That is pretty much how my system looks most of the time. Every time I put in something new, any prior cable management goes out the window.
No. That’s the 2.0 version that I got back in 2013.
I own BitPerfect, Amarra, HQPlayer, Audirvana, Fidelia, JRiver and Roon. They all sound different. I’m not an engineer, thus cannot say why or how they sound different, but they do. I’m not alone in this conclusion.
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If you don’t know why/how, chances are it’s not what you think it is. Isolate your analog stages and it’ll become clear.
This is not a popularity content. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t alone in this conclusion if you are all mistaken.
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Yeah, there’s simply no way I can accept that all audio playback products sound the same. It’s simply not true. And well evidenced by the presence of HQPlayer in Roon. People don’t pay another $250 for HQPlayer just to have it sound exactly the same as Roon.
And doesn’t your argument undermine the value of Roon itself? If Roon sounds the same as $10 BitPerfect, doesn’t that diminish your own product?
You are confusing bit perfect players with all audio playback products. DSP changes the sound. There is no debate there. If your complaint is that HQ Player sounds better than Roon or Audirvana, there is no debate. Only your opinion.
But if you say the same content, played via Audirvana’s bit perfect playback with no DSP (including upsampling), sounds better than Roon’s bit perfect playback with no DSP (including upsampling), that’s where I describe this as a failure downstream.
An analogy:
Chocolate by Hershey’s or Godiva? That’s a matter of opinion.
But if you told me the silver wrapper Hersheys’s Kisses tasted better than the red wrapper (same chocolate) Kisses, I’d blame your eyes and not the wrapper.
Roon (nor anyone else) contains the advanced DSP available in HQ Player. … But DSP alters the bits, so it doesn’t belong in the same category as bit perfect players.
Yes. If you are buying Roon only because our bit perfect playback is better than someone else’s bit perfect playback, you just wasted a lot of money.
Being bit perfect and optionally adding some good DSP on top of that is one side of what we provide when it comes to good SQ. Other SQ related items include:
- easy setup for known products, so great SQ is achieved out of the box (onboarding device flow)
- flexible architecture to allow for isolation of problem components (RAAT, RoonBridge, RoonOS, RoonServer)
- working with hundreds of manufacturers to get the best SQ in a turn-key manner (Roon Ready)
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I don’t think Roon is about sound per se at all. Seems to me it’s about metadata content, which no other player provides to this extent. Beyond that, there are various aspects of streaming integration that arguably work either more seamlessly or less so than other bits of software and so on. I’d conclude of the many users that it does this either equally well or better than the alternatives.
DSP can be achieved with or without Roon and I suspect as Roon’s speciality is not DSP that other dedicated software would achieve better results. That’s not to say Roon is not capable in this area. However, I’ve not tested and quite frankly I’m not all that interested in doing so. My dac alone gives me enough tweaks if required.
Cheers.
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My favorite exchange so far!
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Right, well said. 
I think sometimes “bit-perfect” isn’t really bit-perfect in the software being referenced. I never ran Audirivana “bit-perfect”. Why would you? There is magic and detail to be had in those filters. If you’re paying for HQPlayer and running “bit-perfect” you’re missing the point of HQPlayer.
Roon sounds excellent at bit-perfect when following the separation guidelines. I think its middle of the road if you’re running any filters (including upsampling, eq, room correction, etc.) and that’s why people are willing bolt on HQPlayer or other software. Does not mean Roon sounds bad (it cannot sound bad as it is “bit-perfect”) it just means people prefer the non-“bit-perfect” playback of those other players.
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Just got a new DAC. I think I’m back to liking Audirvana better again. LOL!
Did you get the D70? Which filter do you like?
I did get the D70. I still need to experiment with its filters. I changed it once but didn’t notice a difference. I think if I can figure out the Room equalizer I might be able to get it where I want it.
It’s not a complaint, just my personal experience. I’m not so much concerned about the technical semantics involved with how an audio playback product produces its sound. I understand why engineer types would find it meaningful, but it’s simply not meaningful to me. I’m only interested in how it sounds, without caring much how it got there. And in that light, and in my lengthy experience, all the computer centric audiophile music playback software sound different. I own all of the Mac based options. I’m not decreeing one to be inherently better than the other, that’s obviously a matter of personal taste.
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We’ve both made assumptions here. I’ve assumed the OP was talking about no-DSP playback. You’ve made an assumption that he is using Audirvana’s DSP.
@Soundchasr, which is it? You want the sound of Audirvana’s DSP or just their bit perfect playback?
But as I stated, if it’s about DSP, I have no debate about the fact that someone likes a flavor of DSP over a differ flavor.
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I’m not using DSP with Audirvana. I just like the sound.
I don’t know why but they sound very different. I do not like the sound of Roon in its “bit perfect” form. That’s just me and the reasons don’t really matter I guess.
Someone else suggested (not sure where) using Roon for the interaction and Audirvana for listening. I’ve done that a few times.
My current setup is Roon or Audirvana to Pi to Ayre Codex to amp. Or Bluesound Node 2i to Codex to amp.
I still think Roon sounds harsh compared to the Node and Audirvana. I really want to like Roon but the sound is killing me.
Well it is not worth dying for, best not use Roon and use something else, or stick to Audirvana.
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My guess is Audirvana is using some processing. Try Roon’s DSP to nip off a bit of treble.
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I’ve tried messing with the equalizer but I haven’t much success. I’m going to keep trying though. I like Roon, don’t get me wrong, I’m just having a hard time getting it work work right.