Roon vs OS and Native Players - Impact on SQ?

@jacobsdad2000  thank you for that. Totally agree/understand - and soon users of Aurender may be able to use Roon as well. And I think that was the theme I was trying to communicate - Roon and its users’ playlists, album tags, and history being able to transfer from one Roon Ready streamer to another Roon Ready streamer whereas I wouldn’t be able to with Innuos Sense and it apply to an Aurender model (for example).

Your experience in SQ between Roon vs the Innuos native player seems common amongst Innuos users. From what I gather from previous responses, Roon’s SQ isn’t impacted by whether or not there’s a native player available, but instead how Roon is interacting with the streamer’s hardware, with differences in SQ being more pronounced by very good implementation - like that of Innuos Sense -  of native streamers. And because of this, the delta of difference of Roon’s SQ on various Roon Ready streamers could vary (presuming on my part).

I found the sound quality very flat in the Roon environment and having ....

Dont mean much without knowing  the set up details....

Roon is actually hard wired into the Wadax Reference Server operating system.

Wadax was an early adapter to Roon and there are custom Wadax Roon Extensions. very happy how Roon has worked and performed these last 2 years with Wadax.

@jbuhl 

I was hosting the core on a souped up Mac mini dedicated to that task alone. I turned off everything else and had 16 GB memory and a solid state drive. 

I’m not trying to say Roon can’t sound quite good - it did for me. But, the native OS and library management software to my Auralic unit sounded significantly better. 

I can easily imagine that Grimm and WADAX have optimized things such that Roon performs at a very high level. But I stick with my contention that making software work across a wide variety of hardware/platforms is very difficult - and would be nearly impossible to optimize for each. Just like Windows.

There is an important take away in this that I’ve mentioned before. For those of us with hardware that’s Roon certified - that also has a native app - why not have both? In my Auralic unit, I could easily have Roon for everyday listening and switch to Lightning DS for serious listening. It’s perfectly fine to have both options. That said, I am also perfectly fine with the UI and operability of Lightning DS. So, I just don’t really need Roon. I’d keep it if it sounded better but it doesn’t.

My experience only. YMMV.

Best,

It looks like certain Aurender models are now Roon Ready and can be enabled for use with video and written instructions here. I would be really curious to hear from the Aurender Roon users.

Ready mode is a free upgrade available on all Intel-based “N-Series” and “ACS-Series” models. The “A-Series” (A200, A15, A20, A30) will be added soon. Older AMD-based models including S10, N10, W20, W20SE, X100, X100L, A10, A100, N100H, N100C, N100SC will not be compatible with Roon Ready mode.

Here’s everything you need to know to get started using Roon with your Aurender:

Here’s everything you need to know to get started using Roon with your Aurender:

1. You’ll need a Roon subscription in order to get started. If you don’t already have a Roon subscription, sign up for a free 60-day Roon trial subscription here: Free 60-Day Trial
2. Your Aurender is Roon Ready. That means it will seamlessly discover and connect to a Roon system running on your network. But, a separate Roon Core is required to interface with any Roon Ready devices. The simplest, most powerful Core is a Nucleus. You can also download and install the Roon Core for free on Mac, Windows, Linux, select QNAP and Synology NAS devices, and Intel NUC running ROCK. For more info on how to set up a Roon Core, take a look at this short and informative video.
3. Install the Roon Remote App on your iOS, Android, Mac, or Windows device.
4. Update the Conductor App to the latest version on your iOS or Android device in the App Store or Google Play store.
5. Update the System Software on your Aurender by going to Settings ➡️ Software Update in the Conductor App.
6. Enable the Roon Ready service by going to Settings ➡️ Streaming in the Conductor App (register your Aurender if prompted).
7. Depending on which Aurender model you are using, you may have to choose the desired Audio Output that you want to use with Roon. This allows Aurender and Roon to optimize the settings for maximum performance with each output, without compromise: