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Volume Control | Roon vs Preamp


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17 hours ago, avta said:

But what about sound quality....

Well the results where about the same as I have concluded before. Up to about -10 db there is no difference whatsoever. From there I thought subtle changes are creeping in, not instantly but just very gradually. In the extreme case of setting DEQX to max and using Roon for volume I was constantly in the range of -30 to -45 dB . In this range there is a clear loss in overall quality.....  It just sounds like your amplifier has lost some of its power, in other words you lose quite a bit dynamics, sound stage flattens out, and micro dynamics and detail are degraded.

 

This SQ degradation matches my experience of Roon's volume control, but for me it was even more obvious well before I got to the -30db level. It was particularly noticeable when using Roon's auto levelling volume function, which was such a disappointment SQ-wise that I raised the topic on Roon's forum - only to be batted away by that forum's vocal bits-is-bits brigade.

 

In short, I would avoid Roon's volume control (and other DSP functions) when trying to determine the maximum potential SQ. 

 

I haven't tried this on the latest Roon versions because I've since moved on to Euphony Stylus. The Roon design team are not as "audiophile" as many here, so it's pot luck whether the next Roon update will sound better or worse than before. I've read some posts that that v1.7 came with improved SQ, but this appears to follow the Law of Unintended Consequences because the team was not claiming any improvement in this area.

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