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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 3 responses by mgrif104

mgrif104 OP
328 posts
 
Noted.  But, it’s actually easy to check that the volume is the same from both controllers.  So, that’s not the difference.

Best,
mgrif104 OP
328 posts
 
Jond: thanks for the link to the Auralic community.  Reading through that thread suggests that I wasn’t imagining the difference.  Most users seemed to feel that Lightning DS sounds better than Roon, though many of the same still use Roon for the UI. The suggested difference is that LDS employs the large buffer in the Aries G2 whereas Roon does not.

What i can relay is that, in my experience, Lightning DS sounds more open in comparison to Roon, whether streaming Qobuz or playing local files.  It may be that I could tweak Roon to get there, but I’m not feeling much motivation to try.

Thanks all,
mgrif
mgrif104 OP
328 posts
 
audphile1 - thanks for the feedback.  Now that I’ve been using LDS more, it’s pretty clear that it sounds better than Roon.  Re the interface - no question Roon is better in that regard. However, like you, sound is more important to me so I’m going to drop Roon.  And, I can find what I want through LDS easily enough.  

I wonder if our experiences are echoed by other platforms. For instance, does music via the Lumin app sound better than via Roon? Same for Innuos.  I know there are some users of devices much more expensive than the ones we’re using that swear by Roon.  I wonder if they’re actually missing out on in some way,  I’ll likely never know...
Best,
mgrif104
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