I imagine it comes down to personal opinion and system dependent.
There are many who don’t like Roon’s sound, and many who do. If you can figure out HQPlayer, you may see how much better it sounds handling sound for Roon.
So take the “awful” comment with a grain of salt. It’s “awful” to me compared to my other software players. In particular HQPlayer, Amarra Luxe, Fidelia and Audirvana.
But Roon is the grand wizard 
♂ of library management, nothing else comes remotely close.
I love the library management aspect. I’ve been ripping SACD’s to my NAS and Roon is flawless at setting up DSD. It marks them as “new” and makes them a preferred source for playback.
I totally agree in that regard.
What is your setup? Are you using some kind of Roon endpoint or is your Roon Core directly connected? Because that makes a big difference. Directly connected sounds worse in my experience.
I’m currently limited to Roon Core on my MacBook Pro connected to the DSJ either via usb via the Matrix/ I2S. Or directly over the Bridge. Neither are acceptable to me. It’s much better with Roon/HQP via the Matrix.
But yesterday I found my old Amarra Luxe via the Matrix to sound better with pcm. And HQP alone via the Matrix better with DSD.
This leaves me wondering about whether it’s worth moving forward with the $499 lifetime license just for what amounts to a really good library system.
I may let my first year license expire and try life without Roon for awhile. I really could care less about the meta data palooza… don’t like to read and listen to music.
One day will get a SOTM or Sonore streamer. That’s next on the eternal upgrade list!
Too many different permutations! When do you have any time to listen?
The equipment and software is half the fun 
!
All this talk about Roon is Rooning this thread. (kidding)(really)
Getting off that MacBook as a streaming source should be very high on your priority list, in my opinion. There is no doubt that if you were to dedicate appropriate software/hardware resources to Roon, then it will present music much differently.
On the subject of USB cables, I decided to try an upgrade to the standard Matrix USB cable. Morrow audio has 40% sale until the 8th. I just received their USB cable that cost me $125 and it is a substantial improvement over the stock one. also they have a 60 day return policy which makes it low risk. they say it requires break in so it may get even better over time.
On the subject of Roon sound I agree that without extra attention its sound is behind Jplay Femto with Bubble UpNP and others
I current have the one year plan and have been constantly narrowing the SQ gap.
As i upgrade my PC server Roon improves along with it. I can see the reason they have the dedicated servers for Roon (Nucleus and such)
Back to the $70 Amazon battery rig for the Matrix. Is there a battery that works with the Matrix that’s more simple, that just has a battery and a charger without needing all of those other cables, DC pigtails and jumpers? Is there a ready made solution in that budget vein? Seems like there would be something.
I truly know nothing about electricity and batteries. I found the following item on amazon which seems a more integrated package than buying separate parts. Would something like this work with the Matrix?
Sorry for a potentially naive question but how do you rip your SACD’s? I haven’t found a way to do it myself.
Hi I’m using a Kijiji special. A Sony BDP-S590 that I paid $40 for. You use a USB drive with a script on a few Blu-Ray players that can be exploited. The procedure and device list is here:
Thanks, I’ll give it a try. I have an Oppo 105D sitting around.
For those of you who want to try AES-EBU cable- I recommend D-H Labs Silver Sonic. $88 for 0.5m and sounds real good out of the box. Great company to deal with too. My 2cents- YMMV
Just remember AES-EBU limits you to 192/DSD64
Since y’all are always looking for HDMI deals this is half off retail
I emailed Arthur at Matrix Audio. He thought this battery would work with the Matrix at 5 or 9V. He said 9V would be perfect.
I went a different route.
I already had one of Boot’s Starlight 7 (red clad) HDMI’s running on my Blu-Ray. Nice and burned in over about a year and a half. I put that thing in between Matrix and DS sr. and of course loved it. Much better then strait USB. But then Aangen started talking about his AES/EBU sounding better then HDMI. Got me thinking.
So, i went to the Wireworld site. They are phasing out the 7 line, but are still selling the Starlight 7 (red clad) AES/EBU. 1m=$115.00. So since this cable is of the same line with equal/similar construction I thought it would be a fair comparison once burned in. Got it this last Monday, 4-1, and plugged her in. Brand new, with no burn in what so ever, it sounded better in my system. Yes, I did disconnect the HDMI before I even turned it on.
As far as what I heard, in MY system, was less digital and more musicality. A tad bit more bass, but probably just more controlled. Voices a little bit clearer and set in the soundstage more realistically. These were NOT huge differences. Very subtle. But, like all of you I’m sure, I have my test tracks to play to listen for these subtle differences. The cable itself has about 48 hours of playing time on it now. Am not hearing any change yet, but I will be able to let it burn in good this weekend and see how she sounds Sunday night.
I was really just hoping for equal or close in this experiment. That it does sound a “little” better is a win for me, because that will allow me to get the cable I have really wanted to put on my system. An HFC CT-2 AES/EBU. That will complete my “loom”. It will be “full” as they say…
That will be down the road though, as those cables are expensive.
Boot…Once again, have to say “Thank You” for turning us/me on to this Matrix. It is certainly changing my system for the better.