@mgrif104 Sorry to frustrate, that was certainly not my intent. And the last thing I want to do is argue about audio opinions. I just notice a lot of people parrot what they have read on forums about Roon not sounding as good, but when I have a direct chat with them it turns out many haven't even tried it, or tried it once many years ago and are still stuck on that opinion.
For myself, I have definitely compared many platforms and found Roon to sound best, in my system of course which is the only one I can really speak on. But among the circle of fellow Auralic users I chat with, the vast majority seems to agree. The general consensus (not unanimous) is that Lightning DS makes the music more edgy, lit up, with a focus on detail, while using Roon is more natural, relaxed, organic. Which one is "better" will always depend on your preferences and system.
I agree that Roon does have some variability, but also feel that is mainly solved now by the fact that you can just use the official Roon Nucleus devices and get on the same page as what the Roon devs intended. Or, you can at least use the Nucleus as a yardstick by which to spec out your own hardware so it matches or surpasses those capabilities. Meanwhile Roon's certification process, as frustratingly slow as it sometimes is, exists to guarantee that each component plays nicely with their software and keeps everything in spec. So there really isn't as much variability issues as there maybe was some years ago.
Are there instances where I might choose something else over Roon? Of course, depending on the hardware involved. But my experience is that most often Roon sounds more natural to me than the others, and I again feel like it gets a bad rap for being so slick in terms of features and user interface. When so many people throw out the whole "everyone knows" mentality about how Roon is always inferior, I feel it dissuades people who should really give it a shot. They might prefer it as many of us do, and it's free to try so why not?
