The market is exploding with tons of technology and gear - all very exciting but at the same can get my head spin trying to navigate, in a good addictive way
How about a discussion of the trends and use cases and where Roon and different DACs/Network devices/Audio systems/Streaming services/Upsamplers/NAS/Software/Hardware/Formats/Room Correction/RAAT/etc fit together and where everything is headed?
I must say that my mind is blown by the way Roon ties a lot of these together!
Iāll share my use case:
Entertainment center in the living room - Audio and video from my HTPC, games from my PS4 all connected to the same TV and 5.1 system. By far largest emphasis is on music and sound quality.
Music in my bedroom - 2.1 Sonos system (2xPlay:5 + Sub)
I stopped maintaining a local library and use Tidal HiFi primarily.
Roon helped my use case considerably by doing an amazing job at controlling both systems from my phone/tablet/wireless keyboard and enabling good sound quality for music, which is what I mainly care about.
[rant] Biggest gap I have is with DAC/AVR/Processor in my living room.
Say I want to replace my UMC-200 (HDMI pre/pro) with a superb audiophile multichannel DAC like the exaSound e38 - I now canāt use my PS4 with the same sound system in my one living room
Same goes for most shiny RoonReady network players/DACs/etc - So I canāt think of how to integrate them into my use case which is a true bummer!
Seems that the industry is still split between audio purist and HT enthusiasts, leaving people with a single A/V system with either flimsy HDMI receivers or highly expensive Trinnov / Datasat with tons of cinema featuresā¦ Havenāt seen a device with fantastic RJ45/USB based multichannel audio signal path and simply āgoodā (as in a reasonable avr) quality video capabilities with HDMI sources for other sources common in the living room [/rant]
Whatās your use case?
How Roon fit there?
What is missing?
Where do you think the industry is going?
Perhaps I should have opened a separate thread for the rant
Original Intention was to have a discussion about how ppl use Roon and all the latest gear and get inspired
Well, my PS4, Cable box and HT Computer are all connected to my TVās One Connect Box via HDMI and then I send audio via Toslink to my 2.1 Amp. My HT Computer also runs Roon and is connected to my amp via USB directly ( if I want to use the ampās DAC) or via USB to a Schiit DAC which is then connected the amp via RCA. I also have a Logitech Squeezebox Classic 3 connected to the amp via Coax SPDIF. With the HT Computer I control Roon via mouse/Keyboard on a 55 inch screen (my preferred method as the HT Computer is also running HQPLayer) and if I donāt want to bother with that, I run Roon via the Squeezebox and control with tablet or phone. That way I can run Roon with or without the TV being on.
Yep. It is a great idea and other manufacturerās should really pick up on it. Iāve upgraded the box at least once to add HDR and HDMI 2.0 connects. One thing it does is really help with cable clutter. I can keep the One Connect down with the other video devices and use short HDMI cables; thus only having to run 1 cable up to the TV.
Browsing through that I think Iāve found the best candidate so far to replace my current processor (UMC-200)
in terms of price/SQ/features -
Funny itās a āDisc Playerā but Iāve seen many cases of people using it simply as their DACs over the years in various audio forums so I assume it is probably good SQ wise (esp. with the ESS Technology ES9038PRO DACs ).
I kind of ignored it just for the disc player partā¦ I hate redundencies in my gear
The scoop for me is that the UDP-205 is:
RoonReady
Has network connectivity (both RJ45 and WiFi) --> Server / Roon core in another room is supported (assumed)
Has HDMI inputs --> āPS4 in multi-channel with the same systemā use case is supported
Has USB inputs --> Theoretical SQ improvement over HDMI, āUsing Roon with HQPlayerā use case is supported
Reasonable cost compared to other options.
UPDATE:
Oh crap. USB and Network only support 2.0ch
For me that excludes stereo content as well since I do Room Correction in software so the channels are upmixed to 2.1 before leaving the PC.
Funny, I had been thinking the same thing, mostly to reduce box count.
