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

I have also had Roon and Sooloos since the beta days and have never noticed a difference via MS200's.
For all practical purposes they are the same IMHO just enjoy the music. Chris

+1

Russ

My configuration is different from my Sooloos, but I'm only doing a test drive. Since my Roon setup is somewhat inferior to my Sooloos setup it wasn't surprising that my Roon SQ wasn't as good as my Sooloos. I also invited my spouse and cousin to chime in. My spouse is a professional trombone player and cousin is an audiologist and music lover. I'm only an audiophile! My spouse thought the "shimmer" of cymbals and tone of horns wasn't as accurate as the Sooloos. My cousin thought the Sooloos had better sound-staging. However, it's important to note that BOTH thought the sound from Roon and Sooloos were very good.

It's clear the interface of Roon is superior. In the not too distant future I will no doubt retire/sell my Sooloos, but at the moment I will use both. Before I jump full in I want to see what the high-end manufacturers will bring to the table with hardware. I also want the software to mature a bit more.

Am curious....

Your sig only lists C10 as a Sooloos source component. What is your audio path there ?
It looks like your Roon path was Mac to USB/SPDIF converter and on to ???. This won't be in your Sooloos path I expect. Both MAC and converter will be contributing some noise and or jitter.

My hunch is that there are quite a few variables in the comparison.

Anyone using networked end-points (MS200/MS600 or ID40/ID41) tend to report that the SQ is the same or indistinguishable.

I haven't heard any difference, using quite a healthy variety of endpoints.

I can hear no difference in my NC home in Direct and Trifield modes. All Meridian and Roon hardware and software are connected to the same network switch played thru ID40 card in 861.v4 to non-SpeakerLink DSPs. 2 channel thru DSP8000s.

Roon storage on Iomega 2 Bay NAS with 2 2TB drives and and running Roon on a refurb HP Envy 23" all in one (i3 processor).

Sooloos store/core on HD600 with 2 3TB drives.

This is based on long terming listening to both in Direct and Trifield modes. They both sound so good (and identical) to me, it is counterproductive to search for imagined (or real) irritants.

Others have noted the obvious; Roon is by far the better overall interface. I believe it will improve/add/change/subtract fairly rapidly, especially compared to M's Sooloos core software (not that there's anything wrong with that.

I'm using 2009 Macbook Pro with a 1TB Hibred Drive and 4Gigs of RAM and Peachtree Audio T1 USB to SPDIF (I think this is the weakest link) and the then feeds the Lyngdorf DPA-1 "digital in". My FLAC files are on a QNAP NAS. The digital cable and the USB are both DH Labs Silver Sonics.

As I said a difference can be heard, but the sound is VERY good! I do see Roon as the future interface. It's the hardware that's my issue. I'd like to have a dedicated NUC, as my Macbook has iTunes running my as a video server. I'll also get a better converter for the USB to SPDIF.

Perspective is required here. I'm just doing a test drive and I don't have an optimum equipment setup. Given that, Roon sounds terrific.

Hi BLH,

I think you know this already from reading your post, but I'd just like to make it clear for other readers.

Comparing the C10 vs. Peachtree Audio, is fine but it is not comparing Roon vs. Sooloos AQ as the most critical component the "DAC" is different.

To compare the Audio Quality of the Roon vs. Sooloos software application the system needs to use the same Audio Endpoint so that means streaming to a Sooloos endpoint (C10, C15, MS200, MS600, ID40, ID41) and then switching between the Sooloos and Roon applications.

Regards,
Carl

Agreed Carl,

It isn't a direct comparison, nor was it meant specifically to be that. Hence the "test drive". And as I said, Roon sounds very good.

Because Roon has to be used via a computer (my first big jump into true computer audio) it wasn't possible for me to perform a truly unbiased comparison. However, many audiophiles here on Unplugged do and hear no difference in SQ.

Roon is v1.1, so is my equipment. Each will evolve over time and the sound will incrementally improve. I'm pleased with my test drive and love the Roon interface. Roon had me at Sooloos.

The insertion of an MS200 into your audio chain (use the SL output to balanced digital input on the Lyngdorf) ought to give you a very worthwhile uplift in SQ in Sooloos and would allow you to make the Sooloos/ Roon comparision directly.

The Roon lads are ready to release an endpoint of their own. Roon Speakers, which will as rumours go be able to be installed on a Raspberry Pi 2. You could be looking at a very cheap alternative to Meridian's end points, just a Raspberry Pi with an IS2C Hifiberry into a DAC.

There are just so many GREAT things possible on the horizon.

I really don't want to jump too soon! A Rasberry Pi would be easy and cheap though. I actually have a v1.0 for the Pi. I think I'll just wait until next year...if I can really wait that long!

But hey, a guy has to tinker, right?

Brian