My main setup Roon end point is an Allo USBridge Signature with an Allo Revolution DAC into an Hypex Ncore dual mono amp and KEF LS50 speakers. I run ROCK on a dedicated NUC machine.
I have tried now several images on the USBridge Signature and consistently I have been getting the best sound and by a margin (much fuller image, better separation, depth, clarity you name it) when connecting to Roon as a squeezelite client (a functionality not supported officially by Roon). On the same image (be it Gentooplayer, Moodeaudio and now PiCoreplayer - best results with the last two. Tried Dietpi only with the Roonbridge), Squeezelite sounds MUCH better then Roonbridge. I wonder if others had a similar experience?
My Sonore Rendu offers an app download for SqueezeLight. If I were to install it RAAT is apparently removed but presume can be restored easily enough I presume by uninstalling the SqueezeLight app? I understand this is an emulation of Squeezebox. Will this sound any better than RAAT? If so, how? And is it worth the hassle?
I’ve had a similar setup but with a different DAC and amp. Like you, I found Squeezelite to have a noticeable difference in sound quality compared to Roonbridge, even when running on the same hardware and software environment. It’s not officially supported by Roon, but the depth and imaging seem more coherent via Squeezelite.
My suspicion is that Squeezelite, being a more lightweight client, might be less CPU-intensive, allowing for better timing and lower jitter. This could be what’s contributing to the improved sound quality we’re experiencing.
Would love to hear from others if they’ve had a similar experience or if there’s a technical explanation for this.
I noticed absolutely no difference between Roon, Squeezelite, and HQPlayer (no sound processing) when I used an ultraRendu to my Holo Audio May KTE. Zero, nada, none!
Me too (also with the May, but using the Red as endpoint connected through I2S and USB for directly comparing Roon with/without HQPlayer, DLNA and Squeezelite), but everyone can have it’s own opinion…
Finally other people who agree with me rather than just dishing out ridicule! I 100% agree with you. I much prefer the sound of Roon when used with a squeezelite end point.
EDIT: Oh… it looks like I already responded to this thread a year ago. lmao.
Both will remain on the Rendu, but you can only use one at a time. You just have to go into the web UI settings to change which is active. Play around with them both and see which you prefer, you won’t do any damage.