Roon Labs

Roon Partner Update: January 2022

We kicked off the year in style with an impressive array of 15 new Roon Ready and Roon Tested devices from Cary Audio, Integra, Onkyo, Pioneer, Rotel, and Zidoo.

For a full list of our partner brands and every Roon Ready and Roon Tested device, visit our Partners page on the Roon website.

Cary Audio DMS-650 and DMS-800
Roon Ready

The Cary Audio DMS-650 and DMS-800 network audio players are both now Roon Ready.

The redesigned DMS-650 is the entry-point into the DMS platform, and features the AK4497EQ VERITA DAC at its heart. This is Cary’s no compromise, introductory centerpiece full of rich streaming capabilities, and strong digital and analog output compatibility.

The DMS-800 features a complete dual mono design, with two AK4499EQ current output switched resistor DACs, each paired to separate left and right channel digital and analog boards. Every aspect of the signal path of the DMS-800 is witness to its status as their flagship network audio player.

Integra DRX 2.4, DRX 3.4 and DRX 5.4
Roon Tested

The Integra DRX 2.4, DRX 3.4 and DRX 5.4 channel network AV receivers are all now Roon Tested, taking Integra’s total number of Roon compatible devices to eight. All three devices feature Dolby Atmos and HDMI 2.1.

The DRX 3.4 and DRX 5.4 models implement Dirac Live room correction allowing for perfect sound regardless of your listening space.

These AVRs are AV swiss army knives that can satisfy any household’s need for movies and music.

Onkyo TX-NR6050, TX-NR6100, TX-NR7100 and TX-RZ50
Roon Tested

We welcomed four new Onkyo devices to the Roon partner family last month. The TX-NR6050, TX-NR6100, TX-NR7100 and TX-RZ50 AV receivers are now Roon Tested and deliver robust, high-current power for your home-theater systems.

The full model line-up features a plethora of audio and video chops, HDMI 2.1, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos just to name a few. The TX-NR7100 and the TX-RZ50 can bring even more audio heavy lifting to your system with Dirac Live or AccuEQ room correction.

Pioneer VSX-LX105, VSX-935, VSX-LX305 Elite, VSX-LX505 Elite
Roon Tested

The Pioneer VSX-LX105, VSX-935, VSX-LX305, VSX-LX505 are the latest AV receivers from Pioneer’s strong line-up of AVRs to become Roon Tested.

The VSX-LX305 Elite and VSX-LX505 Elite each feature DIRAC Live® Room Correction sent out to 9.2 or 11.2 channels respectively. The VSX-LX105 and VSX-935 are designed to make music streaming simple, and inherit many of the cutting edge connectivity of their bigger siblings, such as HDMI 2.1 and Dolby Atmos capability.

Rotel A12MKII
Roon Tested

The A12MKII integrated amplifier is Rotel’s ninth Roon Tested device. Its sleek design features 60 watts of dynamic class AB amplification output into 8 ohms and a host of digital and analog (including phono) inputs.

This amp routes digital audio through an audiophile grade, 32-bit, Texas Instruments DAC, and even features a Rotel designed toroidal power transformer inside of its thin and sleek packaging.

Zidoo UHD3000
Roon Ready

The Zidoo UHD3000 is the latest device join our Roon Ready family. The UHD3000 is a 4K Blu-Ray, music and video streaming media player that supports Dolby Vision and advanced 4K 12Bit HDR10+ playback.

When it comes to audio, the UHD is designed to impress with the latest ESS9068 Sabre DAC built-in and MQA + DSD playback.

Playlists in Roon

At Roon our team of self-proclaimed music fanatics have a broad range of musical interests and a shared goal of creating the best experiences for our community of music lovers.

We started sharing playlists of our favorite music with our community in partnership with our streaming partners TIDAL and Qobuz. We collaborated with artists and our own music team to bring you editorial content and playlists over the past year.

