That is your take. My take is the majority of people don’t see any value in spending a ton of money on audio gear. I could make the case that people who use iPhones with ear buds enjoy music more than us Audionuts.
Back when I was traveling a lot (pre virus) I would get on a plane and put on my headset. I never thought about SQ I was missing, I just enjoyed the music I was listening to.
Just my take.
Two things can be true simultaneously, no? IOW, for example, one can take great pleasure in listening to lossy files on an iOS device via IE monitors or headphones AND enjoy the heck out squeezing the last ounce of the “absolute sound” from a painstakingly curated Hi-Fi system.
Cheers.
It does not appear we disagree.
Steven asserts if Roon screwed with the sound quality people wouldn’t use it. I disagree. We all know most people are much less concerned with quality and vastly more interested in convenience.
Put another way, popularity of an audio product typically is a result of ease of use and physically pretty, not because it sounds good.
I am not taking a position on Roon. While the Roon implementations I have heard sounded better when Roon was bypassed, I can accept Roon can sound very good if care is taken with setup. But, related to my point above, those who demonstrated Roon to me (audiophiles) find the interface so compelling they were happy to give up some sound quality in exchange. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this.
This is, indeed, true for many.
Also true, for many. And, FWIW, I find it helpful to periodically remind myself that the discussion of such matters, and folks stated opinions thereof, tends to be about relatively minor differences in overall sound quality. Personally, incremental improvements are usually worth paying for over time as budget allows. I have no trouble accepting the fact that others often don’t share my opinion of the value proposition associated with such “audiophile husbandry”. 
And there are many potential trade-offs.
People do not place their speakers in the best possible locations because of practical issues or decorating concerns, leave a TV between the speakers as they also use their system for movies, etc. All valid choices.
I think it is a mistake to think that there has to be a compromise between convenience and sound quality. Personally, I demand both.
I use Bubble uPnP with my Devialet Reactor, as it is not Roon Ready and I have an Android phone. If I had an iPhone I could use Roon and Airplay. Bubble uPnP is just as quick as using Roon, but Roon is much more feature rich.
I can use my Devialet Expert Pro with HD sources in various ways: (1) via Roon Ready, wired ethernet from Innuos; (2) via uPnP, using the Bubble app; (3) via usb, which is excellent out of the Innuos; and (4) from a laptop using the Devialet Air wireless protocol. They include Roon and non-Roon options. I have used them all and blind tested I doubt anyone could tell the difference. I certainly can’t tell the difference. There does seem to be an improvement on the Auralic Aries. My kids and wife use the same system with Spotify, which is built in.
The convenience, besides Roon’s feature set, is that the unit will detect any of these sources being sent to it and play. Even if the unit is in standby, it will wake up and play, with a delay of about 10 seconds.
Many systems now operate like this, or similarly, and some work with Alexa. It is convenience without compromise.
I happen to greatly enjoy using Roon and would not consider a product without it. I am certainly not alone, others have said the same on this forum. There is no need to compromise on that, because there are plenty or Roon Ready streamer/DAC products that are as good or better than PSA DACs. The reality is, as I read recently in a HiFi News review of a new $21,000 unit, that most streaming DACs have narrowed to a level that they mostly perform to a very high level and you can hardly tell one from another.
With regard to mp3, it is the perfect balance of required bandwidth, mobile storage capacity and sound quality. Teenagers and 20somethings have huge numbers of tracks in their Spotify offline storage for listening on carbs or wireless headphones. 16/44 or higher defeats this practicality.
When did I say that? Oh never. Still no one gives me my answer and it is obvious why because we all know that already. If you use Roon you lose in SQ. Simple as that.And like Elk said many use Roon happily and are willing to lose some in SQ for convenience. My thinking also, but not my way to go. If there would be no difference in sound,I would probably still use Roon too.
For me Orange Squeeze on Android tablet is convenient enough to manage and play my music and sounds the best for me,of all the options at hand with my Innuos. Not to mention all extra boxes and cables and…and…which take it to another level.
That is why I use it like I do. I want the best out of my system. Nothing less.
Just curious…is this statement based on our forum’s “conventional wisdom” (so to speak), or your personal experience.
Apologies in advance if I missed this detail earlier in the thread somewhere…
FWIW, overall (and there are file and recording quality exceptions) I find files I have downloaded or ripped to my iMac played via JRiver Media Center and its companion iOS remote app., JRemote, to have a slight advantage over Roon when playing what are ostensibly the same files. YMMV.
Regards.
Now I speak purely on my own experience with Innuos and Roon when I still had Roon.
Not any other streamer/server ,but Innuos with 1.4.3 FW at the time.
No, that is just you. The rest of us are fine.
Happy to hear that 
10-4. Thanks for the prompt reply.
Cheers.
No one has stated there “has to be a compromise between convenience and sound.”
Instead, the public is much less concerned with audio quality and vastly more interested in convenience. Convenience drives formats, not sound quality.
Thus, people listen on their phones, not to Pono.
Hi Somppsa
I have had the same experience as you and cancelled my Roon subscription. It’s a fantastic software solution, but it sounds so much worse with my Innuos ZEN MK3 that I had to make a decision. The Innuos Update 1.4.4. which is much more stable and sounds even better helped me with this.
Innuos Server Integration In absolute order from good to bad in my chain
1st UPnP Streamer
2nd Roon with Experimental SQueezeplayer
3rd Roon Core
The differences are clearly understandable and dramatically.
It hurts me too, but I chose the sound.
100% agreed. I have of course heard other systems with Roon and most of them were more tolerable,but for some reason Innuos + Roon = unlistenable for me. I started to think there was something wrong somewhere but no. Innuos just happens to sound very good on it´s own vs with Roon.
If my main priority would be to use Roon I would look for other options. Separate core and endpoint etc…but at the moment I have no interest.
Ah, but did Darko try the vaunted Matrix? I’m very curious to hear a third party (meaning not part of our forum) review of the DS/ Matrix combo, just make sure we’ve not engaged in mass hysteria driven by that super sleuth Bootzilla 
@Somppsa I agree with you. Roon in whatever mode sounds inferior to the native mode (LMS) on an innuos system.
I discontinued my subscription with Roon and have 0 intentions of renewing it. Good call out.
I have the innuos zenith mk3.
i am using my zenith mk3 with ROON and am happy with it for the time being (will swap back and compare with UPNP at some point will have to use iPeng i guess?)
in terms of improving SQ further does running the ROON core on a seperate NUC and using the zenith mk3 as the player/endpoint bring any Sound Quality benefits???
thanks
Let us know how you like UPnP after you have tried it,and iPeng should work if you have iPad/iphone instead of Android.
1.4.5 FW just came out…
Hey Zenith fans. Question for you:
Can I run an MK3 with just a USB DAC and a USB-attached portable storage device and/or the MK3’s internal SSD?
Or, does the streamer HAVE TO be attachrd to a LAN?
Thanks in advance.