The sound did seem to be a bit harder with Audirvana Studio.
Couldnât agree more, They do sound marginally different, but the user experience is c**p, there is no easy way to navigate .
The new version has just launched and again the remote app is still to show. As an armchair, as opposed to PC, listener thatâs the only interface.
I just uninstalled my 3rd attempt at a trial, nuff said
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Audirvana member, Audirvana better.
Roon member, Roon better.
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I at one point had both subs , AS is a pale shadow of Roon. Having spent money on it I gave it a thorough run through and always came back to Roon,
Try the 30 day trial youâll see what I mean. Unless I missed a trick navigation is a nightmare, no Tidal integration, tidal and local are separate.
Obviously both have their fans but ⌠if I was to leave Roon it would be to JRiver where the Expression Language allows you customise just about anything but alas no streaming support 
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Having tried both I find the Roon environment and metadata far better. I did find that Audirvana could sound better but not sure if that was an artifact of volume manipulation. I use Roon 1.8 with PlexAmp and it is a great combination. Right now Roon is going through a big transition with its 2.0 version that requires always on internet even for your ripped collection so it might be a good time to wait and see where Roon is going before committing.
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But you have no local content , AS doesnât merge local and Tidal as Roon does
I can sympathise with old school listeners who predominately utilise their personal libraries for listening, but I suspect Roonâs reliance on internet would only be a concern for a minority of local streaming users.
In any case, is internet loss a real valid concern?
I personally havenât lost internet in maybe 7-8 years. Is the concern more a case that Roon have taken something away and users panic?
IMO, as long as Roon continues on a path of improvement, I have no issue with the DEV team moving functions or computation into the cloud to streamline/improve process, speed and user experience.
Today one requires internet for everythingâŚ. Why should Roon be any different?
I mostly stream my music so; No internet, already = no access to music.
Perhaps this is a generational issue/concern, isolated to those users with large local libraries?
Iâve posted it before, and Iâll post it again:
There is NO difference between digital audio playback software. It doesnât exist, it never will and if you think there is, then sadly, itâs just your perception of it.
Iâve conducted the same test myself using Media Player, Itunes and Roon, out of the same mac mini, into the same DAC. Utterly indistinguishable. Iâm stunned that people are even debating this.
Perhaps you find windows 10 update 21h2 sounds better than the previous update 21h1? Maybe you find that if you change your desktop background to black, it improves the noise floor of your system? these are all equally ludicrous claims. This is all happening inside software space, with no analogue signals of any kind. Without DSP being applied and all software playing the exact same files, they will, sound, identical.
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There is a separate thread for this, where all possible arguments and reasons have been brought up 
TL;DR: Itâs more complex than you make it out to be.
itâs really not.
Thatâs up to how narrow you choose to make your view. All discussed in the other thread, though
This really needs to just die. Analog concepts and concerns cannot be applied to a data stream. Shame on the hifi world for trying.
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So the fact ive linked a test with measurements, showing zero difference isnât sufficient to put this to bed? what other audibility do you think there is? This hifi nonsense needs to stop. Why the audiophile community are obsessed with thinking they understand these things better than the IT community is quite beyond me.
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It seems that we are talking about different things I am fully in agreement with you regarding the sound, I even gave you a 
(and made similar comments recently in this very thread)
I had responded that âitâs more complexâ to @grizaudioâs comment regarding Roonâs always-on internet requirement and then you commented on that with âitâs really notâ
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oh sorry, we are at cross purposes! i do apologise!
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No worries, it happens. At least we have avoided an epic flame war over nothing 
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no⌠youâre wrong! 
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No you are 
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Stephen, you may loose internet now and then but donât notice because you donât rely on critical internet services. Certainly in place like Florida we have these things called storms that can bring the internet down for minutes, hours or even days. That said this thread is about this personâs buying decision. If all he does is stream online services then there is little incentive for him to spend the money on Roon. He can just use the streaming service app. On the other hand if he has a ripped collection as he says, then Roon adds a great deal of value and is the better home collection streaming platform. For those of you who live in Internet nirvana that means version 2.0, for those of us who donât that means 1.8. Depending on his personal situation and manner of intended use, if 1.8 is the better option, then he may want to wait and see what the future brings before investing.
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