I've compared Lumin's app (and Plex app which is basically a custom shell over top of the Lumin app) to Roon. I've heard bigger differences in cables, to be honest. But with Roon+Muse and my Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC (ESS ES9038PRO chip), it's a no-brainer that Roon sounds markedly better when sending max O/S rate directly to the DAC chip.
Roon vs OS and Native Players - Impact on SQ?
My conclusion / assumption is these designers maximized (or maybe "tuned / shaped") their native players to get best sound versus doing a pass through of the Roon player.
@buickwilson posted the above statement in the following thread, which I’ve been wondering about for a while. There’s been countless posts from Innuos members stating that their streaming experience is better through the Innuos Sense App in comparison to Roon. I also found this to be true with BluOS in comparison to Roon and Tidal Connect (and naturally Spotify Connect).
I now run Roon through an OpticalRendu via the Sonic Orbiter OS which does not have a native player. As a Roon user I’m wondering:
A. Have other Roon users experienced an uptick in sound quality when they’ve completely stepped away from Innuos or BluOS native players (and others) while using Roon on an OS that does not have a native player - like Sonic Orbiter for example?
B. As a Roon user, how much of a bottleneck are we talking about in terms of diminished SQ when comparing Roon to Aurender, Lumin, and Innuos native players?