Streamer apps critical

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.

@ghdprentice point well taken.  I do wonder just for the heck of it, what computer language is used these days for most of these streaming apps. Is it something like Python or do they still use C++ or something entirely different? My days of programming are long over, having started with Fortran in the 1970s. 

@fastfreight

There are two opposing philosophies on server software: Roon is heavy processing, CPU and I/O intensive, conversely providing ISP, extensive file maintenance and plug-ins. It needs powerful main chips, ideally separating server and renderer. InnuOS is the polar opposite: minimalist power usage, small capacity chips and no frills. In some ways this is similar to low power SET tubes vs. high power transistor amps. The sound is different and it depends a bit where you land on the purity vs. power trade-off.