Roon Streaming Service actually Degrades the sound

That is great news! Thanks for the heads up.  

How do I know Roon is less than ideal?

Someone else said so!

I prefer to listen for myself.  I recently implemented Roon and have not detected any degradation in signal quality.  What exactly is it that you personally are hearing (or not hearing) that needs to be "fixed"?

Roon has a user forum, you might try taking your "issue" there.  They might be more likely to "listen" in on their own forum.

I did some testing a while back: Roon vs audirvana. In the past, audirvana was the leader of streaming software IMO and during my month of testing, I thought both sounded similar, but the interface was much better using Roon.

Everyone here is expressing their experiences and opinions. Here are mine:

1. I sold my InnuOS Zenith Mk3 and PhoenixUSB with an Intel NUC10i7 with 32GB RAM and 256 GB M.2 SSD running ROCK. Now my system doesn’t crash Roon, doesn’t crash trying to DSP, is reliable and with super SQ. I saved thousands and am thrilled. My opinion is based on my observations and experiences is that these vendors of expensive Roon core servers are highly overpriced and have a high bar to beat over the SQ and low cost of a NUC running ROCK.

2. I have experienced zero issues with SQ with Roon. I would look at your systems power regeneration or conditioning, your systems EMI and RFI contamination and other factors. I don’t know what Roon Core server you are using now. But you can order all the things you need to make a fanless Roon server from Amazon and try it. Compare your NUC to your old or current server. If you don’t like the NUC, dismantle it and return it for a refund. Easy with no risk. 

I use a Zenith MKII running Sense in my listening room.  I also run Roon core on a Mac mini for whole house stereo.  I can also run Roon in my listening room via my PS Audio DirectStream DAC with/ Bridge II.  A/B testing Sense and Roon, Roon SQ is good; Sense SQ is A LOT better.  Sense sounds more natural and the music is more full bodied with a wider soundstage.  

I can’t characterize Roon’s SQ as being degraded and I was fine with it until I tried Sense.  For critical listening I plan to stick with Sense - unless the Roon SQ matches or better’s it.  For whole house stereo to powered speakers in my home, Roon works fine.