Hello there, I used to use Roon, the older version and I found that it very objectively has a sound quality that’s not nearly as good or better than the Audirvana player. Now with the Roon 1.8, it’s the perfect music software, just like Spotify, however I’d like to know if many people are agreeing that Roon 1.8 now has great sound quality and there’s no need for HQplayer to achieve that level of sound quality.
I’d like to know how others feel as well. I’ve been using Audirvana for a few years now, and Roon for at least 1.5 to 2 years (at one point, I thought Roon was supposed to have better sound. I was never sure, going between both). I’m going to do some comparisons the next few days, both with my electrostatic speakers and good quality headphones. I will say that with the latests updates, Audirvana sounds great, but I felt that 1.8 Roon was also a possible step forward when I first heard it (streaming via Iphone, with my macbook as the core).
One issue is that I have a new DAC (Denafrips Ares II). Some times Roon does not see it (!) when connected direct to the macbook core, and just wants to use the computer’s system output (not as good a sound as direct connection to DAC). In that case, I move over to Audirvana, which always connects to the DAC, no problem. At this moment at least, Roon and the new DAC have decided to play nice with each other and deliver me some musical enjoyment. Have some nice image depth streaming Mile’s Davis “Filles de Kilimanjaro”
I know Roon has DSP fun built in, but after experimenting, I’m sticking with no EQ/DSP processing.
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Same here! I’m keen to know what you realise of the sound quality. I too dislike using EQ or DSP, I believe it goes against the sound the creators designed for, and usually it’s already been tuned rather well since I already got the speaker or headphone for the sound they already provide.
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Hi Kai
What is your Roon system like? Separate Roon Core and endpoint? Or you are using USB output of your Roon Core into USB DAC?
And which USB DAC if you don’t mind me asking?
Hi! Previously I was using an iFi Zen DAC for my DAC to my tube amplifier. I’m using a Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 with Triangle BR03. For the older version, I’m pretty certain Audirvana sounded better than Roon, however for the new Roon with the app using less resources such as CPU and etc, and me not really feeling the sound quality so far to be a problem, I’m sticking to Roon as Roon is still a better music app just like Spotify, as opposed to the less usable Qobuz app.
I was having a Roon server run on my Windows, and use the Roon Windows application to access the Roon core/Roon server. For this new one however, since the Roon server + Roon Windows app setup causes the album cover to not appear, I’ve just decided to use the Roon Windows app itself to be the Roon core and interface. My current endpoint is a HiBy R6. Works great so far other than that the resolution, if not MQA, stays at a limited 48KHz even if the track is a 192 KHz track. My only complaint for now.
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So it’s Win10 PC (Roon Core) USB output → USB cable → HiBy R6 → Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 → Triangle BR03 ?
I did whinge early on about SQ vs Audirvana but eventually stopped caring as much 
I used Roon less also and just started using v1.8 to see what the fuss is about.
It’s quite a nice change visually I think.
I still use Audirvana a lot because I can listen to Tidal and add to my Tidal playlists. It bugs me I can’t do this with Roon still.
Between the Roon Core and HiBy R6 is WiFi connection. 
I see, yeah I guess I’m like you now except because Roon did a great job I’m not caring about sound quality so much but rather the ease of use in exploring and maintaining my music library. I guess this is a bigger value that Audirvana does not provide me.
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Nice! I forgot the R6 is a Roon endpoint too
hahaha, it works the same way as if I were to install Roon Remote on my Android phone. The R6 is basically an Android music player, it’s pretty much just Android without phone calling ability.
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