Few days ago Roon released version 1.5 which is a major upgrade improving Linn, Tidal, and MQA support. There were sound signature changes in 1.4 making the sound too bright so I immediately checked on version 1.5 and here’s my findings.
I tested Roon 1.5 with NimitraS I’m going to bring to Munich show and use eXD audio interface for native DSD playback and converting MQA tracks to DSD format. It looks like they resolved brightness issue and Roon sounds musical again with improved transparency.
I checked audio output options and found new MQA options which freely allow user to use software (Decoder) and hardware (Renderer) to decode MQA files. Using Decoder will work with any output and Renderer will only work with MQA-capable device.
I also tested MQA with DSP such as Crossfeed to for my Rudistor RP030 + Beyerdynamic T1 and DSD upsampling for eXD interface with Emm Labs DSD playback. It worked fine and sounds very good.
So far I’m very happy with Roon 1.5 upgrade. It didn’t cause a huge mess with database like 1.3 upgrade and sounds better to my liking. I can search through Tidal better with official MQA support.
Oh, I will also bring NimitraS with Roon 1.5 and other goodies in Munich AV Show tomorrow so feel free to check our booth in Hall 3 J15. There’s also 3,000th license purchase offer for Fidelizer Upgrade Program including Fidelizer Purist ROMs so feel free to check out and take up offers. 🙂
