Version 1.8 improved sound quality

I hope version 1.8 will also show improvements in the quality of sound. And not only add some new features and gadgets.

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And what specifically would that be?

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I heard somewhere that the new version might bring this sound improvementā€¦

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Sounds magic to me, not sure how you can improve bit perfect? Then we have DSP to play with to adjust the sound for personal taste and circumstance.
The rest of it is your replay system.

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Serious question. What is it that doesnā€™t sound good about Roon? On what equipment? Compared to what?

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Maybe the forum software (not Roon) will be genned to automatically recognize trolls.

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Those who have played same file through Roon and Lightning DS will know there is room for Roon to improve.

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@Chrislayeruk I will try to explain how I understand this topic -
Bit Perfect is one thing, final analog sound another. Besides having bits perfectly replicating the digital audio file, it is important that streamer would be able to send them to DAC in the precise time intervals (Sample Rate for simplicity).
Without going to necessary detail such as Streamers and DACs usually have buffers and other measures to eliminate timing errors as much as feasible with given price range, it is somehow still getting into the DAC. Inn my setup I am unfortunately able to easily hear difference when streaming via UpNP and Roon.
Characteristics of this difference I hear is ā€œmore grainyā€ sound from RoonBridge , while UpNP is more airy, delicate in high frequencies and faster/better focused in transients. The difference is not huge, but it is there. 90% of time Iā€™m listening via Roon as i really do love it, however for critical listening I always have to go back to ugly UpNP world ;( Or to put it another way - when Iā€™m tweaking/upgrading my system I always use UpNP for listening tests as it reveals more than Roon - I mean i can eventually hear more differences in audio chain I have made than I would with Roon.
There could be many places where this difference I am hearing can get induced, my personal tip would be the higher complexity of RAAT protocol, which creates more uneven load onto streamer CPU than simple UpNP. I was thinking about feature that Roon would allow user to create ā€œPrivateā€ kind of endpoint, which would not be possible to group with another zones and the RoonBridge component would not need then any zone group synchronisation code. Basically to try to decrease interrupts on streamer to eliminate jitter. Hmm didnā€™t I say before I donā€™t want go into the detail? :smiley: here we goā€¦

I fully understand Roonlabs have lot of other major things in funnel so some audiophile voodoo is not on the priority list so Iā€™ve stopped bragging about this ā€œAudiophile dreamā€ long time ago :smiley: ā€¦ although it would be great relief to completely ditch UpNP one dayā€¦

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Your experience surprises me because it directly contradicts my own, and it flies in the face of the actual differences in how clocks are handled between RAAT and UPnP. Even AirPlay is better at this stuff than UPnP IMO.

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I hear what you say, but it sounds just perfect on my Meridian 210/218/ DSP Speaker system. So Iā€™m not sure Roon is the issue, it sounds more like something in your streamer as more likely the cause. Also, Iā€™m not hearing loads of people complaining. I hope you can get to the bottom on the issue soonā€¦

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:smile: exacly :rofl: :yum:

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I also made sound quality comparisons between the RAAT protocol and Devialet AIR, using the same Ethernet DAC. I came to the same conclusion: although both protocols are bit-perfect, the one with lower data transfer (Devialet AIR) has better sound quality than the other (RAAT).

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Iā€™m delighted with sound quality from Roonā€¦hoping they donā€™t change a thing in that regard. Itā€™s easy to add features, like DSP Volume, that unnecessarily add load to endpoint devices. Iā€™m personally hoping that more features are pushed into Core and Control while keeping endpoint code lean and mean.



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In my case, i get best SQ with UpNP transcoded into WAV24 (minimserver) - tested with ā€œsameā€ result with 3 streamers (DYI high-end Rpi3+Matrix ; PSA Bridge2 ; Aries 1 Femto + usb regen ) - all powered on Linear Power Supplies. ā€œSameā€ is in quotes because it refers to the relative difference between Roon and UpNP SQ. Absolute SQ reflects the order of three streamers listed.

DAC is PS Audio DS Dac , streamers are galvanically isolated from LAN via opto-transceivers (on LPS). Bridge2 and Rpi3 does utilise I2S inputs on DAC , RPI have there also Matrix SPDIF-I2S re-clocker & isolator (powered by 2 LPSes).

I observe on this thread surprisingly lot of perceived differences in different setups . And I am glad when people actually experiment and listen for themselves and do not hesitate to share their thoughts freely :+1:

Edit: Just seeing next post in thread I think I now understand that people probably have different expectations from the SQ. Like for me enabling the DSP is no go as it have impact on soundstage and low-level details. But I understand that if someone really need to EQ the benefit is greater priority than bitpferfect.

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I donā€™t see how that would be possible, but who could be opposed to such a thoughtful wish? I hope you will get what youā€™re wishing for!

I hope not. At the moment Roon is neutral and gives the audio data as it is to my DAC. Any ā€˜improvementsā€™ would mean that the data is altered and that is not what I want from Roon.

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Interesting, there is certainly a trend of ā€˜being able to hear a differenceā€™ correlating with those using poor quality badly designed and over-priced equipment (naming no manufacturers names). The measurements are over on ASR if you care to look and it is a wonder it sounds decent fed with anything at all, regardless of protocol. Amir could certainly hear the integral additional distortion produced by the DAC.

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@Anthony_B I know about the ASR article and although I havenā€™t had that Topping with best measurements in my chain I had opportunity to have few others (Mytek, Burson, NAD) - none of those have been even close to DS in respect to imaging and realism. But I also find it intriguing you say that there is such correlation between Roon and bad measured ASR DACs, maybe there is something onto it - good food for thoughts

I am already streaming lossless, how do you imaging sound quality could improve?

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I am glad my 70 year old not so golden ears canā€™t tell the difference, for me Roon can focus on all the usability issues first :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Itā€™s all for the music

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