How good is Roon AIR?

[ogs]

Roon's AIR implementation is very good. When you include the integration Roon has with the Expert amps it gets even better. If a volume limit setting is introduced in a future Roon (remote) upgrade the integration is complete. I believe many Expert users will get better sound from Roon AIR than their previous solutions. Especially if FMC's are used for network isolation. There are rumours that Core Infinity will get RAAT at some point. That will of course improve things, but the basics remain. Roon AIR is superb - to quote Confused above.

The mR 1.4/USPCB/Mutec has better sound. In my system much better. More detail and dynamics, better imaging and even a more relaxed presentation. For some reason the extra bass output I noted in my post above is gone, but detail and definition is still there (I can not tell if this is due to break-in or other factors). Tonal balance is very similar to AIR.

There is a Price for this: $640 for the microRendu, $235 for the 1.4 upgrade, around $1100 for the Mutec MC3+USB and the USPCB at a cheap $35. Then there is the AES/EBU cable and postage. Easily more than $2000. Compared to AIR, which is basically free, you get lots of performance. Knowing what the mR/USPCB/Mutec does I would buy these again. If I didn't know I might just settle for Roon AIR.