Streamer Software

I think that’s spot on ”let hardware companies and software companies do what they best”, but we are not there yet. Currently almost all of the highend manufacturers have their own software which works only with their own hardware. 
Before making purchase decision on highend dac/streamer I would like know how well the software works. It’s something that’s more difficult to assess during a few hour listening session. So the owners of Lumin, Innuos, Aurender, DCS, and others, please share your experiences with the software and if you have for example jumped to Roon instead of manufacturers own solution.

Photomax so from your point of view Linn’s own Kazoo app performes better that Roon? Would you be share some of things Kazoo does better and what you especially like? I have heard a good things from Kazoo as well, but also some not so nice things like some serious bugs. Have you encountered any bugs?

That’s exactly what I was afraid of. I don’t have aproblem to pay for Roon, but it also has limitations like Sonos or Tidal play(s) would not work with it. Still I haven’t seen proper review of the streaming software of even the top manufacturers. You would think that by paying 10k$ and more for streamer /+dac would give you streamelined and bugfree software that is on a same level as the product design itself, but it’s not given.

Thanks mahler123, I didn’t know that NAD is using BlueOS as well 👍🏻 Although it’s okay for Tidal, it seems lack on some aspects for Qobus. Especially the artist page is not there for Qobus, only a list of albums not always even the top songs.

Thanks Jimski, very good points there. DCS Bartok is definately on my short list, and I’m fine using Roon with it. Still it makes you wonder if company like DCS not able to create piece of software that would competive with Roon on the platform they have designed themselves. All the features, optimizations and no compromise approach they are following on hardware side, it should be better on their own devices. I would understand that Roon would be the best generic software that has broader support with number of streamers, but if we have situation where Roon is better than the manufacturer’s own solutions, there is a risk that flow of a new capabilities and innovations will slow down. Therefore I think it’s important to review always also the software and make sure bugs are made visible for the manufacturers, maybe even rate the level of the software.

Great insight both of you @mgrif104 and @photomax! Thank you for the comments, Aurender is on top of my list for the streamers and DCS for the dacs. I think valuable point was assessing streamer software from UI and sound quality point of views. 👍🏻