Roon vs Qobuz Connect

If it helps, I like Qobuz connect (QC) very much through my Rivo+.  I also stream Qobuz through Volumio on the same Rivo+.  I have the impression that the SQ is a little better on the lower frequencies with Volumio than QC, but, it is very, very close.  

When I used my Auralic g2.1, the proprietary lightning software sounded better to me than roon.

with my Grimm MU2, roon is fantastic. can’t assess the SQ compared to QC but I will when it becomes available. TC is available now but I don’t have tidal.

also, there is a clear difference between fixed and device volume settings via the MU2. Which you like better is personal preference. It’s very confusing to me as well because I can set fixed in roon which still allows volume contra the Grimm and then there’s fixed via Grimm which is truly fixed and what you would optimally use with an external preamp.

Hi @glenmschneider are you using the preamp on the MU2 or bypassing to another preamp. If the former, then I am puzzled: isn’t "device volume" just controlling the analog volume control on the Grimm with no digital attenuation? OTOH with an external preamp I can see there would be a big difference and I would definitely choose fixed volume.  (BTW if you don’t use Tidal, turn all MQA settings off on Roon, made a difference for me though still an irritating tad below QC.)

@debrajray hi there. Yes I’m using the Grimm as a preamp. 
in none of the three scenarios to the best of my knowledge is there any digital attenuation of the signal. The fact that there were two different options to set the device to fixed output was really confusing at first and it’s still not clear to me the difference choosing device and fixed in roon. With device I can control the volume from within roon. With fixed I can control the volume from the Grimm web gui interface . With fixed in the gui interface I have no control of the volume; it is in fact fixed. I can’t use this setting since I don’t have an external preamp (now). There is clearly a difference between the Roon device and fixed options. Grimm recommends using device however all the forums I’ve looked at people seem to prefer fixed. Truly it sounds fantastic both ways; just different. Not sure if that clarified anything, it is confusing to me too.

@glenmschneider The fact that you see a difference between the first two options is intriguing to me (let’s ignore the third as there is no external preamp). I am using a Moon 891 as my streamer-dac-preamp. I need to check this out; I simply assumed there would be no sq difference and opted for the ability to control (analog) volume through Roon. Another layer of mystery --- though I guess that the QC diff is not that mysterious --- just irritating because the Roon interface is super.