Recommended Components

A+:

Antipodes K50: $19,000 ★
The made-in-New Zealand K50 works with Roon as both server and player, Roon as a server with Squeezelite or HQ Player as the player, or Squeeze as a server and Squeezelite as the player. It offers Ethernet, USB, I²S, AES3, and S/PDIF outputs, though the manufacturer doesn't recommend using USB. JVS found that the Squeeze server and Squeezelite apps were not as user-friendly as Roon, but using them to transmit the audio data via single AES3 to the dCS Rossini DAC "delivered the most transparent, detailed, color-saturated, vivid, midrange- and bass-rich sound of all options available to me." He also noted that playing files stored on the K50's optional SSD (sizes up to 24TB are available) sounded "a mite better—the extra transparency was noticeable" than playing the same files sourced from his NAS, or from Tidal and Qobuz. "Class A+ all the way," he concluded. (Vol.44 No.10 WWW)

Antipodes Oladra server/streamer: $29,000
This expensive server/streamer/reclocker from New Zealand is designed for precise clocking, low noise, and high bandwidth. The Oladra can serve as a Roon Core and can be operated with Roon or with another player app like HQPlayer, MPD with MinimServer, or with "Squeeze," Antipodes' own customized version of the Logitech Media Server. The Oladra can access audio files stored remotely on a NAS and stream music from Qobuz, Tidal, and other streaming services. Users can also add up to 24TB of internal storage—Antipodes recommends Samsung PM893 cards—by sliding up to three cards into the storage slots on the rear panel. In order of decreasing sound quality (according to Antipodes), data outputs are I²S on HDMI or RJ45, AES3, S/PDIF (BNC and RCA), and USB 2. There is also "Direct Stream Ethernet," when the data emerges direct from the Server engine, out to a streaming DAC, bypassing the Player and Reclocker. Using a dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC (which doesn't have an I²S input), JVS found that music sounded best when he used Squeeze as both server and player and AES3 or S/PDIF (BNC) for the Oladra's output. Switching outputs from AES3 to USB, which bypasses the Oladra's reclocker, he noted that the sound wasn't quite as warm, color-saturated, or transparent. Overall, Antipodes Audio's top-line Oladra "is among the finest sounding music servers I've had in my system," he concluded. On Paul Miller's testbench, the Oladra's output significantly reduced jitter compared with his desktop PC driving USB-connected AudioQuest DragonFly and iFi Audio NEO iDSD DACs, but offered little improvement with Mytek Brooklyn and dCS Vivaldi One APEX DACs. (Vol.46 No.7 WWW)

Burmester Musiccenter 151 MK2: $27,500
The 151 MK2 is a music server/network streamer with an internal DAC, a 2TB internal SSD, and a volume control. Operations are controlled with an iPad/iPhone app via Wi-Fi. There are analog inputs, and files can be played from USB sticks and external drives, or NAS drives; internet radio and music can be streamed from Tidal, Qobuz, and Idagio via Ethernet or Wi-Fi; and a CD drive allows silver discs both to be played and to be ripped to the internal SSD. The Musiccenter's DAC automatically upsamples/resamples lower-rez music to 24/96 or 24/192 and DSD up to DSD256 and DXD to 24/192 or 24/96. JVS enjoyed his time with the Burmester, concluding that "Music lovers who retain their love for silver discs will find them sounding even better when ripped to the unit's 2TB SSD, and those accustomed to file playback and streaming will find the Musiccenter's multifunction, multipurpose excellence a one-stop avenue to bliss. Through the 151 MK2 Musiccenter, music sings supreme." JA found that the CD transport offered superb error correction/concealment, which he felt was appropriate for ripping CDs. He concluded that the Burmester 151's performance on the test bench indicated excellent audio engineering in both the digital and analog domains. "It gets a clean bill of health from this measurer." (Vol.45 No.5 WWW)

