New Roon User - Why did it take so long to get here?

Mostly, I’m new to Roon and happy to be here. But I do have some cool gear… so maybe this topic works?

I have two homes, one with a system that has evolved over the last 20 years, one that is brand new. In my quest to design a system for new home I have discovered Roon.

Old home has, what I believe, to be a fantastic system. A streamer was the final component, introduced several years ago after swapping CDs, SACDs, DVD Audio etc. for years. The streamer is an Aurender N100, streaming Qobuz which sounds fantastic. However, I was never happy with the interface and it would lock up periodically and require a significant amount of time to be usable if I was gone for several weeks.

New home happens, I’m building a new system, I’m auditioning streaming solutions, and am looking for something a bit more stable than the Auender. Then I discover that Roon is a thing. First thought: I’m paying N$ per month on Qobuz and Spotify, why do I need this thing?

Here’s why. The Roon software is better than the two streaming system’s software solutions (Aurender, Innuos). And (controversial statement coming…) I believe that if you have a quality system with a modern DAC that handles USB Audio well, and a USB source that has the horsepower to deliver USB audio well, it does not matter what delivers bits to your DAC.

So I bought a NUC to test against the streamer I have been loaned, as the loaner is 6x the cost of the NUC. Installed ROCK (easy) plugged it into my system and it sounds… exactly like any bit-perfect source for my DAC.

So I have an appliance, small enough to take on a plane and move from house to house, that provides high resolution audio to my DAC and an interface that is at worst, equal to the software provided by streamers that cost many times greater.

And it discovered my Sonos speakers. And that I have a DAC attached to my Mac which I am listening to Fleetwood Mac on now… Well done Roon, I wish I had discovered you earlier.

Oh, I should post AZ Gear: NUC ROCK → Topping D90MQA → Rogers High Fidelity KWM-88 → Devore O/96.

Thank you for indulging me.

-K

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Welcome. Thanks for sharing.
Enjoy :musical_note: :musical_note:

Nice to read about a happy punter :slight_smile: Enjoy…

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What was Basil Fawlty’s line “A satisfied customer - have him stuffed” :joy: :rofl:

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:joy: :rofl: :+1: +filler