I don’t know what other software packages in Roon’s class offer for sound processing tools, but I find it hard to believe they’re significantly better. After that, it appears to be a lot of arm waving with no concept of a clear path forward except Roon should “make things sound better”.
TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT “BIT PERFECT” ACTUALLY MEANS. it is not a “thing” it is not a “believe” it is not a thing “made up by science” it does not imply “perfect sound quality” the term “perfect” does not mean it is the best of the best or whatever you still think it means.
BIT PERFECT ONLY MEANS THAT THE BITS ARE TRANSPORTED FROM POINT A TO POINT B IN AN UNALTERED WAY. That is it, nothing more nothing less. You constantly keep talking about sound manipulation which is an entirely different thing. The statement “bit perfect is perfect for some but not for others” is therefore the ultimate showcase that you really do not have a clue what is what and what others are talking about here. I’ll stope here, I hope you do too.
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I’m still struggling to understand this. Can you give me a single concrete example of what Roon could do to unequivocally improve sound quality such that everyone would say “wow, that’s an improvement!” I’m genuinely puzzled as to what form that might take.
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Be my guest.
It’s amazing how much time so many people are willing spend to try and bring sense to the world. Shame it’s not working.
Roon let me know about a new release, might go give it a listen.
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If that’s what you would like Roon to do, I think you would need to specify in some technical detail exactly what you believe is wrong at the moment, and exactly how it needs to be fixed. Specifically, what output of the transcoding or DSP engine is deficient and how would you demonstrate objectively that it had been improved?
I can’t comment on your 2nd example (I don’t know anything about transcoding) but I’m fairly sure that Roon already has state of the art equalisation options via DSP (Parametric EQ and Procedural EQ) and a high quality volume control. What do you find wrong with the current implementations?
Also, with respect to your first point, even if Roon didn’t already have a variety of high quality ways to EQ the sound, adding one doesn’t improve sound quality, it merely provides a way to shape that sound to the listener’s satisfaction.
It’s uses ffmpeg to my knowledge as its cross platform code. I don’t think their is much to be done with converting flac to lpcm stream it’s decompression only of the container as material is pcm already.
At the risk of repeating myself, what do you mean by better? It’s all well and good requesting that things improve, but if you can’t define what you mean it’s difficult to have any sympathy for your arguments.
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I think it depends on your definition of sound quality. If it’s bit perfect with no electrical interference, etc., how do you improve on that? However, that might not sound great to everyone who listens to it. People have their own individual preferences as to EQ, reverb, etc. There are probably an infinite number of “tweaks” that can be made that may improve sound quality to some while not to others.
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I do use it - convolution filter for my headphones, Parametric EQ for the speakers on my desk, and so on. But I’m happy to leave in there as we don’t seem to be making a great deal of progress in getting to the bottom of this.
If I have a CD ripped bit perfect and I play that CD (Data) in Roon I want it delivered to my DAC exactly as it is originally on my CD and now in my hard drive.
I want it Bit perfect and that is what Roon delivers. Roon has no sound, it is neutral in this regard.
Example. It is My DAC and Hi Fi system including my Room and my state of mind that effect my perception of the sound at any point in time.
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People have sighted the opportunity to changes in DSP many times.
But the many DSP tools do not equate to a blanket improvement in sound, they just give you more options.
Are more features an improvement in the software? some would say yes, others no.
I believe no such thing. While I believe they sound better, to my ears at least, I check out updates to the filters I use regularly. I don’t bother checking for improved bit-perfect transports…
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I trust that Roon’s implementation of DSP and volume control, given that both are performed on a 64 bit upsampled signal, are accurate. I don’t have the knowledge to comment in any greater detail, but from what I’ve read (and understood) this provides sufficient precision such that there are no negative consequences in terms of sound quality. Basically, the implementation is maths - here’s a signal, here’s a sufficiently sophisticated algorithm to manipulate it. Whether it sounds better or not depends on the settings I, or anyone else, choose to use, but I’m confident that the implementation is sound.
EDIT: if you meant convolution filters, rather than DSP more generally, then no, the one I use isn’t perfect, I’m happy that Roon can implement the filter without error, but the filter itself isn’t one that I’m 100% happy with. But that’s got nothing to do with Roon.
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I rest my case - won’t comment further, since @Samuel_Hau does not seem to be getting the point.
NO ONE here is saying sound cannot be edited/“improved”/equalized/whatever by Roon or other solutions…ALL we have been saying, from the very beggining, is that asking a bit-perfect solution such as Roon to “improve” SQ does not make sense, since SQ is intrinsically subjective and CANNOT be improved in so far as bit perfection is what such a software solution strives for.
Again: do you want to change the music file beforehand or afterwards, be it in analog or digital terms? Be my guest.
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Xeon processors implement better bit validation on the internal bus for enhanced reliability. This is needed in servers where reliability is needed to reduce server crashes.
If the Taiko guy is using Asus motherboard dual Xeon CPU running windows at the end, this is just a PC. Those decorated PSU will not help as the noise comes from the processors.
Best Roon implementation is a Roon core outside the room on any old PC or laptop with SSD and a good Roon end point/streamer.
Actually, there are already apps on both iOS and Android than can “test” your hearing and create an audiogram that can then be used for auto eq. Mimi is the the one I use on my iPhone, it’s not perfect of course, but it’s better than nothing in my opinion, and If I remember correctly, Samsung has one built-in.
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The effect of buffer sizes on SQ is something I’ve noticed too. But when I asked about this, there was no response.
There are improvements to be had but I don’t think it will ever be a focus or spoken about officially.
So true! It’s much easier to tout the changes of visuals and improvements to navigation, and other such things that no one even asks whether there is a difference!
Just be careful, even their solid state stuff can get overly hot and has burned more than a few people