CH Precision D1.5 SACD/CD player/transport: from $39,000; As reviewed $44,000
Base price is for the SACD/CD transport, which has TosLink, AES3, and CH's proprietary high-rez CH Link HD; two MQA-capable mono DAC cards add $5000. Control is via two coaxial knobs on the front panel or with an app for Android devices. When it's used as a player, all data are upsampled to DXD (24/384), and the analog output is processed with a reconstruction filter optimized for the time domain. Playing CDs, JCA reported that low frequencies had "seismic weight" and that stereo imaging precision and soundstage depth were excellent. He also noticed how good the D1.5 sounded at low volume. With the MQA-CD of Patricia Barber's Clique, JCA wrote that Barber's voice had a lovely, creamy texture, though as the music got louder, he detected some congestion. In level-matched comparisons of the SACD version of this album, he didn't hear as much creaminess on the vocals, though the presentation was not congested at high levels. JCA concluded that after several months with the D1.5 he never got bored; the music kept surprising him. In the test lab, JA found that with CD data this filter rolled-off frequencies above 15kHz because the review sample's firmware had selected an incorrect filter; JCA updated the firmware and reported on the behavior with the correct filter in the May 2022 issue. He wrote that with the new firmware, the transformation in the sound of the D1.5, when playing CDs, was qualitative. It "wasn't necessarily—wasn't immediately—a giant leap forward in absolute sonic quality. It was, rather, simply a major change in sonic character." Other than the frequency response with CDs now extending to –3dB at 20kHz, the primary measurable difference was the change from a relatively long, minimum-phase impulse response to an extremely short impulse response. (Vol.45 Nos.3 & 5 WWW)

dCS Rossini SACD Transport: $28,500
Unlike the earlier Rossini Player, which only played CDs, the Rossini Transport uses a new mechanism from Denon that plays both SACDs and CDs. The Transport outputs audio data on twin AES3 links, to allow it to send native DSD data and CD data upsampled to DXD, DSD, or double DSD (these both encrypted) to a dCS DAC. JA used the Transport with a Rossini DAC and was mightily impressed by what he heard. He consistently preferred the sound of SACDs played on the Transport compared with the same data sent to the Rossini DAC over his network, feeling that the low frequencies sounded more robust. "Once these words have been laid out on the pages of this issue," JA concluded, "I'll have to return [the Rossini Transport] to dCS. It breaks my heart." (Vol.42 No.5 WWW)

Grimm MU2: $17,500 without internal storage
This Dutch streaming player features digital and analog inputs and can operate as a Roon Server with internal and external storage. (An internal 2TB SSD adds just $235; 8TB SSD adds $630.) It can also act as an End Point for other Roon servers on the same network. There are balanced and single-ended analog outputs as well as a 6.3mm headphone jack. A wheel on the top panel allows access to the settings menu and volume and input selection. The MU2 can also be controlled with the Grimm UI (GRUI) web interface; once the Grimm's Ethernet port is connected to the user's network, this page can be found by scanning the QR code shown on the front panel's menu display. Playing a 24/96 remaster of Ligeti's Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet from a 2TB drive plugged into the MU2's USB port, KR noted a definite illusion of the presence of the instruments in his room. "Each was clearly delineated, and the overall balance was neutral, favoring nothing but revealing the full, inherent color and body of the instruments," he wrote. KR's conclusion: "The Grimm MU2 is a bang-up success. It combines cutting-edge digital processing and digital-to-analog conversion with a Roon Core and a remarkably transparent volume control and input/output selector. … It offers completely satisfying sound and flawless ergonomics. It is worthy of the very best amplifiers, speakers, and critical listeners." JA noted that the MU2 offered superb measured performance with both digital and analog sources. (Vol.47 No.8 WWW)

Ideon Audio Absolute Stream meta edition (2024) server/streamer: $24,000
The Absolute Stream meta edition can render music files stored on its internal 4TB SSD (an 8TB SSD is also available) or on USB- or network-connected external storage. It can natively stream Internet radio, Spotify, and Qobuz, and adds an embedded Roon core. Features include a CPU that's "highly prioritized for audio playback only, ensuring highly optimized sound quality" and a reclocking circuit that includes "no-compromise femto clock architecture embedded as standard" on an upgradable platform that is said to eliminate jitter. Ideon considers a USB source of data less prone to noise than a network connection; the optional Alpha Wave LAN optimizer ($6900) takes in an Ethernet signal, converts it to USB, reclocks it, and outputs the music data over USB 3.0. JVS found that Ideon's web-based app had metadata problems with WAV files; it did much better with FLAC. "Never before have I reviewed a stand-alone streamer/server so accomplished in the hardware department, yet so behind the best in software implementation," noted JVS, but such limitations aside, he wrote that the Ideon Absolute Stream meta edition (2024), running its own software, delivered clearer, more involving sound than any other music server or streamer he'd heard in his reference system. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)

