Tidal via Roon & Air versus Tidal via AirPlay

[Gerronwithit]

I had not really tried out AirPlay on my Devialet Pro since having the CI upgrade so aimed my iPad Air at the amplifier and played Black Sabbath's 2009 remastered album with the volume set at -12 dB which is much higher than I normally play my music and resultant playback was pretty weedy in my opinion. I then did the same using Roon and Air from my MacBook Air at about -17 dB and the clarity and power were significantly greater. Just wondering at what the mechanics are that produced such a difference.

[Confused]

I had not really tried out AirPlay on my Devialet Pro since having the CI upgrade so aimed my iPad Air at the amplifier and played Black Sabbath's 2009 remastered album with the volume set at -12 dB which is much higher than I normally play my music and resultant playback was pretty weedy in my opinion. I then did the same using Roon and Air from my MacBook Air at about -17 dB and the clarity and power were significantly greater. Just wondering at what the mechanics are that produced such a difference.

I have tried CI AirPlay, it sounded OK but it is not the best sounding way to feed a CI Pro.  You describe it as "pretty weedy" versus Roon AIR, although I would not go quite that far, I do know exactly what you mean, and yes, Roon AIR is substantially better.

As for the volume issue, I had not noticed this, but I was using a PC.  Feeding from an iPad via AirPlay, there is a volume control in the media bar on the iPad, this integrates with the Devialet volume control but defaults to full volume at a certain point.  All a little confusing, but could easily explain the volume difference you experienced.

[petrik]

I'm not sure how exactly the Devialet AIR works since I haven't noticed any detail level documentation of it.

That said, there is a very informative message on Roon's forum about AirPlay vs. Roon RAAT.
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/raat-an...hip/6915/2

It's worth to spend few minutes to read it through.

[Gerronwithit]

I'm not sure how exactly the Devialet AIR works since I haven't noticed any detail level documentation of it.
That said, there is a very informative message on Roon's forum about AirPlay vs. Roon RAAT.
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/raat-an...hip/6915/2

It's worth to spend few minutes to read it through.

You didn't half point me in the right direction. There is a sub thread to the link you gave me and it rationalises the differences quite nicely. It helps explain the impression I got that Apple was controlling and messing with the music via the iPad and AirPlay, rather than Roon just presenting the music for the Devialet to do its own thing. Having two clocks just for a start cannot be a good thing. Here's the other link.

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/whats-t...rplay/6891

[PeppaPig]

I had not really tried out AirPlay on my Devialet Pro since having the CI upgrade so aimed my iPad Air at the amplifier and played Black Sabbath's 2009 remastered album with the volume set at -12 dB which is much higher than I normally play my music and resultant playback was pretty weedy in my opinion. I then did the same using Roon and Air from my MacBook Air at about -17 dB and the clarity and power were significantly greater. Just wondering at what the mechanics are that produced such a difference.

If you got a good system, AirPlay isn’t the best option, check Apple’s spec.