Dynamic range compression?

Roon Software Discussion
1

Hi all, planning to start using Roon soon. My hearing loss limits my ability to hear soft passages in classical pieces, so I’m constantly riding the volume control in my system.

Might Roon’s DSP engine allow for applying dynamic range compression in real-time? I looked at Roon’s Volume Leveler option, but this seems to be just an automated gain setting on a per-track or per-album basis. Am I wrong, would this feature help me hear soft passages better, or might another alternative method work? I’ve used Audacity to add range compression via post-processing individual FLAC files in the past, but that wouldn’t work for streaming.

Thanks in advance!

4

It would be nice to have something like this in Roon because you could enable compression in any or all listening environments. A decent interim solution may be to just buy a hardware compressor, which would be effective for all system inputs, including SACD and vinyl playback. For example: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1316007-REG/fmr_audio_rnc1773_really_nice_compressor.html

5

David,

That sounds like a great interim solution, thanks! I see other affordable hardware compressors available as well.

Oliver Barrett