Innuos STATEMENT NG: $25,000 depending on storage
JVS reviewed the original two-box Statement from Portuguese company Innuos in Vol.43 No.4. This server included a drive for ripping CDs and featured eight separate power supplies: three for each voltage of the motherboard; one for the CPU; one for the SSD storage device; one for the Ethernet Reclocker board; one for the USB Reclocker Board; and one for the USB clock. Comparing the Statement with a Nucleus+ using USB connections to his dCS Rossini D/A processor, JVS found that the Innuos server's treble seemed slightly rounded, the presentation "a touch warmer. ... The Statement warmed the piano and smoothed out the top in a manner that some would call analoglike or tubelike." JVS concluded that "In its flagship Statement music server, Innuos has created a transparent instrument that scores big in soundstage size and depth, dynamics, and bass reach." In a Follow-Up, JA found almost no measurable differences in a PS Audio DirectStream's analog output whether it received data from the Nucleus+ or Statement via USB or from the Nucleus+ via Ethernet. In a series of listening tests, JA found differences between the Innuos and Roon servers difficult to hear with many recordings but ultimately agreed with JVS that via USB connections, the Nucleus's low frequencies were outclassed by the Statement's. Not by much, I admit," he wrote, "but enough to matter; ... the bass line had a touch more drive with Statement sending data to the PS Audio." The Statement was replaced by the Statement NG, which featured the upgraded Next-Gen linear power supply and the latest InnuOS software. JVS wrote that the NG sounded superior both to the original Statement and to the current Roon Nucleus+. He also noted that the latest InnuOS Web app offered major advances over earlier versions. (Statement, Vol.43 Nos.4 & 5 WWW; Statement NG, Vol.46 No.11 WWW)

Jay's Audio CDT3 MK3: $4998
The massively constructed CDT3 MK3 CD transport—it weighs 50lb— uses Philips's top-of-the-line CD-Pro2LF drive. Although this was discontinued in 2013, Jay's says they have stockpiled a substantial inventory of these drives and is confident they have plenty on hand to cover potential future service issues. Digital outputs are AES3 (XLR), S/PDIF (BNC and RCA), and I²S on RJ45 and HDMI. (The latter follows the connection protocol established by PS Audio.) Using the I²S over HDMI output with a Denafrips Terminator II DAC, MT felt that the CDT3 offered a clear improvement in resolution resulting in a better defined and more spacious soundstage compared with his Audio Note transport. The Jay's transport features switchable 4× oversampling. MT found that this enhanced the presentation of the soundstage, as well as fleshing out the harmonic tonal colors of double bass and piano. "Jay's upsampler seems to offer a genuine improvement," he concluded, adding that the CDT3-MK3 is "a truly exceptional way to play your CD collection." In the test lab, JA found that the CDT3 offered excellent error correction and low transmitted jitter. Peculiarly, however, while the oversampled outputs featured accurate 16-bit data, the non-oversampled outputs were limited to 15-bit resolution, due to the presence of LSB-level random noise. (It turned out that was due to the upsampling chip dithering its output, even when set not to upsample.) In his own auditioning, JA found that the Jay's upsampled output worked well with the Mojo Mystique SE NOS DAC. (Vol.46 No.5 WWW)

MBL Noble Line N31: $18,500; optional Roon Ready module is $1480 ★
Designed to play "Red Book" CDs and, via its USB and other digital inputs, music files up to 24/192 and DSD64 (DoP), the Noble Line N31 is less a digital-audio Swiss Army knife than a luxuriantly attractive, 40lb monument to the idea of perfecting the playback of audiophilia's best-loved digital formats. Built around the ESS Sabre 9018 DAC, the N31 offers a full-color 5" TFT display—the MBL player recognizes CD text and displays title information—and features an SDcard slot for firmware updates, a choice of three playback filters, and a remote handset that lights up before the person reaching for it has even touched it. Listening to CDs and even a CD-R through the N13, JA was impressed by the "sheer tangibility" of the MBL's sound, noting that, with its Min filter engaged, the N31 "gracefully reproduced" one "overcooked" track, and that the differences among its three filters were "greater in degree than with other DACs." Through the MBL's USB inputs, even iPhones and iPads, their own volume controls disarmed by the MBL's USB input, offered "excellent" sound quality. JA originally raised an eyebrow at the lack of a network port and the fact that the player's filters can't be selected via the remote handset, but both of these issues have been addressed in 2020 production with the optional Roon Ready Input Module. As with USB, the networked MBL rendered music with an excellent sense of overall drive and low-frequency impact, JA found, with low-level recorded detail well-resolved. JA concluded his original review by saying that digital sound "doesn't get any better" than what he heard from the N31. He also noted that the MBL offered 21 bits of resolution—the current state of the art of digital audio. This prompted JA the measurer to agree with JA the listener: "Digital audio engineering doesn't get any better." (Vol.41 No.2, Vol.43 No.12 WWW)

