Why would I need Roon?

I don't know that you need roon but the reason I got roon was the user interface and sound quality. In my subjective opinion as I never tested blind is roon has better sound quality over my Node2i, both with my ripped CDs and Quboz. I like the user interface a lot better and the fact with roon I don't really need a dedicated streamer. I let the core handle the streaming and use a roon bridge with RAAT to connect to my DAC. The DAC controls the clock of the stream and IMO gives me a nice simple solution with excellent SQ. 

Ok...finding new music...I hadn’t thought I needed that, but an interesting angle. Information on tracks is a an important plus.

@djones. Good to know. I only recently bought the Node so I’m feeling squeamish about ditching it yet. 

The Node2i works as a Roon endpoint, so no need to get ride of it. 

You will need some device to run Roon core if you decide to go that way. This can run on a Mac/PC on the same network, or a dedicated music server. I use a dedicated Intel NUC running Roon ROCK (which is Roon's optimized custom operating system), but this isn't required. 

For me, the strengths of Roon are:

Excellent user interface with lots of great content about artists, albums, etc.

Integrating content from multiple sources including my own music library (about 1500 CDs), Tidal, and Qobuz. 

Ability to control and synchronize music playing in multiple zones. I have five zones in my house. Most of the time, I'm playing the same music, but sometimes my wife wants to listen to something different in her office.

Excellent sound quality with DSP processing for upsampling and equalization. I use the upsampling in my main system, and occasionally use equalization, particularly for older recordings that need a little help.

After using for a year, I bought the lifetime subscription. Probably the best value for the dollar of anything I've purchased for my music system.