Roon changes the music

@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.

Naturally other factor(s) like equipment and room can’t be ignored. Could it be your equipment, cables, speaker tuning,  Ethernet, confirmation bias, you name it? Youbetcha. 

Occasionally when tinkering under the hood I have others listen in especially younger folks. Seldom there’s definite results. Clear as mud. Sure we trust our ears but do they hear truly or hear what they want to hear? Beats me. 

As for Roon, what it’s run on and how it’s run can matter. Back when I used an old MacBook and Blue Ethernet cable…………………..

@wsrrsw 

Could it be your equipment, cables, speaker tuning,  Ethernet, confirmation bias, you name it? 

I could just as easily have accused you of "confirmation bias", but I wouldn’t do so because it would have been divisive and rude, a cheap shot. I am grateful for your suggestions, but that is uncalled for. 

@newton_john 

I’m not calling anybody's baby ugly. Me thinks you missed my point that there are so many other things going into the stew of our systems. And yes sometimes I think we think we "hear" subtle differences we don't hear due to our own biases in thinking we hear a subtle difference. After playing the final drum roll in "Blue Rondo a la Turk" over and over did I really make any improvements?

Speaker placement tuning has had the most impact for me. I have messed with Roon tuning settings and hearing an audible difference has been subtle or poor using the DSP (parametric) stuff. YMMV