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Sound quality of Roon vs. Lighting

I’d like some feedback from the more experienced users here.  I have an Auralic Aries G2 streamer.  I also have Roon Core running on a Mac Mini.  This allows me to compare the sound quality of Roon vs. Auralic’s Lightning app.  Complicating things are that the Auralic has filter options and I can send data to my DAC via USB or S/PDIF etc.  A couple of quick details
1) I’ve found that I prefer USB to S/PDIF going into my DAC.
2) I’m using the filter Auralic says is most preferred by listeners (smooth w/ little pre-ringing).
3) When running Roon - I’m not doing any processing - no up conversion, equalization, etc.


Am I imagining that Lighting sounds slightly better than Roon?

Of course, Roon is a much better interface than Lighting but Lightning is usable - and doesn’t cost me anything.

So the question is - have others experienced this?  Or, do I need to tweak Roon to get the best out of it?  I know Audiotroy would suggest I do some up-conversion w/in Roon but over USB I can only do up to 192k - correct?

Can some of you suggest to me what settings I should try in Roon to get the best out of it?  Or, should I try different filter settings on the Auralic?  Too many variables....

Best, 
mgrif104

Showing 1 response by audphile1

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audphile1
4,345 posts
 
@mgrif104 
I run Auralic Aries G1 into Chord Qutest DAC. My experience with Roon vs. LDS is the same as yours. The LDS sounds noticeably better. Roon sounds flat and not engaging in comparison. I also use Mac Mini as Roon core, but that’s not the culprit (others running Roon on other dedicated servers report the same findings).
FWIW, I run the Auralic, Roon and the DAC in default settings. No resample or filter features are enabled. I played with the settings in Roon, nothing I’ve tried gets It there. The user interface and experience offered by roon is in a different league though. However, I personally care more about the sound. 
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