Has anyone used the new Innuos 2.0 Sense music app? Compared it to Roon?

Proprietary software is my issue, I have to purchase Innuous and stick with it?

I do agree that music player software has differing sound qualities. When switching to Roon from Audirvana I was somewhat disappointed, still, I love Roon interface. And yes, I do agree that running Roon dsp not good.

There's a pattern here. I have a lifetime Roon license. But from a sheer SQ and lack of bugs, in the Auralic world Lightning DS also clearly sounds better than Roon. It lacks metadata editing capabilities so Roon and Windows file management can still help there. But streamer-specific software seems to perform to a higher standard of musical fidelity than jack-of-all Roon.

Phil

I’ve been a Zenith 3 owner since last December. Chord Hugo TT2 DAC into Naim amplification and Zu speakers. There’s an impedance mismatch between the Naim and the Zu which results in erratic bass and mids. Eventually I figured the amps would go to be replaced by something like a Decware. Have had to make various compromises starting with a cheap wireless bridge rather than 40m worth of Cat5/6 but have loved it. It just works. All Innuos products are s model of “just works”. 
Tried Roon in experimental mode. It was okay but nothing special. Can’t say I’d rave shout the interface. It always struck me as an interim solution filling a gap in the market until manufacturers skilled up and did what Innuos have just done. Spent some time being ridiculed for suggesting that Innuos interface alone had the potential to be one of a series of manufacturer moves which would eventually shrink Roon to even more if a niche novelty than it is at present.

Sense and 2.05 come with the issues you’d expect of all such big moves but overall it’s closer to magnificent than a mess and the engagement with end users over our priorities is refreshing. 
What I absolutely didn’t expect was the leap in sound quality. If characterise it as a significant drop in the noise floor across the board. Bass is suddenly there and more consistent; mids are lovely whilst highs are detailed, precise/crystal clear and yet never harsh. Haven’t listened to so much music in my life. Full Tidal integration is coming. I can’t “benefit” from MQA/Masters because if the Chord DAC but the 16 year old is more than happy with CD quality Tidal and me and Mrs. H. are more than happy with the full Qobuz integration. 

Just updated my Zen-Mini-Mk3 (with LPS) today to 2.0.5 and wow!  On my system it absolutely kills roon from a sound perspective.  As others have stated, ultra low noise floor, vastly improved base and more delicate top end.  From an interface standpoint I really like it and did not use much of the discovery stuff from roon.  Once the Tidal search functionality is added it will be perfect for me.

I’m an old(er) jaded audiophile and ex IT person. I know a good bit about computers from a practical sense as a power user. Honestly I did not hear much of an improvement moving from a stripped down Win 10 laptop to the Zen mk3 that I bought in April of this year. I bought the Zen because it just seemed to be a nice unit and I wanted to try a dedicated machine. I ran roon core on the Zen until a few weeks ago when I upgraded to the to the latest Innuos Sense app.

I hear a significant positive difference since I moved from innuos 1.49 to 2.05.  I mean it's not like "I think I hear a difference" it's more like wow - that sounds fantastic.  I don’t know Innuos secret sauce but whatever they are doing is a game changer.