Roon changes the music

@mapman 

I think Roon sounds wonderful. Go figure!

It does, until you hear something better.

Or, you buy a Taiko- those users claim there is no degradation using Roon. If someone can tell me what that server/streamer does differently than my Antipodes K50 in order to make Roon sound better I would appreciate it. 

@audiopacer 

Don’t believe the Roon forum bots. They will try to convince you that you are wrong- it can’t be Roon… and you are only imagining it. They are the digital equivalent of the ASR hardware “measurements above all else” weenies. 

Yup. been there done that. I respond to someone else’s thread to confirm I hear the same thing, they jump all over you, claim you didn’t level to the 1/100th of a db, I tell them Roon could be 2 db higher and I still say other software sounds better, they say there must be something wrong with my system. I question their unscientific reasoning, they then called me the troll! 

@yyzsantabarbara I prefer Tidal as well. To me, in most cases, it sounds better than Qobuz. 

Since I have a new toy in AI and want to play with it, it gave the following caveat which may also explain different experiences:

if Qobuz Connect ultimately proves preferable to you, it doesn't necessarily mean Roon is "doing something wrong." It may simply mean that the Nagra's own streaming implementation is optimized to work most naturally with its native control path. That's a perfectly plausible outcome and one that's specific to your combination of hardware, software, and listening preferences—not necessarily a universal verdict on either platform.

The Nagra Streamer uses a proprietary fiberoptic cable to connect to the Playback Designs MPD-8. I do not think I can create a better signal path.

I had the lower cost version of the top end PlayBack Designs steamer called STREAM-IF. I compared it side-by-side to the Lumin X1 streamer and the older version of the Sonore OpticalRendu. They all sounded great but different which was very interesting to me since you would have thought a streamer would not sound different.

I never owned a PBD DAC (changed plans) but the STREAM-IF streamer was brilliant using SPDIF, as good as the fibre optic Lumin X1 and the OpticalRendu. Very impressed by the PBD streamer which I assume is even better with PLINK fibre.

BTW- yesterday my friend sent me a photo of the EMM top end DAC sitting in his house. He asked me if I wanted to hear it at my house. I am kind of scared to bring home a $33k DAC to my chaotic household. I have heard the PBD MPD-8 DAC, and this EMM is a direct competitor.

Dedicated streamer using native software for Qobuz/ Tidal beats Roon anyday. My observations.