Software Shootout!

IMHO:
Part 1: balanced, warm side of neutral tonal, engaging sound.
Part 2: neutral tonal, a little bit more detailed, less engaging
Part 3: sounds big an bold, voice is emphasised and attacking.

My choice is part 1, then 2 and 3.
In term of sq, roon is not on par with some other softwares, but maybe the Taiko server is too good and customized for roon which makes the sound best of the shootout.
 
My take:

1. Has glare and digital sounds
2. Smooth, organic and natural
3. Pretty damn good and close to 2, but not as smooth, natural.


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Mike..agree completely your 'take'..would choose to listen to # 2. Sounds very tube like..like from a great SET.
 
Listened several times. My comments similar to Mike's. Hard for me to choose between 2 & 3. I thought 2 slightly more natural, 3 more dynamic (regardless of settings, 3 seemed a tad louder to me). I'd want to hear these with my preferred music (classical).
 
Replacing ROON with the TAS beta player was eye opening! It was clearly better than ROON and as if someone had removed a large sheet of fabric and glare from the sound stage. Taiko are clearly onto something.

I almost wish I hadn’t heard that! ;)
 
Check out HQPlayer if possible, upsampled / filtered or not and stand - alone is excellent. ROON smears the sound and yields a bit less detail. ROON with HQplayer back end is in the middle (better than ROON stand - alone but worse than HQPlayer stand - alone). Install HQPlayer in memory and playing songs from memory is the best IMO. It makes ROON stand - alone sound like MP3s in comparison. TAS beta started with HQplayer I believe and may still implement it, or at least offer it as an option.
 
sb6 said:
Check out HQPlayer if possible, upsampled / filtered or not and stand - alone is excellent. ROON smears the sound and yields a bit less detail. ROON with HQplayer back end is in the middle (better than ROON stand - alone but worse than HQPlayer stand - alone). Install HQPlayer in memory and playing songs from memory is the best IMO. It makes ROON stand - alone sound like MP3s in comparison. TAS beta started with HQplayer I believe and may still implement it, or at least offer it as an option.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I have been using HQPlayer (with FIR and room correction filters) almost since the time that I subscribed to Roon ( I don't recall using Roon by itself). I really like what HQPlayer can do.
 
I have tried to get HQ Player to work but have figured out I must have my Win7 PC connected via USB to my DAC for it to work. Since I sold all my USB cables and only use a Network connection from my ROOn core that is 40’ away, I don’t have an easy way to get HQ Player to work.
 
crwilli said:
I have tried to get HQ Player to work but have figured out I must have my Win7 PC connected via USB to my DAC for it to work. Since I sold all my USB cables and only use a Network connection from my ROOn core that is 40’ away, I don’t have an easy way to get HQ Player to work.
Click to expand...

If all that you are missing is a USB cable, check out BJC or Monoprice. They have well-built, inexpensive USB cables for you to try out.
I am now in the process of figuring out my hardware needs so that I can run ALL of my music through HQ Player (that includes Spotify, plus all my analog music by using an ADC converter).

Once Spotify goes CD-quality, if I can play Spotify through HQPlayer and upsample everything to whatever I want, it would be awesome.
 
crwilli said:
I need an 10 meter usb. Not happening.
Click to expand...

This is one of the things I really like about the MSB DACs. With their Pro USB Digital Input Module, only a short USB cable is required. The rest of the run to the DAC is accomplished with an optical cable. This run can be as long as you want with minimal cost and no sonic degradation.

Ken
 
crwilli said:
I need an 10 meter usb. Not happening.
Click to expand...

That’s long. Of course the best solution is to get the devices closer together but I presume that this is not possible. But you could use an active USB extension cable for that length.
 
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