Expert advice: if you upgrade the power supply you will have a noticeable improvement no matter the Roon version
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Dont start on the power supply game…lol
People already think I am crazy…
I have a 16vdc LPS for my NUC, a 7.5vdc LPS for my ultraRendu, a 5vdc LPS for my Chord Qutest and even a 5vdc LPS for my network switch.
And dont even start on all the PC and power treatment…
Sometimes I wish I was stone deaf and could not hear any changes and could happily go back to zip cords and freebie IC cables… 
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In fact the story is simple: you were upsampling in Roon and due to changes in Roon DSP interacting who knows how in your particular setting, you heard significant differences. When you finally removed Roon upsampling and upsampled in HQplayer instead, first issue vanished and sound improved.
So now we all agree, regarding Roon core without DSP part, it is perceived as either equal or better, and without a phase issue ? Maybe those perceiving it equal either have a particularly robust setting, or perhaps slightly less resolving for some of them ?
Haha I couldn’t resist 
Nice setup. Every LPS helps and having a Audioquest Niagara or similar is another great improvement.
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Have you seen what a one sample impulse response, at the analogue output of that $10k stack, looks like?
And just because I could…
Last night I enabled the DSD over DoP for my ultraRendu via SonicOrbiter and then set to upsample to DSD 256 via Roon DSP engine.
Previously I was upsampling everything to PCM 384.
This brought forth a further SQ improvement to my ears, however as I did not try this in 1.7 I cannot say if I would have got the same improvement in that version.
In 1.8 it had the effect of fleshing out the upper bass and lower mids a little more and maybe a little more attack on high edges like cymbals etc.
Whatever it sounds nicer to my ears and I will stick with that setup for now.
I have not.
Nor do I care to.
Such extreme signals, single-pulse and square wave and single-frequency and similar, are useful tools in engineering analysis.
But they are not relevant to our cases as they are far outside the frequency spectrum we listen to.
There is a non-quantum equivalent to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: a single spike represents total precision in time, and contains all frequencies to achieve that. Conversely, a signal of a single frequency, which looks like a single spike in the frequency domain, must be infinitely long in the time domain.
Interesting, what was the resolution of your source material?
All just 44.1 Redbook.
What DAC are you using?
Chord Qutest
Power matters. Conditioners and regenerators are helpful tools as well.
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No change!
Absolutely - Audioquest Niagara 3000 and up is a life changer.
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AH therein lies the rub - It is useless to argue - nobody is going to convince anyone of anything - those who are relatively objectivist ( I say relative, because if I was TRULY objective I would listen to music on a phone and Sonos! 
) feel that we are backed by accepted facts. Subjectively inclined people are supremely confident of their senses.
When has arguing on the internet convinced anyone of anything? Unless there is an independent 3rd party that declares a winner… what is the use?
I do have an idea - how about we ALL sign an arbitration agreement, have someone else decide and accept the decision as binding? THAT would settle the argument! (haha, just joking)
A single person listening on her/his room is NOT proof of anything - it is just your opinion. I respect it. BUT pls do not mistake it for a universal truth. It is not. The big problem is telling those persons that scientific-backed arguments are THE CLOSEST we have to that, accepted universal truths - CAN BE CHALLENGED OF COURSE - nature of science. Ah well .
Will go ahead an say it:
“Not proven that 1.8 sounds different”
[ Edit: Me, I like Roon for its architecture - said it elsewhere, the separation of concerns, the network protocol, the control apps, and yes, the capabilities in the
architecture that allow me to design a system to listen to music. Sound quality? never even think of it - not a factor. ]
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I like Roon as the front end to my music and HQPlayer as the player. It’s the best of both worlds…HQPlayer upsampling everything I have to DSD128 and playing to my DirectStream DAC. Pure heaven to my ears!
If Roon all of sudden stopped supporting HQPlayer, I would dump Roon…
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I cannot agree more. The great thing is that those two companies that are really good at their respective core business cooperate in such a way that the integration of both is seamless and easy to set up. The combination of the two is greater than the sum of their separate qualities.
PS: I quit on the post before that one, sentences like “nobody is going to convince anyone of anything”, weird logic. I am not convinced by that one, that is for sure. Easy to find more constructive stuff on this thread.
Hey Christian and SpeedRacer,
Can you fellas tell me exactly how HQP alters the standard 16/44 standard bit rate and resolution to your better enjoyment??
Thanks,
Larry
You want a write up on what upsampling, filters, noise shapers, and modulators do?
I definitely need a nose shaper, been a little crooked for years…
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