Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Is Roon Doomed Like Sooloos?

I have never, ever, subscribed to, nor tried Apple Music: not even once.

(Former) commercial software engineer here...

Yes, what is it about our time and skills that are deemed so worthless? Is it because software can apparently be stolen/cloned/duplicated; is it that it is intangible; is it that it is viewed by some as the app/UI rather than the deep and complex design of the data storage and multi-threaded processing functionality that is behind that UI?

Anyone can write a few lines of script to do something quick and dirty but to design Sooloos and Roon to be robust, extensible, maintainable, responsive and economic requires serious and valuable skills and experience along with top quality planning and management of people and technology. That is worth paying for.

Rant over.

Roon 1 year subscription is $119 which equates to £96.70 at today’s exchange rate of $1 to £0.81259 .

Tidal is available in a family hifi subscription which in the U.K. is a total of 5 users for £29.99 per month or £6.00 each which seems somewhat of a bargain if it happens to fit your circumstances?

In the USA it is 6 for $29.99 so even better value!

How could I have been so wrong: it’s only a £336 annual commitment to Roon and Tidal.

The problem for all endeavour is the market and those in it. There seem to be too many competitors in software (entry costs are low) to sustain higher prices unless you get through to becoming the de facto standard or at least dominant. Microsoft did this entirely with software - highly unusual. Apple deployed hardware as well. Perhaps Roon will get there with a bit of both. Sooloos might have got there with a really big and fleet of foot hardware producer (what Sonos has achieved from a small start is really impressive).

But, please don’t ask me to pay more for anything than I judge gives me what I want. That is old style communist planning and a large scale demonstration has shown it doesn’t lead to widely shared wealth nor great innovation. Mind you, market economics the way the Chinese do it bears inspection.

There's a good chance that you will have paid £500+ for the Sooloos software. It just wasn't broken down into hardware/software when you purchased Meridian Sooloos equipment.

Cheers
Tom

What the eye doesn’t see...

Like many I have paid a premium for my Meridian kit (since 1982 actually) and although it performs well it is the styling and sense of ownership, all very subjective of course, that has parted me from my money (just like cars - they all provide mobility).

I just don’t get that buzz from software. For me it is just functional and the software I have bought over the years doesn’t make me smile like my M2s do even when they aren’t switched on.

It's hard to convince you otherwise if that's your view point! See if you can get a demo and see what you think afterwards. If the initial configuration is off putting, I'd be happy to help.
Cheers
Tom

You're obviously suggesting that that is very expensive. Really?

Assuming this is your main / second hobby, that doesn't seem too much to me. What you'd pay for a year of basically limitless music & great software to enhance your experience would take you 10 / 20 / 30 years to be able to afford a pair of M DSPs. If you believe that what comes out of the speakers is more important than the speakers themselves, that would appear to be something of a bargain to me.

Tom,
That is a very kind offer - thank you. It is clear I have got to stop being lazy and instead try Roon (and AssetUpnp and Jriver) for myself.

Having had a quick look at the Roon website, which I find quite intimidating and impenetrable with too much reliance on extensive forum discussions for advice, I will need help. As you get older you will find that you don’t want to spend too many precious hours of your remaining life meandering around complex systems which actually are there for a very simple result (high quality, conveniently accessed music in this case). You want the supplier to make that complexity a piece of cake for you. That is what Meridian and Sooloos did and I don’t think Roon is quite there yet, at least in getting started, but I will try and see for myself.

Thank you to everyone for the contributions to this thread. Bearing in mind how Meridian has turned its back on its historic customer base, it is a great relief to be able to draw on the extensive collective resources of Meridian Unplugged.

Hi Longitude0

You are welcome to come over to me to explore Roon or I can come over and help you set it up?
The main thing is to ensure you have everything ready before you start the trial.

Russ

Be advised that you can’t simply utilise Asset UPnP in isolation: it requires a UPnP endpoint, such as a Meridian 210 - and a Mac/PC/QNAP/Synology/WHS where your music is stored - with an iOS/Android tablet to control. It definitely isn’t a plug and play solution.

I see that you already have a QNAP, so you’re part of the way there.

If you are adverse to computers, and require more of an ‘appliance’ solution, in using Roon, then explore the option of ROCK. If you have the budget, buy Nucleus, but if not, buy an Intel NUC. Such an Intel NUC - or Nucleus - effectively takes on the role of a Meridian MC200, but better.