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Why would I need Roon?

I have a Blue sound streamer with plenty of files at my fingertips, via a hard drive plugged in the back and multiple streaming services. Can someone help me understand what Roon would add to my set-up? Thanks. 
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djones51
4,947 posts
 
I’d try Audirvana if it would run on an minimalist OS designed specifically for music playback instead of windows or iOS. That could be why Roon sounds better to me.
soundchasr
159 posts
 
@djones51 - Why not send it to a Raspberry Pi?  You're already using a Roon Bridge to play Roon.  How is that different?
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I do send it to a raspberry pi4 running Ropiee as a bridge. I use ROCK on a NUC for the core running in my office. The difference is I can run ROCK headless 24/7 , it's optimized for music playback,  self updates and I don't have to mess with windows. If Audirvana could run on a small linux distro headless I would try it but I've never cared for any music programs I've tried with windows. Roon is much simpler and I find the SQ superior at least the way I run it I didn't when I tried it on windows. 
jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
996 posts
 
@soundchasr said "I trial’d Roon and Audirvana. No doubt Roon has an awesome GUI and some good features. However, I never liked the sound despite moving everything over to a Raspberry Pi and tweaking all of the settings. Audirvana just sounds good, no tweaks necessary. "
Yep, Roon sound stage on my system is flat as a pancake.
soma70
153 posts
 

i have been using Roon for three years.


The longer you use it and learn how to manipulate and discover your own and the wider music catalogues, the more pleasure it gives.


there are lots of layers and a month might not be enough to really understand what it can do.


Music library’s are getting bigger and harder to manage and organise. Roon sorts this out for you and makes musical discovery and rediscovery an effortless pleasure.


My advice is to forget the trial, rent for a year and then decide if you want to buy.


i suspect any perceived differences in SQ that may exist between Roon and Audiovana are down to the particular hardware implementations in those specific systems with all their variables.


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