Roon changes the music


... at least on Qobuz on my system.

Listening with an audio buddy who has a very critical ear to both Roon and Qobuz Connect. We agreed that quick AB comparisons of the same song with matched levels per the iPhone DBx app and no DSP, volume leveling etc., yielded a difference. As some of the listeners in this thread (https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/does-roon-sound-different?highlight=Does%2Broon%2Bcolor%2Bthe%2Bmusic) found, "ROON has a certain "house sound" that blurs contours and softens treble." and "Roon is a bit softer in the upper midrange and images do not stand out in such relief as jplay". It was not subtle. Need to listen more to see if it’s an improvement or a step back. Too early to tell but there is certainly a difference.

Since I have been struggling with Qobuz connectivity, I am again considering going to Tidal, which is no biggie, but now I am also concerned that I may have to give up Roon. That would suck because I really like the Roon UI and the fact that all my music is organized there.

tcutter

I tried Roon and there was a noticeable drop in sound quality.  I assumed that my system was not optimized for Roon and/or didn't have enough computer power. 

I liked the interface. 

Only so much lipstick you can smear on compressed digital streaming. Convenient but sucky sound. 

I too think my Roon Nucleus Plus sounds absolutely fabulous!!!!  No complaints here.  Of course, the sound quality of any component greatly depends on how well it synergizes with the rest of your audio system, and Roon is no exception.  Unfortunately, Roon isn't perfect and does suffer from annoying glitches from time to time, but I still love it.  Happy listening.     

I just A/B tested Roon against Qobuz Connect and I definitely preferred QC. Interesting...