Real men use Foobar.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
I used Foobar in the '90s when I guess I was a real man 
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Iām interested in trying that. How involved is the setup?
Itās pretty straightforward, hereās the Roon KB article. Jussi Laako, the author, it active on many of the forums and available via email. Heās a one man show, very smart and very dedicated
http://kb.roonlabs.com/HQPlayer_Setup
I find that I prefer Tedās upsampling so I set HQPembedded in my case to NOT upsample, simply pass it on through unmolested
Connecting Roon to HQPlayer is simple. Getting HQPlayer itself setup can be a challenge for the uninitiated. But itās worth the grind.
One thing that really messed me up when I first tried HQPlayer was I had the volume set at -60 DB. I went into settings and changed the min volume to 0.0 and max volume to 0.0 so I didnāt accidentally forget and wonder why it wasnāt playing. When in fact it was because the volume was all the way down.
i just set up a SonicTransporteri5 (ST5), connected directly to main router via ethernet. using a remote Roon app on my phone. the ST5 has Roon Core installed. it is super fast. havenāt had much listening time yet - but itās definitely better than running Roon Core on my Macbook. more observations to comeā¦
I cannot recall where I read this but there was a recommendation to keep the volume set at -2 db vs 0 db.
If I find it, Iāll post it.
Best to leave a little headroom -3dB is a good number to start withā¦
Thanks for the heads up Iāll adjust it to -3db
HQPlayer is good at detecting clipping. If the volume knob turns red, thereās clipping, or yellow, itās close to clipping. Itās helpful to use -3 to -6 so you can adjust the headroom if needed. Iāve yet to find anything for which I had to go beyond -6.
As far as music server software is concerned, I have yet to hear a program that sounds better than MinimServer. I installed MinimServer on my Melco, compared it to Roon for a year, ditched Roon and have not looked back.
File playback can be controlled using any number of apps and programs. When I am using an Android smart phone, I tend to use Bubble UPnP. When I am on my MacBook Pro, I use Audirvana Plus v3.5 and Linn Kazoo. And when I am on an iPad, I use the Lumin app and Melcoās relatively new app for iOS, MELCO Music HD.
MinimServer is highly configurable. As but one small example, I use its companion program, MinimStreamer, to convert all FLAC streams to 24-bit Wav in the Melco before sending them on to the DS Sr. via a Matrix X-SPDIF 2.
MinimServer cannot compete with Roon on the interface front, but in my experience it more than holds its own when it comes to sound quality. Oh yeah, and MinimServer is free! (The developer accepts donations, and yes, I donated.)
If you are trying to decide whether to drop $500 on Roon, perhaps give MinimServer a try before spending the long green. You just might be surprised at what you hear. . . .
I jumped into Roon lifetime after just a couple of weeks. Do I regret it, no, would I do it again, probably not but after nearly 2 years itās warts have grown on me.
It really should be better than it is at this point in its life but if one is willing to accept it for its quirks the interface is pretty good if limited
SQ of Roon has improved from the time I started with 1.3 to now 1.6, however they have prioritized things like MQA and Qobuz at practically the expense of everything else. I suspect they are a smaller number of people than any of us know.
After using Foobar for many years and never really even customizing it, I donāt feel paying a bit for a decent program is a problem.
For me, Roon is just the control point if you will, HQPlayerd is the āsoundā engine.
My server runs Audio-Linux and Minimserver is one of the app choices, install is scripted and ready to go - though I suspect some config will be needed via the Minimserver interfaceā¦I should give it go one of these days
I also have my Harmony remote integrated into Roon so I can grab the physical remote and have all the controlsā¦I would certainly miss this
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Roon + HQPlayer on my mac mini. So much to love with this setup. Through Roon I stream Tidal (and Iām trying Qobuz, but not finding a real need at this point for both), and I rip CDās and download files for my own library. So, this quote below was interesting:
Curious, what is the āeverything elseā you speak of? (Not disagreeing, just wondering what you mean.)
Tell me about thisā¦ what harmony remote? Logitech? What model? How used?
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Excellent use of context aware quoting. Much easier to follow. Elk, may have eased back on the quoting issue.
Everything else for me is in no particular order: Lack of screen/interface consistently, Iād like to see playlists developed. Simple things like the ability to sort lists as you wish is lacking. Itās one way or not at all in many cases.
Iād like to see some āvalueā add features that could be enabled/disabled by each user such as; when I am playing āDJā how about a nice fade from one track to another when I get tired of a song and want to skip to the next.
Minor; some ability to change the āskinā of the interface. It need not be fully skinable but something more customizable than the light or dark mode. I canāt use light mode.
None of this has been enough of an issue to make a change to other software
I believe any Harmony will work, itās a Roon extension called Deep Harmony. Unfortunately, the developer has moved on/no longer responds to thread here where he posted.
Let me know if you have any questions, happy to help if I can
I wish Roon afforded more customization in how the library is organized and displayed. Iām not a fan of their side scrolling. And I like to group CDās into playlists, and then be able to choose how they are displayed in those playlists, by track, album or artist. Roon only displays them as tracks. I repeatedly asked them to add this feature and their response was that they essentially arenāt playlist people to begin with and have no intention of changing how they do it. They directed me to the Focus feature, which I find unnecessarily elaborate and confusing.
For me, its just not a $500 piece of software. I do love the Roon remote. Lately, I use Swinsian for library management, only costs $20, and drag whatever directly into HQPlayer, which I find sounds better than the slight veil Roon casts over HQP. Swinsian, unlike iTunes, allows FLAC and DSD, so I can have everything in one place. And I find the Swinsian library system to be more comprehensive, and for me, easier to grasp than Roonās.
A couple of guys over at Computer Audiophile (aka Audiophile Style) are scheming to link Swinsian with HQPlayer, allowing the former to be the front end. And the Swinsian developer is working on an iOS remote.
When all that comes together, assuming it does, Iām hoping to have a more functional, though not as slick as Roon, HQPlayer front end for a mere 20 bucks!
For Tidal, I use either Audirvana 3.5 or Amarra Luxe. Yes, Roon does a great job of integrating streaming services with local libraries, have to give them credit there.
From an email from DSD-Guide.com,
"Have you ever taken the same file and played it through Roon? JRiver? Audiogate? Audirvana? or other software players?**
We have and we were pretty surprised at how different they sounded. If you can, give it a try. Weāll assemble the results for you and our own blindfold test results in a few weeks."
Looking forward to their findings. Iāve used JRiver exclusively for the past 5-6 yrs or so and am happy enough not to feel the need to experiment.
Agree 100% - Minimserver in conjunction with MinimStreamer meets all my sound quality and music access needs.
Not only is this software free - itās so good I also donate regularly - but also, if you happen to use a NAS on your network for regular data handling for your familyās computers, all you need to buy is a renderer to convert the ethernet music packets to the output of your choice (USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF, I2S or Toslink) - it is not necessary to buy an expensive server box.
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It takes effort to try new software, effort I would rather put into focusing on other things in life
Hope they compare to HQPlayerd
While certainly not necessary, good power supplies matter. I wanted an all-in-one box to feed the DS. I splurged and got a Pink Faun 2.16. Itās quite a several power supplies inside an expensive server box but boy does it sound good!
The Matrix USB-I2S bridge is very good for the money but Iām thread drifting arenāt I