We’ve worked with artists including Patricia Barber, Daymé Arocena, AHI, and Stephen Moccio to bring you exclusive interviews and editorial, as well as producing weekly playlists with a particular genre or theme.

Up until now, our playlists have only been available on TIDAL and Qobuz, and haven’t been accessible in Roon. In our latest 1.8 Fall 2021 release, you can now access everything our music team has curated, directly from your Home Screen on both streaming platforms.

This year our music team started curating more playlists available only in Roon, along with our playlists made in collaboration with Qobuz and TIDAL. We will also feature guest playlists, such as our recent playlists Jazz Waltz Decades by one of our founders Brian Luczkiewicz and Maestros of the Screen by composer Matt Wang.

Here are some of our recent playlists which you can find in the home screen of Roon.

Welcome to Joburg explores the sounds coming from Johannesburg’s progressive music scene. Enjoy the unique South African blend of electronic house, traditional African percussion, multilingual vocals, jazz, soul, reggae, R&B and rap.

HiFi JoyRide explores old and new music with a significant sound that shows how your hifi responds to different types of music. Some obvious, some out there. Take your system for a joyride and discover new favorites.

Phoebe Pearls explores Phoebe Bridgers steady climb from indie artist to icon. This playlist includes some of the pearls in the collection of well crafted songs that makes Phoebe Bridgers the tour guide of her generation.

Last Train to Lagos takes you on a musical journey to Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, for an introduction to Afropop, a style of music that is dominating in global influence.

Future Icons highlights new music from new artists poised to reach iconic status.

Jazz Waltz Decades focuses on the art of the jazz waltz, with a playlist of recordings spanning the 1950s to the 2010s.

Melancholic Lute explores music for the lute family, from the Renaissance lute to the theorbo. We highlight works by Hurel, Dowland, Josquin Des Prez, Kapsberger, Piccinini and J.S. Bach.

Maestros of the Screen is a collection of brilliant film and tv scores from composers Hildur Guðnadóttir, Shirley Walker, Mandy Hoffman, Thomas Newman, and more.

Eclectic Spirit is a mix of spiritual and electronic tunes for chilling, relaxation, or reading. Overall an electronic chill mood with a few pop pick me ups!

Mountain Jazz highlights a selection of the finest tracks from the jazz traditions of the Nordics. Transparent, floating, dreamy and with a constant undercurrent of folk music and dramatic scenery.

Lieder A selection of songs from the Romantic era. We highlight German composers Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Schubert, Mahler, Swedish composers Peterson-Berger, Rangström and Alfvén, and Czech composer Korngold.

All of our playlists can be found in the Home Screen in Roon.

Roon Music Editorial

We had the pleasure of speaking with some fantastic artists and recording teams last year about their creative process. We spoke to cuban jazz artist Daymé Arocena, jazz pianist and singer Patricia Barber, the engineering team behind Patricia Barber’s grammy nominated album Clique, songwriter and pianist Stephan Moccio, and singer-songwriter AHI.

Daymé Arocena: Cuban Music Breakout. Part 1.

In celebration of International Jazz Day, we spoke to the Havana born and raised 28-year-old singer, choir conductor, and composer Daymé Arocena about her music journey and Cuba’s rich music history.

Daymé Arocena: Music Roots & Creative Process. Part 2.

We continued our conversation with Daymé, discussing her musical upbringing, creative process, and her song Homenaje from our Cuban Jazz playlist.

Recording Patricia Barber’s Clique

Husband-and-wife engineering team Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz discussed the making of Patricia Barber’s latest album Clique which has since been nominated for a 2022 Grammy for Best Immersive Album. Between them, Jim and Ulrike enjoy decades of combined recording and technical experience, awards and Grammys.

The Patricia Barber Interview

We then spoke to jazz pianist and singer Patricia Barber about her album Clique, her creative process, and her inspiration.

