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,