I’ve decided to cancel Roon after 1 year. I started with Volumio for a year or so, then have been using Roon and Roon ARC(which I love) for a year. I started using Volumio again about 6 months into my roon subscription to compare both.
Roon is a fantastic piece of software/platform, is well supported, and has a great community. The lyrics and artists bio’s will be what I miss the most. It is an outstanding feature! I don’t have a lot of stored music, but I feel one of roon’s biggest strengths is the integration between stored and streamed music.
My biggest takeaway and feedback is that I found myself not enjoying listening and finding music with roon. It took me awhile to figure out why I wasn’t listening as much as I used to and just not enjoying my time when I was. I felt stuck in a rut. This is when I went back and tried Volumio again.
Volumio, while still fiddly and buggy at times(it’s greatly improved from when I started), resparked my interest and joy for listening. Volumio is not as polished as roon, but for me it’s more streamlined and intuitive to use. It has just what you need for a UI/UX, and you can dig deeper and modify if you so choose.
I mostly stream Qobuz, but feel that Spotify is still head and shoulders above any other service for suggesting and finding music that I enjoy. I also use Pandora, Radio Paradise, and Bandcamp. This is another plus for Volumio.
Thank you Roon and team, it’s been a good experience. Who knows if a basic streamlined version appears I might be back.
Sounds like a well thought over decision, and I can partly understand what you mean by roon not being the perfect tool for finding new music and getting inspiration far from what you have listened to before. It is rather the perfect tool to categorize, sort and explore what you already have or what is close to what you have. If your local collection is not big, this might not be the most important feature for you.
Was wondering how Volumio became your preferred tool for finding new music and how it works? Tried it some years ago and it did not really convince me.
I agree regarding Spotify’s algorithm being really advanced in AI terms, but for me it did not work because of my unfocussed musical taste and vast variety of genres.
My non Roon future would probably involve Plex/Plexamp and Sonos along with Tidal, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Youtube and a few others.
The monthly subscription is the thing that keeps me circling back and thinking on the topic. If I had a perpetual licence for Roon I wouldn’t even think twice but then the cost of a perpetual licence is stupidly expensive and would exceed the cost of a monthly subscription for my remaining years 
plus the prospect of something better coming along keeps me looking and hesitating over a long term commitment to a perpetual licence. Even a discounted annual sub would be better.
I don’t think the perfect music exploration tool exists yet and that’s a topic for a massive break out conversation … particularly with AI offering exploration support … but I find myself using a lot of sources and Roon certainly isn’t the primary.
If you’d try to tell me 10 years ago that I’d be paying for a service that sat between my speakers and another service that I also paid for as a music subscription I would have called you stupid!
Bottom line I do think Roon is over priced as a piece of software but the ~2 coffees monthly subscription price point offers enough benefit to continue with it until something substantially better comes along.