[gimmeheadroom]

I was very dissappointed in Roon, I think it is nothing more than an overpriced UI to your own music.

I use Tidal from Win desktop into my Oppo, and also from a Node 2i. I have a Chord Mojo but it doesn't support MQA, so the Oppo is what I usually use to listen to Tidal hifi

 

[davehg]

Greeting all:

Curious how many of you are using Tidal via its native interface vs Roon or some 3rd party integrator. My interest is solely sound quality: I'm using my laptop, which is feeding Tidal to my CD player (which can also be used as a separate DAC), over to my amp and speakers.

I just did a comparison using Roon/Tidal vs Tidal native, as part of listening to the Bel Canto e.One Stream. In all circumstances, Roon/Tidal produced better sound with both MQA and Redbook. In Roon, you can upsample Redbook files so it makes sense that Roon would have an impact on sound quality.

Unlike the two other posters, Roon has been the single best audio investment I’ve made this year. The features and music discovery enabled by Roon has increased my music listening from a few hours a week to a few hours most days.

 

[masterpfa]

I just did a comparison using Roon/Tidal vs Tidal native, as part of listening to the Bel Canto e.One Stream. In all circumstances, Roon/Tidal produced better sound with both MQA and Redbook. In Roon, you can upsample Redbook files so it makes sense that Roon would have an impact on sound quality.

Unlike the two other posters, Roon has been the single best audio investment I’ve made this year. The features and music discovery enabled by Roon has increased my music listening from a few hours a week to a few hours most days.

I had great expectations for ROON and was hoping my experience would be similar, but alas just didn't want to work for me on Win 10
so recently I installed on a MacBook pro, which had a clean wipe and re-installation of iOS, still the same.

 

[davehg]

I had great expectations for ROON and was hoping my experience would be similar, but alas just didn't want to work for me on Win 10
so recently I installed on a MacBook pro, which had a clean wipe and re-installation of iOS, still the same.

One recommendation I received was to go into the DSP settings for Roon, in the sample rate conversion setting. Enable it, and at the bottom of the settings, in the “Sample rate conversion filter”, choose the Smooth, Mininum Phase option.

 

[masterpfa]

One recommendation I received was to go into the DSP settings for Roon, in the sample rate conversion setting. Enable it, and at the bottom of the settings, in the “Sample rate conversion filter”, choose the Smooth, Mininum Phase option.

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately no improvement, more likely an issue with the network as instead of buffeting Qobuz skips to another track each time with the warning regarding possible network issues.

Guess I will stick to playing both Tidal and Qobuz via their native apps on my MackBook connected to Chord Mojo via Optical connection or via mConnect on Chord Poly

 

[NobbyChad]

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately no improvement, more likely an issue with the network as instead of buffeting Qobuz skips to another track each time with the warning regarding possible network issues.

Guess I will stick to playing both Tidal and Qobuz via their native apps on my MackBook connected to Chord Mojo via Optical connection or via mConnect on Chord Poly

Try Audirvana (free trial) it is excellent via my iFi Micro BL and via my Naim Uniti.

 

[Luke Thomas]

I’m sure this has already been discussed. I love rooms interface. But it doesn’t sound as good as playing through the tidal app.

 

[masterpfa]

Try Audirvana (free trial) it is excellent via my iFi Micro BL and via my Naim Uniti.

That's more like it. I am getting smooth playback via Tidal and Qobuz via both direct (Mojo>Mac) and via UPnP (Mac>Poly)

Thanks for the tip (OK granted ROON is more pleasing to the eye but this at least works for me)

So far

 

[NobbyChad]

That's more like it. I am getting smooth playback via Tidal and Qobuz via both direct (Mojo>Mac) and via UPnP (Mac>Poly)

Thanks for the tip (OK granted ROON is more pleasing to the eye but this at least works for me)

So far

Pleased to help

 

[pjr300]

Hi all:

Tonight I did a little experiment, and compared a CD to Tidal app to Tidal via Roon. I used an old favorite jazz CD for the comparison. My CD player also doubles as a DAC, so I used the USB Output from my Samsung laptop into the cd player for Tidal and Roon. So, in essence, the front end remained constant from all sources. The album used on Tidal was 44.1 so, even the source was constant (no MQA). Playback was via my Unison Research tube integrated and Wilson Audio's Sophia 2 speakers. Volume was matched between all sources.

I listened to the CD first, followed by native Tidal. I found the image stability better on Tidal, but the tonal balance seemed off.... everything seemed soft, I hate to say tube like, but in a soft focus, almost bland manner. It didn't sound bad but it did sound bland. High frequencies sounded quite muted as well.

I then moved to Roon playback, and my expectation is that the sounds would be similar to native Tidal. I was wrong. The detail and clarity was the best of all three playback options, and with the return of correct tonal balance, plus the image stability that native Tidal exhibited.

As much as I didn't want to pull the trigger, looks like I'll be keeping Roon.
​

 

[davehg]

That's good to hear. Interestingly, most users who reported using Roon seemed to prefer the sound when Roon was used on a separate server using ethernet enabled music servers, rather than when using a USB-connected DAC. I was on the fence about connecting a USB DAC directly to my Nucleus, then after my experiment with the Bel Canto Stream, decided there was something to using a separate endpoint fed by Ethernet rather than USB straight out of the Roon server.

I have a Lumin D2 arriving shortly which has only Ethernet inputs (it has USB inputs, but only for a NAS). Very curious to run the same experiment as I did with the Bel Canto Stream.

Judged on music discovery, indexing, and integration with music services, Roon is a compelling but expensive case for keeping it. Add the sound improvements and it nudges you over the finish line.

 

[iFi audio]

I just did a comparison using Roon/Tidal vs Tidal native, as part of listening to the Bel Canto e.One Stream. In all circumstances, Roon/Tidal produced better sound with both MQA and Redbook. In Roon, you can upsample Redbook files so it makes sense that Roon would have an impact on sound quality.

That's cool feedback and another reason to investigate Roon even more.

 

[Hab]

My Cyrus Soundkey is working straight out of the Tidal app now, sure the last time I tried this it didn't work, only ever managed to get it to work with UAPP, now it seems to work with everything!

Possibly due to the latest Android update? Regardless, Masters now sound even more amazing on my S9!

 

[revand]

My Cyrus Soundkey is working straight out of the Tidal app now, sure the last time I tried this it didn't work, only ever managed to get it to work with UAPP, now it seems to work with everything!

Possibly due to the latest Android update? Regardless, Masters now sound even more amazing on my S9!

I was very excited hearing this news, but it didn't work for me. First of all I checked the latest TIDAL app version (January 23), I checked already before, no newer version available. I connected my AQ DRF Red with a Nonda USB adapter (works as an OTG cable) to my Xiaomi MI8, but no sound is coming from the Dragonfly.
How you connected your Soundkey to your S9?
With UAPP my setup works perfectly...

 

[Hab]

Connected via the otg cable, all sound from the phone goes through the dac now, it may be the latest version of Android that supports it now? Try temporarily unistalling uapp in case that's hijacking the usb out.