If search the forum you will see many threads with “streaming from/through XXXX sounds better than roon” have a look through them as the opinions/answers have been gone through ad infinitum.
Maybe you have tone controls or replay gain enabled in BluOS or run some DSP in Roon. Maybe BluOS volume is simply louder than Roon and this is why you perceive it as being “better”.
At the end of the day it’s like @ged_hickman1 said… this horse has been beaten to death
I’d agree, but I’ve A/B tested with several music lovers, audiophiles, and folks who don’t care about the difference between Spotify and HiFi and all agree. Responses range from: Qobuz on Roon sounds like it’s more produced/compressed/not as much space or Qobuz on BluOS sounds airier/more space between instruments/crisp.
Seems like a Roon issue on the forum. I’ve got 6 days left in the trial; I’m only seeing value in the grouping/organizing aspect of the app at this point, which is awesome, but isn’t worth sacrificing SQ for.
And if you need more time to evaluate (14 days are short for complex software like Roon) you can take out a monthly subscription without breaking the bank.
As was mentioned above there are many existing threads about the topic with suggestions what to check for. Beware that they tend to get heated, which is why everyone is reluctant to start it over here.
I can’t help but think that this shouldn’t be complicated. I honestly can’t think of a simpler setup (I suppose I could plug it in with USB, but being bit perfect, it shouldn’t matter) and the fact that Roon hasn’t weighed in on any of these threads in the #support forum is concerning (not that I can find at least - please point me to one if you know of any).
To give more detail: I volume-tested each sample, and to avoid construal, consistently tested with individuals alone, randomly picked the source for the first/second sample, and operated the apps from another room. All Roon defaults, no DSP, etc. Roon says lossless. BluOS says HiFi.
Only 4 tests, but no deviation in responses is pretty telling.
There’s something happening before RAAT if Roon works the way they say it does . Disappointed, but not a huge deal I guess.
But yeah, there’s a lot out there in the forums, if anyone can point me in the right direction (toward the right thread, or an answer) I’m still interested in the figuring this out.
Hopefully Qobuz integrates UPnP and DLNA for Bluesound.
. Disappointed, but not a huge deal I guess.