Empirical Comments on Roon or anything else

I reached out to the iPeng developer a few months ago asking about further development of the app, as it had been stagnant for the last 18 months. He promptly replied and explained that they have been working on the next release which will be a major improvement in the GUI and overall capabilities and functionality. It sounds like it will look and feel like many of the other more modern, developed music apps we have come to appreciate. He doubted it would be done by the end of the year, but based on what he stated, it should drop sometime Q1 2020.

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Sorry. I wasn’t actually offended. I’m pretty hard to offend, and when you do, well, that’s okay. I was just being silly. :wink:

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I read your comment that way, and I was teasing as well.

I think everyone should feel free to comment. What weight any of us may give to the opinion expressed may well be influenced by the amount of experience, equipment used, etc. but this should not prevent a forum member from expressing his opinion.

Thus the winky edit. :grimacing:

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@umiami91 Because of the really cool brim you are sporting we exempt you from the rules on commenting :grin:

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Roon (ROCK, N+) user for 1.5years, love it and love the SQ. In addition, as my system has developed over the last year, so has the SQ. I did not go the lifetime subscription; wanted to wait till a few closed systems developed to make sure I stay w/ Roon. As with everything audiophile, it seems to be experiential. I come from the buy it and try it camp. I trust my ears a lot more than the collective opinion; however, am grateful for the ideas I get to experiment… more love from Malibu!

Happy Holidays to all!

What, AZ wasn’t “Christmassy” enough for ya? ; )

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As a sort of sub thread, I would interested to hear from those who have experience comparing “Roon system” SQ with other things. Especially if you’ve been along for the ride prior to ROCK, N+, etc. and can comment on whether that made a difference.

I guess my question is - do you think the Roon SW itself has a “sound”, or did that go away/change/improve by moving from a laptop or mini to a ROCK, etc?

@minnesotafats - If I understand correctly, you’re using the G1 as a Roon endpoint. How does that sound vs. using the DAC as the endpoint? Playing devil’s advocate, it would seem like the G1 is an “extra” bit in there, since - if you’re using Roon, it is only serving as an endpoint.

Cool, Jeff - thanks! Now there’s a guy that PS could’ve used lately… ; )

@badbeef - got called into CA to lead an RCCA (Root Cause & Corrective Action); video processing circuit card issue. Been here since beginning of DEC.

Here is a black hawk digital cockpit youtube video… this video shows the old cockpit and the new cockpit we are supporting. The equipment in the back of the helicopter is our TRMC mission computer supporting the left side “new digital cockpit”. This computer does a lot of video processing for the helicopter. My team designed the video circuit card and weapons circuit card. The rack in the back is our gear (new TRMC design) that brings the BH from analog to digital cockpit.

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I can only contribute with what I wrote here about Roon vs. Jriver:

So no own sound of Roon, just differences in quality.

Very cool. What I know, based upon a limited deployment to Bolivia, the Blackhawk is/was one finicky bird. We had 3 assigned to my deployed unit and they were almost always grounded. Rotor blades seemed to be a particular problem.

This was 20 years ago now (time flies). I always wondered how you fight and win wars (oh ya, winning wars is not fashionable) with such a finicky machine. I was around aviation quite a bit: SR-71, U-2, F-111, A-10 and AV-8B and nothing, (well maybe the SR-71 but that’s not fair) was as finicky as the Blackhawk. Sure hope your team is helping in that department!

Ah - my question has (sort of) already been discussed in that thread, I see. Thanks! I did start out reading that thread, but what Roon users think about Roon in their Roon-based systems became less relevant to me once I stopped subscribing. I’m still open to using it again at some point, because I like what it does otherwise.

@amsco15 - when I worked back east I was the lead engineer, re-designed the Chinook engine controller. I got to see some very cool variants (special ops) of that bird. I was also on the radar team that designed the A6F digital radar system back in the mid 80s; very cool radar. My first engineering assignment was on the B52 radar system back in the early 80s.
Platforms: A6 (analog radar), EA6B, A6F (digital radar), B52 (RTM), C5 (radar), F111 (MSD/VSD), BH, H1, Chinook, HAWK Missile system, LN100, LN25X, LN 260 inertial navigators, E2D, Orbital display, EKV, GBSD… and a lot of other cool systems…

All that’s cool. I was a minor league player but still in the game…and remain a believer. One thing I do know, complicated and sophisticated are only good if it’s reliable. These machines need to fly, fight, achieve the objective and then do it over and over… Keep up the good work!!!

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I tried a variety of configurations. I have you to thank and curse for having me try the G1. For some songs I like Lightning over Roon. In some others I like Roon over Lighting. I definitely like the Roon interface over Lightining. I like the G1 as an endpoint running either Roon or Lighting over all the following configuarions/setups below:

(1) The Baetis Prodigy Server attached to the DAC via Matrix and I2S. This was the closest to the G1 but I preffered the G1 and I liked the simplicity of wireless over all the boxes, cables, powerchords, and powersupplies with the Matrix setup. I borrowed this stuff rom @aangen and also borrowed his ears. He will probably shout out his empirical knowledge on this thread sooner or later.

(2a) Using the Bridge II in the DS DAC as a renderer connected up with Wireworld Cables and a GigaFoil filter in front of the Bridge to reduce noise. This was aabout as good as the matrix set up and a lot simpler. Frankly, I was hoping this setup would outdo the G1 setup to simplify my life but it didn’t. The Gigafoil improved things but I still liked the G1 setup over this. I am now wondering if the recent Upton EtherRegen setup could make the Bridge II sound as good as the G1.

(2b) The Beatis Prodigy server attached directly to the DS Dac via Coaxial, and USB. I used both JRiver and Roon in this configuration. I did like JRiver slightly over Roon with this set up. I liked the Coaxial better than USB. The G1 still outdoes this.

I’ve no user experience of Roon - I’ve only gone through the details on the Roonlabs website. The GUI certainly looks impressive in terms of the detailed information provided. While I appreciate the value of this my first priority is the sound quality - I can live quite happily with a less featured GUI than Roon has. Like you since I started streaming music (local & on the web) I’ve worked my way through 3 stages of hardware in my search for better SQ:

(1) Sonore Rendu ethernet-to-SPDIF renderer to Bel Canto DAC gave SQ comparable to PS Audio PWD disc player.

(2) PS Audio DS DAC with Bridge 2 definite improvement over (1) - SQ better than PWD disc player.

(3) dCS Network Bridge to DS DAC (with Bridge 2 removed) gave a large improvement in SQ over (2).

As regards software, I’ve used MinimServer throughout and, until recently, BubbleUPnP as controller. Now replaced this with the dCS Matrix control app which gave a further, small improvement in SQ. This software setup meets all my needs: I generally listen without browsing any other material.

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The Bridge will never sound as good as the G1. A well sorted streamer makes all the boxes unnecessary. Wireless connection, seals the deal, IMO.