I stream Roon via Ayre Acoustic’s top QX-5 Twenty streaming DAC, Roon Nucleus Plus (4 TB SSD), Hegel H590 integrated amp, Revel Salon 2 speakers, and various outstanding assortment of cabling, with special emphasis placed on my incredible Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables. I’m no longer a CD or a vinyl guy. I stream exclusively, and in over 30 years in the hobby, I’ve never been happier. You may just need to reconfigure or make some adjustments (components) in your audio system in order to achieve the kind of sound quality you’re seeking when streaming your music via Roon. So, is there a Roon sound? I don't know, but if there is one, I've loving it in my audio system!!! Happy listening.
Is there a ROON sound?
I finally had to give in and open a ROON account. I bought the highly recommended 432 EVO Aeon server, but it only works with ROON (as an endpoint) or the Logitech Media Server. The latter seemed a bit awkward to get going, so I started a ROON account (so far for a year). The server offers a plethora of filter and up-sampling choices, let alone the unique ability to change the orchestral pitch to 432 Hz down from the now common 440Hz (the way Mozart or even Verdi heard their music before 440 became the common recording standard for sounding "crisper"). [I have tried this option several times but was underwhelmed. But that's just my personal first take on the subject]
Up to now, I listened to most of my music either through Apple Music as ALAC files or Quobuz as FLAC; I also have a Native DSD library and another with YouTube downloads (FLAC as well). The latter go directly from my MacBook Air (M1 chip) to my MSB Discrete DAC, or through an Audirvana rinse cycle.
My first impression listening to the 432EVO/ROON combination on "Brothers in Arms" was like listening with lightly compressed cotton plugs in my ears. That was with the manufacturer-recommended upsampling rate and filter-choice. I could hardly understand any of Mark Knopfler's (admittedly mumbling) musings! I immediately switched back to my Apple Music version and at least heard things like "through the fields of destruction - baptism of fire" and other text bites. The overall presentation was sharper and more acoustically demanding, but with admittedly less-wide soundstage. I then switched back to the server/ROON combo and disabled all filters and upsampling, going into bit-perfect mode. But even then, the overall presentation, while admittedly more bass heavy and spacious, the singer's words were still hardly intelligible. I actually think that "Brothers in Arms" is a really good example to test for a component ability to shine light on sung or spoken words; another favorite example is Boz Scaggs' "Thanks to You", where the clearest presentation in my system comes from the LP (which is called "Dig"), followed by Quobuz.
I went back to the 2022 review of the Aeon server in Absolute Sound by Andrew Quint, where he extolls the sonic virtues of the instrument (but, like myself, did not like the lower pitch option). I trust that he could not detect the same flaws as I did, albeit streaming from ROON as well.
I understand that ROON emerged from the previous SONOS company. A good friend of ours was one of the first SONOS adopters some 30 years ago, but I never liked it in a musicality sense, especially the gooey bass. To me it always sounded like Musak. So, I might be a bit prejudiced here, because what I am hearing now from ROON is as "pleasing" as the old SONOS; kinda lounge character, but not really stirring or attention-grabbing.
So, I would like to hear the unvarnished truth from this illustrious audience, what their experience with ROON is in terms of musicality and neutral/natural presentation, especially if they can offer some kind of A/B comparison from their own listening experience. As I said, I have zero previous experience with ROON, and might just be a bit biased here.
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Incorrect, it was Sooloos. Roon sounds just wonderful. To answer your question, yes Roon has a sound. But if you have an issue with the way a good streamer sounds, it is not Roon that is the problem. There are sound differences between all the apps on different streamers: Roon, Squeeze, JPlay, Aurender’s Conductor, Innuos’s sense apps, HQPlayer etc. but they are minor, about the same level as changing from one good cable to another, and should all sound "good". Has the streamer broken in yet? Yes they need to, just like any other component, usually a few hundred hours. I am curious why you chose this 432 Evo Aeon unit, did you listen to it at the dealer? Did it sound fine there? Did you contact the dealer regarding your lack-lustre sound? It should sound much better than your Macbook. If it doesn't ask your dealer why not, and if they can't figure it out return it for something that does. |
@reimarc To echo some of the earlier commenters but perhaps to be more direct: Zero chance a decent server/streamer will sound worse than a Macbook. Your challenge is also not Roon.
