Trying to recreate an alternative to Roon is IMHO a very bad idea.
There is no reason at all to think that a small company specialized in hardware will be able to get remotely close to the excellence of Roon in terms of capabilities, UI, software quality, breath and depth of compatible hardware.... nor sound quality, nor the possibility of software induced degradation of sound quality.
Many very talented software developers, such as the person in charge of Audirvana that I personally know, have trying incredibly hard for years without success IMHO. Being in the software industry for 20 years I know first hand that software quality for complex stuff is pretty much only the result of having at least tens of thousands of active users.
Ambition is good but this is futile at best.
As far as the weight resulting from the need to have 20 xeon cores, the real question to me is why when 10 times less computing power is already way overkill. Sorry but I just don’t buy that, even if it did make a difference in sound quality, the difference between 10 and 20 cores is significant enough to be assessed consistently by subjective humans.
Anyway, great for them if some folks are happy with it. I am all too famiiar with the appeal of owning a magic bullet to be surprised that some folks did get convinced. The weight alone, that I find the main issue, is a very strong argument for many folks who still feel deep inside that heavier must be better. Another being that spending only 10,000 euro on a source when other components in your system cost 30,000~80,000 or more feels unbalanced for some (boy must they feel worried about the EtheRegen
). But I disgress and I am fully guilty of having fallen too many times for such reasonnings.
I’ll stop here and let owners comment about their experience, sorry.
Cheers,
Bernard
There is no reason at all to think that a small company specialized in hardware will be able to get remotely close to the excellence of Roon in terms of capabilities, UI, software quality, breath and depth of compatible hardware.... nor sound quality, nor the possibility of software induced degradation of sound quality.
Many very talented software developers, such as the person in charge of Audirvana that I personally know, have trying incredibly hard for years without success IMHO. Being in the software industry for 20 years I know first hand that software quality for complex stuff is pretty much only the result of having at least tens of thousands of active users.
Ambition is good but this is futile at best.
As far as the weight resulting from the need to have 20 xeon cores, the real question to me is why when 10 times less computing power is already way overkill. Sorry but I just don’t buy that, even if it did make a difference in sound quality, the difference between 10 and 20 cores is significant enough to be assessed consistently by subjective humans.
Anyway, great for them if some folks are happy with it. I am all too famiiar with the appeal of owning a magic bullet to be surprised that some folks did get convinced. The weight alone, that I find the main issue, is a very strong argument for many folks who still feel deep inside that heavier must be better. Another being that spending only 10,000 euro on a source when other components in your system cost 30,000~80,000 or more feels unbalanced for some (boy must they feel worried about the EtheRegen
). But I disgress and I am fully guilty of having fallen too many times for such reasonnings.I’ll stop here and let owners comment about their experience, sorry.
Cheers,
Bernard
Room: Gik Acoustics | Vibration: Townshend pods | Power: Shunyata Omega XC + Everest + Sigma NR v2 + Sigma ground cables | Source: Mojo Audio DejaVu EVO linux server running Roon core (Raat) | Ethernet: Sonore Optical module + Melco S10P with dedicated LPS + Shunyata Omega Ethernet x 2| Synchronous: Mutec MC-3 + USB (Paul Hynes SR7T LPS) + Cybershaft OP21A (Shunyata Omega USB, AES/EBU, clock cables) | Dac/Pre/Amplification: Devialet D1000 Pro CI (Chord Sarum T RCA-RCA link) | Speakers: Chord Sarum T cables + Wilson Benesch Act One Evolution P1
