Sound quality of Roon

When I first starting messing with Roon, I compared it to what I was using - JRiver hosted on my Win10 PC.  And the difference surprised me.  So I let my trial for Roon expire.  But bugs and tons of stupid DLNA issues with JRiver drove me batty.  It wouldn't find my Bridge every other time I tried to use it.  Songs would skip sections, others would cut off the final 30-60 seconds and start up another track after a 5-7 second delay.  But when it worked, JR sounded fantastic.  So I bit the bullet and purchased Roon Lifetime.  And after buying a new i10 NUC (not fanless but powered by a LPS), I went crazy on isolation to get rid of the garbage in the stream.  That eventually led me to a full LAN makeover from copper to fiber.  And I started putting in LPS's on the router, switches and fiber media converters (I run video streamers as well with awesome results).  Things sounded great after finally ridding the system of junk, so I just happily lived with it for many moons.  About a month ago, I decided to compare it to JRiver again (with it running on my Win10 PC).  I drug my feet with doing this because I knew I was going to like JR better and feel remorse for buying Roon.  Well it didn't happen that way at all.  They were virtually identical in sound now.  I say virtually because by the time I switched from one to the other, I was not able to discern any differences.  A stark contrast to how things were in the beginning.  So I am completely happy with Roon now :)  But everyone's journey is different and best you, or anyone can do is get a free trial and have a listen for yourself.  

@grannyring ​​@oldschool1948 , I think I am the ONLY person who has said they prefer Roon on an Innuos product to Sense, in terms of sound quality.  I have a fully updated Zenith Mk 3.  To me Sense sounds slightly too bloated or “filled-in” to me, with all of the space and air around vocals and instruments removed when compared with Roon.

Maybe I have a setup issue but I’ve tried messing with settings.

There is nothing wrong with the sound quality of Roon, on the contrary, when comparing the sound to Bluesound I prefer Roon. I’ve had Auralic G1, Lumin U1 and Bluesound Node and Bluesound in the NAD M12 as comparison. Always found Roon sounding the best. I’ve used a Raspberry PI with HifiBerry hat with great results provided both powered seperately with high end power supplies. Then I had a Metrum Ambre and loved its musicality and ease of use. It sounded way better than Lumin U1, the U1 was too dark in my system. Now I use SOtM sMS-200ultra neo and recently made it sound even better with tx-USBultra reclocker. Roon is just sounding better as streaming solutions improve. Adding a good switch in the chain like Melco S100 or Uptone EtherREGEN makes it even better. Yes there is better but only if you move way up the streamer line to top end Pink Faun or Taiko Extreme streamers, but that’s out of my price range.

@nyev To me Sense sounds slightly too bloated or “filled-in” to me, with all of the space and air around vocals and instruments removed when compared with Roon.

I think you are the only person that likes Roon over Sense on a Zenith.  Just kidding 🤣!

It’s not that I dislike Roon by any means, I do listen to Roon on my main system sometimes.  I find the Sense sound “fuller” for sure, and Sense sounds a little “sweeter’ as well. 

My Roon core is running on a Mac-Mini, which sits in my upstairs office.  I’m still using the stock Mac power cord.  I’ve thought about getting a LPS for the Mac, but since I use it primarily for whole house stereo to Airplay speakers, I’m not sure I’d notice the difference.  

I’m using a Netgear Pro switch between the Orbi router in my office and my basement listening room.  The Mac-Mini plugs directly into the router.  I have considered getting a better switch, and an EtherREGEN for the listening room, but I’m not convinced the improvement would be worth the cost.  

According to the CEO of Roon in a livestream interview, Roon does not have its own sound. It is pulling information directly from the streaming services... unless you are using its built in parametric EQ or other DSP functions.