Streamer apps critical

Absolutely.  The app frequently defines the experience.
 

Completely agree with this first comment. I wish the UI didn’t have such a significant impact while listening to music, but it somehow does - especially when it comes to the quality of results when either searching, discovering, or categorizing music.

In terms of SQ: I don’t question fellow members’ experiences when it comes to native apps and their uptick in SQ compared to Roon - I’ve experienced this with BluOS many years ago when compared to Roon and Tidal Connect, but dismissed such impressions since there was little discussion in the forums.

For me, I’ve found significant value in Roon’s portability across various streamers. If I purchase a new Roon Ready streamer I can be listening to music within minutes vs having to create an entirely new music library while learning a new UI.

Secondary to this would be Roon’s usage of “tags” that can help organize playlists, artists, and albums to either a specific genera or user created preference or mood (ex: Sunday Music). These types of tags have been a game changer, especially when discovering and collecting new music. Unsure if any other software allows this functionality?

Innuos Sense app and its UI and SQ have always piqued my interest. In light of this and because I’m not in the market for a new streamer, I have found improvements in Roon’s SQ by turning off as many features as possible to reduce its processing.

Like all things, compromises are at play when using Roon. I’m thinking it’s probably in my financial best interest NOT to listen to either Innuos or Aurender’s native apps.

My experience with the apps on the multiple streamers that I have owned or had a chance to borrow has been:

1. Streamers OWNED for multiple years (Auralic Aries and Aries Mini):  Auralic Lightning DS: very good; no complains

2. Streamer CURRENTLY OWNED (Eversolo DMP-A6):  Eversolo app is at least as good as Auralic Lightning DS

3. Bluesound Node borrowed and used only as a streamer:  App was generally better than the Auralic or Eversolo apps, but two bugs (Benchmark DAC compatibility via USB and album art size limitations at that time) caused me to return the product.  Disappointing.

4. Wiim Ultra borrowed and used only as a streamer:  App was unacceptable.  1.  Cannot search across streaming and local (NAS) content (deal-breaker);  2.  Album art on local content would not appear regardless of a number of attempts to change some relevant settings on my NAS.  Note that both of these items work perfectly on the Eversolo and Auralic apps.  Overall system response of the Wiim Ultra was much slower than the Eversolo and Auralic streamers, but this might be hardware related.

My verdict:  The Eversolo app is the winner by a very small margin.  The Auralic app is also very good.  More or less a tie.  Also, both apps are extremely stable.

I have never tried Roon, but the idea of having to run a separate to computer as a core is totally unappealing to me.  My preference is to use a streamer with an app that does its best to not get in the way!

I think most people like what they started with and got used to using.  Brand loyalty with things like TVs cars etc is high because people are comfortable using them.  Easy.

But in my trusted (by me) opinion Roon is by far the easiest to use, easiest to organize music between different streaming sources or hard drives, does the best job at selecting music for you, and super important, is portable between most streamers.  So you can use Roon on an Aurender for example,  have tons of playlists, bookmarks and favorites, and transfer it all seamlessly to an Auralic or Innuos or Antipodes or Pink Faun or Taiko. You can’t do that with any other proprietary app. I have or have Grimm MU1, Aurender N20, Auralic Aries and imbedded bridge in my Tambaqui.  All can run Roon.  

NowI am not saying Roon easily sounds better than say Conductor, but it can be optimized to sound great.

$500 for a lifetime of my music software is a deal to me.  Roon is not perfect with their support philosophy or hardware, but it works for me!

An App that does not get in your way?  That would be one that searches music easily across streaming sources, makes playlists and bookmarks across streaming sources, and recalls what you want quickly and easily. And it can serve streamers of different brands at the same time, say if you have a Bluesound in the bedroom and an Aurender in your reference system.  That would be Roon.

Yes @rizzo1234 ,  a separate computer to run Roon is an issue.  I had a Roon Nucleus+ and it was a pain…plus a power cable and network connection.  Now my Grimm MU1 is both Roon core and streamer.  Works and sounds fantastic.   Admittedly this setup is significantly more than a Node or Eversolo or Wii.  But it sounds better, and Roon was portable for me during my entire upgrade path.   I started with a Mac mini, then several Bluesound products, then Auralic.Vega, then, Auralic Aries streamer into Tambaqui.  

Audirvana is another very nice app, I used it for years, thought sound quality just a bit more analog in direct comparison to Roon at the time.

I've also used my Euphony OS Stylus app with present setup, sound quality about on par with Roon. I also have option of Stylus and Roon with embedded HQPlayer.

Having direct experience with all these apps in both single streamer or bridged modes (Roon core on server, Endpoint on streamer) I most prefer Roon sans HQPlayer in bridged mode.

I will posit music player app sound quality very closely allied to the equipment its being used with. These native music player apps have the advantage of being designed in league or specifically for that single streamer. Roon, HQPlayer, Audirvana, J River, etc designed to work with all streamers so completely logical that sound quality all over the place. I know most of these generalist apps require powerful processors, much RAM, great network to work their best, people have issues because their setup hasn't been optimized for these apps. I've paid great attention to every single link in my streaming chain in order to extract max potential from Roon, high end vinyl like presentation is the result. IMO there are many paths to reach the summit, no single music player app is the undisputed champion of the world.