shankarcams
Active Member
I have been a long term Sonos user, mainly because the UI is so good and because Sonos is natively supported by Logitech Harmony Hub, my remote of choice. I have tried Roon from time to time, but the killer issue has been its lack of integration with Logitech Harmony. Also, in fairness I did not probably give it a proper evaluation.
Recently I discovered a third party app that allowed me to control Roon via Logitech Harmony. And in the last year, Trinnov added a Roon-Ready endpoint to its Altitude 32 processor. These developments caused me to reopen the Roon trial. But this time I got a couple of fellow FMs to join me in a blind A/B test of Sonos vs. the Roon.
Here are the findings from the blind test:
1. Roon has much better sound. There is greater detail and balance in the sound. I do not say this lightly.
2. Sonos still has the better UI. From search onwards, Roon has some catching up to do.
3. Roon is very hardware intensive. I installed it on my Synology NAS, and even though the NAS was running at >50% all the time, the responsiveness at the remote end was very slow. A search would take 10 seconds to return. Scrolling was jerky and slow. Roon says this is how it will be unless the Roon software is installed on an i5 or i7 based server with an SSD for the Roon database itself. Sonos, on the other hand, does all its processing on itself (HW device) so clearly none of these issues exist.
The conclusion: Roon is a better product, but be aware of the collateral costs (required HW upgrades etc.) while migrating.
Shankar
Recently I discovered a third party app that allowed me to control Roon via Logitech Harmony. And in the last year, Trinnov added a Roon-Ready endpoint to its Altitude 32 processor. These developments caused me to reopen the Roon trial. But this time I got a couple of fellow FMs to join me in a blind A/B test of Sonos vs. the Roon.
Here are the findings from the blind test:
1. Roon has much better sound. There is greater detail and balance in the sound. I do not say this lightly.
2. Sonos still has the better UI. From search onwards, Roon has some catching up to do.
3. Roon is very hardware intensive. I installed it on my Synology NAS, and even though the NAS was running at >50% all the time, the responsiveness at the remote end was very slow. A search would take 10 seconds to return. Scrolling was jerky and slow. Roon says this is how it will be unless the Roon software is installed on an i5 or i7 based server with an SSD for the Roon database itself. Sonos, on the other hand, does all its processing on itself (HW device) so clearly none of these issues exist.
The conclusion: Roon is a better product, but be aware of the collateral costs (required HW upgrades etc.) while migrating.
Shankar