Music Server Advice

I agree with you jaybe that the N10 sounds much better than my present setup. However, I do a lot of exploring on Roon to find vinyl releases and it is critical that I keep this function. I'm considering keeping Roon through another pseudo-system and using that for the same "discovery" purpose, exporting the list to Excel and searching/auditioning/listening using the Aurender app. Thx for your reply.

I have a barely used Gen 10 NUC that I need to sell. Yesterday I cancelled Roon. I agree that the Roon app is far superior to Conductor, but as you go up the Aurender line the sound improves and for me it is about the music presentation. After all, isn’t that why we spent so much on our analog system? An automatic turntable is much more convenient, but I bet that isn’t what you are using. Aurender uses my NAS and the internal SSD for local storage and the reproduction is first rate due to the fact that all is played locally. What I mean is that the NAS server data is uploaded to the Aurender’s internal memory (cached) and played from there. Pretty sure that you know all of that and I will admit that many are in your camp and will not move from Roon due to feature set and hats off to Roon Labs.

A bit more responsive to your question, add an external clock if possible and play with your Ethernet cable and filter just prior to entering your player.

Your response above appeared while I was typing. Roon is the best tool for searching by a specific parameter. I probably do more searching for music on the Apple Music app than Conductor, but Roon is unique. I have been cutting back on record purchases because my digital is very good and because I’ve started to listen to music that just isn’t available on record.  Many small record companies now offer high resolution downloads for a comparable cost to vinyl, but again music on the Aurender is played from cache, so not sure that paying for downloads is useful except where the music isn’t streamed.

I use Roon to explore "new to me" jazz artists, usually from Europe. If I like it I'll search to see if it's on vinyl and if so I purchase it. (Discogs, Bandcamp, etc.) You'd be surprised how much music is actually available on vinyl, but not sold/marketed in the US. I don't download music at all. I can still use Roon for that purpose. You're correct about my viny rig. It's anchored by an Ortofon MC Diamond and sounds simply amazing and is my preference. But I also like digital and want it to sound as good as I can afford, thus my reason for reaching out to the AGon community. 

I'll add that the vinyl versions do not always sound better than the digital stream! As I acquire more vinyl it's appearing as if more record labels are capitalizing on the resurgence of vinyl and releasing vinyl just for the sake of releasing vinyl with little regard for sound quality. There are streams I'm listening to with my current setup that are truly wonderful sounding and prefer over the vinyl counterpart.

You’re right about vinyl quality. For the brief time I toyed with vinyl again a few years ago I was appalled at the quality of some of the offerings. Surface noise in some cases was obvious, meaning they’re using low-grade regrind material, as well as just plain bad masterings. I won’t get into the pricing lol.

Not sure you’re aware, but there are a few websites for researching recordings and their quality. I often use Discogs, DR Database, and Hoffman Music Corner for this purpose. And AllMusic for music quality. Not for everything, but definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already.