MUSE - Precision Audio Control

MUSE - Precision Audio Control (DSP) gives you tools that can potentially create loud or damaging sounds. Begin by experimenting at low volume levels until you are confident that your settings produce the desired effect. If you experience unwanted results, disable your changes and make adjustments - or ask for assistance on our Community site.  

Getting Started

MUSE is the new name for Roon and Roon ARC's sound engine and audio processing suite (formally named Roon DSP). There are several ways to access MUSE. And each zone has its own, independently configurable MUSE settings:

MUSE in Roon

MUSE in ARC

Filters

Filters in Roon

The list below reflects filters that can be applied to an audio stream in Roon.

1. Headroom Management
   
2. Sample Rate Conversion
   
3. Parametric Equalizer
   
4. Procedural Equalizer
   
5. Crossfeed
   
6. Convolution
   
7. Audeze Presets
8. Speaker Setup

The filters below are fixed in their positions, and cannot be removed or appear more than once :

1. Headroom Management 
   
2. Sample Rate Conversion

The remaining five filter types can appear multiple times and can be added, removed, or re-ordered :

1. Parametric Equalizer
2. Procedural Equalizer
3. Crossfeed
   
4. Convolution
   
5. Audeze Presets
   

Filters in ARC

The list below reflects the streamlined MUSE Precision Audio Control suite features that are available in ARC.

1. Equalizer
   
2. Crossfeed
   
3. Volume Leveling
   
4. Balance
   
5. Sample Rate Conversion
   
6. DSD
   
7. Headroom Management

MUSE Tips

Pay attention to Headroom Management

Insufficient headroom is one of the most common reasons why DSP configurations don't sound right. Roon provides tools for troubleshooting and managing headroom and clipping during signal processing. For more information, see Headroom Management.

Use the Enable/Disable Switches

Both MUSE as a whole, and the individual MUSE filters within it can be enabled/disabled using switches that look like the ones below.

MUSE switches turn "Roon purple" when enabled.

MUSE switches in Roon

MUSE switches in ARC

Toggling filters on and off is great for A-B testing! If a MUSE filter you've selected isn't working as expected, and isn't showing up in the signal path, make sure that the relevant switches are flipped to "enabled".

It's normal for music to drop out for a few seconds when enabling/disabling filters in Roon and ARC.

Keep an eye on the Signal Path If you are playing with DSP features, it pays to be familiar with your Signal Path and to get in the habit of checking it often to make sure things are properly functioning per your expectations. And, don't forget to share your favorite signal paths on the community!

Pay attention to CPU Usage

Some of the MUSE features in Roon may consume higher CPU resources. Nothing beats a nice beefy Core i7 or Apple Silicon processor if you want to turn everything up to 11. We encourage you to review our Server and Remote recommendations if you're unsure whether your system can meet your expectations.

Use the processing speed indicator to get a sense of how "close to the line" you are. Numbers below 1.0 mean that the CPU on your server is not powerful enough to execute the configuration you've requested. This is about as close to the CPU threshold as you want to be:

Note that Roon currently runs the DSP engine on one CPU core per zone--so this reflects the load relative to consuming a full core. "2.0x" means you're using 50% of one CPU core to play music in this zone. If you see no processing speed listed in the signal path, this means that the processing speed is over 100x. 

Pay attention to Network Utilization

When combining upsampling features with network-based streaming, bear in mind that there's a huge difference between playing something at CD quality and playing the same content at DXD or DSD256. At this resolution, your network could be working 15 times harder than before, depending on the configuration. Huge differences like this can sometimes expose latent performance issues. This is true of all networks, but especially so when using WiFi or Ethernet-Over-Power.

Zone Grouping

When using RAAT, MUSE features with Zone Grouping are fully interoperable. When using AirPlay, Meridian, Sonos, and Squeezebox streaming, there are some limitations.

Not into DSP? Fear Not

If DSP features aren't your cup of tea, no problem. Just as in previous versions of Roon, MUSE is disabled by default, except when it's required to maintain compatibility with your output device. If you chose not to venture into MUSE, nothing is different than it was before. As always, you can verify bit-perfect playback using Roon's Signal Path feature.

If you encounter any MUSE-related issues, head over to our Community Site and let us know the full details of your situation. We'll be happy to help you out!

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