I'm at a digital loss or getting over UI mountain

Good points by members here about Roon, which seems to take occasional hits related to sound quality but most find it acceptable especially given the access to informative write-ups about artists, the many music choices available through Roon's administration of TIDAL and Qobuz all from one platform, and Roon Radio, which serves as sort of an AI-type musical source that plays selections based on your previously played preferences.

On the downside, the costs do add up, but maybe compare to other costs we have accepted as the norm in our expanding digital world, for things like our phones, internet, and cable/streaming television.   I purchased Roon Lifetime (originally $500) early on , which ended up being a good move for me, and I also have monthly subscriptions to both TIDAL ($10 or $19 if you use MQA) and Qobuz ($13).  Currently Roon is $15/mo or $12.5/mo if paid annually, or $830 lifetime.  You could contrast those costs against purchasing physical media, which I rarely do any more.

In my opinion, the UI and UX Roon offers are simply unbeatable. But to get the best sound quality from Roon you will most likely need either a solid, fanless roon core with a good streamer (Lumin seems to work well in this configuration) or the top tier Roon Nucleus + used as both the Roon Core and a streamer. Another option is something along the lines of Grimm MU1, which is both the Roon Core and a streamer that comes at s much higher price.
There are ways to make Roon sound good. However, there are streamers that sound best with their proprietary UI. Auralic is Roon ready but my experience is that you get the best sound from its OS/UI and not using it as a Roon end point.

I understand why folks like Roon. I have tried it.

For the last forty years I have been early adopter of hundreds of software products, for personal computing, groups, and global enterprises. The one thing that you can be certain of is that today’s specialty niche software will be gone tomorrow. I can’t off hand think of a single program I used in the 1980’s that is still in use… Lotus 123, Word Perfect, DOS… photo processing, browsers. Niche stuff has much smaller life cycles. Either the functions will be included in other companies devices, or company will get purchased and included in someone’s devices, or the product and company will whither away and disappear.

Its time is probably limited. If you love it, use it. But I’d think hard about buying a lifetime license.

This one hits hard for me. I'll probably buy a purpose built streamer of good repute and see how it goes.