Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Hardware with Roon Application Roon drawbacks?

Hi all,

It appears most of the users are satisfied with the Roon, and this is something I totally agree. The convenience and expandability is no match to our conventional Sooloos system. Also, Roon is fast evolving software, capable of resolving problems going forward. That said, I wonder what would be some of the drawbacks that people experience compared to Sooloos. (as of Sep 2015)

Here are my findings

- iPad remote application is heavy (My pad gets pretty hot, and consumes battery like a pig!)

- Sound quality.. Compared to MD600, it appears to have more digital noise, with brighter background and etc. This could be less of a problem with ID41 (dejitter capabilities?) users. This is my own personal experience, but definitely more "noisy stuff" are going on as a background in Windows or OSX compared to Sooloos. May have to consider this thread again. Linux version could bring some improvement here, since most of PC-FI audiophiles prefer Linux based software.

- Still seem to have some language issues. (not much of a problem with English only users)

- Last but not least... "What should I do with my MD600!"

[MD600] Use as storage with Roon, or sell and replace with a QNAP and PC to run Roon core would seem to be your choices.

Selling would be optimal choice, but I am afraid current market value would not justify my investment on inital purchase.

Hi,

I don't consider the MD600 as a Roon drawback after all it's is a Meridian device.

Let's face it we tend to kid ourselves that our HiFi equipment is an investment ... it's resale value drops and drops over time but of course we ignore this until reality bites when we wish to sell it on.

If you move away from Sooloos (be that Roon or otherwise) then the MD600 is effectively redundant. Yes it could be used as a just as a NAS for Roon if the pain of selling is too great.

Regards,
Carl

What version of the iPad are you running? I have an iPad Air2 and it seems fine to me. I've spent many Sunday afternoons with it .. maybe that's long enough.

What audio end point are you using when making this comparison?
For me using an 861v6+ID40 I've not heard any differences between Roon and Sooloos.

+1 on each comment.

Russ

+2

My iPad Mini3 is totally normal running Roon or any other app.

SQ....There is no way that Roon can do anything more or less than Sooloos when sending digital signals to same Meridian end-points.

These go over the same network and are using the same protocols, buffering, data rates etc. The code inside Roon shares much in common with the original Sooloos (as you might expect for various reasons).

I have extensively tested Roon and Sooloos together over the last 12+months into the same ID41, MS600 and MS200(s) and detected no change in SQ.

If you are hiding either your Roon core or watched folders behind a difficult or odd network arrangement (POIP, multiple bridges etc) then you could experience something, but, this is the network not the source or zones.

just my 2p

Issues I've had with Roon:

- Not quite as resilient to my local LAN network suffering glitches as a pure Sooloos setup was. Being fair, it IS still very reliable.

- The iPad App won't run on the older iPads that we have, which the older Sooloos app happily did.

Otherwise, it's all positive. Selling my MC200 basically paid for the LPS upgrade to my 861v4. Linked to that, means that my server is my home PC, which uses off the shelf (and thus VERY cheap) SATA drives, eliminating potential space concerns.

Hopefully Roon will also deal with MQA decoding in software and will support future integration with newer room correction software like DIRAC.

My iPad is Mini2, I got "new" refub, so it could be issue with the hardware (or battery issue) doing more testing now.

As shown in my signature, I am using MS200 as an end point, which may have limited jitter dealing capabilities compared to bigger brothers like ID40 and ID41.

I posted a few months ago about a test I did with SBT vs MS200 vs MS600 into an analogue system.

The latter was by far the best. Instantly noticeably better.

The 8xx does raise that bar further again (ref Ludwig's posts using MS600 and 8xx into a headphone setup)


So, yes, there are differences between end-points.

It is somewhat relief that many users are not experiencing the sound de-gration using Roon, but unfortunately I still think it will be difficult to say for sure that the sound of Roon and Sooloos core is exactly "identical."

I am already committed to use Roon, and about to click on that lifetime subscription button, and my MD600 will be shipped soon to its new owner. Before I pack my MD600, I did extended sound comparison, and still think MD600 has (little) more controlled/refined sound compared to Roon (on NUC).

It could be because PC-Fi is serious matter from where I come from, and considers various components when dealing with PC becoming an Hi-Fi audio device. Some examples are SATA filters , there are also USB filters, and CPU fan filters that deals with digital noise, and of course LAN isolators. It is also difficult to supply clean linear power to PCs.

I think Meridian devices are pricey for reason. That said, I am still moving ahead with Roon, because of the convenience and excellent interface, which makes music listening experience much more fun. Attempt to resolve that minor de-graded sound would be my (interesting) homework going forward!

Enjoy~

We've got quite comparable setups (I'm running an MS600 > SpeakerLink > Reviver > Non-SL 5200's).

FWIW: for me (early Roon adapter since mid-May), Sooloos and Roon sound exactly the same.