A Conversation with Stephan Moccio

Canadian Oscar-nominated and Grammy-nominated pianist, songwriter and producer Stephan Moccio spoke to us about his new album Lionheart. Stephan discussed the relationship between his pop songwriting and his solo classical piano work, the inspiration behind Lionheart, and his career highlight of composing the 2010 Vancouver Olympics theme.

A Conversation with AHI

Canadian songwriter AHI talked to us about his new album Prospect. We covered the influences behind the album and certain tracks, AHI’s songwriting process, and the ways in which AHI’s extensive travel have influenced his music.

We look forward to speaking with more artists and recording engineers this year. Keep an eye out on our blog and socials for more editorial content.

For each interview we created an accompanying playlist, these can all be found in the Roon Playlists section of the Home Screen in Roon.

Roon Partner Update: December 2021

We had a busy December with an impressive array of seven new Roon Ready and Roon Tested devices from audio heavyweights Astell&Kern, Cocktail Audio, Dutch & Dutch, Lumin, Mcintosh and MiniDSP. For a full list of our partner brands and every Roon Ready and Roon Tested device, visit our Partners page on the Roon website.

Astell&Kern SP2000T
Roon Ready

Astell&Kern released their eighth Roon Ready device with the SP2000T. The SP2000T combines the OP AMP configuration of the SP2000 with a nostalgic vacuum tube amplifier adding a vintage feel to the portable player.

Cocktail Audio N25AMP
Roon Ready

Cocktail Audio added the N25AMP to the Roon partner family.

The N25AMP is an all-in-one network audio player featuring a built-in 125W amp, a Sabre32 Reference DAC chip and a high-performance Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 processor and is certified as Roon Ready.

Dutch & Dutch 8c
Roon Ready

We are delighted to announce that the Dutch & Dutch 8c is now Roon Ready.

With its origins in mixing and mastering studios around the world, the Dutch & Dutch 8c are taking the audiophile world by storm. They deliver the kind of sonic experience one would expect from a system of separates and matched speakers four times the price. With built-in boundary matching, listening position optimization, and room equalization, the 8c adapts itself to your listening environment in order to deliver the performance as the artist intended.

Lumin P1
Roon Ready

Lumin added their 11th device to the Roon partner family with the P1.

The Lumin P1 has an array of features, including analogue and digital inputs, and Roon Ready functionality. Designed to be the heart of your system, you can use the P1 as a streamer, DAC and preamplifier or all three.

McIntosh RS150 and RS250
Roon Ready

The RS150 and RS250 wireless speakers are the latest additions from McIntosh to join the Roon family and are McIntosh’s first to offer networked Roon Ready playback.

The RS150 and RS250 combine wireless music streaming with legendary McIntosh sound quality for easy modern listening. The RS150 delivers big sound in a small package while the RS250 is McIntosh’s most powerful and advanced home audio wireless speaker system.

MiniDSP
Roon Ready

We welcomed MiniDSP into the Roon Partner family this month with their first Roon Ready devices, the SHD, SHD Power and SHD Studio.

The SHD has extensive connectivity options with three digital inputs, two analog inputs and USB audio enables the SHD to fit right into any modern audio system.

The SHD Power includes a 120W per channel low-distortion power amplifier for powering your main speakers, and two additional analog outputs for connecting a subwoofer or subwoofers.

The SHD Studio includes a variety of our powerful but user-friendly DSP audio tuning software – ten-band parametric EQ per channel, crossovers up to 48 dB/octave, compressor/limiter, and a flexible 2×4 matrix mixer.

Holiday Playlists

We created a set of playlists for the winter holidays, covering a range of genres. We start with Fireside Jazz on TIDAL, a playlist of festive and winter-themed jazz, with a significant proportion from Norwegian artists. Acoustic jazz highlights include winter-themed tracks from Hoff Ensemble, Rob Luft, Stan Getz, Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Pat Metheny and Stephan Moccio.

