I recently applied for a trial of roon and a few things are just really nice and make me want to stay there.
display of more recent releases by artists in my library (plexamp shows only a handful, roon quite a lot more)
not only recommended artists on the start page but also genres, collaborations, covers etc.
the whole discover page with hyper specific genres, specific compositions with backstory, released on this day… It feels like a daily rip off calendar for music.
new releases for fans of XXXX on every artist page
similar artist area shows other artists that are similar to give you a better feeling in what way this artist is similar. So for example: “Substantial :if you like Nujabes, Fat Jon, and Phase Rock”
displaying of more Metadata that is brows able, for example all the different tags/genres associated with a release, or the members of a band so that I can look if they collaborated with another band somewhere or something
automatic playlists seem to work better than in plex in terms of song choice plus I can shape the chosen songs by thumbs up and down
different UIs for the remote, just play some music client and the “normal” client. I could also envision plex to show different UIs in plexamp and the normal plex web interface to differentiate between different usage cases. Namely “just play some music” and “I got some time and want to browse through my library and discover something new or long forgotten”
This is not meant to be a disparaging comment. But my opinion is that Plexamp at $120 (lifetime plex pass) is the best bargain in audio software and Elan and his team continue to add amazing function. But if you also want all the many Roon like functions, I would suggest you buy Roon (either monthly, yearly or lifetime) and use both Plexamp at certain times and Roon at other times depending on your needs at the moment. For me, Plexamp is all I need to have my own private streaming service where I can access my privately owned music anywhere and anytime. Roon just added remote access (Roon ARC), but I’ve been using Plexamp remote access for over 2 years without any problems. I had used trials of Roon and really like many of their functions, but for me it is “over-priced” and Plexamp gives me everything I need and it simply works for me. If Roon was $299 lifetime I would buy it and use both Plex and Roon. Roon’s $120/year is not bad, but that outweighs what I already have with Plexamp.
(Post was getting longer than I thought when I once started )
Message from a Roon lifetimer for many years. Good to read suggestions to make Plexamp even better. Development is going on with Plexamp with almost every month a release, so I am confident more great features will be added soon.
I bought a Plex license earlier this year because of the possibility to use Plexamp when I am not at home.
After that I found myself using Plexamp more and more these months (even with a good looking ARC app released recently) and use Roon at the moment mostly for the internet Radio when at work.
(ARC emptied my cellular credit despite of the configuration only to download music on Wifi )
Roon can look overwhelming at first sight and it excels where Plexamp falls short a bit: metadata. But there is often something not working well.
Some annoyances: slow loading sometimes when playing music (local & Tidal and I am sure there is no congestion on my network) though I have a very decent up-to-date network and a fast M1 running Roon, recent iPhone and iPad.
Sometimes it stops playing without a clue even when playing on the M1 where the core is running.
Only looked at Discovery page in the beginning and now I try it this morning, it isn’t even loading, despite a fresh start of Roon.
Sometimes memory usage is going up to 12Gb. Desktop and iOS is crashing frequently or is not reacting for 10 or more seconds.
For now I am giving Plexamp a good try and wait for what is coming in Plexamp (and for what is Roon coming with too).
Because:
(edit) Sweet fades
it’s fast and snappy on local network, Wifi and even cellular as well
it loads and plays music from local and Tidal instantly also when I am in other countries
never had a crash
I really, really enjoy the Sonic Analysis for similar tracks / albums (very curious what the future brings)
I can create smart playlists or collections with proper AND / OR conditions (though I miss the option to select value is empty)
when I compare track Radio I like the music Plexamp is playing more to my taste (and Roon is playing mostly from Tidal then, though I have the same track in my library at the same or better quality)
search seems fuzzy in Plexamp, try to find Mazzy Starr on Roon and in Plexamp. Countless examples on the forum.
I have the ability to set caching next tracks
I have the ability to (a certain extent) configure your home screen
I can set Track Moods and create Smart lists with Boolean operators (though unfortunately I can not set moods to tracks in Plexamp)
What I really miss:
the links between Artists / Bands / Collaborations
You are completely right, plex has a really excellent value proposition. That is also the reason why I bought it. I have considered using both roon and plex but I want to keep my usage to one program to have all my statistics in one program and not have to deal with two separate databases of playlists etc. that would be a nuisance. I am quite happy with plexamp and use it nearly since it came out as my main player.
