Hm… Strange… There seems a change in sound quality as far as I found out. I updated my Roon to 1.8 only expecting a few changes in interface and design because I hadn’t seen any advertisement or notification in terms of sound quality. To my surprise, I felt sound improvement after I played the music with new 1.8 version, which brought me here and made me search for further information. So at least for me, it’s hard to say I felt a placebo because didn’t expect any SQ improvement at all beforehand.
I don’t really like the new interface for alot of reasons, but it does sound better to me than before. I’ve got to sit down and focus on it 100%, but I’ve done a blind test now. It’s silly, but I recorded a test track on my IPhone on 1.7 on a Tripod, then updated to 1.8 and recorded the same track…LOL. Not that an Iphone recording is a high quality technical reference…oh well. Now let’s just give ROON constructive feedback to help us get this UI improved! Roon fellas I know you are getting beat up, but let’s keep going…
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I heard some differences in the sound quality when I first opened up 1.8. At least one other person described some specific differences in sound quality between the two versions, and they were very similar to the differences I heard. Did 1.8 alter the sound at all, or was I just hallucinating?
Sound changes: thinner, significantly less attack and volume in the bass range. The impression of more spatiality and resolution described by some here in the forum is simply the result of less low frequency components. Less bass means that I hear more high-frequency components and thus have the illusion of better location. The last part of “Earthiness”, that of “playing from below” was lost at 1.8. It’s like switching between two completely different cartridges on a turntable. Only that I can make my own decisions about the turntable. It would be nice if Roon offered the setting that you could choose between the 1.7 sound and the 1.8 sound.
Otherwise the change from 1.7 to 1.8 is something the world doesn’t need. Really good software is the one that doesn’t make me bother with it all the time! And then another such banana software. Wasted so much time on this in the last two days.
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Hi, I’ve also noticed a change in overall sound quality - in my system it seems brash, lacking in musical finesse and is significantly less emotionally involving.
I use a combined DAC /CD player (EAR Acute3) as part of my hifi system. This means it is very easy to compare the sound quality of original CDs with the version of the same CDs ripped to the hard drive my Roon Ready music server (an Antopides DX Mk3). With version 1.7, I felt that music from the Antipodes played through the EAR DAC/CD was certainly equal to that of the original CDs. This is clearly not the case anymore. The sound quality coming from the music server is significantly degraded compared to CD playback.
I do hope Roon Labs will take seriously sound quality concerns than have been raised by many Roon users, including myself, and come up with a solution that moves SQ back to the very high standards achieved with Roon version 1.7.
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Hi, the “sound” discussion is a room with many doors… it would be interesting to know something about Roons reference systems. Or are there many of them or just a bit to bit control without soundcheck? Users listen in the range of a few hundred to tens or hundred of thousand dollar equipment. There are so many different combinations out there. What sounds right? Who tells? The artist or the recording engineer? Compare Qobuz pc app, audirvana sound with Roon sound on your music system. Then make your decision what sounds “right” for you and enjoy the music.
No change here. I have a reference point: I play a CD and A/B vs the rip via Roon. The differences I detected between 1.7 and the CD are identical to the differences between 1.8 and the CD. Absolutely identical.
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People will be saying Tidal sounds different after the recent outage, next lol. Nothing has changed.
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1.8 sounds really good to me. I use headroom management, so I guess that counts as DSP (which has changed).
I know of a blind test (from the guy who created the test) where people got to answer which of two amplifies sounded better. A big majority preferred one of the two machines and of course it was curious then to know what the difference between them was. Well, there was one change.
The size of the volume dial. The machine with bigger dial was referred to as the better sounding one.
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You can do many tests like that. I did run once a blind test. There was no change at all. Just repeating the same song again and again. People almost killed themselves in the discussion, which one was better. They did not believe, I was playing the same music using the same chain again and again.
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I am quite used to making subtle comparisons on known pieces using musical memory, and don’t get easily fooled when only one thing at a time is changed. Besides the behavior versus HQplayer management also came back to normal upon having Build 756 installed. Fair to say though that last one could haven been induced by me having unplugged/replugged the USB link at some point for checking.
As far as I understand, in the way I use Roon without any DSP, volume control etc…, leaving all that to HQplayer, Roon only creates a direct RAAT stream from the selected music to HQplayer and it is HQplayer that does the resampling to the output format to DAC (384kHz/32 bits float) along with minor corrections, convolution made in overlap_save mode. At least this limits the scope for searches.
Another aspect, I use a dedicated MBPro with four i7 cores at 2.6 GHz with basically everything asleep except for HQplayer and Roon plus the system functions. A third specificity is that all the music is stored on Wifi network, accessed via Airport (would not be practical else with MBPro).
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I agree with Christian sonic impressions. Using version 1.8 compared to 1.7, the sound quality deteriorated IMHO. I hear less spatial cues, lacking high treble information (above 10-12khz) and therefore lower level details! I much hope the Roon Technical team can tell us if they have improved the meta data information /processing at the expense of compromising the frequency response of the music.
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Interestingly, I’m one of those who definitely heard an improvement in sound quality having moved to 1.8. Prior to this I was using Roon to stream over the Squeezebox emulation to a Squeezelite end point as this sounded better than Roonbridge with more “life” and better rendition of vocal textures - cue sceptic sniggers.
With 1.8 this is no longer the case - RAAT to RoonBridge sounds at least as good and is more reliable, so not only is sound quality improved but I don’t have to put up with the occasional operational oddities of the (unsupported I know) Squeezelite route.
Roon Server is running on a NUC 8i3/Rock with wired ethernet to an Allo USBridge Signature.
I think there is a difference
My device MDR-Z1R originally had a relatively deep Y-axis (depth) and a relatively narrow X-axis (sound field)
After 1.8 goes online, the Y axis (depth) becomes shallower, and the X axis (sound field) becomes wider
The low frequency disappears a little, in exchange for the analysis of the middle and high pitch
If you haven’t yet noticed the clear sound quality improvements in 1.8, I would suggest you ensure you let Roon run (preferably by itself) for a period of no less than one week. This will allow the CPU in your core to adjust to the new computing signature of the update, and therefore be able to deliver the music files more efficiently, leading to lower distortion and, of course, jitter.
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Could that explain a loss of deep low frequencies ? Sounds weird!
Is not there ant other possible explanation ?
You want Bass, play this track…
You have Bass…
I think I might be hallucinating again, but this most recent update that came out this morning seems to have fixed what many of us were complaining about. Throughout the entire frequency range, the thin-ness appears to be gone. Instruments have more body, the sound feels balanced again. The emphasis on upper midrange and treble sounds appears to be gone. The dynamics are even better than 1.7, especially with percussion and acoustic bass. Dare I say it, but the sound now with the update may even be better than the original switch to 1.8. What do others hear?
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