For those who enjoy a more festive feel, we feature acoustic arrangements of Christmas carols from Bugge Wesseltoft, Vince Guaraldi, Jan Gunnar Hoff, Ola Gjeilo, Charles Lloyd & The Marvels and Cyrus Chestnut. Vocal highlights include Norah Jones, Katie Melua, Dianne Reeves, and Norwegian singers Ellen Andrea Wang, Helene Bøksle, and Solveig Slettahjell.

Solveig Slettahjell. Photo: Andreas Frøland

Our playlist Christmas Carols, for TIDAL, is a celebration of traditional choral Christmas music. This playlist contains carols ranging from Renaissance composers William Byrd and Tomás Luis de Victoria to contemporary composers such as John Rutter and Philip Stopford. The playlist begins with Voces8’s Praetorius: Est Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen, a composition dating back to 1609, and Cornelius: The Three Kings. English composer Benjamin Britten’s choral works have become a staple of many Christmas concerts. A Ceremony of Carols: Balulalow and A Hymn To The Virgin are performed here by The Sixteen.

Highlights from award-winning choir Tenebrae are Tchaikovsky: Legend (The Crown of Roses), Tavener: The Lamb and Rathbone: The Oxen. Siglo de Oro takes us to Renaissance Mexico with composer Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla’s Joseph Fili David from Christmas in Puebla. Other highlights include carols from Rodolfus Choir, Stile Antico, Oxford Camerata, Cambridge Singers and Trinity College Choir, Cambridge.

We end with carols from The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge with german composer Otto Goldschmidt’s A Tender Shoot and the traditional carol The Linden Tree arranged by Reginald Jacques.

Our playlist Winter Warmers for Qobuz is full of festive favorites, both old and new. Many of us tire of hearing the same Christmas pop classics played on repeat during the winter months. Here we highlight some less well known festive music along with classic Christmas crooners such as Nat King-Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.

We begin with new releases from Norwegian rising star Sigrid’s Home to You (This Christmas), Norah Jones’ Christmas Glow, and ABBA’s Little Things. We then feature the iconic Joni Mitchell’s River, followed by Brit-award Rising Star Celeste’s soulful A Little Love. The silky vocals of jazz-band Pink Martini’s A Snowglobe Christmas brings a peaceful cheer, along with female crooners Stacey Kent, Carole King, Holly Cole, Natalie Cole, Emmylou Harris, Aretha Franklin, Jane Monheit and Doris Day.

Kandace Springs brings a jazz-inspired rendition of (Everybody’s Waitin For) The Man With The Bag, followed by Amy Winehouse’ I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus from new release The Singles Collection.

We then turn to a blues and country Christmas with The Teskey Brothers’ Dreaming of a Christmas With You and Brandy Clark’s Merry Christmas Darling. We end with the festive nostalgia of Leonard Cohen, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Simon & Garfunkel, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Otis Redding.

Our playlist Soulful Season is full of old-school Soul, R&B, Jazz, and Blues holiday classics and originals. Motown and Stax Records heavies Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Temptations, and The Staple Singers stir up sounds that warm the spirit. We include soul giants James Brown, William Bell, Solomon Burke, and Donny Hathaway.

Early R&B, Doo-Wop, and New Orleans sounds come courtesy of The Drifters, The Penguins, The Harmony Grits, The Moonglows, and Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, adding fun and rhythm to your holiday party. Kenny Burrell contributes jazz guitar groove that’s matched in kind by two kings of the blues, B.B. and Freddie King.

Chuck Berry brings his rocking homage to the most famous reindeer to lead Santa’s Sleigh. Perennial favorites from the classic 1963 Phil Spector LP A Christmas Gift for You From Philles Records are sprinkled in liberally, and plenty of other surprises await.

Donny Hathaway. Photo: *Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images*

Enjoy these and all of our playlists directly from your Home screen in Roon. Happy holidays from all at Roon, we hope you enjoy this music.

