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Sound quality of Roon vs. Lighting

I’d like some feedback from the more experienced users here.  I have an Auralic Aries G2 streamer.  I also have Roon Core running on a Mac Mini.  This allows me to compare the sound quality of Roon vs. Auralic’s Lightning app.  Complicating things are that the Auralic has filter options and I can send data to my DAC via USB or S/PDIF etc.  A couple of quick details
1) I’ve found that I prefer USB to S/PDIF going into my DAC.
2) I’m using the filter Auralic says is most preferred by listeners (smooth w/ little pre-ringing).
3) When running Roon - I’m not doing any processing - no up conversion, equalization, etc.


Am I imagining that Lighting sounds slightly better than Roon?

Of course, Roon is a much better interface than Lighting but Lightning is usable - and doesn’t cost me anything.

So the question is - have others experienced this?  Or, do I need to tweak Roon to get the best out of it?  I know Audiotroy would suggest I do some up-conversion w/in Roon but over USB I can only do up to 192k - correct?

Can some of you suggest to me what settings I should try in Roon to get the best out of it?  Or, should I try different filter settings on the Auralic?  Too many variables....

Best, 
mgrif104
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,124 posts
 
@mgrif104 
I run Auralic Aries G1 into Chord Qutest DAC. My experience with Roon vs. LDS is the same as yours. The LDS sounds noticeably better. Roon sounds flat and not engaging in comparison. I also use Mac Mini as Roon core, but that’s not the culprit (others running Roon on other dedicated servers report the same findings).
FWIW, I run the Auralic, Roon and the DAC in default settings. No resample or filter features are enabled. I played with the settings in Roon, nothing I’ve tried gets It there. The user interface and experience offered by roon is in a different league though. However, I personally care more about the sound. 
mgrif104 OP
323 posts
 
audphile1 - thanks for the feedback.  Now that I’ve been using LDS more, it’s pretty clear that it sounds better than Roon.  Re the interface - no question Roon is better in that regard. However, like you, sound is more important to me so I’m going to drop Roon.  And, I can find what I want through LDS easily enough.  

I wonder if our experiences are echoed by other platforms. For instance, does music via the Lumin app sound better than via Roon? Same for Innuos.  I know there are some users of devices much more expensive than the ones we’re using that swear by Roon.  I wonder if they’re actually missing out on in some way,  I’ll likely never know...
Best,
mgrif104
dpac996's avatar
dpac996
676 posts
 
Very interesting discussion; I have noticed variation in SQ with Roon over the past 18 months; used many different PC’s including OSX and some dedicated Roon core servers; 
IMHO, I think much of this SQ variation has to do with USB. The hallmark signature of the degradation is the same; sounds less dynamic, less open, top end sounds mid fi. Reboots /rejiggering USB always restored SQ;
Ever since I moved to a dac with Ethernet renderer this “sonic crapification” has disappeared; I run the streams from Qobuz directly to the Eth renderer wo/ Roon often; but when I want to stream local DSD I use Roon over ETH network; the SQ has been excellent;
YMMV, as always.


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