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Sound quality of Roon

I am considering trying Roon.  I have been using my Bluesound Node but I am going to upgrade as I do enjoy streaming more and more using Tidal.  It is quite an investment to get a NUC or Nucleus and then have a separate tablet to control it all.
 

But apart from the cost I have read some people say Roon does not sound good.  Their streamer by blah blah sounds better.  Is this true?  For all that is required to use Roon, the hardware, the subscription and all, would Roon be popular if it made digital streaming sound bad?


I would love to hear people who have experience comment on this.  There is info on the Roon Labs discussion site but as you can imagine it is saying this is BS Roon sounds great.  I guess Roon as a software also has had updates, so maybe this is a thing that might have been true in the past?  

troidelover1499
jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
1,110 posts
 

First started out with a Roon Core running on an iMAC and using a Bryston BDP as endpoint then into my DAC. Bryston Manic Moose uses MPD and it sounded better than Roon when I took Roon out of the system. Then I moved the Core to a SGC ST and hard wired that to a Velop Mesh node as well as the Bryston. Also upgraded the network cables now the Roon/Qobuz combo are so close to the Bryston/Qobuz combo I just run Roon. If I really want to listen critically I switch the Bryston to MPD mode but most of the time now I can not discern a difference. Same with playing FLAC files off attached storage on the BDP.  Its nice having an endpoint that can quickly switch between native and Roon ready.  BDP MPD switch is a snap.

wisemenofgotham
4 posts
 

OP, you should try a free Roon trial and see how it sounds for you.  I now use a combo of Roon and Tidal via my iMac, through an Audioquest Carbon USB wire into my Michi X3.  

troidelover1499 OP
258 posts
 

Thanks for the additional comments. I am slowly feeling my way through this to figure out what is the best way to try Roon.


@jjs49 your comments were really helpful to my understanding, as always.  I am wondering if you wouldn't mind saying if you were to start now with Roon knowing what you know, and were trying to do it well, meaning good sound, and easy to use, but at lowest cost possible, how would you start?

 

Some people here seem to post without reading what’s been said earlier. I guess this topic is getting kinda long.

jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
1,110 posts
 

I agree with previous poster, do a trial of Roon.  It's what I did.  You got the BS Node and it can be an endpoint.  Just make sure you got all the piece parts in place so you can eval without having to mess with hardware config during eval period. 

vonhelmholtz
911 posts
 

I did not expect Roon to sound great during a trial.  I just wanted it to be responsive, so prior to my trial I installed a 10th gen i7/ssd NUC.  I'm now on the path to approach the listening experience of vinyl.  So, money sump, care with the little stuff..especially anything that reduces power and ethernet noise and improves the timing of the signal feeding my DAC.  Not an easy task when on a budget.  

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