How does Audirvana sound quality compares to Roon?
Audirvana Studio
- Thread starter domiji
- Start date
I’m a Roon user but have to agree Audirvāna wins in SQ. Bass is deeper and tactile with Audirvana in my system.
NordicIcelander
New Head-Fier
Is this taking into account same track + volume levelled etc, or just subjective impressions over time? I don't have an A/B switcher for testing, but in trying out the two bits of software (albeit with delays while setting each up etc) I couldn't notice any difference
So I have this old Audirvana 3.5 for Mac. I’m not on new studio version as I mostly use Roon with HQPlayer. I used to stream via UPnP for Audirvana and via RAAT for Roon and I always disable software volume so hopefully both were on same loudness. Whenever I would switch to Audirvana I had better musical experience. However with HqPlayer, I now always use Roon + I love Roon Radio and RAAT protocol is much more reliable I feel.
NordicIcelander
New Head-Fier
Fair enough - I'd only tried Audirvana via direct USB output, and compared Roon at the same. In many ways I'd like to notice the Audirvana difference that so many seem to speak of, but whilst I don't, I'll continue using Roon as the Roon Ready component of my DAP makes remote control a breeze 
FunkyBassMan
500+ Head-Fier
I A/B-ed Roon and Audirvana (the earlier version) a lot and ended up thinking Roon just wasn't very engaging compared to Audirvana. And Audirvana Studio is another level up from there, imho.
DAPpower
1000+ Head-Fier
If only there was a lifetime license for Audirvana Studio, Audirvana Origin is the non subscription version but without the streaming services integration.
runningwithscissors
New Head-Fier
I haven't noticed a difference in SQ between Roon and Audirvana, but from a strictly user friendly experience Roon wins hands down. I'm not bashing on Audirvana at all, but in this case you definitely get what you pay for.
GlenAppleton
1000+ Head-Fier
Agreed that Roon has the superior user experience. But then, Roon and Audirvana have different use cases, including single output (Audirvana) vs. multiple output (Roon). For my use, Audirvana is much more suited and I do hear the difference, so it's a bonus for me.
DAPpower
1000+ Head-Fier
The only features I really want with Audirvana Origin/Studio is a feature to set the pregain only for DSD files and I wish they had an option for larger album cover view during playback within the home UI.
Audirvana also has a nice feature where it analyzes audio files and traces the source to see if it came from a lossy source or lossless source. I have tested multiple tracks that I converted with Aul Converter and all the readings from Audirvana were accurate.
Other than that I don't see any other features a good music playing software like Audirvana should have.
Audirvana also has a nice feature where it analyzes audio files and traces the source to see if it came from a lossy source or lossless source. I have tested multiple tracks that I converted with Aul Converter and all the readings from Audirvana were accurate.
Other than that I don't see any other features a good music playing software like Audirvana should have.
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KaiFi
500+ Head-Fier
I wish Audirvana had a way to add album tags. This is one of my favorite Roon features. It allows me to easily sort my hundreds of classical albums. If Audirvana had this feature, I think it'd be no contest which one I would choose.
Audiophiliac
100+ Head-Fier
After a very long reign to me, Foobar2000 got beaten by HQ Player, even though it only worked in WASAPI.
Then I found out about Audirvana, and tried it, and it beats everything there has been so far.
The problem I had with the streaming services, is that their default players always sound like garbage. Audirvana, the best player, incorporating Tidal and Qobuz support, is a gift from programming gods. I don't mind the subscription model for it, but at the same time, what do they ever update about it? Streaming support has been the same since the start.
Yeah, they're going to need to at least give a yearly for 20% off subscription option, if they want to be the best player for the rest of my life.
Also, I had been going with kernel streaming as sounding the least colored. But actually, ASIO skips all software including the kernel. It's boring trying to listen to how it sounds, it's just the instruments making all that noise that the musicians are always going on about.
Now, my only problem is having to switch to Foobar2k or Tidal's crappy player while I want to play a game. It's really stupid that everything sounds wrong unless Audirvana is playing it in ASIO.
I'm telling everyone that people say Linux is the best sounding OS, and that MS should have to hear that all the time. Yup, that's what I think of MS by default, Linux sounds the least colored. The guy who thought it should be musicians and created ASIO to bypass all software because of it, makes all other programmers sound like geeks. MS needs to learn to ASIO output all audio by default, if they want us to think it should be them. I know, exclusive mode will still always be better somehow, and can auto-switch sample rates to match each particular source. They should also try to get us out of having to have drivers for our DAC's. Those things have no moving parts, and should last at least 20 years. Nobody has written drivers for that long, yet. We can check the boxes telling them what it supports, if they need that. I paid $2500 for mine, it was a huge undertaking for me, compared to my $300 DAC I already liked. But this thing is way too good, and I don't want my USB driver to not work on Windows 14 anymore, with no new one. Then I'll have to find a box before it to output a good I2S signal, and that would be expensive and have a USB driver life span, also.
Then I found out about Audirvana, and tried it, and it beats everything there has been so far.
The problem I had with the streaming services, is that their default players always sound like garbage. Audirvana, the best player, incorporating Tidal and Qobuz support, is a gift from programming gods. I don't mind the subscription model for it, but at the same time, what do they ever update about it? Streaming support has been the same since the start.
Yeah, they're going to need to at least give a yearly for 20% off subscription option, if they want to be the best player for the rest of my life.
Also, I had been going with kernel streaming as sounding the least colored. But actually, ASIO skips all software including the kernel. It's boring trying to listen to how it sounds, it's just the instruments making all that noise that the musicians are always going on about.
Now, my only problem is having to switch to Foobar2k or Tidal's crappy player while I want to play a game. It's really stupid that everything sounds wrong unless Audirvana is playing it in ASIO.
I'm telling everyone that people say Linux is the best sounding OS, and that MS should have to hear that all the time. Yup, that's what I think of MS by default, Linux sounds the least colored. The guy who thought it should be musicians and created ASIO to bypass all software because of it, makes all other programmers sound like geeks. MS needs to learn to ASIO output all audio by default, if they want us to think it should be them. I know, exclusive mode will still always be better somehow, and can auto-switch sample rates to match each particular source. They should also try to get us out of having to have drivers for our DAC's. Those things have no moving parts, and should last at least 20 years. Nobody has written drivers for that long, yet. We can check the boxes telling them what it supports, if they need that. I paid $2500 for mine, it was a huge undertaking for me, compared to my $300 DAC I already liked. But this thing is way too good, and I don't want my USB driver to not work on Windows 14 anymore, with no new one. Then I'll have to find a box before it to output a good I2S signal, and that would be expensive and have a USB driver life span, also.
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