Totaldac d1-streamer-sublime music server: €9100
This French streamer/server offers a network input and digital outputs and functions as a Roon endpoint. It tops out at 24/192, and it passes DSD via DoP. AH used the d1-streamer sublime to audition Totaldac's d1-unity—see Digital Processors. When he replaced it with his usual combination of Sonore ultraRendu and Denafrips Iris digital-to-digital converter, the sound was possibly a hair more forceful but also audibly less refined and purposeful. "The meaning of the music was less obvious, and everything sounded just a bit more mechanical," he wrote. (Vol.46 No.12 WWW)

A:

Hegel Viking: $5000
This slot-loading player uses the well-regarded AKM4493SEQ DAC chip and doesn't have any digital inputs. It just plays CDs. It does, however, have a coaxial S/PDIF digital output, which JA found featured very low jitter. HR played CDs and was impressed by what he heard. "CDs exhibited more crystallized forms than similar recordings played back from Tidal at CD resolution. The Viking projected images with more-distinct outlines than Tidal's 16/44.1 tracks. Those more-distinct forms felt more relaxed and less edge-sharpened than similar recordings of the same program at higher sampling rates on Qobuz," he wrote. HR concluded that the Viking "presented every CD with enough verve, transparency, and natural detail to make each disc sound distinctly different, which shows that the player's sound was not swamping the disc's sound. This ability to disappear and put the character and vital energies of recordings up front made the Viking exciting to use, and that is my highest compliment." (Vol.46 No.12 WWW)

Melco N50 digital music library: $5499 incl. 3.84TB storage
The slim, Roon Ready N50 includes internal storage and has two Ethernet ports and four USB 3.0 ports, one of which is optimized for sending audio data to a USB-connected DAC. KR found that the front-panel controls and the small alphanumeric display worked fine for setup and basic music selection, but quickly realized that the Melco Music App running on an iPad—there's no Android support—was essential for selecting music and making the Melco enjoyable to use. Once the N50 was connected to KR's local network, the app's "Library" choices included every audio file on every device on his LAN. He summed up that the Melco "lets you engage with the music and does nothing to intrude on that engagement. That's its role, and it performs it well. Crucially, it does nothing to degrade sound quality. Especially when playing from its internal storage, the N50 is responsive." (Vol.45 No.6 WWW)

Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Roon Core: $4995
The small Brooklyn Bridge II streaming D/A preamplifier offers digital and analog inputs, including an MC/MM phono input, balanced and single-ended analog and headphone outputs, and incorporates a Roon core. All its owner needs to add to create a complete system are some file storage, a power amplifier, and a pair of loudspeakers. TF found the touchscreen too small for easy use, instead controlling the BBII functions with the Roon app. (Roon identified the Brooklyn Bridge II as a full MQA decoder and renderer.) He found that the single-ended outputs picked up some hash from his Mesh Wi-Fi network, though JCA and JA didn't encounter any Wi-Fi–related problems in their own systems. In the test lab, JA noted that the Mytek runs very hot. The DAC circuit offers between 18 and 19 bits' worth of resolution, he found, and commented that the analog output stage coped well with punishing loads. He was less impressed with the phono input, finding that even in MM mode, the noisefloor suffered from supply-related spuriae, these presumably radiated from the power transformer packed into the small chassis. The levels of these spuriae were unacceptably high in MC mode, decided JA. TF was also bothered by the Mytek's phono input, finding that even in MM mode, "there was enough his and hum to be audible at the listening position, through all outputs: balanced, unbalanced, headphone." Hum aside, however, he wrote that LPs "sounded vivid, the tonal balance was right, there was plenty of headroom." Playing back files from his NAS drive TF wrote that "the BBII sounds damn good . . . Its character was uncolored and revealing . . . the BBII is a fine DAC, in the top tier of its price range." (Vol.46 No.9 WWW)

