T + A streamers. I need help.

I also have a T+A DAC/streamer and agree the G2 app is limiting and disappointing relative to others I have used. 

My personal experience with Roon is a few years old but wasn’t particularly good. I haven’t tried it with my SD 3100 HV units but am disinclined to try again as it quite negatively impacted the sound quality even without using any processing. It’s possible it sounds fine w/ the T+A unit, but I have reason to suspect it wouldn’t be as good as the built in streaming client.

In any case, I personally have decided to live with the G2 application as it’s responsive, stable, and doesn’t require me to install an update every time I turn it on (a particular irritation with Bluesound OS).

There’s another choice which you may want to explore - J Play. I’m considering this as I’m also considering running HQ player to convert to native DSD - a format T+A  DACs process particularly well as you likely know. There are some complexities to using J play as you’ll need some additional UPNP software but I understand the interface is quite nice and sound quality is not impaired. 

I know a number of T+A users have taken this route and it’s discussed a fair amount over at audiophile style forums. Certainly worth exploring. 

Best,

@mclinnguy 

When did you get the DAC 200? I thought you were running a Weiss DAC. Beautiful system, BTW. As you note - the DAC 200 is very good on PCM, and truly exceptional on DSD. 

I was thinking about HQ player, as I can use it to convert local files and Qobuz streams. But PGGB might be the more reasonable way for me to feed my T+A DACs. I certainly have the processing power in my M4 Mac mini. What I don’t seem to have is the brain power (or patience?) needed to operate HQ player as desired in 2 locations. If you have thoughts there, please share.

Fortunately, even plain old PCM sounds really good here now with my network improvements.

Best,

@mclinnguy +1

Good stuff and helpful, too. Congrats on the new DAC 200.

I’ll get my 2nd system settled in about 6 weeks and will give PGGB a try. It should work well in my system with the built in NAA on my unit. I’ll save a few steps. 

Best,

@v-fi 

This is a somewhat frustrating response. So you don’t know how or why there might be a difference and therefore dismiss the relevant experience of many others. It’s a complex area. If you’re seeking a high performance system, not exploring this seems shortsighted.

Roon is akin to Microsoft Windows which must run on a huge variety of hardware and companion software platforms. Just as windows does not perform equally well across all those platforms, so too does Roon have to address the variables of cache, processing speed, available system resources, etc.

Some streamers are designed to only work with Roon (i.e Grimm MU1 and Synergistic Research Voodoo). However, many others have native applications to handle the music library management. Those of us with such equipment have experienced a wide variety of results with Roon. And, many of that group have experienced diminishing sound quality with Roon. 

For me - I had already paid for a subscription to Roon and was using it happily. On a whim, I compared the same streamed file on Qobuz via Roon vs via Lightning DS (the native application of Auralic devices). I was disappointed in the difference. I loved pretty much everything else about Roon - particularly the interface. But it just didn’t sound as good. I am far from alone in that experience. I have since moved on from Auralic as using it to feed my T+A DAC didn’t sound nearly as good as using the streaming client built in to the unit in direct comparison.

To be fair - I haven’t tried Roon with my T+A streaming DACs. But I also know from the experience of others that it is unlikely to offer me the best sounding option. And, given the high level of performance of the T+A gear, why should we choke it?