The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Jbraswell said:
Interesting but not good news.
I don't have any apple stuff here, except the work iPhone used for basic tasks.
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I've been running my Roon Server on a 2018 Mac Mini for the past 6 months. Roon is pretty lightweight the biggest challenges with Roon are network related. Mine had been running flawlessly streaming Qobuz and local files up until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting a lot of drop outs. A couple of weeks later after a couple of Roon and Qobuz updates everything is working fine again.
 
mindhead1 said:
I've been running my Roon Server on a 2018 Mac Mini for the past 6 months. Roon is pretty lightweight the biggest challenges with Roon are network related. Mine had been running flawlessly streaming Qobuz and local files up until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting a lot of drop outs. A couple of weeks later after a couple of Roon and Qobuz updates everything is working fine again.
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I like Roon but Bluesound is doing everything the Roon SW does with a few less pretty interfaces.
Functionally, it's the exact same music except no added subscription fee.
Also I agree it is frustrating to wait around for multiple parties to make their firmware shit gel.
The USB clipping/drop out between Roon and BS finger pointing was frustrating for months on end previously.

I don't know. I'm just gonna run BS Node and Qobuz going forward. Roon is very cool SW but I can't get behind their HW.
 
mindhead1 said:
I've been running my Roon Server on a 2018 Mac Mini for the past 6 months. Roon is pretty lightweight the biggest challenges with Roon are network related. Mine had been running flawlessly streaming Qobuz and local files up until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting a lot of drop outs. A couple of weeks later after a couple of Roon and Qobuz updates everything is working fine again.
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That’s why I was looking for a dedicated core outside of my laptop… dropouts.. “Tidal is loading slowly…” etc…. I just picked up a new laptop, so we’ll see if that changes anything.
 
Jbraswell said:
I like Roon but Bluesound is doing everything the Roon SW does with a few less pretty interfaces.
Functionally, it's the exact same music except no added subscription fee.
Also I agree it is frustrating to wait around for multiple parties to make their firmware shit gel.
The USB clipping/drop out between Roon and BS finger pointing was frustrating for months on end previously.

I don't know. I'm just gonna run BS Node and Qobuz going forward. Roon is very cool SW but I can't get behind their HW.
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I just love Roon… the interface and recommendations, artist/album info.. just can’t be beat IMO. I’m switching to a lifetime subscription after 3 yrs.. wish I had done it up front.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
I just love Roon… the interface and recommendations, artist/album info.. just can’t be beat IMO. I’m switching to a lifetime subscription after 3 yrs.. wish I had done it up front.
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It really is in a league of its own. But damn pricey. Since I gave up Tidal and only use Apple Music now, there is no justification for me to keep a Roon sub.
 
I really can’t understand what you guys get from Roon, I haven’t used it but like @Jbraswell said Qobuz and BluOS provides me all the content I need. I have a large purchased digital library but most of it lives in the cloud as I have not downloaded it all because well:
image.jpg
And I have another 5x5 going up and I don’t know how many CDs. And this place (N&G) is better than any fucking algorithm and contains so much music I can never listen to it all.

It may be cool but if I’m getting everything I need with out it, I just can’t really understand why I would want it.

I may get around to checking it out after I upgrade my phonostage, table and speakers because then I can think about whether or not I want to invest in a lifetime sub.

edit: I also have an unreasonable amount of listening projects that provide me with a constant influx of revisiting things and listening to stuff I may have missed.
 
Lee Newman said:
I really can’t understand what you guys get from Roon, I haven’t used it but like @Jbraswell said Qobuz and BluOS provides me all the content I need. I have a large purchased digital library but most of it lives in the cloud as I have not downloaded it all because well:
View attachment 198198
And I have another 5x5 going up and I don’t know how many CDs. And this place (N&G) is better than any fucking algorithm and contains so much music I can never listen to it all.

It may be cool but if I’m getting everything I need with out it, I just can’t really understand why I would want it.

I may get around to checking it out after I upgrade my phonostage, table and speakers because then I can think about whether or not I want to invest in a lifetime sub.

edit: I also have an unreasonable amount of listening projects that provide me with a constant influx of revisiting things and listening to stuff I may have missed.
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I get it.. I use Tidal mostly, and have at times purchased albums from HD tracks and the like. I just love the Roon interface.. the way it recommends new music has expanded my musical reach ten fold. It’s just comfortable.

At this point I use Roon/streaming 75% of the time so making sure I’m enjoying the experience was key.
 
Lee Newman said:
I really can’t understand what you guys get from Roon, I haven’t used it but like @Jbraswell said Qobuz and BluOS provides me all the content I need. I have a large purchased digital library but most of it lives in the cloud as I have not downloaded it all because well:
View attachment 198198
And I have another 5x5 going up and I don’t know how many CDs. And this place (N&G) is better than any fucking algorithm and contains so much music I can never listen to it all.

It may be cool but if I’m getting everything I need with out it, I just can’t really understand why I would want it.

I may get around to checking it out after I upgrade my phonostage, table and speakers because then I can think about whether or not I want to invest in a lifetime sub.

edit: I also have an unreasonable amount of listening projects that provide me with a constant influx of revisiting things and listening to stuff I may have missed.
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That’s a nice vinyl collection!
 
Slimwhit33 said:
I get it.. I use Tidal mostly, and have at times purchased albums from HD tracks and the like. I just love the Roon interface.. the way it recommends new music has expanded my musical reach ten fold. It’s just comfortable.