Roon Partner Update: November 2021

We kicked off this fall with an impressive array of 7 new Roon Ready and Roon Tested devices from audio heavyweights Arcam, AVM, Audiolab, NAD, and TEAC. Read all about them in our latest partner update below. For a full list of our partner brands and every Roon Ready and Roon Tested device, visit our Partners page on the Roon website.

Arcam AVR5
Roon Ready

Arcam have added the AVR5 as their eighth certified Roon Ready device. The AVR5 is a high-performance A/V receiver that delivers stunning realism for the ultimate home cinema experience.

AVM SD 6.3, SD 8.3
Roon Ready

AVM joined the Roon family in June 2021 and now have six Roon Ready devices.

The SD 6.3 and 8.3 are the latest additions to the OVATION line. The SD 6.3 is built on AVM’s pure solid state technology while the SD 8.3 features a tube line stage for a warm and natural sound reproduction.

Audiolab Omnia
Roon Tested

We welcomed Audiolab into the Roon Partner family this month with their first Roon Tested device, the Omnia.

Omnia is a ‘just-add-speakers’ all-in-one system that caters for a music lover’s every need. It’s packed with features, including an integrated CD player, extensive inputs for external sources, and high-quality amplification to make the most of whichever speakers or headphones you choose to partner with it.

NAD C399
Roon Ready

The C399 is the latest NAD device to be added to the Roon family.

The C399 is an integrated amplifier with DAC utilizing NAD’s Hybrid Digital technology. It incorporates the latest generation of NAD’s Modular Design Construction for future extensibility and can accommodate all digital and analogue sources.

TEAC UD-701N, NT-505-X
Roon Ready

The TEAC UD-701N and the NT-505-X are the latest additions to join the Roon family.

The UD-701N is a new USB DAC/Network Player with a high-current headphone amplifier and full analog pre-amplifier functionality. It features their newly-developed TEAC ΔΣ (Delta Sigma) discrete FPGA DAC which implements state-of-the-art engineering and conversion algorithms. It’s a versatile all-round unit that matches new listening styles for a new era.

The NT-505-X is a USB DAC and network player featuring dual ES9038 Q2M DACs in order to achieve the highest levels of signal-to-noise. Its headphone amplifier uses TEAC-HCLD 2 analog output circuits to ensure high current output capacity in all scenarios.

Take your Roon content to services around the world with Soundiiz

My name is Thomas and I’m the co-founder of Soundiiz, a French startup created in 2013 with my friend and co-founder Benoit.

You may be asking yourself, “what is Soundiiz?”.

It’s a handy tool to manage your music streaming services in one place, allowing you to connect and move your music collection between more than 40 services.

While we support a lot of music streaming services, many of our users have local media files and music collections that they have curated over the years. And, it’s in this context that Roon was introduced to us, thanks to our users, as powerful software to handle a local music collection.

I met the Roon team a while back and we decided to collaborate as we saw so many synergies between our respective communities. Many Roon listeners are streaming their music with the help of Roon’s support of Qobuz and TIDAL. For a Roon subscriber, the ability to export their music collection using Soundiiz, is a step forward in empowering the listener to feel like they “own” their collection.

We are proud to work with Roon, and to be a part of this new export feature that all Roon members can now enjoy.

Now, let’s see how easy and fast it is to export a personal playlist created in Roon to a music streaming service of your choice.

First, you need to open the playlist you want to export in Roon. Then, select the playlist option “Export” using “…”.

You will see the option to export a Soundiiz CSV file. Click on “Save to desktop”.

Next, go to the Soundiiz website and create an account* if you don’t have one. Once connected, select “Import playlist” in the top right of the interface.

*Use code “ROONVIP” at checkout to get 15% off the Soundiiz Premium subscription.

Choose “From File” and pick the CSV file you have previously saved to your desktop.

Confirm the tracklist and the playlist configuration (title and description).

Finally, select the music service where you want to import this playlist and… it’s as simple as that!

In a few minutes, your playlist will be available on your chosen streaming service and ready to be played! If some elements don’t match (they might not be available in your chosen streaming service, for example), you will be able to see and download a list with details of the elements found vs not found.

