Roon Labs Releases Version 1.4 Update

I have just upgraded. My first impression is that 1.4 sounds rather cold and artificial. Sounds like the treble is exaggerated or boosted - an easy way to make sound more interesting. My Dynaudio speakers are extremely revealing and this "upgrade" is not doing any good to the sound. Voices sounds less real - they now have that digital haze that I really hate!! Furthermore each voice/instrument i less well defined - things tends to get mixed up leaving a messy impression. Pentatonix sounds like they are drunk or just dont care. Wish I never upgraded.  Wish I could downgrade to 1.3 again.

Hmm. I may have been to fast on the trigger. My amplifier has just been upgraded (new capacitors) and is not quite "broken in" yet. It seems to take at least an hour to warm up and rise to the occasion now. A lot has improved in the 2 hours since my first reply. I still recall roon 1.3 being better. But I suspect my judgement is somewhat affected by my initial experience. Better call it a day and just listen 

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Wonder whether all that cash in Apple's hands has them thinking Roon is now something they can't resist owning???

I hope not, they would ruin it! They do not like the consumers owning media.

Right now, ROON  is the best of both worlds in that it is great for having your own library and streaming with tidal (which could be replaced by any number of other cos. if it they cant make it).

4 hours ago, Dalgas said:

Hmm. I may have been to fast on the trigger. My amplifier has just been upgraded (new capacitors) and is not quite "broken in" yet. It seems to take at least an hour to warm up and rise to the occasion now. A lot has improved in the 2 hours since my first reply. I still recall roon 1.3 being better. But I suspect my judgement is somewhat affected by my initial experience. Better call it a day and just listen 

:-)

Been there!  No worries. 

On 21/12/2017 at 5:48 AM, Dalgas said:

I have just upgraded. My first impression is that 1.4 sounds rather cold and artificial. Sounds like the treble is exaggerated or boosted - an easy way to make sound more interesting. My Dynaudio speakers are extremely revealing and this "upgrade" is not doing any good to the sound. Voices sounds less real - they now have that digital haze that I really hate!! Furthermore each voice/instrument i less well defined - things tends to get mixed up leaving a messy impression. Pentatonix sounds like they are drunk or just dont care. Wish I never upgraded.  Wish I could downgrade to 1.3 again.

This! I have found treble and to be way too harsh now on my system. Unfortunately I haven't had it settled down yet and I have been listening to it for days. Is there anyway to downgrade to 1.3?

I'm not aware of any SQ changes since the last release of Roon.

The interface improvements that were mentioned by Chris did not manifest in this release (1.4); there is apparently a big release coming next year (?1.5 or maybe even 2.0) which is being heralded as having a bit of a UI overhaul in some respects. 

@extracampine

From the 1.4 release notes, they seem to allude to some optimizations.  I think these are where the SQ improvements lie.  Very subtle for sure, but I've noticed an uptick in SQ(my ears, my system)

"We’ve also optimized the RAAT implementation in the Core to minimize CPU usage and context switching during streaming. On the endpoint side, there some optimizations in Roon, Roon Server and Roon Bridge that reduce timing variability when passing audio buffers to device drivers."

I still remember 1.3 sounding more relaxed and natural. However I suspect that the firmware for my SOtM sMS 200 has also been upgraded. I can not tell for sure which one is the culprit. If it was possible I would downgrade to 1.3 - just to check. 

I am not familiar with Roon.

But how can a UI influence the sound?

1 hour ago, mordante said:

I am not familiar with Roon.

 

But how can a UI influence the sound?

A heavy UI could cause more CPU and IO load.  CPU/IO load can generate noise.  Noise can get to a DAC.

This is why god created Decrapifiers.   

1 minute ago, Dr Tone said:

 

A heavy UI could cause more CPU and IO load.  CPU/IO load can generate noise.  Noise can get to a DAC.

 

This is why god created Decrapifiers.   

I'll think I'll stay away from Roon. Never saw the point of Roon anyway.

9 minutes ago, mordante said:

 

I'll think I'll stay away from Roon. Never saw the point of Roon anyway.

It's free to try, just like Jriver, Jplay, Hqplayer so on and so on.

25 minutes ago, mordante said:

 

I'll think I'll stay away from Roon. Never saw the point of Roon anyway.

It took me three trials, each were rejected as too annoying to use. Roon had it right for me on v1.4.

The SQ is improved what it used to be, the first cab off the rank was not good at all. The new version is , well, so far no defects can live with it.

i like the printing of the composers for pop rock, but it’s not always there. The critic’s opinions are now just a sentence, really don’t need them, the photos of the artists are well chosen on the summary page.

Technically the routing from the core to any device is very good indeed, it maybe the first computer music program that the better half could confidently manage without a course in how to use it.

After extensive testing in my system, I have a feeling that the latest 1.4 update has caused the sound quality to decrease. As someone mentioned above, 1.3 was more relaxed, and perhaps with somewhat better resolution. I don’t know what might be the cause, but I am getting better sound from an external SSD plugged directly into my dCS Network Bridge. This was not the case before the latest update.

I agree the soundquality of the latest sw build is not as smooth as 1.3. Especially the hogh frequencies are way too bright. I think it is important to be able to choose an older sw version if desired. I do prefer 1.3. ( context: B&W 802D3, Melco N1ZH60, Bryston 4B3, Nucleus, Ps Audio directstream DSD dac + bridge ( roon endpoint ) Network cables: AQ Diamond × 2 + AQ Vodka × 2 + TP Link opto decouplers + AQVOX switch.

Is there a way to downgrade to 1.3??? I do hope so !!!! !!

Sadly not:

https://kb.roonlabs.com/Downgrading

I hope Roonlabs is "reading along" and perhaps will reconsider? Please - Pretty please