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I’m really interested in whether Roon is significantly better than Plex. I’d love to be able to justify an upgrade :) I think plex has the same features as Roon (auto tagging with metadata, gigs, auto playlists, band history from last.fm, similar artists, etc) but I’m not sure if I’m missing something in Roon that I’m just not aware of. I’m not a huge fan of the Plex UI (actually, it’s ok, just dark!), product development is leisurely (no published roadmap) and there isn’t a CarPlay app for it which is super annoying. Any other killer features you can share to help me justify switching to Roon?
freddo-
I use Plex for movies and TV streaming. The audio tie in with Tidal is a secondary thing.
Easier to use than Kodi (XBMC) because I can't be arsed to do the full customisation.
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I had a look at Plex and it seems to miss the endpoint management, dsp, and Roon rock capability. With Roon you can see exactly what it's doing with the files from the original bitrate through the dsp and out to the endpoint. This kind of transparency becomes more important if you are using MQA or DSD with exotic convertors.
It's true that the metadata has become more available, Qobuz and Plex are good examples where metadata, booklets etc. are becoming the norm. However, Roon have had a long time including the Meridian Sooloos phase to use the metadata system they created for Roon radio which means less reliance on playlists.
It's probably only a little bit better for a lot more money, like a lot of things in life!
If you end up building a server on an NUC and running a household full of endpoints you are probably getting your moneys worth. I use it to run 2 households full of endpoints with all kinds of convertors and it works very well at that.
Mr_Sworld
Airhead
If you used it only with Tidal you will want to be using it in a stable high speed internet environment. I think it's worth the cost but that's a personal choice, it will take a few years for the cost not to matter. The lifetime membership in dollars is a pretty good proposition if you get a lifetime of use out of it. Like most people I have discounted that possibility in my mind. Software is notoriously flaky as a long term bet.
I use it with a large library on disk simply because I'm old enough to have a large digitised library. Roon have recently expanded their radio function to include Tidal. If you start from a well known track either on Tidal or your own library it will serve up choice tracks for days. It can't do it with the more eclectic dance music that I have. If you start with Sarah Vaughan you'll get dinner time jazzy blues for days, it is especially good with the jazzy genres, probably a reflection of the average age of users.
The main attraction of Roon is the added metadata. It's like a massive music encyclopaedia, the interconnections between artists etc. When you find a band you like it helps connect the dots to the next band. Also just the reviews and background info on artists that you are discovering.