About ready to give up on Roon and my streamer

cooper52 OP

Things begin to fall apart at about the frequencies where vocals live. Here the sound becomes glassy, occasionally shrill, and more forward than it should be. High frequencies generally (like violins, flutes, etc.) can be piercing, and if the music gets loud or dense as in many orchestral pieces, there’s a noticeable loss of composure. The sound actually becomes fuzzy (I hear this as actual distortion) with the musical events all bleeding together in a gelatinous blob.

You’ve described digititus. Solution includes: power conditioning, separating digital from analog, LPS’s, etc. Search for more here.

Are you still using a PC to run Roon Core? If so, I’d consider something like a SonicTransporter from Small Green Computer.

You might also experiment with Logitech Media Server instead of Roon. I’m pretty sure the Innuos is compatible via Squeezelite. You’d have to give up Roon’s wonderful interface, but it could improve upon the sound quality. The LMS “Material” skin is quite good as a controller for LMS, runs right from your browser.

I've jettisoned Roon from the chain and am connecting to Qobuz directly through the Innuos Sense App, using a Samsung tablet. That was the principal reason for trading the Sonnet Hermes for the Innuos Pulse Mini. While I do miss the Roon interface, it's just one more paid subscription than I really need.

As for digititis, well, this problem only occurs with streaming in my system. Other digital media (CDs, DVDs, BluRays, and anything that comes through the Roku box) do not exhibit this problem and in fact sound really good unless the recording quality was bad to begin with (e.g. any number of YouTube videos). I have perfectly sufficient power conditioning--Furman Elite PFi15 and Core Power Deep Core on a dedicated circuit. Power cables are all upgraded and are definitely up to the job. 

I'm convinced that there's a weak link somewhere in the chain, but I just don't know what it is. Thanks, Steakster, for the discussion forum links. I'm still reading through those.

Maybe the expansion slot you're using for I2S / USB is defective since you're getting the same result as before. Try SPDIF between the Pulse Mini and the DAC and see if you hear the same thing.

I'd say it sounds like time to try another Dac maybe the streamer is not the issue.