So, this is not a post to diminish plexamp but simply to speak of some wishes. Things that I liked about roon that I could also imagine in Plex.
I do also realize that roons price may in part be that high due to licensing costs for all the metadata stuff they do. I would be willing to buy a separate plex deluxe package for more metadata/relations/etc.
@jamesray you make some very good points. I mainly wish for the links between Artists / Bands / Collaborators. I noticed that it broadens my horizon and that I like following those connections to discover new music. But as said above I am not saying that roon is better in every way. There are quite a few things that I like way more about plexamp. I do intend to stay with plexamp. It really is more about looking what others do that I like and make a feature request here.
In that aspect is Roon far ahead and to my feeling more orientated towards external libraries Tidal/Qobuz than your own library, but you can make nice discoveries.
It may sound strange (and I doubt I can explain it well in English), but because of the endless browsing possibities in the links between artists etc. I find myself sometimes losing “focus” and find myself listening to fragments of tracks restless hunting for new tracks/bands.
I have PlexPass on a QNAP TS-453, and Roon on a Mac mini. I would really like to try Plex in place of Roon for accessing my music, but it means hanging two drives off the QNAP, unless there is some way to “point” the QNAP to the Mac mini?
But one question I cannot seem to get answers to - does Plex degrade the sound quality? All my music is ripped to WAV format via a Naim Core for highest quality, re-clocked, 16bit 44.1KHz, which Roon preserves faithfully with no downsampling. Can Plex do that?
I found out how to link the Mac mini to QNAP using HybridMount, so Plex can now see all the Roon libraries. However, I would still like to know if there is away to force Plex to play thematic locally in NATIVE WAV format?
Well I can not answer you that question, but it is also not the point of this thread. This thread for collecting ideas and voicing Support for some aspects of roon that some miss in plex(amp)
Damned predictive text! Play Thematic locally should have read ‘play the music locally’. Sorry about that.
It’s working out well. Not as good or as slick as Roon, but the fidelity locally is there provided I am on Ethernet. Plex does support WAV, if I disable local metadata. Remotely, Roon is way better to my ears using their ARC app.
I am going to cancel my Roon subscription based on this experiment and knowing I can access the Mac mini libraries now.
I am also a Roon deserter. I had a db crash on my Roon which caused me to lose years of curation, despite backups and all. Big problem and the customer service was not good, not forgivable given you pay lots of cash. I feel Plexamp deserves much more, both in recognition and in revenues. Hope for clear skies!
Plexamp deserves much more indeed I recently found out. Still missing some Roon features, but most important thing since I used it (except one thing which is solved, with waveforms): It.Just.Works!
If it supported Qobuz and had a much better way of streaming to my Hifi then I would consider using PlexAmp more but being limited to connecting a pc or pi (which you can’t get for love nor money) or using AirPlay or Chromecast both of which are not great then it’s just too limiting. I used it for out of house playback but now with ARC that’s less likely, although it’s better featured than ARC currently. But it just doesn’t compete for the curation of my library regardless of where it resides on a local drive, or in Qobuz or Tidal or how it handles my collection in general it just requires too much manual tweaking especially with compilations which are a pain in Plex. Also not having any DSP which I use in a few of my audio listening areas is a feature I would love. Until these are fulfilled I will be with Roon, warts and all as it can now with remote access feed all my house with audio across so many different devices and platforms with excellent SQ.
I’ve killed Roon, but do believe that it matches media way better than Plex does - at least at the moment - Roon seems to be more tolerant. As for features, Plex has a long way to go to compare with Roon: composers, producers, engineers for each track, for starters. The reviews on Plex are badly formatted (no paragraph breaks, even!) so not easily read. No liner notes either … however, the Plex “price is right” compared to Roon.
I have used both Roon and Audirvana. Roon is expensive, appealing to the eye and many times I realized it mesmerized me into visuals, I often lost my focus on audio. I listen to albums as a whole, so Audirvana was a better match. But Audirvana UI is still not good. The only visual I truly need is a big HQ image of the album cover. As for artist images, I mainly listen to classic prog, so many of my artists have already expired or near their expiration date I really don’t need their current images, I like to remember them in their prime. That is only me, of course. I wish I was into Taylor Swift, then artist images would make sense
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