Made the Move and Not looking back!

The thing with Roon is you can run it on anything. The documentation does list minimum spec requirements for various platforms but it’s up to the user to integrate the hardware and software in many cases. Results can easily vary.

The nice thing about products like Innuos and others is they do the integration for you. That’s a good option for some but you probably will pay a premium for it. Applies to Roon as well if one elects to go with the hardware they sell that already has Roon integrated for you.

I do systems integration for a living. Roon core is running great for me on a $300 desktop mini PC, about the size of a pack of cigarettes. I also run Plex and work remotely on it all at the same time. No problems. I use Cambridge Audio streamers, Mac, iPhone, and tablets all as Endpoints or controllers. It’ can get a little complicated sometimes mainly because Roon is so versatile in how it streams, does displays, etc. But it sounds top notch streaming on my main hifi setup or elsewhere. It’s cool to have music playing throughout the house and even outside from time to time.

I’ve been streaming now for about 15 years. Started with Roon earlier this year . Used Squeezebox and Plex mostly for streaming prior.  My library is ~1Tb of mostly CD res FLAC files  

Different strokes for different folks. Master it somehow though and Roon is music heaven!

@boostedis 

You make a great point. However, as I stated in my previous post, I wasn’t using any DSP through Roon. The comparison I did was Auralic’s LDS playing a specific file and then Roon on my Auralic unit playing the exact same file. I tried multiple files. BTW-  I was running Roon Core on a souped up Mac Mini w/ a solid state hard drive, 16GB of ram exclusively dedicated to roon. Everything else was turned off.  It was the purest test I could do.  Auralic’s Lightning DS sounded significantly better than Roon and it was easily discernible. 

I get that many people love Roon. i, too, loved the interface and meta data. Those who claim their system sounds great using Roon - I’m sure they’re right. But the question they may not be answering is: does it sound as good as it could?  

If they’re satisfied, great. But, if they’re curious to wonder “what if?”, the only way to know is to compare both. 

Best,

Lol at all the comments Roon changes how it sounds. It's bit perfect. The folks at Grimm even tested it. If you use dsp then I'm sorry. 

@mgrif104 

Auralic’s Lightning DS sounded significantly better than Roon and it was easily discernible. 

Wait until you get the chance to hear an Aurender running its OS, or the Grimm MU1 running Roon...unfortunately there are many levels of "excellent".

The makers who want to sell their products have to go with Roon.

The Aurenders and Lejonklous of the world are fighting for the

highest SQ. I loved Roon's Music finding ability but I think Qobuz

can about the same.