Streamer vs renderer vs music server...help

I am a little late to this thread, but some questions/observations for the OP

1) I think you are having anxiety about all the terminology.  I agree that it can be confusing.  It is also a moving target. My advice is take a deep breath and relax.  The goal is to get great sounding music with a minimum of fuss.

2) After reading the thread I haven’t figured out why you dislike your current set up. If you like the way it sounds and is easy to operate then you ought to be done.  If not, why not?

3) Budget?

@mahler123 I originally started the thread because I am debating trying a different DAC without a built in streamer and all the terminologies were somewhat confusing as I started to read on streamer recommendations...  this thread has helped me make sense of the different pieces and what I potentially need given my requirements.  It has also highlighted areas where my current setup could be improved upon.  As to why I want to make changes, that's a great question!  I have been toying with trying an R2R DAC for a while so all the posts from the group have helped me understand the digital chain a little better.  That and I have been isolating for the past week so I may have gone mad.  :)

@crandell25

i think your main decision is whether you are happy using tidal (and thus tidal connect) to handle all your music streaming needs... if so, you don’t need roon...

roon’s value is in integrating a variety of digital music sources - streamed as well as localized and computerized... think of it as a smart librarian that organizes all of it from different sources so you can see and choose from all of it, from various sources, in an easy to use, easy to understand manner, with nice photos and descriptions of each piece of music - the price of this of course, is in the subscription, and the cost of having a computer running to gather and coordinate all that info, plus send music to your endpoint/dac - you go that route then you need to spend more $ to do it right, keep your network and signal transfer noise free...

tidal connect does all that at your streamer, but of course, it only deals with organizing your music (favorites, genres, artists, new releases) streamed from tidal itself

@jjss49 100% agree now that I understand everything a little better.

Hi everyone,

I thought I would post an update. I took some time to decide on my commitment to Roon or other ecosystems. I decided I like Roon and preferred to stick with it and to find a way to make Roon sound its best. I ended up contacting Baetis Audio and they built a custom Revolution system around my needs. The system is a stripped down Linux implementation running roon with a great AES output that now runs directly into the Auralic Vega G2. The change was not subtle in my system and really exposed how running roon on my iMac or using the Vega’s built in streamer was not providing the performance you can get when things are implemented on a dedicated system. The music is much more detailed and has significantly more weight to it. I am very pleased with the change.

The other great thing with Baetis Audio is that you are not really stuck with a particular products ecosystem. If a Roon replacement comes out or you need a windows implementation to accommodate something different... it appears it is a fairly easy transition to make. I know some folks have Windows running on the Baetis systems and using JRiver instead vs how I implemented...

There are definitely lots of great options out there and we all have different needs and systems but I wanted to share my positive experience with the change to the Baetis Audio system. Joe at Baetis is fantastic to deal with as well!