AFAIK, Roon’s music signal path does not involve the GPU at all .
Then why do they state?:
If you have two GPUs (graphics processing units), control for it
Many laptops have two GPUs–usually a power-efficient integrated GPU as well as a powerful discrete GPU provided by NVIDIA or AMD. Machines like this typically switch between the GPUs automatically depending on the workload. Running graphics intensive software (even stuff like Google Maps), or attaching external monitors can cause the discrete GPU to kick in.
Some people find that they can achieve better sound quality using the integrated GPU. On Macs, software like gfxCardStatus can help you monitor and control which GPU is being used. On Windows PC’s, this is generally managed in a control panel provided by the GPU manufacturer.
Roon’s OpenGL-based user interface runs comfortably on most integrated GPUs, but some laptops react to our use of OpenGL by defaulting to the discrete GPU–this can pollute A-B testing between Roon and other software that may not use OpenGL.
It seems that you’re the one not understanding that the user-interface is what Roon believes can cause a slightly less sound quality. Otherwise, they would not make this recommendation:
The user-interface’s usage of the GPU cannot possibly adversely affect the SQ of Roon’s music signal path, if the latter doesn’t use the GPU, now can it?
Roon’s user interface is a GPU-accelerated OpenGL masterpiece. It works your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) harder than any other audio app we’re aware of.
One great way to satisfy this rule is to use a tablet or phone to control Roon in the listening room. These devices are great control points–they wake up, do their thing over WiFi, and then go to sleep when you start listening, thus ending their ability to influence what you’re hearing. Do you really want that GPU doing its thing right next to your audio gear?
Although I couldn’t find the combination of statements that @Mediahound quoted, to be fair, this is at best ambiguous when stated in the same discussion as the UI and GPU-
‘One great way to satisfy this rule is to use a tablet or phone to control Roon in the listening room. These devices are great control points–they wake up, do their thing over WiFi, and then go to sleep when you start listening, thus ending their ability to influence what you’re hearing.”
Yes, they ideally recommend not to run any graphics along with sound actually. There are minute differences when optimizing things like that. In my case, and my system, not large enough to matter that much and again, I think they mostly say this because they would like to sell more Nucleus servers.
Not so fast. If you are running a Roon Core directly via USB to a DAC, yes, any process could affect sound quality your hear from your speakers. Now, if you use the Roon-preferred model with a Roon Core and a Roon Endpoint, then it doesn’t really matter.
The Roon Core can run the background processes just fine. That’s not the issue. The issue is system noise and how it increases whenever the CPU has to run more processes.
Wow windows 7! Do not fret about what hardware you need. Essentially any decent mid or high end windows surface or windows surface book will run it without you even knowing its there. I run it on a first gen Surface Book through WIFI without any issues 99%+ of the time. Setting it up was a breeze. As a player I use a cambridge 851N which was updated to Roon spec automatically. Works flawlessly and the fidelity is stellar. All the the 851N decides and upsamples everything to 24/384. Its connected to my preamp with balanced cables and done. Most of the time I simply use my phone Roon App as the control. I digitized all my CDs in FLAC a while ago and use the same laptop as storage. Of course I also keep a backup of all my music files on a USB stick in case of equipment failure. I’m complete satisfied with Roon it keeps all my personal audio files and Tidal all in in one place plus it sound amazing. So, again don’t worry about the PC too much, the majority of the new hardware out there will run Roon without breaking a sweat.
If I understand the fear about ‘rogue’ processes correctly it isn’t about clock cycles.
The paranoia is that some Roon irrelevant processes are so toxic they will, somewhere somehow, adversely pollute the signal with extraneous electrical noise.
I’ve tested using two computers versus running Roon all in one on one computer and could not tell any difference. This however may be because I use the Chord M Scaler which does amazing things in terms of priming the USB, etc.
I tested a dedicated Macbook set up as a Roon bridge with the Roon core on another Mac vs. just using one computer for everything.
I think over the years Roon has made improvements in terms of optimizing for those who want to run in an all-in-one installation. And in fact, Roon recommends this for those who just want to keep it simple: https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks
That said, a dedicated non-computer server optimized for nothing else but Roon would probably see some improvement. How much, will depend a lot on your system and your hearing.
