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,