You could try it on an Innuos Zenith (like a Melco) so it is hosted on the music server. That would avoid the extra network traffic of a separate box running Roon. Innuos have a 4GB music cache, but at the moment they haven’t got that working with Roon.
Phil
I like the purity of approach Melco adopt to keep noise to a minimum and like their product SQ. It divides people and some hate it, but I hear what they don’t like - but I like what it does as it sounds more musical and accurate to me - removing what I found to be a layer of streaming artifacts (strange ‘wibble’ colourations and poor timing) that had essentially kept me from streaming for years until I heard they could be gone with. Melco made it ‘sound like Vinyl’ in a weird way - given I used CD and had dropped use of Vinyl years ago, I again heard aspects of the Vinyl replay I liked, but emerging from streaming - and I’d just not been impressed with streaming until I heard this done and possible. It led to my transition to a streaming system less than a year ago.
Part of the reason - as I gather it - is running Roon on Melco will introduce a lot more noise into it which runs diametrically opposite to the Melco design concept.
You would have to architect the system differently - it could be done but that is a different design than exist now.
I’ve approached this as part of my journey toward musical beauty first - of which I’m presently enjoying great success in recent purchases and new-found tweaks. It is all cumulative I’ve found and it also seems to reach a threshold when you think ‘there can’t be much more’ then to find there is a lot more and you get the inner-details of music within music - the different fine threads of the weave meshing and flowing - and the interaction into time and space with the Artists and where present audience and venue.
…so I want to retain all the gains and not sacrifice that just to have a nicer interface to manage, find and select my music - as very important as that is.
So I’m not inclined to do anything that sacrifices music SQ just to have the delights of Roon in other areas - I need a solution demoed to me that delivers - get a smile on my face - feel that rising ‘I want that’ - and the rest becomes history.
That is just what I find works for me.
DB.
I would be interested to know what the chain of equipment was for your demo as this could cloud things. If you where running UPnP of the Melco directly connected to the nd555 then was it connected this way to demo Roon with the nucleus feeding music source from the Melco but Melco still feeding the nd555 through its streamer port? The path for Roon and Melco would need to be as close to being the same to make a full eval. The Melco has linear PSUs and it’s bridge port are supposed to make the connection to the streamer cleaner and less noisy. The nucleus will have to get the music via a switch from the Melco, then pass it back through and out the streamer port to the nd55, as we know switches can play a big part in how it sounds. Are they using good quality switches?
I’ve compared Roon to JRiver Media Center back when I had my PC connected via USB bridge to Naim setup. There certainly was slight difference in presentation. JRiver initially sounded better to me. It had overall slightly smoother sound signature and fuller low end. Roon seemed more neutral in presentation. Because of this I stuck with JRMC for some time. I later compared them again when I had made some changes to my setup. Surprisingly then I preferred Roon’s more neutral approach. So once again it comes down to matching with rest of the setup. Nowadays I have lifetime license to Roon. It’s simply the best way to manage your library and offers native support for my Linn ADSM.
I’m thinking the different opinions are due to personal preference and level of system replay quality.
My Dealer replayed through a full Statement system fronted with ND555 with two 555DR supplies - then the latest Melco - then the Cisco switch item everyone on this forum loves - and the rest of their network.
The Melco was connected to ND555 by Audioquest Vodka Ethernet (which I’m presently home-trialing now).
My own system although not full Statement is the same except after the S1Pre I use 3xNAP500DR driving Ovator S800, so my Dealer put together their top system as anything I purchase will go into a parallel level system in general terms.
If the Roon - or any item - imposes a level of impairment that falls between a level some way lower in resolution of a system sitting below this level it is possible it is not audible in the same way or possibly not even objectionable. If Roon fed my TV system (AV2-NAP250-MS Speakers) I’d probably not hear anything to remark on as it does not aim or to or achieve the same level of resolution.
In short I don’t know - in in some respects don’t care as the whole point of the demo is to place an item into a system context and hear how the whole thing performs. You can’t assume something that is great and genuinely positive in one system will do the same in another.
So I don’t think the Roon was being clouded and it was probably doing most of that from what I heard - but if my Dealer ever forgives me for saying what I thought (Dealer is neutral-ish) I’ll re-listen next week in the same system with the approved settings set and hear what it does. If it is better I’ll report - if not perhaps best I keep very quiet about that - I don’t want to offend.
But people should hold their own certainty of what they like or prefer and I never take it personal when I’m told I don’t like the ‘correct’ item or upgrade or music choices - I still know what I like - and more importantly, for me, I respect other people who genuinely prefer other options as I learn most from them. I learn almost nothing from conformists.
DB.
Yes - I found Roon removed that smooth gradation of low-level detailing and was IMO starker - but that is another person’s clarity.
We played a track that had a slow-fade intro and it just lumped-in with Roon but with Melco (no Roon) it gracefully rose in level like a mist - it was an intended artistic effect that was just not there via Roon,
DB.
