I just first time really compared Roon (gave 1.7 another try) to Jriver sound quality, both running in the same PC separated from the audio power circuit and galvanically isolated into Bridge II.
OMG, I didn’t expect that. Roon has clearly less ambiance, less air between instruments, it even seems there’s less reverb in the room. Bass also doesn’t go as deep as with Jriver. I can imagine this is possibly not so obvious for some depending on the revealingness of the setup and positioning of speakers in the room.
But for me the grade is not that much less than the difference between Snowmass and Windom in this regard in my setup.
So many influences in a digital setup…not really as easy as it seems.
No way I’d pass on that SQ difference!
But my main problem with Roon is that for me it’s not efficient and flexible, neither in function nor in GUI. I could live with it with 100 albums when I remember each album anyway, but not with many thousands.