Roon changes the music

Roon sounds absolutely excellent when streaming Tidal via my Bryston BDP-3 and Esoteric K-05XD. Roon core on a MacBook. The difference between when I play CDs and streaming is minimal.

Fact of the matter is Roon DSP (or similar features commonly found in other streaming software these days) exists specifically to allow users to change how the music sounds in order to address room acoustics, personal preferences, whatever.  So with Roon you are armed and dangerous but one has to take the time needed to get a handle on how to use the tools provided effectively.  There is a lot there!   Down side is all it takes is for one setting to be off to have a negative rather than positive result. 

This is a very interesting discussion. I’m particularly interested with the Roon critics that are finding better performance elsewhere, on what hardware are you running Roon? I’m running on a Roon Nucleus+ with Farad Super 3 power supply, network filter into Allnic D-10000 DAC and feel the results are very good. The Roon technology is great when it works, of course it hiccups at the worst times and that is a major frustration. The Roon Arc app lets me listen to my music and playlists anywhere in the world is life-changing. Of course, in this pursuit, I’m always open to a better pathway to listening. Appreciate all the commentary.

I upgraded my Roon core to a new multi core Asus NUC  (cost ~1k) recently.  Roon is now very stable and very fast.   Sound quality continued to sound excellent.  That has never been a problem. 
 

So you do need a good streamer, a fast multi core, and good network connectivity for best results.  My main streaming is done using ASIO on the same PC to dedicated external Topping D90 III SABRE DAC (with custom Topping provided Windows driver)via asynchronous USB 2.0. 
 

Streaming results can vary depending on exact hardware  and software used.  Roon does not operate in a vacuum. YMMV. I can easily recommend my current config I have settled on as a good and cost effective complete Roon solution. 

Roon has done lots of good things for me over the years, multi room, surround sound, integration of Qobuz with the local library, ARC, conversion of DSF files on the fly, etc. However, the one thing it can’t do for me is give the sound quality I want. For that I need UPnP.