Roon changes the music

Thanks, @wsrrsw​​​​. I am in the fortunate position of being able try all these settings and make a definitive comparison of the sound quality of Roon, jPlay and the Linn App in my own time.

I have also created a couple of batch files to switch the Roon Core off and back on so the comparisons are fair. I’ll be using it and dBpoweramp Asset UPnP on the same headless machine with Windows LTSC and no other programs except the remote access, Anydesk.

It will be interesting to see if the low traffic options are still best with all these adjustments to Roon. My AI friend is sceptical about the adjustments, but we'll give them a fair crack and see.

If ultimately Roon does win out and gets a reprieve, I’ll go back to using ROCK. 

@newton_john  Having crawled up from an early bluesound streamer to how my system has now evolved, I will say that all the other bits in the digital chain matter a lot in informing the sound of the streamer and DAC. I suspect that the hosting device of the Roon core also factors in?  Only recently have I finally arrived into a highly resolving system and room..........but please see below.

I have a Roon core all in one streamer DACs not allowing me to run native Qobuz for an A/B comparison. So how would I know what’s the best software for playback? It’s all so subjective and nuanced anyway. What are the test tracks? What’s the test track(s) bit depth?  What equipment, room and so on and so on ad infinitum.

Here are a few Qobuz test tracks

@wsrrsw 

I will say that all the other bits in the digital chain matter a lot in informing the sound of the streamer and DAC. 

Absolutely. For the past few months, I’ve been on a quest to try to get a decent sound from streaming local files and Qobuz. About two years ago, I’d given up on it and gone back to vinyl. Then earlier this year, I discovered that moving my Roon Optimised Core Kit, ROCK NUC Server and the switch away from a Sky TV box improved things considerably. 

That gave me hope and I tried several things that might give further improvement including:

• moving the router away from mains cables;
• separating the NUC, switch, their power supplies, etc;
• putting a fibre sfp link between the NUC and the switch;
• upgrading from generic ethernet cables to Melco;
• replacing wall wart SMPSs for components with Linear Power Supplies: and
• mechanically isolating components from vibrations, etc.

This did give me further improvement, but, on extended listening, I was still not entirely happy with the sound quality of streaming. Then recently while my turntable has been out of action with a fault, I took the nuclear option and repurposed my ROCK NUC as Windows server with dBpoweramp Asset UPnP. Using the Linn App as a control, I finally had the sound quality I needed from streaming I found it was even better with jPlay for iOS but not gapless.

That seemed to be the end for Roon. But now you have given me hope that it can be saved. Thank you for that. I’ll try out everything you suggest to improve Roon before my current subscription expires.

I suspect that the hosting device of the Roon core also factors in?

I think this may be true, too. That’s why I used a dedicated NUC device in a fanless case with an ATL Linear Power Upply running minimal ROCK or Wndows LTSC with no other programs installed except the remote access one that I need as it’s a headless server. Certainly, the hard line "bits are bits" guys on the Roon Community are very wide of the mark. The resolving of my long term issue with streaming shows that. The improvement is obvious and way beyond the realm of any confirmation bias that they may try to claim.

@wsrrsw 
 

I have now used the settings recommended for Roon sound quality and compared the result with aBpoweramp Asset UPnP and jPlay for iOS or Linn App. Unfortunately, I still prefer the sound using Asset UPnP with either of the other control points. With Asset UPnP, I felt the sound was more lively and musical than Roon. There was slightly more detail and presence. It wasn’t a massive difference, but the music was clearly more involving. It’s definitely got some of what have I been missing for the past few years, the thing that made me turn back to vinyl. 

I feel a little disappointed because I don’t want to give up the Roon interface or lose gapless playback. Many thank for the information as it was a useful exercise to confirm that I am not making a mistake. We all have different tastes and use different configurations of equipment in different environment so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising the we can come to different conclusions about sound quality.

@wsrrsw Thanks for sharing the Roon “how to “ steps.  They were very helpful in finding everything to check/change. It did seem to improve the SQ using Roon.  Comparing it to Jplay now Roon sounds as good just in a slightly different way. I like both services equally.