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Audirvana vs Roon

I finally got around to trying Roon. I am currently running a new MacMini with Audirvana and Tidal and now Roon trial. My modest system is Mac-Sonica DAC-Modwright pre-Wyred4sound monos-Von Schweikert VR4-JRs. As much as I appreciate the Roon appearance and extra info, to my ears the Audirvana sound quality is better. Anybody else prefer it over Roon for sound quality? Both are upsampled to max capable. I saw a similar thread a year ago and wanted an update. Thanks. 
tgrisham
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tgrisham OP
1,291 posts
 
Will your new Mac have 8 gb of RAM?
tgrisham OP
1,291 posts
 
I like the software that loads the songs into RAM and plays from there and not the hard drive. Does Roon do this?  I couldn’t be sure from the website. 
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tobes's avatar
tobes
436 posts
 
Roon works seamlessly, easily and consistently. I couldn't say the same for any of the other applications.

As far as sound quality, I preferred Amarra, PureMusic and Audirvana on different days. There seemed to be no consistency. One day Audirvana sounded great. The next day Amarra or PureMusic sounded better.

Roon sounds tremendous.

Sometimes I find myself preferring the SQ of Audirvana, but not consistently. I'm not upsampling, just native rates, so its baffling that they sound different at all (2012 Mac Mini with Uptone JS-2 LPS). 
For user experience and exploring music, Roon is streets ahead.
The Roon look and interface makes Audirvana look like something from the 90's (wish Damien would get rid of that lame 'galaxy' background and make it plain blue like the preferences window).
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