That could be an answer. What is also interesting is with the servers on the antipodes and using an allo usbridge using ropieee with roon and squeeze enabled there is a sound difference. Although I get that bits are bits, it seems that server software processing has an effect on sound as well.
It would be interesting to hear whether enabling or disabling different services in ropieee makes any difference to the active protocol.
What DAC are you hanging off the usbridge?
Iām using a mojo2 through an src-dx and dual coax.
A further layer of abstraction! I guess that if we exclude gross processing errors that are actually altering bits, weāre looking at minor processing differences in ropieee causing electrical disturbance on the output that upsets the src-dx sufficiently to then upset the mojo 2. I suspect cumulative āstuffā like this makes it a bit random which configuration is preferred!
Among the software I tried, Roon is the one that has the best user interface, even if rigidly structured, but the worst sound performance. The sound is flat, sometimes the sound planes are confused, the scene is small, no emotions. It seems like everything sounds the same. This to my ear that has been listening to music for 60 years.
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I donāt hold it to be that BAD sounding, just less than others.
I find Audirvana 3.5 more engaging, with a more convincing stereo image, on offline digital content. Itās library management is horrible (Roon can be tricky too, esp. on box sets), I just use folders.
But, having done a year with Roon, with Tidal and Qobuz, and of course my offline library, I am going back to Spotify for background streaming, for day to day listening, it has a great interface, never hangs like Tidal, downloads playlists in seconds to my iPhone for car use, looks good, has good artist information and the suggestions & playlists are well curated. Spotify Connect works as well as or better than Roon too. Itās also more fun, no audiophile pretensions, it may not be the best sound quality but as a package, for me, it gets my 7,99 euros.
I donāt think Roon is aimed at you if you have chosen it knowing the SQ is not the best. I get people using it in addition to Roon, LMS, Audirvana etc for the car or wherever as ARC is terrible IMO.
Before Iām accused of being a Roon apologist, I too have stopped using Roon, I use LMS now with Qobuz, that fills all my needs but with excellent SQ.
Maybe so. 61 year old ears!
My digital library is pretty big, around 150,000 tracks, so streaming is not such a big deal for me anyway, just as well as unfortunately my rural over-the-air internet is so poor that Tidal used to hang all the time, because the buffer isnāt big enough I guess. Next year I plan to install Starlink, and I can look at options then. Thanks for your comments.
IMHO, agree that Roon doesnāt sound as good as JPLAY. Iāve used ROON and JPLAY - recently compared them. I love the ROON interface (best of all) and simplicity of connecting audio devices (provided they are all on the same VLAN - which is another issue if they are not). I noticed that the sound was more congested on certain songs/passages, sound was thinner on vocals and detail and imaging wasnāt as precise when compared to JPLAY.
Process: I listened to locally stored FLAC (CD, hiRes) and streaming from QOBUZ with the same songs. I used the same hardware for all three (completely uninstalled and rebooted each time I changed software) and used the plain vanilla configuration from ROON (OOTB), no MUSE, etc. JPLAY was configured using the Kernel streaming (KS) option.
Digital Front-end and Speakers: Custom built fanless PC, with JCAT USB card isolated power input with Shanti LPS, MSB Discrete DAC, Purist Audio Design 35th anniversary USB cable, Magico A5 speakers.
This topic is frustrating to a lot of people. I get it. The Physics of Audio not withstanding however buts are bits etc. Fact is two things can be true at the same time . Just because we canāt explain it does not eliminate its reality (IMHO). I have extensively listened and listened and listened. Roon does sound as described to some other services. bit āVailedā Less Dynamic. I think it may be god knows any number of things in the chain (with roon) app that may cause some difference in its final output? I donāt know, but I do know I hear a difference. Put another way. I split screen roon with Audrivan, then my Nas and MinimServer with mosaic . Selected a dozen tracks , using the split screen on my monitor selected a track at a volume position and flipped back and forth between roon and each of the others. My bottom line was the track I like more and wanted to listen to more was with Audrivana or the nas 7 of 10 times. Whoo know why and at this point who cares. Again my bottom line was which one I would select to want to listen to more and it was not Roon. Itās a crime because in every other area but SQ Roon has no peer IMO. So I try again and again to move past this but it just is what it isā¦PS Audrivan sounds great but I canāt get it to consistently stay connected UPnP with my Rossini Player so thereās that as well which is why its not a case closed for meā¦
You hear a difference because you expect to. This has really been thrashed to death over and over again. Bits ARE bits, all transports are the same in that the DAC gets the same numbers to work with, irrespective of clocks, cables and power supplies. You hear a difference in your head, it depends on mood, blood pressure, the candle light, the single malt, who knowsā¦ but its not got anything to do with the data - which is always the same.
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Itās not as easy as it sounds. I had my wife listen to it without her knowing which player was playing the music.
After listening to it, of course with the same playback volume and without any mental preparation, she chose Jplay / Miniserver over Roon.
Personally, I can hear it.
So even if itās the same bits that are transferred, thereās still a difference, itās just a question of where!
Conclusion: listening in real conditions offers 2 different reproductions, thatās for sure for me, and I agree Roon has no equal when it comes to library management (I have a lifetime licence with Roon, as well as Miniserver and a limited trial for JPlay).