How good is Roon AIR?

[NickB]

All BBC radio stations work fine on both my NUC Rock installs so no problem with Rock and BBC.

[Gerronwithit]

I would say the best sound I get streaming is Audirvana+ with AIR. I have tried Roon but don't find it better and it doesn't integrate Qobuz (and won't since Qobuz don't want to, apparently) and its interface is like my Sooloos system which I don't really like and should sell, so I am back on Audirvana after my trial with Roon. I may well keep having another go with it whilst my free trial lasts.

Am beginning to have quite a lot of agreement with f1eng. I have Roon and Audirvana+ and was initially very impressed with Roon's wrapping versus Audirvana's plainer cover. However, after getting beyond the cover I find that many albums, through my own fault, are duplicated or triplicated as they are imported from iTunes, Spotify, my NAS and Tidal. Browsing albums, if you have loads, is a pain as you have to swipe across the way instead of up and down. The historical information, however, is very good, but is it worth six times the price of Audirvana?

[Hifi_swlon]

Yeah, but bar the look and feel, do you (and f1eng) find the sound better via Audirvana and AIR? I guess that's more the point of this thread?

Both posts are somewhat ambiguous as to whether they were the same or one was better than the other....

[Gerronwithit]

Yeah, but bar the look and feel, do you (and f1eng) find the sound better via Audirvana and AIR? I guess that's more the point of this thread?

Both posts are somewhat ambiguous as to whether they were the same or one was better than the other....

I apologise if my post was a little bit cryptic but I was writing it on my iPad which has a dreadful bug while using this comment box. It gets slower and slower until my type ahead is miles in front of the letters appearing on the screen. Then, if you make an error and backspace, it will erase the whole lot unless you can somehow stop it. This is being written on a MacBook AIR which works fine.

Anyway, I meant to add that I need to get a little bit of time to compare the two products to see if I can decide which one, if any, is better. Certainly not much in it so far. Roon's configuration has changed my link between this, the MacBook I am using go control it, and the 250Pro. For example, when the Grandkids, sigh, want to use Spotify I need to pass through my AV amp rather than feed it directly. This may not be Roon's fault as I may have just added another layer of complication to my system. Anyway, this I can definitively say, that Spotify fed via the AV amp is pretty naff. 

Through Roon am playing Passenger's latest album, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which is simple and not full of competing musical layers, it is Tidal FLAC  44.1 kHz 16 bit 2 ch, no oversampling which Audirvana can do. It then classically feeds Devialet AIR. Since my ancient Castles have been SAM'd am delighted with the enhancement, particularly bass. Am enjoying this very much so will have to get back when I run this album through Audirvana. . J

Just a little aside. When in Brugge a couple of weeks ago while I was watching the F1 in the hotel my wife wandered to the Grand Place and saw a crowd standing around a guy busking there. Lo and behold, it was Passenger, Michael Rosenberg himself, which he apparently does quite often while on his endless tours. He was making a fortune!

[Gerronwithit]

Audirvana+ v3.1

Coincidentally this just landed in my Facebook Stream. Hopefully you can make the link.
By the way, I started a side by side test between Roon and Audirvana before being rudely interrupted by grandkids. Initial impression was I found it very difficult to differentiate. Need more undisturbed time though. It was all Tidal music I played. 

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/0...vana-plus/

[Nightmare]

When the soundquality should be as good, it will be a question of features and especially the joy of use in the end. Unfortunately none of them supports Deezer so far. Roon hast Sonos-funtionality, what is nice for other rooms. I think I will test both of them in the future. Integrated Air is very good, when it works. To use the Roon app for e.g. loudness of the Devialet is a pretty good argument for it.

[thumb5]

Crazy as it might sound, I find Roon's AIR very useful just to turn the amp on and off, and adjust volume when I'm listening to other sources (like Qobuz) via the Devialet AIR virtual sound card. Kind of ridiculous that it's taken a third party to bring that level of usability to the Devialet!

[Hifi_swlon]

Kind of ridiculous that it's taken a third party to bring that level of usability to the Devialet!

Devialet would be a world-leading brand if they sorted out their software division, and upped their general thought process towards their customers. And by 'world-leading' I don't mean innovative products, or game changing hardware innovation - I mean a whole package 'brand to die for'. They come so close, but just don't seem to be able to close. I can never quite decide whether it's incompetence, lack of desire, or they've just been unlucky with some senior hires they can't 'sort out'.

My hope is Core Infinity will be a new era. But the website rollout and design kind of dashed those hopes a bit. I know it's bound to be different skillsets/people for the website, but it's a good indicator of QA standards.

Again, they're desperate to be Apple, but for any of Apples wrongdoings - when's the last time their website got updated in a such a haphazard fashion.

I guess I want to fall in love with Devialet, but I think it's just a relationship that's doomed to fail because the other party isn't ready to commit at the level I'm looking for.

---sorry, massively OT as usual.

[pjlarge]

All BBC radio stations work fine on both my NUC Rock installs so no problem with Rock and BBC.

How strange - when I try using this URL (http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...o_two.m3u8) I get a message saying that Roon could not add a station at this URL.  Everything else works perfectly

[pjlarge]

Ah - I think I've fixed it! I'd not installed the ffmpeg codec - all seems to be good now. That means I can remove another box from the system :-)