I understand it’s not your experience. But for me I don’t need to have suggestions or many information when I listen to music. It distracts me.
When I put an lp, I am more absorbed than streaming from Qobuz or Tidal where I am tempted to switch to another album, to discover another one or read something. Roon will just increase that distraction for me.
Then, all the process of Roon adds complication and variables…to the sound. It modifies it.
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Completely understandable. I can have that with Roon by just not looking at the phone/tablet/PC 
There is no complication that modifies the sound when DSP is off. In fact, with Roon’s RAAT protocol there is less processing on the endpoint than with UPnP or things like Tidal Connect.
Many have reported that the sound changes with the Roon updates, sometimes not to their liking.
And others, here or elsewhere, find that Roon decreases the sound quality, specially those with top systems, very resolving, be it Dunc, @Darkebear and many others.
If anything I find Roon to be a touch better (refined) than the Naim App or Bubble server. It’s close though. Even with my shonky NAC52…
People on here have claimed that the Naim App updates improve SQ.
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I need to do some more comparisons of SQ, last time I tried I couldn’t notice a difference, but running a manky NDX2/555/252/250.
What I did notice though, is how much of a step down the user experience is going from the Roon app to the Naim app. I have also discovered a lot of great music through the Roon suggestions.
In some ways, the Roon lifetime subscription is no different that paying for the Naim software, as that cost is added as a premium to the streamers. In that sense, it is probably really good value, as it is just so much better.
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Your very very entry supermarket system is of course not resolving enough.
Can’t, being more serious now, comment on the sound quality difference, only report what I read sometimes.
But what is sure , Roon is not for me. Hopefully we are all different.
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Yes. Many people reported many things in the history of mankind and this forum. Some of them hear differences between Naim app versions.
That would be painful - I lost service yesterday (rare) for an evening and no music would not have been great.
I did get a demo of it at my Dealer - he was very averse to doing that demo as in his words ‘we don’t think it suits a Statement system’. I had the demo and it just seemed to add something I will not describe but I did not really want or like.
Since then others have said it may have been a set-up thing…etc, but not really been drawn back to try it again. I think the licence-checking lock-out of local music thing - if really true - would not warm me to try it again.
DB.
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Not had internet outage in a while, Roon still worked without the Internet, albeit on my local library only. the only thing that was missing was Roon’s excellent links to other similar artists, the artist notes, but my music still played without issues.
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As it should but others are claiming a different experience while not connected to the internet. I’ve spent some effort managing my metadata so I don’t need all the extra links for music discovery that I find intrusive. If I want to know a bass player I’ll look it up online. Only takes a few seconds.
I am one of those……specially between 4.4 and 4.6 for my Nds.
These are streamer firmware versions, which Naim well understand and are able to manipulate in the way that they affect sound quality. Nothing to do with the app!
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There is one way to get an indication - so I’ve just started a poll!
No problem starting a poll but why put it in the Hi-Fi Corner and not here, it is a streaming subject?
Oops! I didn’t look, just assumed we were in the Hifi Corner, in fact because I don’t search by “rooms” I had failed to notice when the streaming corner was introduced! If I can move it I will .
Edit: I think I’ve done it.
Edit 2 No, it didn’t work! I’ll ask Richard
The software we choose is a personal choice of preference, I see the software as a component of the system, if it comes with the streamer and is workable is perfect.
I look at Roon as a one interface for all the family at home, and supports almost all hardware we have, the HomePod from Apple, the Apple tv’s at home, the dac on the office, the ifi streamer, the bluesound, the naim gear and the chromecast dongles we have on the tv’s. One app that works with all. And the kids or wife only have to select the device that they want to stream, even if they want to use their phones or tablets to listen directly with their AirPods.
If I only had one streamer from Naim I think I would be happy with the Naim app, but with multiple hardware I would need multiple apps and every one of them is different supporting only the brand of the app. In this case roon is a blessing.
After some years the family is fluent using roon, is it perfect, hell no and what app is?
If roon faded away in the future I would have to search for an equivalente alternative or even go back to the provided apps, but I hope they still be around for many years to come.
But what I do not have is an argument to say roon is right or wrong to anyone, is an option like many others including the provided by the manufacturers, if it works for you, then is the right one.
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Excellent post.
.sjb
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Yes, you are right.
As for app, I find significant differences between Naim app and Mconnect, streaming from my local files.
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The Naim App and MConnect work in different ways.
The point made was that updates to the Naim App (not the streamer) to some people sounded ‘better’.
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I agree, the updates of the Naim app doesn’t change the sound.
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