We hope you find Soundiiz useful for managing your playlists! Visit
soundiiz.com to find out more.

By: Thomas Magnano, Co-founder of Soundiiz
Guest contributor to Roon Blog.

Roon partners win big at the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2021

The 39th edition of the What Hi-Fi? Awards took place on November 4th which saw 21 Roon Ready and Roon Tested products win across 11 different categories.

There were multiple awards up for grabs at the prestigious event in London, which included product ‘Best Buys’ and ‘Product of the Year’ awards across 26 product categories, as well as five ‘Special Awards’ – all of which featured products from the Roon family.

You can read about them all below.

Product of the Year Awards

Five Roon partners were awarded the ‘Product of the Year’ accolade, celebrating the very best tech of the year.

Bluesound Node | Roon Ready
Best music streamer

“At this money, it represents one of the most entertaining and comprehensive ways of adding music streaming to your hi-fi system.”

Cambridge Audio CX81| Roon Tested
Best stereo amplifier

“If you’re looking for a well-equipped integrated at this level, this is a great place to start.”

Chord Qutest| Roon Ready
Best DAC

“Chord has managed to do it again. The Qutest sets a new benchmark at this price”

KEF LS50 Wireless II| Roon Ready
Best all-in-one system

“KEF’s revisions have paid off; these sequels are among the most thrilling speaker systems we’ve heard”

Naim Mu-so Qb 2 | Roon Ready
Best wireless speaker

“The Mu-so Qb retains an inherently likeable presentation, but has matured over the three years since its first generation.”

In addition, a month before revealing the overall ‘Product of the Year’ winners, What Hi-Fi? announced all of their ‘Best Buy’ products, featuring thirteen Roon partner devices.

Best Buy Awards

Arcam ST60 | Roon Ready
Best music streamer £1,000-£1,500

“If you’re happy with your hi-fi system but simply want to smarten it up by slotting a streamer next to your separates, the Arcam ST60 is a strong choice.”

Astell&Kern A&futura SE180 | Roon Ready
Best portable music player over £1,000

“Astell & Kern’s quirkiest player yet is also one of its best value”

AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt | Roon Tested
Best DAC £200-£300

“If you loved the DragonFly Red as much as we did, and you’re looking to make the next step up without compromising on size or form, the Cobalt represents something of a no-brainer.”

Cambridge Audio CXA61 I Roon Tested
Best stereo amplifier £600-800

“Class leaders are constantly being replaced in hi-fi, but rarely is it done so soundly as by Cambridge Audio’s CXA81 integrated amp”

Cambridge Audio CXN V2 | Roon Tested
Best music streamer £750-1000

“Making the best even better, the CXN (V2) is the best streamer out there at this price point”

Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M I Roon Tested
Best DAC £300-£500

“Cambridge’s top-of-the-line DAC is a well-armed, high-performing all-rounder”

Chord Hugo 2 | Roon Tested
Best DAC over £1,200

“There isn’t another DAC around at anywhere near this sort of price able to communicate so torrentially, so unambiguously or so effortlessly. We like it a lot.”

iFi Zen DAC V2 | Roon Tested
Best DAC under £200

“One of the very best ways to upgrade your desktop headphone system.”

JBL Synthesis SDR-35 | Roon Ready
Best home cinema amplifier over £3,000

“If you’re building a high-end home cinema, the SDR-35 should be the first AVR you audition”

KEF LSX | Roon Tested
Best all-in-one system under £1,000

“A neat, compact and entertaining all-in-one system of rare sonic quality”

Marantz PM7000N | Roon Tested
Best hi-fi system under £1,000

“A practical, well furnished just-add-speakers streaming system that impresses with its entertaining performance”

Naim Uniti Atom | Roon Ready
Best hi-fi system over £1,000

“Rarely does a product look and sound as good as the Uniti Atom, but here Naim has drawn big old capital S’s on Style and Substance”

Naim ND5 XS 2 | Roon Ready
Best music streamer over £1,500

“The Nait XS 3 is a gentle upgrade but remains one of the most musically enticing options at this price”

Our friends at TIDAL also picked-up ‘Best music streaming service’: “TIDAL’s expansive, accessible and hi-res-inclusive catalogue remains the best option for streaming-savvy audiophiles”.

