After a month of back to back comparisons I decided to quit Roon for Audirvana due to a much better SQ in the latter. I will miss Roon’s Radio and UI but the sound quality is paramount in my view and Audirvana clearly has much more detailed and delicate sound plus much deeper soundstage. With my binaural DAC it makes a big difference.
I think it’s the lifetime of the Version !
The upgrade to 3.5 recently cost existing users, I wasn’t one so I can’t recall.
I find Audirvana interface messy and the iOS remote quite unstable, it loses connection
It also doesn’t play at all with other DNLA servers due to port restrictions
I could not get Audivarna to play well with my setup at all over UPnP, would often loose connection or just not see them. I can’t say when it did work it sounded any better or worse than Roon. The interface however was definitely worse, multiroom was horrible and I could only run it on my laptop which was not what I want.
“Order your lifetime license for the latest version of Audirvana Plus. You will receive two activations for PC. No subscription required–pay once and enjoy for a lifetime!”
I am conneting my silent nuc with audirvana and linear psu direct to my dac ( devialet premier) via hdmi. No need for endpoint
@ Burak_Tufekci1 I’ve been an Audirvarna Plus customer for years. What this means is that you’ll have Audirvana 3.5 for life. When they release, say, 4.0, you’ll need to pay for that version.
Sure…if you want to be stuck on one version for a lifetime…
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In my case, regardless of the SQ issue I have no choice but Roon. I used to run Audirvana+ but then after I acquired a Linn Klimax DSM, I decided to route everything through an ethernet cable, no USB or Optical links, and Roon is the only app that works, Audirvana UPnP is unfortunately incompatible to the Linn Klimax.
It’s a bit. Like Roon lifetime , money up front , no income !
In the same way I upgrade JRiver every year , it’s an annual sub disguised as an upgrade but who cares
Most software allows a license on a Major Version with free Minor versions but charges for the next Major Version , usually a reduced rate for existing users.
I gave renewing dev software when I retired but I still have perpetual licenses for many devpackages however old and limiting they may be. They still work but in older dev environments
Audirvana is no different really
Software development is not cheap, even support costs pay up play the game
Ps does anyone have problems with Audirvana on large libraries, mine is 150k track
It’s nothing like the Roon lifetime subscription. With Roon, you get all updates for free as long as the product exists.
Thats the question:
Alt 1- To pay 10 times more upfront without knowing if the company or the product will exist
Alt 2- To pay only 75usd and maybe 30-40 usd for upgrade in the next years, which I can choose whether it is worth or not. Or switch to another software with better specs. Who knows what the development in this sector in the future brings.
I’ve choosen the second alt. I keep inform you about the technology outside the roon world 
Hey, if Audirvana does all that you need, more power to you. Roon is a much more powerful product with many more features and capabilities. I own an Audirvana 3.5 license and found it severely lacking for my needs.
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I tried Audirvana 3.5 for Windows. First problem was the download link on the main site was broken. I googled around and found the secret working link in another forum. Then I seem to recall some sort of weirdness getting it to install on a bog standard Win 10 setup. Not a good first impression.
It mostly worked ok, but the overall functionality seemed pretty basic. The UI was ok but not much flexibility. I seem to recall a few glitches. Overall it seemed a little less polished than I expected. I uninstalled it after a few hours.
JRiver remains the Swiss army knife. Roon wins out though, for fit and finish, raat, radio, streaming integration, discovery, and flexible playback options for getting good sq despite some missing/underdeveloped features.
P.S. I should add that Audirvana is a pretty remarkable product for a one-man shop. Probably works better on a Mac.
Well, when i play DSD files thru A+ 3.5 and Roon+HQPlayer to my Rockna DAC, I still feel A+ sounds better than Roon+HQP though.
This is why I feel I do not want to dive into Roon at this moment…
HQPlayer easily bests anything I hear in Audirvana…DSD and PCM.
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Yes but you probably upsample your music. Some of us prefer not to.
Maybe, but i have not found the proper “settings” of the HQPlayer to beat Audirvana’s SoX yet…
Audirvana is warmer and fuller than Roon, fact! I didn’t want to believe it either but the difference is definitely there. Not strain your ears and squint different, but hit you in the head with a cold fish different. I’m not sure what to do now. Perhaps I need a linear PSU somewhere to level the playing field?
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Just use them both like many of us here. When I’m using my headphones, I typically use Audirvana, for background music mostly Roon.
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