Roon Streaming Service actually Degrades the sound

Roon folks firmly believe, or rather state, that they will not take sides in the Great Argument on SQ. However, for some reason, they keep tweaking their algorithm with most of new versions release. For example, the upcoming version of the 1.8 that is currently on Beta says among others:

Improved buffering and caching for streaming content

We’ve made changes to Roon’s buffering and caching infrastructure when playing streaming content. The new implementation is designed to use a lighter touch when interacting with your network and internet connection, making streaming less intensive for your Roon Core.

My experiences are exactly the same @dougthebiker !

This was my second time around with Innuos, in about a year, but I did notice the Roon Squeezelite Experimental mode is much more stable this time compared to the last time. Almost flawless 

Disclaimer: those who believe digital is zeroes and ones, “bit perfect” know-it-alls experts, either it works or does not, please do no read, and ignore:

Roon network protocol,RAAT (Roon Advanced Audio Transport) is somewhat primitive, old, and been around for a while.

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/raat#What_is_RAAT

While it has been patched over several software updates, still a bit long in the tooth. I have heard from people well versed in network topology that it imposes very strict / hard demands to various network components comprising the streaming audio chain, with potential impact to SQ. Stressing “potential” here.

So here is that. I have a very strong feeling Roon folks know this, and likely address it in the next couple of years. Here is to RAAT 2.0!!