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From the Absolute Sound today:
The Sound of Roon
Which leads us, at last, to the sound of Roon. The fact that Roon even has a sound may surprise some readers. But remember that all music playback software and associated renderers have a sonic signature. That’s why TAS runs reviews on those products. Roon is no different.
To find out whether Roon’s impact is positive or negative, I compared it to dCS’s own proprietary renderer, which runs in conjunction with UPnP. This comparison was particularly telling for two reasons. First, dCS DACs are considered among the best in the world, so their own renderer is obviously no slouch. Second, since both the dCS and Roon renderers were running on the same dCS Rossini DAC, any differences I heard had to be due to the renderer.
Some comparison tests are of a “drop the needle and listen for two seconds” nature, where the result is immediately obvious. This was one of those. It took no time at all to determine that Roon constitutes a significant sonic upgrade over dCS’ own renderer. For example, playing Mark Knopfler’s “Golden Heart,” Roon delivered extra clarity, tonal color, and stage depth, making the performance more compelling and involving. Similarly, on the hi-res (176/24) version of Rickie Lee Jones’ “Jolie, Jolie” from Traffic in Paradise, Roon again conveyed greater clarity and detail. Further, the samba-like rhythms came through more propulsively, and the entire presentation breathed more naturally. One last illustration: On Bruce Cockburn’s haunting “Charity of Night,” Roon produced more dynamic shadings on the acoustic guitar, while Cockburn’s voice became more three-dimensional and natural sounding."
The only thing I know Roon will do is dent your bank account $120 per year. That's what Photoshop costs. (OK lifetime is $500 and Photoshop doesn't have that.)
Is this possible, or from the realm of megabuck wires?
The Sound of Roon
Which leads us, at last, to the sound of Roon. The fact that Roon even has a sound may surprise some readers. But remember that all music playback software and associated renderers have a sonic signature. That’s why TAS runs reviews on those products. Roon is no different.
To find out whether Roon’s impact is positive or negative, I compared it to dCS’s own proprietary renderer, which runs in conjunction with UPnP. This comparison was particularly telling for two reasons. First, dCS DACs are considered among the best in the world, so their own renderer is obviously no slouch. Second, since both the dCS and Roon renderers were running on the same dCS Rossini DAC, any differences I heard had to be due to the renderer.
Some comparison tests are of a “drop the needle and listen for two seconds” nature, where the result is immediately obvious. This was one of those. It took no time at all to determine that Roon constitutes a significant sonic upgrade over dCS’ own renderer. For example, playing Mark Knopfler’s “Golden Heart,” Roon delivered extra clarity, tonal color, and stage depth, making the performance more compelling and involving. Similarly, on the hi-res (176/24) version of Rickie Lee Jones’ “Jolie, Jolie” from Traffic in Paradise, Roon again conveyed greater clarity and detail. Further, the samba-like rhythms came through more propulsively, and the entire presentation breathed more naturally. One last illustration: On Bruce Cockburn’s haunting “Charity of Night,” Roon produced more dynamic shadings on the acoustic guitar, while Cockburn’s voice became more three-dimensional and natural sounding."
The only thing I know Roon will do is dent your bank account $120 per year. That's what Photoshop costs. (OK lifetime is $500 and Photoshop doesn't have that.)
Is this possible, or from the realm of megabuck wires?
Wow... I can't even handle that. The very idea that those cables could improve sound would suggest a severe issue, I mean we'd be talking data corruption across the board... Things like checksums would literally never work.
