Roon uses mono-project.com which is a Microsoft .net cleanroom implementation. This allows Roon Controller to function on any platform supporting Mono. As noted, Mono is display agnostic doing responsive layout but not supporting display gestures.
Which platform is best? The most stable one that you can afford. The one that best fits in your home software environment.
I’ve installed and use both my Android phone app and the iPad app and both work really well with my Roon Nucleus Plus server. I prefer the iPad app, having a larger screen, but both work really well.
As I said…simple. And it is a start…
The S177 is designed to be worn on the wrist and can be synced with any supercar’s keyless entry system allowing royalty, rappers and footballers to unlock and start their cars without touching a key.
I can see that on some 7 ‘footballers’, but cant we do away with the key and just go with gestures. 
Too many folks are piling on against the notion that the sound quality may change due to different remote devices. The idea presented is that the remote isn’t in the signal path, so it has no effect.
While it is true that remotes aren’t in the signal path, they are in fact the only devices that can change the sound quality! One cannot control the DSP settings and volume setting and zone leveling settings and device settings and probably other settings in any other way but using a remote, and these settings all impact the sound.
Why is that relevant to this discussion?
Well, these settings seem to be kept on the server and are independent of the remote being used unless the remote, on user action, explicitly changes them. But some of them seem to be linked to the user profile, and the user profile is somehow linked to the login or owner of the remote device.
remote device -> user profile -> playback & other settings -> sound quality
In other words, if you’re connected to the server as profile X when using your iPad remote, but profile Y when using a laptop, and there are differences in the two profiles’ settings that affect the sound, then you will get different sound simply by changing the remote device.
It is possible that there aren’t any settings stored in user profiles that affect sound quality. This is an open question for me. I have seen differences over the years when using my wife’s iPhone (which activates one profile) versus my other remotes, which all seem to use profile “Eric”, but I haven’t paid enough attention to nail this down.
Worse, there is no definitive, in-depth documentation on this feature – what profiles contain and how they interact with the system – partly because roon changes so often and the documentation is often old. For example, this page, last edited in 2016, sent me down a rat-hole looking for DSD modulator settings: https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSD_to_PCM_Settings.
So I will always be open to reports that sound quality differs between remotes because, unknown to the user, the remotes interact with the server using different profiles that can change the sound quality if the profiles have different settings.
Thanks,
- Eric
Not true. When the volume is less than max, the DSP is reducing the volume, yet it is not shown in the signal path. See my “feature request” at Issue ez-06: Always show DSP volume in the “signal path” if not set to full volume.
Oh, good point. I guess that is dependent on the Audio Device “Volume Control” setting. Device or Fixed would not trigger the DSP volume but DSP Volume will. I don’t use DSP volume anywhere so didn’t realize this last setting didn’t trigger a change in Signal path.
With the Naim, DSP volume should not be used. I believe Roon natively supports device volume on that device (or set fixed if connected to a pre).
I think the assumption everyone made, rightly or wrongly, was the OP was using the same profile. Obviously, it he is using a different profile with different DSP choices, the sound could or would be different.
Yes, that’s why it is often better to have an open mind and to be “less certain and more curious” about other people’s perspectives. It helps everyone get along and grow together…something this world needs more of!
I was completely unaware of such profiles, and thought I would have a look as I have 4 remotes. I have not been able to find them, and would like to know how to access them, please.
Thank you!
Mind you, as @ezman says, it’s still an open question as to whether profiles can differentiate audio settings - some experimentation is in order, I think…
@David_O_Higgins , seems you unfortunately did not get around to test the sound with the remotes turned off and report your findings to the curious amongst us.
Marin, I’ve been away from home for a while and I’ve lost the gist of this thread. I don’t understand what exactly I’m being asked to do.
I repeat that if I start a track with iPhone as Roon remote, then stop it (pressing pause), then start it again using IPad 12.9 as Roon remote, the sound is significantly better. I am not using either remote to process the sound in any way.
The same experience operates in reverse (12.9 followed by phone.), with the opposite consequences.
I laughed at that! - former Zafira owner.
I’m not doubting you hear a difference, but are you willing to consider that expectation bias would be a much simpler explanation for those differences? As has been pointed out, there is absolutely no electronic or physical explanation as to how the remote could affect SQ.
Anders, please expand on this post with a detailed list of steps you would like me to follow. With respect, there are too many ambiguities here. What do you mean by ‘power off the remote’ ? At what point in any comparison am I supposed to do that, and how am I supposed to power them up afterwards ?
Please remember that I am enjoying a potential difference which I want to share with others, and I don’t give a damn about whether I’m imagining it.
It has been suggested that if you are possibly using more than one user profile, perhaps the different profiles are being used by the different control devices and have different DSP going on. This would/could explain why you might be hearing different sounding output. While this does seem very possible, I think you would know if you set up more than one profile and are using different DSP settings for each.
It has also been suggested than if you turn off the control device after starting playback, that might effect what you hear. I don’t agree with that theory because once it starts playing, turning off the control device would change nothing. The DSP would have already been applied.
Personally, I still think you must be getting some expectation bias. It happens.
One profile, no different settings. If expectation bias can make this difference, then I’m all for it!