Roon - lifetime vs yearly

The bottleneck is not access to the music files, it's the storage medium holding the roon database (the ssd or hdd in the laptop & nuc) and the CPU of the core... assuming you're using gigabit Ethernet. If the laptop was using WiFi, sure.. but I can't envision any other scenario wherein the NAS would be less optimal than USB attached storage.

 

The fast nvme drive in the NUC definitely helps, but the NUC taking files from the NAS was still generally slower and less responsive than using the USB3 drive. I have a suspicion that Roon may not deal with network libraries in the same way as local as I'm not the only person to have experienced this.

 

That part I can agree with. Roon doesn't update in real time with the network drive. I have to force a rescan when I add music. It's not surprising with SMB shares. iSCSI would work better, but then we're looking at a server OS on the core (or a third party iSCSI initiator). This is all why I want to keep it on the NAS. I have a new Synology DS1817+ on order, so we'll see if that's fast enough with it's (slightly faster than my DS1513+'s) CPU.

 

Let us know how it goes with that Synology box. Mine was a cheap two bay model. I felt their i3/i5 models were way overpriced for what they offered.

 

I don't think they have i3 or i5s.. just the atoms or xeons.

 

Does someone have a lifetime subscription discount coupon code or similar? I have used it for a year and I am ready to take the lifetime plunge, but 500$ still scares me

Best,

Ásgeir

 

I would also be up for a SBAF group buy if possible

 

I'm on a lifetime subscription because Roon is a big improvement in my music library experience and I want to support the developers, but I voted "yearly" above because "wisest" for not fully committed people is clearly the yearly subscription. Here's my Roon setup and observations:

1. ~10k PCM FLAC track library, ~60% Redbook, ~40% higher rates/bit depths
2. library on Synology NAS as SMB share
3. library backup up to WD USB drives, one always offsite + backup of all non CD (digital download) purchases to cloud storage provider
4. Roon Core on Ubuntu Intel i5 NUC with 8GB main memory and 120GB SSD
   • installed Ubuntu Desktop originally because it's really easy to do (I've been using/running *nix systems since 1979 )
   • disabled some Ubuntu Desktop services and use Webmin to manage Ubuntu from a browser on my laptop
   • if I was less lazy, I'd replace with Ubuntu Server, but it works fine as it is
   • Warning: Roon 1.3 gets very confused if the library SMB share is already mounted on the core machine but Roon Core is configured to mount it remotely itself: basically, two Ubuntu mounts of the same SMB share are bad news, it took me and the Roon developers working together for a while to find this
5. Cat 6 network throughout the house with Netgear Prosafe switches and Ubiquiti EdgeRouter PoE 5 main router, all network elements with fixed IPs set on router's DHCP server
6. microRendu streamers for home office headphone system and for living room speaker system
7. Roon remote control from Apple and Android devices
   • macOS Sierra and Roon sometimes get confused about Roon or RAATserver firewall settings, and Roon can't find the Roon Core as a result; if you have this problem, check the firewall settings on macOS System Preferences
8. Roon's metadata management and album/work/track retrieval is very good, way better than anything I was able to do before with various apps and DLNA servers. I have only 23 unidentified albums out of 836, and only two incorrectly grouped classical works of 100s
   • unidentified albums are either older not widely distributed issues, or very recent issues from small or one-of labels
   • incorrectly grouped classical works are on a 1980s multidisc set that does not have fully complete metadata anywhere I can find

Overall, this is a bit more complicated than it would be needed for a minimal configuration. If/when Roon bring out their shrinkwrap Linux/Roon Core distro for NUCs, it will be a big step forward in ease of use. If you have a PC or Mac already sitting on your LAN, getting Roon Core on it should be pretty easy assuming the computer is relatively recent and its software is up to date.

 

I'm contemplating getting Roon and see under subscriptions that I could buy a 3-pack of Lifetime memberships with a 10% discount but is a gift. Does anyone know (A) if I can gift myself one of these memberships and (B) it's just as easy as emailing the other 2 their memberships or are they under my account?

Update: So Roon got back to me already so I'll just put their reply here:

"Hi Matthew,

Thanks for reaching out! Yes, you can gift yourself a membership. Your card will be charged the full amount for the 3-pack, and then you will be given 3 codes that are accessible via your account page and can be sent to the respective recipients."

 

I'm contemplating to purchase a lifetime subscription as well. I already have a person interested...so it looks that we miss only one.
Please contact me in private

 

Still up for the 3 pack? Im definitely interested!!