[jtwrace]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC3vpBxtLhE


https://roonnewsroom.com/2021/02/02/roon-1-8-arrives-powerful-user-driven-software-update-brings-a-visually-stunning-interface-sophisticated-music-discovery-and-deeper-personalization/

[Saturn94]

I’m surprised Roon announced a release date.  They usually do not.

It looks like mostly UI changes?

I’ll probably hold off a few days or so to see if any major issues pop up.

[Saturn94]

So Roon 1.8 was released today.  I’m guessing all the hype leading up to it is overwhelming Roon today as the forum website has been inaccessible most of the day.

Has anyone here updated yet?

I’m waiting to see if there are any widespread issues before I update.  It’s a little frustrating not being able to access the forum to see what’s going on.

Update:  I was finally able to access the forum.  There’s been lots of reports of the iOS app crashing. ☹️

[carusoracer]

I too received all of the correspondence regarding the new release. I’m waiting and watching as well before I update. The last update crashed my system/streamer/DAC. Nevertheless it is very good to use once the teething issues were solved.

[TomS]

I've been running 1.8 since mid day, no issues so far. NUC w/ROCK, newer Mac Mini, very old iMac, Macbook 12" w/Big Sur, Lenovo X1 w/Win10, iPhone Xs. Still finding my way around though, pretty big UI change.

[newzooreview]

Comments on their site are running 90% negative. I found so many bad changes I disabled even the auto updates of bug fixes on my Roon ROCK (Intel NUC) server. I don't want anything to do with this 1.8 version unless it is forced on me somehow (I assume it won't be forced, but who knows--they make me log in to use the software I purchased, so I wouldn't put anything past them.)

Among the issues, in my view:

1. Roon already had too much white space and now it’s even worse.

2. Track numbers are missing from playlists now. Not possible to have them any more.

3. Moving multiple files in the queue is still not possible. Even old iTunes allowed this.

4. The Qobuz or Tidal logo by the “Versions” tab is gone now, so you don't know if there are streaming versions or just additional versions in your library.

5. Discover is now buried and hard to access. It's somewhere at the bottom of a long, bloated home page screen and you have to scroll down and down and down to find it. It's gone from the side menu.

6. Search no longer appears in the middle of the screen. It's way up at the top right.

7. The app is now built for a phone and doesn’t scale on a laptop or larger computer screen.

8. The “Queue” button is now mixed together with the playback controls. This insane. The transport buttons (back, play/pause, forward) should be separated from other buttons unrelated to track plaback.

9. The waveform is short and hard to see now. It doesn't stretch across the screen. That also makes no sense.

10. “Focus on Similar” is no longer visible. That is a critical feature. It needs a dedicted button like it has in 1.7

11. The dates recorded, released, and added are gone. Now there’s just one ambiguous date.

12. Discs is just a drop down menu. I want to see Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3, etc. Now I need to go into a menu for something that was one click previously.

The list goes on.

[newzooreview]

They've also cut by half the number of album covers visible on the screen while browsing. If you used to be able to see 24 albums when browsing, you can only see 12 now. So you have to scroll a lot more. There is no way make the album art smaller so you can see more info.

[Tyson]

I actually really like the new interface.  It's cleaner.  I also like that the album art is larger in Browse.  Larger is better for me because it lets me get a better feel for the album while deciding to listen to it or not.

[Saturn94]

The iOS crashing seems to be related to iOS devices set to a language other than US English, so that shouldn’t affect me.  Other than that, I not seeing a widespread pattern of issues other than complaints about different features.

[Craig B]

I'm in the last couple of weeks of a 1-cent 90-day trial period, and I haven't quite made up my mind yet whether to continue. The update didn't mean much to me, other than some headaches getting it installed (three tries to get the core update downloaded, two tries for the iPad; only the iPhone update went as planned). I'll try to explore its features and abilities in the time I have left, but so far I'm not 100% sold on the whole thing, especially with that huge bump in the price of lifetime subscriptions.

[jtwrace]

I had no issues installing at all...I'm surprised at how many have said they have.  I have multiple devices all with different OS and not one issue.  Flawless, as usual. 

[sebrof]

If you liked Roon 1.7 I expect you’ll like 1.8. Some things are cleaned up, although you may find some functions that you used are less intuitive (I didn’t find any change that bothered me).
I prefer the way Artists is displayed, with a vertical scrolling vs. the old horizontal scrolling. Someone mentioned the Que icon is in a weird place...it’s basically in the same place but moved about 1/2 inch on my iPad screen. Not an issue for me, and neither is the mag glass icon for search...there it is, wanna search just tap it. 
All in all not a huge upgrade for me but some nice clean up. I love Roon, it has changed the way I listen to and discover new music and is so much better (to me) than other interfaces I’ve used.
I’m running the Roon core on an Innuos Zen and control on my iPad.

[fbny71]

No issues here either.

Updated my iOS devices first as instructed then my
Mac mini core, so far everything is working just fine; as usual I should add.

No comment on new layout yet.

[Saturn94]

I went ahead and updated without issue.  Roon Radio isn’t working properly, but I see the posted a note on the Roon forum explaining they are having Roon Radio performance issues due to the large surge in traffic.  I expect they’ll get it sorted out.  Other than Roon Radio, I haven’t noticed any functional issues yet.

I’m not crazy about the new look (I’m using Dark Mode).  As viewed on my iPad (7gen), it feels a bit “messy” with information “floating” on the screen, making it harder for me to read.  It’s almost gaudy and a bit child-like in overall appearance.  Perhaps it’s just a matter of getting use to.  Oddly, while I’m not pleased with the look on my iPad, the new style is an improvement on my iPhone 6s.  It’s seems the new look comes across better on small phone screens.

I realize I could have held onto 1.7 for awhile, but since Roon only supports current versions, eventually I would have to update anyway.  I might as well rip that bandaid off now and get it over with.

[datman]

It is working ok for me except I can't log into Qobuz from Roon. If this issue can't be resolved I suppose I will give up Qobuz.

[Saturn94]

The iOS crashing seems to be related to iOS devices set to a language other than US English, so that shouldn’t affect me.  Other than that, I not seeing a widespread pattern of issues other than complaints about different features.

Today Roon released a fix for the crashes non-US iOS users were experiencing. 

[Saturn94]

It is working ok for me except I can't log into Qobuz from Roon. If this issue can't be resolved I suppose I will give up Qobuz.

I’m not experiencing Qobuz issues through Roon.  Perhaps try rebooting everything?

[TomS]

It is working ok for me except I can't log into Qobuz from Roon. If this issue can't be resolved I suppose I will give up Qobuz.

This has happened to me before in previous versions with both Tidal and Qobuz. Reboot the routers, try logging in again, and usually all is good. No idea why.

[Saturn94]

It is working ok for me except I can't log into Qobuz from Roon. If this issue can't be resolved I suppose I will give up Qobuz.

Any luck?

[nature boy]

No problems with Qobuz in my transition to 1.8. Good luck troubleshooting.

NB