The “Essentials” software has certain limitations such as a 30k track limit and is not compatible with DSD files or MQA conversion. But in most other regards my understanding is that the software closely mimics the “full Roon experience”.
This product may be a suitable entry point into the “Realm of Roon” for those with smaller music libraries. The sales literature states that a lifetime subscription to Roon Essentials is included in the purchase price.
I haven’t been able to find much information about this software. The only reference I’ve found on the Roon forum is a statement from one of the Roon staff that the software was developed for their partners and that the partner (ELAC in this instance) is solely responsible for support.
Does anyone have firsthand experience using the “Essentials” software?
MC200, Aqua La Scala DAC, Conrad Johnson CT5 pre/LP70S amp, Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation speakers. Shunyata Hydra power conditioner, Asst. Shunyata, Nordost, & Siltech cables.
I understand it's a "lite" version of Roon without hi-res support, lyrics, etc. That said I'm still considering this device as a portal into the "Realm of Roon".
If anyone has experience with the software can you comment specifically on how it handles the sorting of classical music. Any screen shots would be appreciated.
MC200, Aqua La Scala DAC, Conrad Johnson CT5 pre/LP70S amp, Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation speakers. Shunyata Hydra power conditioner, Asst. Shunyata, Nordost, & Siltech cables.
I suspect that most Meridian owners on here tend to use the full blow Roon, thus I think you'd be much better of posting this question over on the Roon Community site.
I just received the official Email that Roon 1.3 goes live today.
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We're very excited to announce that Roon 1.3 is going live today! This is our most ambitious release ever – in the works for nearly nine months – but we think it's been worth the wait. With new streaming hardware support, audio processing, DSP, file handling, metadata management, and social sharing, there are new features and improvements in almost every area of the product.
We've incorporated hundreds of suggestions from you, and thrown in a few of our own:
With the 1.3 update, Roon now streams to Sonos devices! This means all the users in a home – with one app and one music collection – can play music to Sonos, Airplay, Squeezebox, Sooloos, and any of over 50 Roon Ready devices available today.
We've added a whole family of audio and DSP features with a 64-bit audio pipeline, including dynamic range analysis, EQ, upsampling, crossfeed for headphones, and adjustments for headroom as well as corrections for speaker phase and delay.
Roon learns about you as you use it. You create playlists, tags, and groom your collection to be presented just the way you want. Now all of that can be automatically backed up, both locally and to Dropbox. Backups are incremental and configurable, so you can save as much history as you like.
Roon users have been talking about their favorite music on our community site, on social networks, and even by texting screenshots from their phones. With 1.3, you can create shareable images about artists, albums, and songs, including all of Roon's metadata and your own comments. Images can be posted directly to Facebook, Twitter, and Imgur, or saved to your device.
Starting with a new lightning-fast search, we've improved performance across the board. Audio and database operations are faster, and communication between Core and Remotes is more responsive. There's so much in Roon 1.3 that it would be impossible to cover here. We'll be sending some emails over the next few weeks to dive into some of the new key features in greater detail.
Now is a good time to make sure you have a current backup and confirm your system meets our recommendations if you're going to take advantage of Roon's new DSP features.
As always, we want to hear how Roon is working for you. Have a comment, a suggestion, or just want to share the love? Drop by our community site and say hello!
Thanks as always for your support! The team at Roon Labs
No 18 in the Hall of fame I have simple tastes; I am content to settle for the best: GIK monster bass panels, rear wall. QNAP TVS 471i3. Roon into DSP5200SE via 210/ 218 zone... Explorer 2. Bluesound Pulse 2, Mini & Flex. 596v1, 518, Foxsat HD, Sony BDP, Pioneer 5090, 2 Chromecast's for LRB videos. MS200 to F80 for a Roon zone
No 18 in the Hall of fame I have simple tastes; I am content to settle for the best: GIK monster bass panels, rear wall. QNAP TVS 471i3. Roon into DSP5200SE via 210/ 218 zone... Explorer 2. Bluesound Pulse 2, Mini & Flex. 596v1, 518, Foxsat HD, Sony BDP, Pioneer 5090, 2 Chromecast's for LRB videos. MS200 to F80 for a Roon zone
Now Roon has just got a whole lot more interesting. When ROCK comes along, I think the only bit missing that Sooloos currently offers over and above Roon is support for my 32bit iPad. When that needs replacing, I may just dip my toes in again.
Would be interesting to know what audio capabilities Sonos endpoints have regarding file resolution. Sonos itself is limited to max 44/48k files.
Meridian owner since 1992 Prime & PSU, Focal Elear headphones, Roon (ROCK 8Gi5 NUC), Explorer 1 & 2, F80. 200/203, various Sonos (via Roon).