Is it me or does Roon degrade sound

[RobertW]

No change for me, must be your ears or system- thats my 2cent.

[Muramasa (BLADE!)]

What is the signal path? I’m a LINN user myself, and when I’m using Roon, not just LINN, and I feel that the sound quality is degraded, I can explain that it’s mostly being sent via AirPlay.

[Traian_Boldea]

When you click on the dot that is in the left of “back”

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Muramasa

I can explain that it’s mostly being sent via AirPlay

You should be using Linn Streaming

Linn DSM not showing up

Suggestions from long experience with Linn DSMs + Roon: “Linn streaming” is the connection method you want. It has to be enabled by setting “subnet for Linn streaming” in Roon settings. That subnet must be the one that your DSM(s) are on. In my case, I have virtual dual-homing (for Tailscale) and I must make sure the subnet is the LAN where the DSM is, not the virtual WAN. Linn DSMs don’t get along with some managed network switches. Linn themselves recommend cheap Netgear unmanaged switches, …

[James_I (The truth is out there but not necessarily here)]

It’s possible that the way you are using the Linn sounds better than the way you are using Roon. That’s not the same as the Linn sounding better than Roon. Have to deconstruct the whole signal path to look at this.

[Kent_Morris]

I’m a relative newcomer to Roon but have really enjoyed it. When talking signal path, there a lot more detail than what components you are using. But specifically I (and I might guess many) run Roon core remotely (I have a nucleus +) hard wired to the network switch. I use a simaudio 390 as an endpoint in a different part of the house also hardwired, and Dali helicon speakers and it sounds as good as any other source I run through them.

At one point I tried an old laptop as the Roon core and directly connected to the simaudio through USB I think and it sounded not so good. Bad enough that I didn’t even bother to trouble shoot why and just switched back to running remotely and sounded fine again.

[Muramasa (BLADE!)]

Roon updates may erase the LINN Streaming Subnet required for LINN Streaming. It’s a LINN user’s prerogative to get excited about every update.

[jurg_hilpertshauser]

Uf you Drink a lot of beer or wine, you dont Heat any difference. Skol!

[Torben_Rick (Torben - A Dane living in Hamburg - Roon Lifer)]

@Rocco_Capobianco

Just did a comparison with my Linn Selekt DSM. No different i SQ.

Torben

[Mark_Wooters]

I think you make an excellent point. I am currently demoing a product that Roon software built into it while I give my NUC and Nucleus+ a rest. My 14 year old son notices a difference.

[Traian_Boldea]

There is this thread, were just clicking headroom from disabled to on with value 0 does make a SQ change. I wanted to try. Nothing. I can hear no difference. Ok maybe a different track. No nothing. Ok 3th time maybe there is a tiny tiny difference. After 5 times I’m convinced, there is a tiny tiny difference but I can hear. So I install blackhole and audacity. Roon plays to blackhole and audacity records. First track with headroom disabled, second track with headroom on set to 0db. With the generous help of @Marin_Weigel I learn to Invert one of the tracks and mix them together into a new track. Boom… Nothing, empty, so sound. So there is no difference between the two.

Those brain wires are a tough nut to crack. Tonight I’ll try to hear the seagulls and sleep by the warm breeze.

[Kevin_Malcolm]

I used the Moonies term before until someone suggested I look up what it means. Definitely not the clan you want to be in!
We need to think of another.

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Traian_Boldea

There is this thread, were just clicking headroom from disabled to on with value 0 does make a SQ change

There were also people convinced that having the DSP toggle on the on or off position makes a difference even if no filters are enabled, expect it’s just a UI graphic.

DSP Enable lowers Sound Quality

Turning on the DSP Engine switch does nothing whatsoever. It’s actually active in the off position–it’s a detail of the graphic design that we present it as turning something “on”. In the off position, its behavior is a shortcut for flipping the enable switches on each of the sections in the DSP Engine to “off” if they are not already off. It does nothing extra. When “on” it has no effect at all–just the absence of forcibly turning that other stuff off. But–if those switches are already off, t…

[Anthony_B (Tony)]

@Mark_Wooters

My 14 year old son notices a difference.

The standard test is ‘wife listening from the kitchen notices a difference’…please stick to the established audiophile standard of measurement for SQ. We can’t just have people inventing their own standards for SQ measurement, that would be total chaos and cause endless arguments.

[Menzies]

@Kevin_Malcolm

I used the Moonies term before until someone suggested I look up what it means. Definitely not the clan you want to be in!
We need to think of another.

Posts moved to another thread

Tartan Discussion

A Kilt perhaps? Apparently it’s nice for some fresh air “down under”

[Rocco_Capobianco]

I had the LINN Selekt before the LINN KLIMAX DSM and I heard no difference either.

It was since the KLIMAX came into the picture that I noticed this difference.

I am curious as to what Roon does to the signal from Qobuz for example when using Roon as a source vs LINN.

They are certainly being processed differently.

[Menzies]

This may interest you all

DSP Enable lowers Sound Quality

That’s true if you start with 16bit and end with 16bit, but that’s not what Roon does. In Roon, if you start with 16bit and do a -3dB headroom adjustment, the process looks like this: [57 PM] Notice that the stream going to the DAC is 32bits, not 16. This is because Roon expands headroom when performing DSP to 64bits (since 64bit float is our intermediate format). Then, when it’s preparing to stream to the device, it converts to the widest format that the device supports. In this case, 32bi…

DSP Enable lowers Sound Quality

Turning on the DSP Engine switch does nothing whatsoever. It’s actually active in the off position–it’s a detail of the graphic design that we present it as turning something “on”. In the off position, its behavior is a shortcut for flipping the enable switches on each of the sections in the DSP Engine to “off” if they are not already off. It does nothing extra. When “on” it has no effect at all–just the absence of forcibly turning that other stuff off. But–if those switches are already off, t…

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

We think alike

Is it me or does Roon degrade sound

There were also people convinced that having the DSP toggle on the on or off position makes a difference even if no filters are enabled, expect it’s just a UI graphic.

[DPH (Daniel)]

Can you please show the signal-path so people can try to help you?