What is Valence? 

When you think of discovering new music, you may think of reading a great review, or finding that you love the opening act at a concert. You might imagine a conversation with a friend – maybe one who really knows their music history or stays on top of new releases – who happens to know what you like, too.

The reality of algorithmic recommendation is something different, which is why it often falls short of expectations. When you think of discovering new music, you probably don’t think of a network of servers analyzing the listening habits of zillions of users, identifying patterns in the data to find other content that you might like.

Valence does more than compare you to other users. It uses Roon’s deep metadata as its foundation, providing context about music and connections between the people who compose, perform, and produce it. Next, it considers your listening history before filtering for the results that are most popular, but only among listeners who are experts in that genre.

This multidimensional approach is what gives Valence recommendations meaning. The very idea of “Top performers of works by Johannes Brahms”, for example, would be impossible without a fundamental understanding of composers, genres, time periods, compositions, instrumentation, performers, and collaborations. 

Whether you have an extensive music collection you’ve built up over the years, or you’re just starting out, your own music collection is always just the starting point with Valence. Connect TIDAL or Qobuz to your Roon account to reveal your own personal gateway to a new world of high-resolution streamed music, making new discoveries endless.