Three of our audio partners also won in the ‘Special Award’ category which acknowledges their outstanding innovations and contributions to the audio industry.

Special Awards

Cambridge Audio Evo 75 | Roon Ready
Readers Award

“The Evo 75 is a shining example of just how appealing a just-add-speakers streaming system can be”

Linn Klimax DSM AV | Roon Tested
Temptation

“When it comes to insight, clarity and dynamic expression, Linn’s exceptional range-topping Klimax DSM is second to none”

Marantz PM6007| Roon Tested
Hall of Fame

“Clearer and punchier than its award-winning predecessor, Marantz’s latest entry-level amplifier never puts the formidable 6000 Series dynasty in doubt”

Congratulations to all of our award-winning partners this year! You can find out more about the What Hi-Fi Awards 2021 and see all 109 winners here.

A Conversation with AHI

We had the pleasure of speaking with Canadian songwriter AHI about his new album Prospect, out today. In Prospect, AHI reflects on his own identity and that of his community, fully embracing himself for the first time by putting his face on the album cover. AHI is known for his storytelling, with a unique voice full of influences from his travels, community and his West Indian upbringing.

[Editor] What can you tell us about your new album Prospect and the meaning and inspiration behind it?

Prospect is the title track of this album, and it’s also the opener. As the hook says, “I just want to live like someone before my time is counting on me…and walk beneath the wings like someone from another life is looking out for me.” For me, Prospect is a reflection on our shared humanity and what it means to be a link in a chain that stretches both forwards and backwards through time for eternity.

It’s a heavy concept, but I truly believe that our lives are part of something bigger and more meaningful than we understand. You and I are the prospect, and the gravity of our impact on one another is far greater than we can ever imagine.

Can you tell us about your songwriting process? Has anything in particular shaped or influenced it?

For me, songwriting is all about conveying a message that will reach people in a meaningful way. Sometimes it starts with a melody, and sometimes it’s a word that will spark inspiration, and other times songs will simply come to me in my dreams. But no matter how the inspiration may come, my first step is almost always to grab my guitar and record it while it’s fresh. From there, I usually let the feeling of the melody inform its lyrics.

My songwriting has definitely been influenced by the greats – Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, Tracy Chapman, Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Bill Withers – artists who found ways to express the most complex human emotions in the simplest of ways that we can all relate to. It might sound simple, but as a songwriter, that’s often the hardest thing to do.

You wrote Coldest Fire during the pandemic, can you tell us what it means to you and what you hoped it would bring to your audience?

I wrote this song at the height of the summer 2020 protests. While I’m often advised to stay safe and neutral with the hope of bringing people together, the world was more divided than I had seen in my lifetime and at times trying to find a balance felt like warfare inside. For me and countless other Black people, it can often feel like we are constantly living in a duality, where we have to silence a part of ourselves just to exist peacefully.

Coldest Fire represents the vulnerability that comes with that duality, but it also reminds us that we can find solace in our relationships with one another. I hope that anyone listening to that song can hear it with empathy and find comfort in knowing they’re not alone.

We understand that Danger came to you in a dream, can you tell us what story this song tells?

Music comes to me in my dreams all the time. Danger was one of those songs where I dreamt I was singing the chorus to a huge crowd as they sang along to every word, and I immediately woke up and recorded it with a sense of urgency. This particular dream song was about a young man who falls victim to a stray bullet and his mother Evelyn who immediately senses trouble.

