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[AndyU]

roonlabs - the guys who developed the Soloos system for Meridian - have launched their own media player. Anyone tried it? What are the chances of it working with the JRiver WDM driver so that you could combine the two products?

[mwillems]

I haven't tried it, but there are some threads on their forum about using JRiver's WDM driver.   It looks like it mostly works, but there are some hiccups: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/j-river-wmd-issues/604

[AndyU]

Thanks - hiccups for sure, not to mention stutters .. interesting that they hadn't foreseen using JRiver driver and good that at least they are investigating it. Think I'll wait a while before giving it a try.

[ken-tajalli]

At $499 - you need more money than sense.
Sorry I am poor and sensible.
They can keep it.

[mwillems]

I read the whole thread on computer audiophile with specific focus on the posts from the guy who works at Roon.

It looks like they've got a ways to go in the DSP department (which is to say there isn't much there yet).  It also explicitly doesn't support uPnP/DLNA (and they don't intend to support it).

They're also being kind of evasive about how the whole client/server thing works: your license buys you one server license and unlimited "remotes" without a lot of explanation about whether those are true remotes or client instances that can play independently (or that can be used as renderers).  They've also been kind of vague about multi-room sync outside of the airplay context.  And the android and ios remotes aren't available yet and there's no Linux support.  

According to the rep, DSP, linux support, android and ios remotes, etc. are "coming soon," but with no specific time-table. Given that they just launched, that may even be true, but that's a heck of a pig in a poke for a $120 annual subscription/$500 lifetime pass.  

So, for me, it's not even worth doing the trial right now to see what all the fuss is about.  DSP is mission critical:  No DSP=no me, not even if it were free.  

[Dr Tone]

ASIO support will be coming in the next release I believe.  So maybe it will work better with JRiver's ASIO driver.

[Dr Tone]

ASIO support was released in build 21 this evening if anyone cares.

[theoctavist]

Completely and utterly pointless .....using asio  or wasapi means that in all possible worlds there is zero sonic difference . none¡  i mean anyone with the slightest grasp on digital audio theory knows this instinctually! When will the madness stop?

[nerone]

I read the whole thread on computer audiophile with specific focus on the posts from the guy who works at Roon.

It looks like they've got a ways to go in the DSP department (which is to say there isn't much there yet).  It also explicitly doesn't support uPnP/DLNA (and they don't intend to support it).

They're also being kind of evasive about how the whole client/server thing works: your license buys you one server license and unlimited "remotes" without a lot of explanation about whether those are true remotes or client instances that can play independently (or that can be used as renderers).  They've also been kind of vague about multi-room sync outside of the airplay context.  And the android and ios remotes aren't available yet and there's no Linux support.  

According to the rep, DSP, linux support, android and ios remotes, etc. are "coming soon," but with no specific time-table. Given that they just launched, that may even be true, but that's a heck of a pig in a poke for a $120 annual subscription/$500 lifetime pass.  

So, for me, it's not even worth doing the trial right now to see what all the fuss is about.  DSP is mission critical:  No DSP=no me, not even if it were free.  

I'm using Roon, tried to use with JRiver WDM, but it didn't work at first and I wasn't willing to investigate further at the time, maybe later I can give it a try.

Regarding client/server it is very simple and disappointing: The server manages your library and has a selection of outputs. The client is really just a remote control for the server. You can't even play the music from the server on one of the clients.

Despite the above, the user experience is great. When I'm using it I just keep navigating from album to album just by clicking on the links on album info, music info or artist bio. Their focus is less on the features/technical side and more to the "enjoyment" of the music.

Also, I think that their user interface (I haven't tested any other on JRiver yet) and the tagging is a bit more interesting, specially regarding classical music, as they have special tags for "work" from a specific composer.

If I could merge both, I would be in heaven.

[theoctavist]

what is the point to those interested in shelling out money for that program...?

there is zero, I mean zero difference between media players sonically once the volume levels are the same and DSP is out of the chain.

so what is the draw?  im geniuinely curious. 

[jaxtherogue]

what is the point to those interested in shelling out money for that program...?

there is zero, I mean zero difference between media players sonically once the volume levels are the same and DSP is out of the chain.

so what is the draw?  im geniuinely curious. 

I just installed it to see what all the fuss is about and now I get it. Some first impressions:

IMO, the real benefit is that Roon links your music collection to allmusic and let's you explore it in a myriad of ways. Let me give you one example using their Discover page:

You can see how it goes through your collection (it is still importing mine) and picks out things in my own collection to surface. In this screenshot you can see how it points out a collaboration between Eno and Damon Albarn, music released this month in 2013, particular labels, and highlighted performers- that is people who performed on album I own yet are not the album artist.  If I click on one of those (I will go for Aynsley Dunbar) it will take me to a screen like this:


showing me on which albums I have they appear on. Keep in mind that info is not in any of my metadata-it's data they have gathered from allmusic by mining the tags I do have.  That's just one view. You can explore your own collection in this way, digging deeper and finding cross-connections based on data not in your own tags.  It grabs lyrics, individual track credits and on and on. No doubt the especially fastidious MC user could have all this tagged themselves but the work involved would be enormous!  It is especially great for those with classical music in their libraries as it exposes a ton of information about that. Thankfully it doesn't modify any of your own tags. 

There is also a Radio playback feature that will populate the now playing queue based the relationships allmusic finds- it works well.

That's about it though- it doesn't have any of the powerful music management capabilities of MC. Nothing like smartlists, no DSP, heck you can't really even see your own tagging- it all comes through the filter of allmusic. This may or may not be useful to you.  For me Roon is nowhere near a replacement for MC. That said, I find the deeper level of metadata very useful and something I am willing to pay for, though I think current Roon pricing is too steep.  If I could get a Roon-like abilities in MC i'd happily pay for that though.

[JohnWalker]

I've just signed up for the Roon trial, but it has really not started well...

1.It's not as if there are one or two tracks missing - it has failed to find approx 11,000 of
the 33711 files that are reported by JRiver Media Center 21.
2. Despite running the installer 3 times now, the program does not yet appear on Windows 10's  start menu.
3. I'd want to use it for classical music most of the time, but it gets hopelessly confused by different works - some symphonies appear one movement at a time, some appear as entire works, but quite a few don't appear at all.
4. It doesn't differentiate between file types - I've got two copies of several albums, and I'd like to choose the flac files over the mp3 before playing.
5. It would also be useful if it would show sample rate/bit-depth.

Overall, this program is disappointing, and does not merit the ratings that it has been given in Stereophile.