[quote=“Mystic, post:8, topic:3793, full:true”]
…To your original post, I came across this article last month I thought was interesting and my thoughts between the 2 players. http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2015/08/a-stand-off-down-under-puremusic-vs-jriver-vs-audirvana/ …[/quote]
[quote=“andybob, post:9, topic:3793, full:true”]
There is a school of thought that the less processing done by the computer which feeds your DAC, the better the SQ. This is the philosophy behind the control computer/audio computer of JRiver, the minimal configuration network device in HQP, Fidelizer, Audiophile Optimiser etc etc. There are other considerations, such as noise through galvanic connections, but the less processing the better is a common issue…
…See this post by Chris from Computer Audiophile where he describes a fully AO treated JRiver installation as the best digital playback he’d ever heard. Period. That’s a big claim…[/quote]
But these programmes filter / up-sample / down-sample / convert / modulate / etc - the data, that’s fundamentally the reason for their existence - their MOI - unless you set them to a mode where there’s absolutely no data modification whatsoever being applied.
But in that case, there’s no modification being applied = by definition there’s no sonic signature / difference.
If you do modify the original source file (from your storage - whatever / wherever / however it’s stored) while it’s in-transit, which is what most of these programmes do, then you’re not comparing like-for-like.
If you are “employing” these programmes then you’ve usually already consciously chosen to modify the signal - which is of course fine - that’s up to you !
If your DAC or Amp is susceptible to RFI / EMI, or your signal-chain is, then it’s not well-designed. Don’t blame or attribute the software for that.
Anyway, to answer the original question, the headless “Server” version of Roon won’t have any difference sonically to the non-headless version. If you notice a difference, then it’s a problem with your hardware, not the software.
Perhaps, if preferred, the diverging part of this discussion could be continued in the A better sound from Roon thread - where - incidentally - the answer is also Roon does not have a sound !