[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by Parabellum

I would like to chime in on this topic.

When I acquired my BDP-2 last year, I had already registered to Roon as I was using my Chromecast audio to stream music in the meantime. I really liked the Roon interface and its simplicity. I liked also how everything was correctly tagged as well. But with the BDP-2 in Roon mode, I was expecting to run Roon from the BDP and just like John I found out that Roon core must be installed on a PC to run. So in this setup, I was running Roon like this :

Stored media on USB 3.0 External Hard drive ===> Roon Core PC with WiFi-AC ===> Internet Wireless Router ===>50 ft LAN cable ===> BDP-2.

...

Back to Roon, I still emphasize that this is a real nice piece of software. But ultimately I unsubscribed after 1 year. As I am using the Rigelian app to control my BDP, I saw no use for Roon as I get pretty much all I need from this 5$/year app. I rip my own CDs and I meticulously tag the media files. As why I chose the BDP as my main source, the reason is simple. I wanted to break away from the PC. PCs tend to crash and are prey to viruses. My PC is only useful to transfer ripped CDs on the internal hard drive of the BDP on the network. Essentially, the BDP runs on a "closed circuit" if I can call it this way. And since 18 months I have it, it hasn't crashed a single time.

In these days an age, I wonder where things are going actually. With all the streaming options and 1 gbits+ internet connections, do people still wish to buy CDs and rip them like I currently do? I personally prefer to "own" my music but streaming music is probably a paradigm shift I guess (for me at least).

Edit:
666 th post!

Serge - good post. Yes, a paradigm shift. If you prefer to play from your own library, than your current set-up is ideal. Personally, I think this is a great time to build a digital library - used CD's are prolific and cheap. Online databases for metadata are accurate and deep. I have silver disks stored, but have not used a CD player in years.

My set up is bit simpler - Roon Core, database, and music library on Synology NAS, through router to (wired) Sonos endpoint, then to DAC/Bryston system. The NAS is a 24/7 appliance.

I appreciate Roon for music discovery as well as a simple way to learn more about an artist or album. Still building library, but at a slower pace.