Sound quality of Roon

@audiom3 wrote:

Network issues can be very complicated. I will admit, far more complicated than my networking smarts allow for. Issues with TCP, UPnP, router IP conflicts and on and on. As I was on the steep learning curve, I was having plenty of issues too. I even had the guys at SGC try to figure out why I couldn’t run their software consistently in the opticalRendu and we eventually gave up and I returned everything. And they really know their stuff - far more than the average Joe, so that should tell you a lot. I’ve since rebuilt my LAN with fiber optic, added managed fiber switches, new fiber router, PSU’s, etc, etc. And now Roon is ROCK solid (pun intended as I run ROCK via a NUC). It doesn’t disconnect, doesn’t cut off the ends of songs, doesn’t skip a beat or anything else unpredictable.

I *think* restarting Roon software/device temporarily refreshes the IP addresses and something (another device most likely) borks it down the road (it becomes conflicted). But it’s too complicated to have any certainty.

I definitely agree that trouble-shooting Roon is a highly complex process. But it’s just not fair to say that nearly all problems with Roon are the user’s fault and usually due to their crappy network. True: many users that complain of problems have crappy networks (many are powerline! Yuck!). False: Roon is stable if your network is.

There are many ways in the way of ordinary use of Roon that cause it to tax itself to the point it piddles. Just do 15-20 searches in a row, adding tags to your search findings in between, then bring up a large tag and try to use focus on some of the tag results. It’s gonna choke.

Someone mentioned that having many open remotes also seemed to tax Roon. I’ve had my eye on that as a potential cause as well and there does seem to be some correlation.

I’m definitely not kicking Roon from a software design standpoint. I couldn’t do what I do with my music room without Roon. It’s brilliant in many respects. But that doesn’t make it stable.

AND, if it were the case that a restart of the core software temporarily refreshes IPs and other data that were causing problems, why doesn’t Roon just do that every so often?

In some cases Roon can be buggy if using many processes which taxes processors in many servers. For those using many Roon and/or HQPlayer dsp and other processes you're going to need a server with Intel I7 and above for seamless performance.

Again, Roon has no inherent reliability issues, seamless streaming requires some network and computer knowledge. The high likelihood of each of us having unique streaming setups makes troubleshooting difficult, diy fixes may entail steep learning curve.

I will offer the possibility Roon or any music player may not work seamlessly with every single possible streaming solution out there. These providers cannot possibly  test for every single piece of streaming equipment and/or combination of this equipment.

@clearthink  there is the opposing camp that say bits are bits to what @blisshifi  is saying, that you need a highly resolving/expensive? system to tell the difference. So is it really the streamer and what specifically does it do to improve sound quality over the fact that you have a highly resolving/expensive? dac (possibly in the streamer) and great speakers? 

@sonicfanatic I always say bits are not just bits. Yes 0s and 1s are passed from a source and received at the destination, but the final result also considers timing (clocking) and the amount of noise (jitter, interference, power supply ripples, you name it) that is introduced into the signal alongside it. Better streamers/servers do a better job of improving the timing and reducing noise (while hopefully also introducing a more delightful user experience with its platform, but that’s not always the case). It has nothing to do with the resolution of the signal, but in the clarity, purity, and integrity of it.

I am hoping the community can corroborate this as you are requesting, but many threads on this forum already demonstrate how people are getting better results from their streamer upgrades, and why many manufacturers offer different tiers of performance in their streamer/server solutions at different price points, such as Innuos, Roon, Auralic, Aurender, Wolf Systems and others. Even NAD, as they own Bluesound still has their own units (The discontinued M50.2 server/streamer was my step up from the Bluesound Vault, and it was exceptionally better. Stereophile rated it a Class A component).

I appreciate the response and pointing out the two items you mention @blisshifi  and those are the two everyone says, noise and timing, but are you saying that you can hear music slower/faster or with more or less noise based on streamer? Who else can hear that?