I have a lot of Meridian boxes, originally to support HT, but I gave up on multi-channel: very little music other than classical available in multi-channel, and I donāt watch many blockbusters.
And I found subwoofers unsatisfactory, woofed a lot but lost clarity and precision.
If God had intended us to use more than two speakersā¦
lol letās pray together
Dear audio godsā¦ show us the path to audio nirvana
I listen a lot to bass heavy, electronic music and I find it more enjoyable with a good sub, even with hi-end-full-range-floor-standing fronts.
So I need multi-channel for all contentā¦ otherwise I would have probably given up on multi as well.
It now just hit me - Itās probably the thinkings of audio chiefs at manufacturers āAudiophiles listen to Jazz and Classical musicāā¦ Subwoofer is not desired for stereo Jazz/Classical content where recorded physical instruments and vocals need to be reproducedā¦ hence no need for multichannel in non-HT systemsā¦
ā¦Or am I stretching it?
Anyway, Iāll say it loud and proud - Iām a Techno loving aspiring audiophile!
ā¦Oh, and also plays console games
And watch Netflix in 5.1ā¦ from my i7 PC Iāve build in a silent HTPC case right there in the living room with no classy wood furniture it would be a crime putting another big box of gear on
So yeah I want that in the same system without compromising on SQ and eliminating from choice the complete field of component DACs since only 3 (!!) support multi-channel and none support connecting a frigging PS4 alongside in full 5.1
I wrote to OPPO 2.5 hours ago (great service guys!) and this is what the customer service say:
There is no much of an audio difference using HDMI versus the Asynchronous USB. Asynchronous USB will be cleaner, have less jitter, and will be reclocked within the DAC, but the overall performance is not likely to be substantially better than HDMI.
Hear that, exaSound!
I think miniDSP is closest to providing this but they are all aboutā¦ wellā¦ DSPsā¦ In order to do quality high-end room correction, eq, etc while sacrifying res (96kHz) out of power necessityā¦ and justifying that with saying RC is a substaintially more important factorā¦ Well Duh! Thatās why we do RC on a PC and getting to ridiculously high res doing that.
I wish them or someone with their quality value approach would cater the software purists market.
If theyāll make a device to allow that in 5.1 plus extra HDMI inputs and without limiting DSPs (we have PCs for that) I bet it would be a hit!
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
16
Anders - have you tried a REL sub? Itās quite a different approach and much tighter to the music, especially if you wire from the amp as preferred by REL.
I love the Steve Wilson remixes of all the 70s and 80s Prog and now XTC! The Talking Heads DVD-Audios are also really fun. There are also all of the quadraphonic conversions and DTS-CDs out there. Itās still a novelty but there is actually a fair amount of multichannel audio if you get obsessive enough. I probably have about 400 titles - mostly rock.
I canāt tell from a quick Google - does this preamp have an analog multi-channel input? Then you can run it through the Emotiva, although I doubt it would help the sound. There are some very good multichannel preamps that have analog 7.1 inputs that you could run it through and then youād be able to keep your other gear hooked into that as well.
Me too! And his own surround stuff and also porcupineās 5.1 releases!
Youāre right thatās probably a good option technically.
Although I would be paying a lot just to get another electrical device in the signal path taking an additional space on my rack.
Iām sure there are better subs than what I have had.
But I am a big believer in phase and timing accuracy, which we have discussed at length in these pages (MQA, DSP and elsewhere). Have been since I built my own sub and single-pole crossover in 1970. And since with a lot of different speakers, some time-aligned, some not. And I finally concluded that a separate sub will always be difficult to time align, and I decided to stop my amateurish experimenting and pay a professional to do it right. So I got Meridian DSP8000SE, which contains six woofers driven by three amps and DACs and a DSP engine.
Iām happy. I have other rooms with weaker (and cheaper) systems, but in those I have prioritized clarity over depth, because for serious listening I have the big system.
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
19
I will have to defer. Iāve never had the pleasure of hearing a system like that. Of course even a REL sub would just adulterate your sound. Maybe somedayā¦