Rotel Diamond Series DT-6000 CD Transport/DAC: $2299
As well as playing CDs, the DT-6000 has three digital inputs (coaxial and optical, these accepting PCM data up to 24/192), and a Class 2.0 USB input that will accept PCM data up to 32/384, DSD data, and MQA data up to 24/384. However, despite being called a "Transport," the DT-6000 doesn't have a digital output. It uses the well-regarded ESS9028PRO DAC chip. HR wrote that with CD data his more expensive R-2R DACs "did not better the DT-6000's beat-keeping and boogie-stomping." Streaming well-recorded piano, the Rotel offered "clean, fast, well-sculpted authority," HR decided, and while he felt streaming was clearer, smoother, and more open than CD playback, contrasts weren't as sharp, the presentation less physical. "Music from CDs sounded denser and more fortified than music from Qobuz and Tidal," he concluded. (In the test lab, JA found that while jitter was nonexistent with CD playback, it was high in level with streaming audio via USB. He also noted that the Rotel's error correction playing CDs was superb.) Overall, HR described the DT-6000 as a "well-built, great-sounding, reasonably priced CD player." (Vol.46 Nos.2 & 3 WWW)

TEAC VRDS-701T CD transport: $2699.99
TEAC's transport uses a CD mechanism that floats free from the chassis. The benefit offered by this mechanism, which clamps the optical disc on a turntable of the same diameter, is said to be that the surface blurring caused by rotational vibration and warping is suppressed and that the relative optical axis accuracy between the optical pickup and the disc's pits and lands is increased. The TEAC has two S/PDIF outputs, optical and coaxial, and a word clock input. Using the transport with Linear Tube Audio's Aero R-2R DAC—see Digital Processors—HR noted that the sound was dense and precise in a way he'd never previously heard from digital. "By 'dense,'" he wrote, he meant "a tangible corporality effected by seemingly infinite quantities of small, tightly packed molecules of musical information." HR concluded that the VRDS-701T transport was a revelation. "It made digital more compelling than I thought it could be. I never anticipated this much drive, density, inner detail, or tone truthfulness from a digital source." (Vol.47 No.9 WWW)

B:

Sparkler Audio S515t "ballade II" CD transport: $1575
Although this top-loading Japanese transport uses a TEAC mechanism, HR found that the Sparkler was less reserved and inner-detailed than TEAC's own VRDS 701T transport with both feeding data to a Denafrips DAC. Nevertheless, the Sparkler sounded enriched in presence and immediacy. The jump, glimmer, and sparkle were less present when spun by the TEAC than they were with the ballade II, he commented. The Sparkler's sound is best described as "alive with drive," wrote HR, concluding that this small, smart-looking, reasonably priced CD transport "brings digital a big step closer to analog." (Vol.48 No.3 WWW)

Deletions
exaSound Delta Server Mark II, not auditioned in a long time.

Computer Software:

Channel D Pure Music software: $129
Pure Music (Mac only) can play sampling rates of up to twice the 192kHz limit of Amarra and Decibel. Like those programs, Pure Music (Mac only) offers memory play, automatic sampling-rate changes, and full compatibility with native FLAC files and in its latest version, DSD files. Going from iTunes to Pure Music, the sonic improvement was modest but worthwhile, with cleaner trebles and improved pitch certainty. Compared with the less expensive Decibel, however, Pure Music lacked some openness and clarity, decided AD. Using Pure Music in its Memory Play and "Hog Mode" settings for optimal sound quality resulted in a wider soundstage and greater sense of ease, said JA. Important caveat: Pure Music will only work on computers running Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) or older.; an update for newer Macs has been in the works for years. A free, 15-day trial version can be downloaded from www.channel-d.com. Included with Channel D's Pure Vinyl Version 3.0. (Vol.33 No.8, Vol.34 Nos.7 & 9 WWW)