I will readily admit I know nothing about the 432 server/streamer yoou have purchased other than it seems to be imported/distributed by Audiotroy. He comes on pretyy strong, hijacks quite a few threads with the 432 is better kindof of dialogue but I will disclose a long time ago I purchased my Innuos from him and I found him honest and helpful. He doesn’t suffer from a lack of confidence however he helped he at the time get things set up correctly. You might ping him for some assistance since he has a vested interest in your happiness.
Your current challenges are either setup related or your unit has a problem. |
I too am ok with how Roon sounds in my system and do not notice any weird artifacts.
I agree with @ghasley but doubt it will require pinging, as I suspect he will show up here soon. |
I just got a Gustard R26 and am trying out roon and bubbleupnp, roon server is on a dedicated pc with the installed settings. I swear bubble sounds better on both stored wav's and streaming from tidal. roon does not sound muffled or muted in any way as you describe, bubble just sounds a little more precise. |
Back in the day when I was experimenting with diy modified Mac Minis as streamers I ran both Audirvana and Roon, each had a unique sound, I'd characterize Audirvana as the softer more forgiving player, Roon rather sharper, more defined. I've now been running Roon on a completely different setup for years, and this setup has evolved. Does Roon have it's own distinct sound, I don't know how to answer this, Roon sound has changed along with the changes in my streaming chain and overall system. I can directly compare Euphony OS Stylus player to Roon and I prefer Roon. I can also incorporate HQPlayer dsp, I prefer Roon with no dsp. By the way Roon dsp really quite bad, HQPlayer far, far superior. I'd suggest all music players sound dependent on system their paired with, they may have a distinct sound, but with a sympathetic setup suspect all can sound quite good. By the way, some of us have found Roon SQ best with two streamer setups, Core on one streamer, Endpoint on another. |
No problems here with Roon sound. One of the many awesome things about Roon is the flexibility you have with the DSP functionality to address room acoustics and make it sound exactly right. It takes sone time and effort to properly apply a powerful tool like Roon DSP. If not happy with the sound then it’s time to get started and get a handle on things. Every listener case is different. |
@dayglow If you mean best physical media sources as in $50K+ turntables in $500K systems I can agree. But in the $5K - $25K+ not true any more. Streaming can provide as high or higher sound quality than vinyl or CD. I own and have heard other less expensive systems where CD, Vinyl, and streaming are essentially identical. The greatest variation happening in vinyl. It is dependent on the number of pressings that have come from that stamper. Heavily used stamper will have poorer quality. |
@reimarc, in my humble system my Roon Nucleus server sits between a CAT6 router, two network switches in cascade, and a passive network filter on one side going in, and on the other side going out a USB cable to an SRC-DX converter, which is my Roon endpoint, and then to a single BNC cable that carries the internet signal to my Chord Hugo m scaler and on to my Chord TT2 DAC. To answer your question in short, no Roon as I employ it does not have a sound signature of its own. All the very small Intel computer in my Roon Nucleus does is pick tracks and albums from my preferred music service which is Qobuz. |
Man, audiophile’s are something aren’t they?! It’s a file streaming on a file transfer system. They don’t manipulate the file in any way to change the sound. If there is a difference in the sound compared to say a CD or any other platform (assuming it’s truly the same file i.e. the same master) then It’s your digital front end that is mostly likely to blame. No ‘house sound’. |
I’ve used Roon for a few years and, to my ears, I can’t really detect a significant difference between it and other streaming applications. I don’t use any the roon DSP features. By far, the greater difference in sound quality has to do with the version of the digital file that is supplied by the streaming service. |
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Swap your word "conductor" with "squeeze" and that is exactly what I hear, using a different streamer and converter, different speakers etc. I assume Conductor is a Squeeze derivative just as Sense is, so not surprising. IMO the finest reviewer going arrives at the same conclusion regarding the "Roon sound": UPnP and RoonWhen I first reviewed CH Precision audio components in 2018, a Melco UPnP server was also provided to stream directly to the CH DAC’s network input. Subsequently, I fell for both brands, which jump-started my current line of reference equipment. Between the Melco N1A/2 and N1ZH/2, I much preferred the latter, and it soon became my reference server, combined with the CH Precision C1 DAC and its built-in streaming endpoint. But at some point, I was lured in another direction by Roon’s superb interface and endless possibilities. The thing is, compared to UPnP, Squeeze, and MPD, Roon has a deviating sound. Full-bodied, smooth, and rich in tonality, but not quite as crisp, pure, and direct compared to the aforementioned alternative formats.
