Roon 1.5 Sound Quality

I not sure I hear a difference in Roon 1.5. in my HiFi set.

I do know there is a dramatic difference in sound quality on my mobile phone/Audioquest Dragonfly Red/B&W P7 between Tidal via Roon Tidal via Tidal app. Tidal via Roon sounds harsh and lacks dynamic.

yep, there was something different in the sound. better. clearer, more transparent. but this is only slight difference. i’m happier for it.

OK, after confirming today with fresh ears, the problem with sound quality was definitely down to the fact that the SDM Gain Adjustment had changed to 0db. I’ve never touched the setting, putting it to -3db (apparently what it was in previous versions) and everything is sounding great again! :slight_smile:

It will be interesting to hear if others who use roon to upscale to DSD go looking and find the same thing.

Interesting that the default was changed to 0db a while back, as many people who don’t have full knowledge of all the settings might even try DSD upscaling then dismiss it for sounding worse when in fact some sort of clipping is what’s causing it.

Anyway, one happy customer again here. I actually feel like I’ve got my system back and have been listening to it for hours already today instead of turning it off within a few tracks.

Will check this when I am home! Thanks

It was changed over a year ago.

I never take that kind of information as clear fact, done too much testing in my time. I’ve seen things in dropdowns which aren’t actually applied (not in Roon specifically). Software testing is a pain and it’s easy for a odd quirk to get through into a release.

Not saying they have, but I know I have not touched that setting before and now it’s sounding like it should again. I actually diary the settings changes I did so I could always know what I have changed.

It’s not finger pointing, or guesswork, just that I’ve done a lot of testing in my time and odd sequences of events can throw up quirks that developers haven’t spotted or accounted for. (Otherwise bug fixes wouldn’t come out all the time for most software!)

I’m happy anyway, my setup is sounding great again.

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Mods have shifted some of the extended side discussions off into their own threads. Just keeping socks in the sock drawer.:slightly_smiling_face:

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Hmmm…mine doesn’t have those options.

Is it because I’m accessing the setting via my iPad mini 2 (I don’t use a computer to access Roon)?

I agree that SQ changed in 1.5 in unpleasant way. It is too much for me to elaborate case, but since 1.5 I have changed my player to the other one.

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It’s possible that this happens on an iPad, but not on a PC or Mac. I don’t have an iOS or Android device to check this. Anyone else?

Yes, Geoff and @Saturn94, you can only adjust the install settings using the Windows or Mac versions of Roon.

Cheers, Greg

Same SQ issue on all platforms, tried myself .

2 posts were split to a new topic: Grounding at multiple points?

Where in Roon settings does it show what version of Roon is currently running? Can’t find anywhere.

Settings --> About (in the upper right corner)

This sounds more like an anti-MQA diatribe and no it’s not going to unfold to 96khz without a renderer or full decode dac.
I’m finding MQA sounds great with my iFi DSD Nano as a renderer.
.

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Ok I was the guy who started the thread Roon is brighter in its new guise. I just for the first time engaged Headroom Management. -2 eliminates most of the slight hard nature I originally described. Thanks for the input.

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Did you notice the dot changing to Red occasionally? If so, that would help explain what you heard as the signal was being clipped.

If not, all you did was reduce the gain by 2dB.

Which could possibly help the sound of an oversampling DAC that doesn’t do the equivalent internally. Digital music lacking head room dependent of course.

No red dot ever I use a Mytek Manhattan II with Roon card. The -2db seemed to help but I still think this version of Roon is brighter than before. Many years of careful listening to my pal David Cheaky’s recordings I have learnt to listen to a systems neutrality while being aware of my own preferences and biases. When you hear a live session then hear the recording you can instantly hear the shortcomings of your playback chain. Speaking for myself I tailor the system to be as faithful as I can to the live event without compromising my required “musicality”. Roon 1.5 is brighter than reality!