To ROON or not to ROON ?

I just ended my trial of roon after three days.  I found it to be full of frustration. Like no easy way to tell what icons are for and how to use them. There is no guide to find out how to do things. For example they sent an email talking about how you can save your "focus" searches by "bookmarking" them.  They then don't tell you have to retrieve those book marked searches.  Like one sentence more would fully explain how to.  I spent half my time searching the web for answers on how to do things. WTF!!  The radio function just played albums I already knew about so it was a waste. Went back to Qobuz/Lumin which is simple and straight forward!

I purchased a lifetime subscription over 7 years ago and have not regretted it for a minute.  I have an 8TB collection on my NAS and Roon integrates it perfectly with my Qobuz selections.  My Wolf server has been issue free through all the updates and improvements.  

I have exactly no issues with Roon! The interface is simply the best, easily most intuitive. As for sound quality, my new streamer has capability to use proprietary music player, Roon, HQPlayer, all in one or two computer setup. Roon has built in compatibility with HQPlayer, along with Qobuz and Tidal libraries. HQPlayer is incredible in that you can manipulate bits to provide best sound quality for your individual setup. I can also use a variety of network adapters, using Roon as endpoint via Squeezlite is present favorite setup. Roon also integrates with local libraries far better than the proprietary music players.

Some complain about Roon sound quality, I have no problem with this aspect vs. my proprietary player or HQPlayer. While I'm still evaluating sq versus HQPlayer and Stylus which is my proprietary player, Roon via Squeezlite is amazingly natural, lifelike, never heard better digital vs top flight vinyl setups. Bottom line, Roon is indispensable for me, while the Stylus player may yet end up with better sound quality, Roon will remain my main player. User interface so superior the trade off in sound quality between Stylus and Roon is far too close to chose Stylus as main player. I'd have to hear far superior sound quality from any proprietary player to stop using Roon as main player. And I haven't even begun to really get deep into HQPlayer integration with Roon, initial listening session have HQPlayer as major competitor as it pertain to sound quality, and I'd still be able to keep Roon interface if I choose to go this route.

I have Aurender and am trying out Roon right now on an old Mac with Qobuz and some of my own CD rips. I love the interface of Roon and it has helped me discover new music easily. The SQ of Aurender as slightly better in my system—better clarity. 
 

Until Spotify has an HD tier, I may run both Aurender and Roon. I could imagine in the future selling my Aurender, buying a dedicated Roon server, and canceling my Spotify. We will see.

I'm sure some of you had seen the price increases below. I've tried Roon out a few times and currently debating whether I should spring for the lifetime subscription before the 1st of January. Music discovery is extremely high on the priority list for me. Roon's algorithms in identifying similar artists to your musical tastes, as well as the metadata that it provides the listener, seem to be better than Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Quboz, and BluOS platforms IMHO.

Question(s): this is the second Roon price increase on all levels, correct? Anyone know the previous lifetime subscription price? 

When we launched Roon, we had a simple mission: build the ultimate music player for music fanatics.

And what a journey it’s been. Every day, hundreds of thousands of customers use Roon 2.0 and Roon ARC to power their listening experiences, both at home and on the road. But we’re not standing still. We’ve got big plans for the future.

To continue supporting this mission, we’re changing our prices.

On January 1st, 2023, the price of a monthly subscription will change to $14.99/mo.

We're also changing the prices of our yearly and lifetime subscriptions on January 1st, 2023. The yearly subscription will change to $12.49/month, billed annually, and the lifetime subscription will change to $829.99.

If you'd like to switch to a yearly subscription at the lower price or a lifetime subscription at the lower price, visit your account page and change your billing before your next charge.

We want to continue to build a better, more inspiring music player for everyone. This change ensures that we continue to give you a best-in-class listening experience.

If you have questions, contact us at roonlabs.com/contact.

Thank you for choosing Roon — we hope you stay with us for years to come. We look forward to showing you what we have in store.

The Roon team