Roon -vs- JRiver

[Dr Tone]

Originally Posted by cleeds

This has not been my experience at all. To the contrary, I've found the staff to be very responsive.

Jplay (Though I agree with them on this one)
Tidal Support
3rd party upsampling support. Izotope SRC.

See what kind of response you get on those topics?

Then peruse the locked threads where Jim losing his cool with clients that are obviously frustrated and rub him the wrong way.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Originally Posted by Odyssey

I have heard the same about Bughead Emperor. But is the manual for Bughead in Japanese? Are there any good English support links for Bughead?

I haven't found anything yet. Even the YouTube tutorial is hard to understand. I just loaded BH and pulled up my music files, so I'm probably not getting everything out of it that I could, but I find the SQ to be superior to JR.

[Randy Myers]

Not that I know anything about the internal workings of either company, however my experience has been (with software both as a user and a developer for many years) that when a software product reaches critical mass and is an established product, changes become less fluid and a change management process usually become mandatory. When a product is in full retail production this very much is the case.

When a product is new, Alpha, Beta, Pre-release, Early Access, etc., etc., where major production and version releases are happening frequently communication and interaction with the user base is much greater. From what I have read this very much sounds like the case with Roon in this regards.

Correct me if I am wrong, but JRiver appears to be more of the establish product which had long ago reached critical mass while Roon is more actively in development. This is what I get from my research, and again, correct me if I am wrong. This belief is based on versions and reading about how long people have used various versions. Also, how Acoustic Sounds, HDTrack, Pono, among others, use variations of JRivers as their delivery software.

[Dr Tone]

Originally Posted by Randy Myers

Correct me if I am wrong, but JRiver appears to be more of the establish product which had long ago reached critical mass while Roon is more actively in development. This is what I get from my research, and again, correct me if I am wrong. This belief is based on versions and reading about how long people have used various versions. Also, how Acoustic Sounds, HDTrack, Pono, among others, use variations of JRivers as their delivery software.

Roon is an offshoot of Sooloos, so it's not brand new really. Not sure if they started with a fresh code base or not.

JRiver's focus isn't really music anymore, new music features are far and few between. I see most of the focus on the video side and maybe supporting their branched third party versions. I used JRMC for music only so their focus is completely misdirected to me.

Roon's lifetime pricing and subscription model will prevent it from hitting the masses like JRMC has, but maybe that's why they give their clients more TLC, it's expected at the price.

[Elberoth]

Originally Posted by Dr Tone

Jplay (Though I agree with them on this one)
Tidal Support
3rd party upsampling support. Izotope SRC.

See what kind of response you get on those topics?

Then peruse the locked threads where Jim losing his cool with clients that are obviously frustrated and rub him the wrong way.

True that (although I'm with Jplay on that one).

Jriver 21 keeps crashing on my computer (and many of my friends who use DSD upsampling) almost everytime I hit next when playing PCM files. This issue have been known for months (years ?).

[Randy Myers]

I don't have any issues with JRiver crashing. I would consider trying Roon, but honestly I think it is quite over priced. I know they have a trial period, but in 2 weeks I would feel I would barely be getting comfortable.

If it were considerably better SQ I might consider it.

One thing that is intriguing to me that might get me to try it is the two version system. How I understand that it works, and please verify to me that I understand it correctly.

I would install the "Server" version on the PC that is my music server and then install the "Client" version on my Surface. Then the Surface could control the "Server" and the music playing through my system from the "Server" so I could then put the monitor away and see, browse, control everything from the Surface as a remote control/remote monitor for the system. Am I understanding this correct, is this exactly right or am I missing something.

Also in the above setup would touch control work on the Surface as the control unit?

[Dr Tone]

Yes you would be able to do that, I assume your "Server" is directly connected to your DAC some how?

Yes the touch interface would work on the Surface as a control point.

[Randy Myers]

Yes the music server is directly connected to the DAC through USB.

[Randy Myers]

Ok, I am giving Roon a try. I just started my Trial... setup the Falcon Tiki as the Server and the Surface Pro 3 as the Controller.

[Dr Tone]

Originally Posted by Randy Myers

Ok, I am giving Roon a try. I just started my Trial... setup the Falcon Tiki as the Server and the Surface Pro 3 as the Controller.

Enjoy. Do a Tidal trial at the same time to see the magic of the integration. You won't be disappointed.