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@bjesien all good here…hope you are too. GH |
If Roon is not presenting the sound that you prefer, I suggest you get familiar with the DSP capabilities of Roon and try a few tweaks. Since you seem to be hanging a lot on the intelagability of the lyrics by Mark Knopfler, then I think you might start in the mid range Boosting a little here and there until you zero in on your particular sweet spot. Before you dismiss this approach as “artificial“ consider the fact that swapping components, and cables, and software are really just roundabout ways, and very expensive ones at that, of doing this very thing, most of the time |
@reimarc The internet has it all. Here’s one. |
I often see comments that claim Roon sound quality changes as they institute the regular Roon upgrades, can't say that I've ever detected change in SQ. As for the SQ differences between music player apps, bits are bits, based on this all music player apps should sound alike. I'd suggest differences due to the apps use of processing power within streamer, greater use of streamer resources means self generated noise in streamer. Roon's relatively complex interfaces requires more processing vs some others which suggests one should use extremely fast processors with low latency to extract max SQ from Roon. I'd also suggest that's why some find Roon sounds best with two streamer setup. I'm using less than 1% usage on 8 core cpu for streamer running Roon Core, this means both low latency and minimal noise, Endpoint runs on streamer specifically designed for this exact purpose, again low noise, low latency. Bottom line, all music apps SQ dependent on one's streaming setup, you receive the exact same bit perfect stream from servers/cloud, its how those bits are processed that makes the difference. |
I don’t hear a difference. The easy way to check this if your DAC has multiple inputs. Play a CD on the S/PDIF input on your DAC and play the same track simultaneously on your DAC’s Streamer input (USB or whatever). On my PS Audio DirectStream DAC Sr. (MK1). I don’t hear a difference. I use a Matrix USB to I2S DDC for streaming, and the other I2S input has the PS Audio Perfectwave Universal Transport connected to it. No audible difference to my 55 1/2 yr. old ears ! Just sit back, relax , & "Enjoy The Music" |
B I N G O (Bango Bongo) @reimarc It’s the routers, switches, filters and cables that contribute to sound/noise along with streamier/DAC It’s the entire set up aka ‘the chain”
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Running Roon Nucleus with LPS and custom DC cable as core and using my Cinnamon Audio Galle streamer as an end point. Qobuz only, no stored files, no DSP use. Compared this to Jplay on the Galle and it was not even close. Roon sounded poor in comparison. Not even close. Roon sounded dull, rounded and flat in comparison. My wife said we lost some 10-20% of the music. Same exact outcome with this Roon set up vs Sense on my previous Innuos Pulsar. Just my actual findings. I am a lifetime Roon member and love the app! I just have not liked the sound compared to Jplay and Sense on my streamers. |
>>Incorrect, it was Sooloos. ’
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. Thats right. For absolute critical listening on some recordings my little Bryston BDP Pi will best my ROON set up. QOBUZ ROON: Core running SGC i5 upsampling then to the Bryston BDP as an endpoint. The Bryston can stop MPD and Start Roon endpoint with a single click and vice/versa. Not reboot. I use ROON for general listening and if I hear something I really want to dig deep on I will flip over and listen with MPD. Sometimes it sounds better and other times sounds the same. Might be just the state of my ears at the time.
But when I first started with ROON I had core on an iMAC wireless. Sound Stage was flat as a pancake. Currently its SGC with Core and Bryston BDP hardwired to a mesh node with upgraded network cables (can’t remember brand) |
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@ghdprentice +101Dalmations Been there. Done that. Macbook then off on the ladder up. |
Streaming music still has a good 5 years to possibly equal the best physical music sources.
