good morning. Question for the group: Qobuz sounds better playing music through its app VS playing via ROON (the latest build). I listened to Deeper Well (Kacey Musgraves) and through Qobuz, the sound stage was wider, more detailed, and beautiful space during the airy moments. Via Roon, It sounded compressed and lacked detail and smoothness. Note that it was the same song, same bitrate, and listened on a pair of Focal headphones. The original Roon settings were never adjusted making it apples to apples. HELP!
We hear what we hear, thinking about it too much will alter our perception without necessarily understanding why!
Listen to the music on what sounds best to you and enjoy 
don’t worry, be happy.
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The Group might need a bit more information about how your system is architected to understand why Golden Delicious sound different to Braeburn. Oh - and double check that volume levelling is off in Roon.
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I give for granted that you have a lossless chain in Roon (not Lossy, not enhanced)
If so I suggest you find a way to measure if Qobuz version is actually louder than Qobuz-through-Roon version.
It can be the case that - even if it should be bit perfect - Roon RAAT delivers PCM while Qobuz delivers another format and the two formats are converted with slightly different analog volumes by your DAC. A mere 1.5 - 2db higher volumes will make you believe that the stage and clarity are much better… but it’s not true… just louder
There are phone apps out there that can mesure the sound pressure (sure you have to try to measure with the same conditions…)
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Hi @AndyR - thanks for reaching out so here we go:
Qubuz through Roon:
Roon (all muse settings are set to off/no enhancements) via NUC ( Intel NUC 12 NUC12WSHi7/32MB RAM) + NAS Synology 1522+>Ayre QX5 Twenty via WIFI>Audio Research LS28SE > Vandersteen Quatro CT’s.
Qubuz native via iPhone app > Ayre QX5 Twenty via WIFI>Audio Research LS28SE > Vandersteen Quatro CT’s
Test tunes: Kind Of Blue, Miles Davis - Qobuz
and
The second is for more of the stillness and space between notes
@Gianluca_Finistauri - will try your recommendation and report back.
Thanks,
Ken
You sure you’re playing exactly the same version of the album there are two versions in Qobuz that Roon sees. One at 44.1/16 the other at 44.1/24. Do you have Qobuz in Roon set to the highest settings. Show your signal path from Roon. Also the native Qobuz app will only be sending via Airplay to the Air if using network so can’t believe this is better than an unadulterated RAAT stream. Or are you using mconnect app and not Qobuz app.
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Thanks @CrystalGipsy - yes, it’s the 24Bit version that was used for testing.
I used Mconnect for the “direct to Ayre” testing + I completed the same test using my Focal Bluetooth headphones (muse setting and everything turned off).
Roon> iPhone > cans
Qubuz > iPhone > Cans
same findings.
Unless you can get them volume matched than this can be the difference as mentioned before any slight deviation here may present itself as a difference and our brains always interpret louder as better. But it might also be that the Ayre isn’t as good via Roon or it’s just not implemented as well as other devices. I’ve never heard any difference between Roon and other methods for my own or streaming files when all is on a level playing field.
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HOW do you send music from the phone to the Ayre? Airplay?
via Mconnect
Why? (Newbie question - not disagreeing. 
)
Volume leveling tends to decrease the loudness and less loud is generally perceived as worse quality. Hence, any quality comparisons must ensure equal volume.
(And it’s not sufficient to adjust approximately to 1-2 dB. The ear can subconsciously distinguish 0.2 dB, but it will not distinguish it as a loudness difference but will attribute it to a quality difference. So it needs measuring equipment to ensure equal volume)
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Thanks very much!
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Can you post a screenshot of the Roon signal path?
I think the display on the Ayre should verify the received sample rate (and bit depth?); does it match what Roon and Mconnect are sending? Are you using upnp from Mconnect?
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@AndyR - will do it when I return to NYC later this month… I can tell you that it’s tracking as an HD source (96/24) and not sure what Mconnect does but can tell you that that’s what Ayre is using internally.,
I’m not surprised by the OP. I’ve been disappointed in the sound of Qobuz via Roon of late. this was not always the case, but was raised in a thread after a recent update.
Qobuz sounds veiled, distant, almost like there a scrim between the the speakers and the listener. to be fair, I don’t think Tidal sounds as good as it used to either, so I think this is a Roon issue, rather than a Qobuz issue.
net/net: OP is not imagining things.
This is pure conjecture here — pure — but could the Qobuz software actually be boosting the level of its output, rather than the other way around? There is no end to end test to validate that this isn’t the case, whereas when we control the entire delivery chain end to end and use Roon, a local music collection and a device like an RME ADI-2 DAC, with their special test files, we can. If only Qobuz could be forced to host THOSE files, it might be possible to find out…
Another test would be to take a known 44/16 master on Qobuz that you have a CD for and compare those outside of Roon, then import to Roon and see if there’s a difference.
@DDPS - here’s the original post -
good morning. Question for the group: Qobuz sounds better playing music through its app VS playing via ROON (the latest build). I listened to Deeper Well (Kacey Musgraves) and through Qobuz, the sound stage was wider, more detailed, and beautiful space during the airy moments. Via Roon, It sounded compressed and lacked detail and smoothness. Note that it was the same song, same bitrate, and listened on a pair of Focal headphones. The original Roon settings were never adjusted making it apples to apples. HELP!
The discussion around loudness and volume never was the issue, it was the clarity and space that was noticed. The soundstage was wider and more definable. Again, nothing to do with loudness.
Thanks again, Ken
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Yes I did read it. The issue is that, as many others have noted, all the adjectives you have shared are deeply related to loudness. If you turn up your volume when listening to Qobuz through Roon, there is a very good chance that the clarity, space, and soundstage will all be profoundly improved.
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I will test the two options with my trusty Radio Shack Digital Sound Level Meter and report back. Having messed with loudness settings in the past, I know that it enhances the high and low ends of the sound spectrum and maybe even the volume but will test it with both recordings / both ways.
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