Yes, back when I did the original comparison I couldn’t say which one is clearly better but the JRMC’s presentation was better fit to my setup back then. I went back to Roon many times but always came back to JRMC. Roon was always better in controlling my library, simply superior user experience. IIRC, it was when I finally added PSU to Naim DAC and did the comparison, then I actually preferred Roon.
Hey DB, how sounds the vodka vs your cinnamon? in 2 words. More body and bass ?
Just to be clear - the uplift was compared to running Roon wirelessly on my Macbook. As i put in the post i think you may be referring to, i mentioned the SQ was better when using the Nucleus but put that down to the wired connection via an optimised network rather than a result of Roon or the server it was running on.
Please do let us know your findings. It’s more from surprise at your findings and wishing you have a chance to use Roon as it does bring so much to the party that I was commenting.
I know what I hear and what I’m happy with it so won’t take offence that you hear differently 
.sjb
Off-topic so yes to an extent to those two.
But also a flatter wider bigger sound-stage - it is very different from the Cinnamon which I love, the latter being warmer and very engaging - the Vodka started with a bang yesterday - went into run-in blandness, over-blown and harshness - and is now emerging nicely from that it seems, so a quick run-in that with the low-level signal cables.
The Vodka was a brand new cable from the box - I know you can’t hear run-in but unfortunately I can so need it past that phase and I will decide to keep or return to Cinnamon over this weekend.
DB.
Good - I like to check as it was just my opinion.
As before mentioned, I really would use Roon to mediate and manage my music - if it were at least transparent as I hear that. I don’t really want all the Transcoding features on - happy they exist and are there, but like tone controls and room correction, an ‘off’ setting is fine.
DB.
Honestly, Roon is like marmite, you love it or hate it. It was always a complaint for me owning an NDS… beautiful sound but UPnP was a ball ache. No user experience. Roon is just so beautiful and just works out the box. I’d never compromise now. Remember audio is not just the sound, but the whole experience, and Roon in the modern age, really completes that as best it can - without the LP in your hand.
Ah yes, faulty memory on my part
thanks James
Jim
Yes please let us know your second listening. You won’t offend. If you don t like it you don’t like it. Just trying to fathom how it could be so off as it just sounds like somethings off as many people with very high end systems hear no differences. We all like different things, I for one tried the AudioQuest Cinnamon last week based of your preference for it. In my system it made zero difference to what my standard ethernet did so it’s gone back.
For me, there is an element of snake oil. I personally own a Chord Sarum Super Array. I can categorically say, the cable made an immense difference to the sound (trying a C-Stream first). No question. However, after the physical cables etc, I am somewhat sceptical over this uPnP vs Roon vs… I’ve not heard any differences.
I lived in a world a few months ago where Ethernet cables sounding different was a bit silly - then tried commercial CAT5e-6-7 and preferred the CAT5e over a the others and couple of HiFi Ethernet types I tried …now I identified ones that do strongly impact the performance for the better - I hear it happening and can’t wish it away, nor want to as it is a big improvement when carefully selected and matched to your system and what you prefer.
But I greatly respect the ‘zero-difference’ view - it is where I was a few months ago. 
The whole Roon can of worms thing needs people to try and decide - plenty like it and that is great - I’d like in on that too but in the context of my system and the one my Dealer used all these things seem to steer performance strongly when playing with the source in a revealing system.
DB.
DB, as you know from your own ND555 journey, there are so many system elements that the ND555 will reveal. Many dealers have not been through them all and have not yet worked out how to fully optimise different systems. Roon adds to the variables and makes it easy to jump to the wrong conclusion (I did). What the Roon Core is running on, what else if anything is running on that device, where it’s installed and how it’s connected all have their effects beyond any Roon settings. But when you get them right, Roon can happily equal UPNP.
There is the presumption I’ve jumped to the wrong decision. 
Perhaps it can be coaxed to not cause any problems - I’d have hoped that was true!
But it may be personal preference as some things I clearly for me prefer other people either don’t seem to immediately hear - sometimes a vague reference to something is made that is clear and important to me - and also on the other side of that coin some things that are incredible important to some are of no interest to me at all. People have different preferences with some overlap of what is important.
I’ll have another listen another time, but perhaps I do not fit in the Roon fan club. 
DB.
DB, sorry if that offended, sharing a caution to perhaps try again before dismissing it (as I did initially). I just didn’t want you to lose out on Roon if the way you listen to music, connect music and use your own stored music and streamed music could have made Roon pleasurable if there is no compromise in SQ. It’s not a matter of “coaxing it not cause any problems”, but of installing it optimally, no different from your finding that running two media servers on the same machine impacts SQ. Anyone’s initial findings can be fallible. But then we can agree to differ, just as we do over media servers (although in the end I now prefer Asset to Minim, though feel it’s a compromise).