Streamer apps critical

Software developers don’t gravitate to gui interfaces? Huh? Who writes this stuff but developers? I started as a developer in the mid 70’s and developers throughout the decades wrote user friendly interfaces for their users/clients, even if it was a green screen from the 70’s. You never wanted to make it difficult for the end user to use your app.

The older aurender software sucked compared to Auralic lightning ds software or lumin’s software, which I used both. The older pure music and the 1st generation of audirvana were much better than aurender.

Now, roon is the best, with the new audirvana closing in. 
IMO, the reason you don’t have good roon equivalent software out there is because software developers aren’t cheap to hire and keep on the payroll. Decent software developers aren’t cheap, probably $150-$200k a year with benefits. It’s cheaper for the manufacturer to make their system roon ready and let roon deal with the developer headaches 

@moonwatcher 

The skill difference among software developers is huge. There are individuals and organizations that couldn't program a simple calculator in six months, and some that could do it almost before you finished describing what you want. 

I to have been disappointed several times trying to "upgrade" my streaming device. I'm also a Bluesound Node (130 version) user. I've come back to the Node 3 times after trying a Eversolo DMP-A6, Lumin U2, and then a Cary Audio DMS-700. In every case, they unambiguously sounded better to some degree, but the app was so bad it negated any improvement in sound quality - sometimes within minutes of use. I'm planning one more try and looking heavily at an Innuos Pulse or possibly Pulsar. Their app seems to have a great reputation. For me, usability of a streaming app will always be priority #1.

I have used the Innuos Sense app since it was first released, and it is the best streamer software available that balances sound quality with ease of use. Innuos upgrades Sense frequently and adds features that have been requested by users, while continuing to emphasize optimization of sound quality. Roon may have a more comprehensive set of music management features, but it uses more computer resources to accomplish that task and tries too hard to be "do everything" software that is not optimized for any single hardware system.  

The cost of Roon is high as are the hardware requirements. I'm a chemistry not an IT pro. I don't want to deal with Roon, nor does it seem to play nice with everything. The mfg will spend like crazy on milled aluminum  chassis an 10 inch LcdScreens but won't spend the money on software