Little did I know, my song told the story of a real mother whom I would later meet for the first time, a woman named Evelyn Fox from my hometown of Toronto, whose son had been lost to gun violence in a manner eerily similar to the lyrics of the song I had dreamt. As I later learned, Evelyn now works tirelessly as an activist for community safety alongside other mothers who have lost their children and loved ones to senseless gun violence.

We finally met face-to-face for the first time on the set of my music video for Danger, and hearing her story affirmed for me that the solution and healing we are looking for is rooted in the realization that every life is fragile and precious.

We understand you’ve done extensive travel through the Ethiopian Highlands and jungles of Trinidad. Can you tell us how your travels have influenced your music?

Throughout my travels, I often relied on the kindness of strangers who helped me on my journeys, let me into their homes, and just plain cared about me a lot. When we’re not thinking about it, at the core of humanity we all just want to see the best for each other and see the good in all people.

As corny as this might sound, traveling the world has shown me that we are really more alike than we are different. We’re all looking for purpose, connection, community and human connection, and I think these have become underlying themes in my music, which makes it almost universally relatable.

Roon is all about enjoying your music listening experience at home. Can you tell us whether you have a specific home set up for music playback, how do you listen to music as a fan?

My family and I love to blast anything out of our living room speakers, and as a father of four, one of the best feelings in the world is watching your children fall in love with great music from before their time.

The other day I awoke to hear my 11-year-old daughter playing Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life on the record player, completely of her own choosing, and it’s now one of her favourite albums. Some days it’s Mavis Staples or BB King, some days it’s Mos Def & Talib Kweli, and other days it’s Carole King & Fleetwood Mac. But whatever the mood, I think the best way to listen to music is always to enjoy it with the family.

AHI’s new album Prospect is now available on TIDAL and Qobuz.

Listen to our playlist AHI on TIDAL.

Roon Partner Update: October 2021

We kicked off this fall with an impressive array of 9 new Roon Ready and Roon Tested devices from audio pioneers NAD, Onkyo, Primare, Rotel, Silent Angel, and T+A Elektroakustik. Read all about them in our latest partner update below. For a full list of our partner brands and every Roon Ready and Roon Tested device, visit our Partners page on the Roon website.

NAD C700 and M10V2
Roon Ready

NAD added their 23rd and 24th devices to the Roon family with the NAD C 700 and M10 V2.

Both devices are powered by BluOS with the C 700 featuring a HybridDigital UcD amplifier within its aluminium housing and the M10 V2 combining a network streamer with a 100W per channel amplifier in one device.

Onkyo TX-NR5100
Roon Tested

The TX-NR5100 is a 7.2-channel 8K AV receiver designed to be the center piece in your home theater. It’s tailored to deliver the best possible in-class entertainment experience and is Onkyo’s eighth device to become Roon Tested.

Primare NP5 Prisma MK2
Roon Ready

Adding to our family of Roon Ready audio devices in October was the new version of the popular Primare NP5 Prima network player, the NP5 Prisma MK2.

The NP5 Prisma MK2 provides full network player technology to virtually any component with a digital input and is designed to slip inconspicuously into any system.

Rotel P5, X3, X5
Roon Tested

Rotel’s integrated amplifiers, the X3 and X5 and controlled amplifier, the P5 are now Roon Tested.

The Rotel X3 delivers 350W of Class AB amplification and the X5 ups the power to 600W.The P5 features specially selected power supply, circuit design and critical component selections to ensure the highest integrity of the audio signal eliminating unwanted noise and distortion

Silent Angel Munich M1T
Roon Ready

The Munich M1T is the 2nd Roon Ready device from Silent Angel. It is a digital transport designed to be used with an external DAC, and supports USB, S/PDIF and AES EBU conections

T+A Elektroakustik MP 200
Roon Ready

T+A Elektroakustik added their 15th device to the Roon family with the MP 200. The MP 200 is a multi source player, combining a compact design matched with the other Series 200 components with a flexible array of inputs including streaming and CD playback.