I am quite surprised how many positive reviews Audirvana Studio has received. For me, it’s a big letdown – you can’t even focus on composer by name so that only favourites will show (streaming through Qobuz). For only 2.50 € a month more you can subscribe to Roon, which plays in a different league. Who would want Audirvana Studio if you can have Roon for almost the same price? I don’t understand what the commercial rationale is behind this. If you move to a subscription model, you need to make sure that you offer something at least equivalent to what is already out there. Here, however, Audirvana lags so much behind Roon, it’s almost comical. Audirvana 3.5 was a decent app and quite cheap. Now it’s getting expensive, for no added benefit (why would anyone want to listen to radio stations with their inferior sound quality? I thought it was all about audiophile grade sound).
Perhaps because some people take more care of sound quality than Roon ui…
are the subscription prices already known?
I don’t think that Audirvana sounds better than Roon, but that’s subjective. If you believe there’s a marked difference, that’s obviously important. But even if you believe so, do you think that Audirvana Studio sounds better than A 3.5? I can’t detect a significant difference. So my question is why users would switch to pay for Audirvana Studio? Especially given the limitations of the UI. For me, apart from sound quality, what matters is ease of use, as that makes for a more complete immersive experience, and here Roon is unbeatable. (By the way, it’s easy to tweak Roon’s parametric equalizer to reproduce the sound signature of Audirvana, which suggests that A engages in some unacknowledged tweaking.)
Well it depends whether you care about the new features like, radio listening, podcasts and streaming in general. The new UI is also nice, but that’s question of personal taste. It’s not necessarily about the sound quality, as I also can’t detect much difference when compared to 3.5 running on Intel based Mac.
Still, if you’re on M1 based Mac or on Windows and you care about kernel streaming, it might still make sense.
UI and even SQ is not as important as extensive FILTERING - which is not fully active now in Studio…
At least on my installation.
I like a lot new R8brain and in my System (10K material) i hear clearly the difference and my family too. Far far more natural. It evident that this appreciation is system dependent… And my ears is a part of the system 
My observations after a few hours.
The software is not anywhere near ready for launch.
Its full of user ability/interface issues/bugs, which could have easily been picked up with focused testing.
- Why was the software launched without a control app !! WTF - This is nuts. This is a show stopper for users with servers in alternate rooms.
- Playback issues on Qobuz, where there is no issues on Roon. Tracks simply don’t play, failed to be found, etc.
- There seems to be no support or even a presence relating to Studio issues highlighted.
- I had pink noise dropouts on uPnP, when I have no issues with Windows 10 handling the uPnP stream
- Text size is too small, and not adjustable
- Glitches in Album art sizing, small to max when you click on the bar. The sizing should jump to the amount selected, not between small and max.
- etc etc
There is absolutely no contest vs Roon ATM IMO.
Roon is stable, reliable, provides a control app, has deeper search functions,
And sounds great.
I’ll keep trialling until I get fed up with the AS issues.
I Agree that’s a beta quality.
have no issue on Qobuz and UPNP
I do not judge UI and bug free
Just sound… That’s my only interest…
UI Bug will be fixed…
How many programmers/coders do AS have working in the team?
Is it just 1? Damien?
I personally, would not commit to this software in its current state.
Since years I use it : All the new version were load with issues like that in beta…
As Software DEV, I agree it’s a strange usage to push beta to users like that… But have they really choice…
i tried to make a comparison which is only MY experience
same Qobuz file CD quality : little feat Long distance love
With Audirvana sound clarity is much better than with Roon …i use both and i like Roon UI greatly improved with the latest update …
I guess it’s a different experience for everybody depending on the setup. I’ve been testing beta for a while before installing the official release. Quite few issues from the beta have been fixed. The official release is quite usable to me on the Intel MacOS. It works great with multiple DACs, UPnP and USB. I even subscribed to another trial with Tidal, now that I have MQA capable DAP. There are still some interface quirks, but nothing major.
Obviously some users are going through hell, with all kinds of issues. My experience was nearly flawless ever since the first beta I tried, some obvious bugs aside. Admittedly I didn’t have many issues with 3.5 either.
Comparing it to Roon is quite foolish, and I’m a Roon user too. It’s designed for single user playback scenario.
I agree, I’m on Mac Intel, there are small ui bugs but it’s not a hell and it’s very usable.
I just use Qobuz, stream via upnp without issue. On my personnal point of view I’d buy it even as it.
Just for sound quality…
Now I understand better your nonsensical posts regarding backup strategies of music files.
Nobody said they should not be backed upped.
A backup strategy, such as a deposit of a copy in a safe in a bank, that may be relevant to the data of a Fortune 100 company is irrelevant to an audiophile.
It’s up to you. But as you said already you have no local files. Do it when you’ll have some. And renew daily the deposit of the copy of your files to have your metadata fully updated in your safe in the bank.
I won’t derail the thread any longer.
I have both Roon and Audirvana…who ever loves either one, great for them.
A long time ago a landlord explained to me that it really doesn’t matter where you buy a house to rent…someone will want it. This is very true, as people will rent a home next to a graveyard, railroad tracks or anything. Same goes for software…pick any audio software around, you will find someone who sticks by it no matter what.
To each their own I guess.
