go figure!
3. Price increase - I was paying upfront for 12 months a cost of £88, latest price is £149!! So almost double the cost just to integrate my local stored music with Tidal!
4. The software is slowly becoming bloatware, with more and more functionality being added making it more likely to suffer crashes and issues.
5. Software is full of glitches - most frustrating ones were playlists that I had created in Roon suddenly got deleted on one update and far too many crashes to be classed as a stablel platform.
6. I nearly went down the route of building a NUC in the early days, but glad I never, as the number of issues that you read about on the forums show that unless you enjoy fixing computer hardware and software glitches more than listening to music, it's not the way to go.
7. I bought a Naim Uniti atom which with it's superb user friendly app integrates my online streams and offline files seamlessly, far easier to use and isn't updated constantly and it just works. Saved myself £149 a year and can't see any downsides - loving it. Nowadays I think Roon is a bit of a joke.

My advice - avoid.

[michaeloconnor]

It's too bloody expensive. MQA has gone bust because it was a fraud and a lie. How much is added to the cost to equipment to have it roon ready. I don't want roon, but I still pay for it when I buy some hi-fi gear. And rip off bit of software.