Lumin X1 latest Review like we have been saying

Jorgern, we have done tests of 16 bit 44khz digital and then the same piece of music up-sampled up to higher frequencies and also converted to DSD as well, if you can't hear the difference you really need to do a lot more testing or your gear doesn't have the resolution.

Airplay is a good convenience but in terms of sound quality, Tidal sounds better running through Roon and being up-sampled to higher frequencies sounds way better, 24 bit 192k sounds good, on our test dacs the sound becomes airy more relaxed and the entire sound stage sounds bigger, at DSD sampling the midrange usually sounds more full and the top end all sounds a bit more rolled off in a good way.

One of the keys to running Roon is to use the DSP functions and then run the up-sampler.

As per features of Roon that people like:

1: Whole house audio you can control Sonos, Naim, Nad Blue sound, Chromecast, Apple Airplay, Heos, and many other devices all through one convenient interface with grouping and syncronization.

2: The ability to use DSD functionality to change low res digital into high res digital be it PCM or DSD.

3: Roon Radio which selects music based on what you are playing as well as selections from Tidal and Obouz. 

4: Integration of stored music and streaming services

5: A superb user interface with album bio

6: Understanding the way that each artist has similar artists, artists which are impacted by the original artist, similar, following, influenced tabs which help you identify new artists.

Roon has the best music interface, Blue Sound's interface pales in comparison.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

It is hard to do a write up about the pros and cons of ROON because ROON is a dynamic software system. In the sense that it is continually being updated with new features. I have been a lifetime member even before they released version 1.0 and I have seen all the new features that have been added. The best place to learn about ROON is not here but in the ROON forum.

https://community.roonlabs.com/

For example, 2 recent additions are making my lifetime membership a homerun. One is the music discovery feature that was recently added. MP3 streaming services have had this before (Pandora, Apple, etc..) but ROON did not. I have both Qobuz and Tidal and my ROON clients discovery feature has recently made me add about 30 new albums. My recent favorite being Betty Davis, the female James Brown or is James Brown the male Betty Davis. 

The second relatively new feature in ROON is the Convolution engine that will allow me to do DSP WITHOUT any new audio hardware. That is gold to me. 

ROON is evolving and for me a gorgeous audio client with both great reliability and features.

Ok, i will give it a go with upsampling.

Nice thread.
Anybody had the chance to compare side by side the X1 vs the Auralic Vega G2? Or should the comparison be the G2 + the clock?

What other devices would be competing in the same category? ie Streamer / Dac / Preamp?

Just to stir the pot: a lot folks who use Roon now use the Roon Nucleus straight into a USB DAC. No streamer box at all. They get all the main streaming services, the Roon Core, a more direct path to the sound and storage to their own ripped archive.

Pretty soon you might find more Nucleus style boxes with the DAC built in as well. This market is changing...