Not that I disagree with the sentiment of course, but… you were saying ? 
How? There’s nothing to fix. As they made no changes that affect audio. Roon still outputs bit perfect exactly as it did before.
If you’re hearing a difference there are only two options.
- you’re imagining it
- coincidentally some other bit of kit in your system has started sounding worse at the same time.
Roon has now, will not and can not affect the audio you hear at the other end. Get over it.
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Wow, what a thread 
This is clearly a thinly veiled attempt to pimp their completely overpriced (and even if it became fairly priced – overspecc’d) server. Danny spent his time patiently trying to chase down anything real, but instead incoherent babble is the response. This should likely be closed, nothing productive could possibly come from this thread.
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Apart from the entertainment value 
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Nervosa is entertaining to read 
Not to me. Tell that to Brian Eno or David Byrne or Martin Mull…
AJ
To make Roon core independent of the SQ, make sure you use a good quality endpoints. A good quality endpoint should have some kind of adjustable buffering(If available) to match the required USB-DACs. Most modern DACs have large enough built-in asynchronous memory that is clocked by its highly stable clock system. So buffering to USB-DAC can be reduced; typically value around 100 to 200ms seems to be sweet spot.
Older DACs have less asynchronous memory so it requires more buffering in this case. More buffering resulted in higher latency. High latency seems to have a direct impact on SQ.
I also noticed MusicServer with built-in DAC seems to yield better SQ then a poor implemented MusicServer (transport) via to USB-DAC.
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In some cases, with some DACs, connecting core to DAC does produce noise. I’ve done it and definitely had that issue.
The solution is an electrically quiet endpoint separated from core by network. It is not a server that costs more than a new kitchen. And then these sorts of discussions about processing tweaks producing RF would be irrelevant.
But of course then no one buys the servers.
This was the same issue with those folks that wanted full memory playback. They would not disconnect the DACs from their precious high end servers. Even if memory playback did produce audible improvements, you get a similar benefit from Roon’s endpoint topography, without expensive gear and without waiting a minute between songs for them to buffer.
Much as it might be fun to water ski behind a battleship, it’s also overkill.
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Like others, I find this discussion strangely addictive—a guilty audiophile pleasure in the same way that watching “90-Day Fiancée” must be for those who enjoy other hobbies. And I must say, the level of discourse is much more enjoyable than your typical Facebook response, which would be something like “fk you, you ft old f*k.” However, I just can’t help but think that this is the audio version of a “first world world problem”, where only a small sliver of the population would be concerned, regardless of the veracity of the claims. Perhaps the makers of this sensitive EURO24,000 piece of equipment could send me one for evaluation. That way I won’t feel left out. And, by the way, I live in Brasil, where import taxes will make it worth about 50,000 euros. So it will sound even better here once this horrible issue is resolved.
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Can you elaborate on this?
I would expect latency to only make a difference in an interactive scenario. For example gaming, or playing an instrument, where you want to sound to coincide the the action that created the sound.
For passive music listening, higher latency would mean a slightly delayed (handful of ms) start to the music. However, once it starts, the music should play at the same, expected “rate” - so latency shouldn’t affect sound quality, aside from a minuscule delay to starting the stream.
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It’s talking about how audio drivers take more CPU time when you decrease buffer size.
Is Emile saying that 537 increases CPU due to a reduced buffer size / less latency?
Looking at Taiko Audio’s server, I’m beyond confused. It’s running an extremely hungry/unadjustable Windows kerenel and pipes Roon’s output through JPlay, and HQPlayer. I’m supposed to believe that CPU increases in anything Roon does at all impact SQ on that machine?
It’s like having my foot crushed by a bus rolling over my foot and the bus driver saying “it was the weight of the extra passenger”.
At this point, I think it’s best for Emile to respond here. If he can’t or won’t, I’m not sure I’m willing to entertain this anymore. Taiko Audio is making bold claims and if they can’t publicly back them, it says a lot about their business and their claims.
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The Taiko Extreme doesn’t have any spinning hard drives.
At the end of the day we are all on here because we are using Roon which speaking for myself has greatly expanded my music library and that’s what its all about hey.
So enough of the bashing, you must be crazy etc etc. Lets talk about ways in which we would like to see Roon improved because if we don’t talk about here, the developers don’t know what we the users want.
So please lets get back to that gentleman.
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Are you saying there is nothing to see here and Taiko Audio’s claims about a reduction in 537’s SQ are to be ignored? We’ve given them the benefit of the doubt as they were one of the original RoonServer distributing server manufacturers, but this whole thing is really disappointing.
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I have to agree in that I feel the sound quality has suffered with this update. Less transparency and airiness to my ear and with my systems.
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You will need to say more about your set up for some context.
I have noticed no difference, Wired network Cat5e Meridian 218/DSPSE and Bluesound zones.
It runs Windows? I’m curious how he can adjust the distribution of threads or processes across cores, in that case? Isn’t that a function of the OS task scheduler, which is proprietary in Windows?
When I read he was adjusting the thread dispatcher, I had assumed it was running some Linux or OpenBSD variant and he was tweaking the open source kernel code. Now I’m really baffled, but maybe I’m missing something obvious.
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Well, I think the server is running Windows IoT Enterprise, which is not your father’s Windows. It’s a locked down version of Windows for embedded devices/appliances.
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Ah, I see. Thanks.
You can with something like Process Lasso.
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I am always late to these threads because I have a great day job (not really a job) and lots of hobbies I love. But, I whipped through this thread in ~15 minutes and got lots of chuckles, with some truly classic comments. Thank you all. Here’s my contribution: I run my core on a MacBook Air 2013, a pathetic anemic machine that nevertheless pipes beautiful music to each of the 6 (8?) different rooms I have Roon in (currently all have wired RPi). The only time SQ suffers is when I turn on the table saw/dust collector in my basement shop. Enjoy the music!
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