I couldn’t keep myself from trying Audirvana Studio now that V3 was just released. Because I couldn’t keep myself from doing that as a audiophile AND tinkerer. Just to see how it does against Roon.
My findings have been:
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No “Roon Radio” in Audirvana
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The Audirvana Remote runs only on mobile, no desktop. Sure, with Mac you can run iOS apps, but that’s fiddling, and sub-par IMHO
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I ran Audirvana on a Windows VM, as I thought I can use a VM window on my Mac intead of a full Desktop remote. It works, but a bit subpar, since you work on a full Windows VM window rather then a desktop app
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Running like that, in a unactivated Windows version, the Windows watermark sits smack on top of the audio controls. Call me OCD, but that bothered me
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The Tidal integration in Roon is richer. You get more content, such as Tidal playlists & suggestions
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I linked my Home Assistant integration to Roon, it allows me to do fancy stuff, like sending volume commands to my Sofabaton remote. There is Audirvana Home Assistant integration. Nor is there a integration from the Audirvana volume control to a remote like Sofabaton.
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Changing some settings on the fly to try different sound profiles (convolution, PEQ) means you have to hit that unlock button (WASAPI exclusive mode), so contrary to Roon where you can change the audio control on the fly and listen to the effects, with Audirvana it’s hitting unlock-changing-restarting, can me OCD (AGAIN :-)) but that’s not as user friendly.
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I run a Docker with a Hifi Rose RS151, not the quickest (1-2 seconds) when it comes to track skipping, but with Audirvana it’s even slower.
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There are no “Audirvana Playlists” like the Roon teams maintain
I did read some opinions Audirvana would sound better, but diving deeper, those statements only relate to a PC to DAC USB connection, and that’s not my setup. And it seems also to be biased by the output volume. In my setup, between RAAT & UpNP, I think anybody would be hard-pressed to hear any (noticeable) difference.
On the UI, yes, it’s a bit different, but nothing transcendent, nothing putting the way you listen to music upside down. It remains a question of taste.
Add to that the wide choice of Roon deployments, OS as well as desktop/remotes, I keep getting to the same conclusion. GIMME ROON ANY DAY.
So, all in all, still kudo’s to the Roon teams, the engineers, the UX teams as well as the team maintaining those playlists. And still a happy kamper here.