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Roon vs Qobuz Connect

Yes the title is misleading because Qobuz is a server and Roon is an aggregator. But this question is for all those who stream Qobuz via Roon, or via Qobuz Connect (QC).

There is little doubt that QC sounds significantly better than Roon streaming Qobuz. Admittedly a subjective opinion, but for all of those who agree:

The advantages of Roon in integrating personal and external sources are obvious. To counter this, I can run a small local server and access my personal collection via Qobuz. But the aggregation sucks overall. 

What can I do to have my QC cake and eat it too? I’d love to hear about any clever tweaks to imitate Roon’s capabilities, while keeping QC quality. 

debrajray
dwette
573 posts
 

I think if one is going to be serious about using Roon the best bet is to use it on a dedicated appliance, either running it on a Roon Nucleus (~$600) or building your own using a NUC with ROCK OS (which is what I did). I don't want to run Roon server on a computer – not optimized for it – that I use for other stuff, even if it's a more capable computer (like  my Mac Mini M4 Pro).

jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller
1,458 posts
 

My subjective perception is, yes, Qobuz connect via a Wiim Ultra to my Linear Tube Audio Aero DAC sounds better than Roon nucleus to my LTA Aero DAC. 

No clue why. I'm convinced there's just more clarity. Of course, I could be wrong.  I don't care. I hear it so, therefore, it is!

dwette
573 posts
 

 

My subjective perception is, yes, Qobuz connect via a Wiim Ultra to my Linear Tube Audio Aero DAC sounds better than Roon nucleus to my LTA Aero DAC. 

I have a WiiM Pro connected via coax to a Weiss DAC501-MK2. Using Qobuz via Roon (running ROCK on a NUC) using the Roon endpoint of the DAC (and bypassing the WiiM) sounds substantially better to me, than using Qobuz Connect to the WiiM Pro. I bought the WiiM Pro just for the occasional times I want to cast an Airplay2 stream to the DAC, but I am unimpressed with how it sounds for Qobuz Connect. Streaming via Roon directly to the DAC is superior in my case.

I think it all depends on what you have.

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