Channel D Pure Vinyl LP ripping software: $379 ★
Used with a microphone preamp or non-RIAA phono preamp, Channel D's Pure Vinyl digitizes vinyl LPs at 24-bit/192kHz resolution and applies the RIAA or other EQ curves in the digital domain, where there's no interchannel phase shift, capacitor distortion, additional noise, or component variability. Record mode allows the user to apply over 50 EQ curves or create custom EQ settings; Editor mode allows the user to insert track breaks or remove surface noise. CDs made with Pure Vinyl sounded "much better" than those made with the Alesis Masterlink, said MF. Compared to the original LPs, the digitized versions lacked a touch of body but sounded "very analog-like." Compatible only with Apple Macintosh computers. Version 3.0 and later includes Channel D's Pure Music front-end program for iTunes. "Pure Vinyl will change the musical lives of collectors with large collections of pre-1954 discs," said MF. JA was impressed by Version 5's RIAA de-emphasis with LPs that had been ripped with the Channel D Seta L phono preamp's Flat outputs. (Ver.5 was not yet compatible with macOS 15/Catalina in the fall of 2020.) Channel D's Rob Robinson strongly advises recording at 192kHz–"Pure Vinyl was designed and optimized with that sample rate in mind (back in 2003!)" he told JA–but for monitoring the recording in real time, the playback D/A converter must be sample-synchronous with the A/D converter. (Robinson recommends the Lynx HiLo, an MF fave, for that reason.) "To say that I was impressed with the quality afforded needle drops by Pure Vinyl would be an understatement," concluded JA. "While the user interface is not as intuitive as I would like, the versatility on offer is extraordinary." Important caveat: Pure Music will only work on computers running Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) or older.; an update for newer Macs has been in the works for years. (Vol.32 No.3; Ver.3.0, Vol.33 No.8; Ver.5, Vol.43 No.11 WWW)

Dirac Live Room Correction Full Suite Stereo: $349
Dirac Live Room Correction Full Suite Multichannel: $499 ★
Sound quality, of course, is dependent on the hardware in the system, wrote KR, about the original Dirac Live, an app that runs without external processors on Macs or PCs. But its acoustic transformation capabilities are well beyond what is built into most processors, he wrote. Live 3 allows the user to measure the system's in-room response, then generates the necessary correction filters. The Dirac Live Processor then applies the filter corrections to music as it plays. In PCs (Windows 10 and above) and Macs, it can be installed as a plug-in or as a regular application. JRiver, Audirvana Studio, Amarra, and most DAWs support it as a plug-in. Roon does not. KR continued his recommendation for the app, writing that with Dirac "I hear no loss of transparency; rather, I hear more transparency due to the removal of distracting artifacts." Live 3 also includes Dirac Live Bass Control, which KR tried in beta form. He found that "Full Bass Optimisation resulted in much better integration of the subs with each other and with the main speakers—to the point where the subs disappeared but the main speakers seemed to have prodigious low-frequency extension and control." (Vol.37 No.5, Vol.44 No.10 WWW; also see JA's discussion of Dirac Live LE in his review of the NAD M10 integrated amplifier in Vol.43 No.1 WWW)

JRiver Media Center: $69.98 (single platform); $89.98 (multi-platform)
KR wrote in the January 2018 Stereophile: "If your [JRiver Media Center] setup is working to your satisfaction, there's no need for you to download every new build." Really. No need at all. But, having said that, . . . the 64-bit Windows version of Music Center became available in September 2017, and KR reported that it's better, stronger, and faster than the 32-bit version: "Since installing the 64-bit version of JRiver Music Center 23, I have heard not a single burp." $79.98 for a "Master" License covering Linux, Windows, and MacOS. (Vol.41 No.1 WWW)

Roon Labs v 2.0: $14.99/month, $149.88/year, $829.99/lifetime
Roon is a music-playback application that can be downloaded and run on the user's desktop or handheld computer or on dedicated file players from manufacturers including Auralic, dCS, Linn, and Roon's own Nucleus and Nucleus+. Described by JI as "a tour de force of programming, design, and metadata mining," Roon offers a graphically sophisticated user interface that, he said, looks good and feels natural. When first installed, Roon scans and incorporates the user's existing music collection. Over time, it continues to "groom" that collection, taking into account new additions to the collection and to Roon Labs' ever-growing library of metadata. With v1.8, Roon offered a major revision. "Visually, it's new, and to me, better," wrote JCA. The recommendations engine, Valence, has been improved, with useful changes to the Focus feature, which now encompasses streamed music from Tidal and Qobuz#151;not just music in the user's library. "The music I own and the music I rent is now one big, searchable, browsable library," enthused JCA. Recently added: mobile capability via Roon ARC, essentially your own custom streaming service on your smart phone. Even more recently, Roon added customizable audio on the go via MUSE: custom EQ, crossfeed, volume leveling, even user-adjustable sample-rate conversion. JCA loves the signal-path display, which lets you know at a glance exactly what you're listening to. JA is also a fan and sprung for the lifetime subscription. (Vol.44 No.5 WWW)