At this point I use Roon/streaming 75% of the time so making sure I’m enjoying the experience was key.
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I’m there with you (streaming over riding everything else at this point) but BluOS is feeding a high quality content to the best hifi set up I’ve ever owned. I’m gonna put the bucks in getting that even better before I think about exposing myself to MOAR. But then as is clearly evident, I’ve been more about content for years anyhow so maybe I just don’t need room’s help?
 
Lee Newman said:
I really can’t understand what you guys get from Roon, I haven’t used it but like @Jbraswell said Qobuz and BluOS provides me all the content I need. I have a large purchased digital library but most of it lives in the cloud as I have not downloaded it all because well:
View attachment 198198
And I have another 5x5 going up and I don’t know how many CDs. And this place (N&G) is better than any fucking algorithm and contains so much music I can never listen to it all.

It may be cool but if I’m getting everything I need with out it, I just can’t really understand why I would want it.

I may get around to checking it out after I upgrade my phonostage, table and speakers because then I can think about whether or not I want to invest in a lifetime sub.

edit: I also have an unreasonable amount of listening projects that provide me with a constant influx of revisiting things and listening to stuff I may have missed.
Click to expand...
IMO, Roon is overkill if you don’t have tons of downloaded files. So since your library isn’t downloaded and you’re good with just using Qobuz, it would be overkill for you.

I have about 1700 albums stored locally on my NUC in all sorts of file formats from DSD to MP3. I’ve got a lot of stuff with specific masterings that i sought out (not dissimilar to how many people approach vinyl). We have speakers in most rooms of our house that we use every day. Roon very easily can play my music (or Qobuz) to any of them. Even my wife uses Roon most days because it’s easy. It just does everything extremely well and checked all the boxes for what I want out of streaming software. I also have two setups (home office and living room) and listen to streaming on both. I can run Roon locally on my desktop of my home office so don’t need a streamer there.

I have no desire or need for a Node since I already had a streamer and have external DACs on both of my setups. So BluOS is out of the question for me. All the other softwares I tried were annoying to use and I had constant problems trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

The music discovery on it is better than on Apple Music for sure. But I’m like you in that I already have lots of ways to discover music so don’t use it often. Occasionally after an album finishes playing, it’ll auto play an album I haven’t listened to in ages, or some artist I just haven’t heard of before. I really love the software and use it every day so the lifetime sub made sense for me.
 
For me, I love the interface, but it’s Roon’s ability to just “swim” through my library and Tidal and keep finding song after song that I find worth it. Tidal, Apple Music, etc algorithms and rec’s never seem to find stuff I’m interested in. And with the interface meaning I don’t give a flip about a manufacturers app, I have a consistent experience across my systems and with my digital library (about 3,000 albums) and Tidal.

I’ve also been playing with Roon’s DSP and convolution filters, which can get pretty advanced. It’s a really cool second ability.
 
Jbraswell said:
I like Roon but Bluesound is doing everything the Roon SW does with a few less pretty interfaces.
Functionally, it's the exact same music except no added subscription fee.
Also I agree it is frustrating to wait around for multiple parties to make their firmware shit gel.
The USB clipping/drop out between Roon and BS finger pointing was frustrating for months on end previously.

I don't know. I'm just gonna run BS Node and Qobuz going forward. Roon is very cool SW but I can't get behind their HW.
Click to expand...
I was 50/50 on Roon. I figured I’d try it for a year and dump it but I think I’m hooked.

2 things tipped me over the edge. Arc and the EQ capabilities.

I use Arc via CarPlay and when I’m traveling and listening to headphones. Arc worked well on long car trips and has a superior interface in the car compared to Qobuz.

I also like the Roon/Arc EQ features. It makes it easy to tweak EQ when listening to headphones from my phone or any headphone rig I have.

Roon is definitely a luxury purchase. But my entire audio setup is a complete luxury. For me and my music listening habits, it’s worth it.
 
displayname said:
Is it because no dac looks interesting at 3.6? Or that this dac doesn’t offer enough at that price point?
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Because no DAC looks interesting at that price haha. It would be the most expensive piece in my rig by far and I’d rather upgrade other stuff first. Looks like a nice unit but there reaches a point where I think there are diminishing returns for me, especially on the digital side
 
MikeH said:
Because no DAC looks interesting at that price haha. It would be the most expensive piece in my rig by far and I’d rather upgrade other stuff first. Looks like a nice unit but there reaches a point where I think there are diminishing returns for me, especially on the digital side
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Totally makes sense. I get it.

What's funny is in the context of an audio show you see $3,600 and go "finally, something affordable!" lol
It's very fun, but it also is kind of shocking what they are charging for a lot of that gear.
 
displayname said:
Totally makes sense. I get it.

What's funny is in the context of an audio show you see $3,600 and go "finally, something affordable!" lol
It's very fun, but it also is kind of shocking what they are charging for a lot of that gear.
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If I had the $$$ I would get that and a Lampizator and keep the one I like better.
If I had more money I would try the Mola Mola and probably just stop there.
The price is not outrageous but beyond my means and I may not be able to appreciate it properly.
Fortunately, if I buy into ASR orthodoxy the better Delta Sigma chip DACs are better than any R2R DAC and I have two 4499EX DACs.
I am a winner 🏆
ASR seems to be peculiar in that preference
Both the Gustard R26 and Laddar Schumann R2Rs are on sale and
I want to try out the Laddar for $1,200 - ish based on the reviews and bang for the buck value.
I love seeing the $250k speakers and $70k cables and ever other excess that can be witnessed at an audio show.
.
 
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