You are implying that Roon is just another expensive audiophile product.
My experience is the complete opposite. I use it with relatively cheap (£375 - £1,000) wireless integrated units that audiophiles consider to be “lifestyle” and home automation products. I previously also used Auralic Aries Mini and a Bluesound PowerNode, which are also integrated units in the same price range.
What you are missing is the fact that whilst you don’t “need” Roon for any of these products, if you do have Roon to control multiple units throughout a home it is a transformative user experience, and there is nothing like it because there is nothing else that is totally plug-and-play that can control so many different products from different brands.
Products like RPi, LMS and Topping DACs are to me simply about reducing standalone static 2-channel audio systems to their lowest cost at acceptable sound quality. I use Roon mainly with portable and in-ceiling systems in multiple rooms. If I wanted sound in every room of my house, producing high quality audio in my music room to just being able to play some tunes or the radio in the kitchen or whilst lying in the bath, which is what I have, and was told by my installer that I will need to spend £1,000 on a control unit and £500 on a software license, it would be a complete no-brainier, I wouldn’t even blink.
Companies like Amazon, Apple and LG want you to build your home electronics ecosystem with their products. My Zuma units are built into Amazon (they have Alexa and Amazon HD onboard) and Apple (with Airplay2 and Apple Music onboard), some of which I use. But for sound, Roon provides an ecosystem like nothing else.
Roon software isn’t a gamble. There is a trial period available. I did a trial in about 2016 and decided not to buy it for a standalone system. I bought in 2019 for multi-room and even then I paid for one year before buying a lifetime subscription on renewal.
For me, music is the antithesis of clinical calculation. It has been the one constant in my 67 years, and rarely when buying albums or equipment to play them on on have I “done the math”. Roon is a key component of my system, yet the lifetime subscription probably only represents around 5% of its overall cost. I made decision to purchase Roon in exactly the same way as any other piece of equipment, that is a) will it enhance my enjoyment of the music I play, and b) can I afford it (this one is moot, as I usually bought it anyway).
I bought lifetime because I believe in idea and I want to support music maniacs. The app suits me, but still lack opening for community to build bigger ecosystem around artists and albums but I believe than it is matter of time. I agree with @Nick_Cassidy in the case of price. Pointless to do any math here.
There was a Bohemian artist in New York, after his wife died he cremated her, then had a memorial party for friends in his apartment, then he stood there with the urn and didn’t know what to do with it, and eventually flushed the ashes down the toilet. Then he got a bad conscience for this cavalier treatment, so he flushed a bouquet of flowers down after her.
Think I bought lifetime maybe back 2016 when it was $499 full price and they had a Black Friday sale for about $150 off. I also got a partial credit back for switching from an annual to lifetime so think I paid around $300. At $120 a year, it seemed very little risk to switch to lifetime.
I still love what roon has to offer but think some of the streaming apps are getting closer and even have better interfaces for the phone. So curious what future updates roon has coming out.
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
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Absolutely it is. More so than DACs have improved since 2015 anyway.
I bought my lifetime this time last year. This is why
I’m old enough to know that 5 years goes by in the blink of an eye.
I’ve tried everything else that interested me and vastly prefer Roon.
I also know that monthly/annual prices can easily rise - if they rose with inflation the math would already be quite different. Software has large margins but eventually they will increase the price.
I want the luxury of ownership. It sounds weird, but I’m just happy not to pay annually and not to worry about it. I also know that the more time passes, the happier I will be with my decision, vs. “yet another year wishing I’d signed up for lifetime all those years ago.”
I’m 55 and as long as I live I plan on using Roon. That might mean I crap out next year but statistically, I’m absolutely likely to save money on it, while having paid Roon a fair amount.
I’m not trying to persuade anyone, just answer OPs question as to whether I’ve done the math. I have and lifetime won out.
I wouldn’t cancel it, who knows what the financial future brings for each of us. Getting an additional subscription if funds allow has my full support though
Hi because in a country like mine (South Africa) where the currency devalues or improves on a month-to-month basis I’ll never have a fixed cost because I’m charged in dollars. I’d definitely rather pay the full amount once off than guessing the next month, plus I personally do not like subs at all, the consistency/stability of Roon as a company makes me more than satisfied with its ability to keep going well into the future.
A suggestion for Roon would be allowing an option to pay off the lifetime sub over a set time. I would take that option.
Roon have previously commented on that, and said they would not consider the rent to buy model.
Further they have indicate that the option to purchase a lifetime licence may be withdraw at some point in time.
My personal view is that Roon have only continued to offer lifetime to satisfy the dealer / installer / Nucleus market … outside of that I suspect its contribution to Roon is limited.
Thanks for the reply, because of the fluctuations in the currencies at the moment I’m being forced to look at other services that do similar things that ROON does, probably not as well but it’s the way of things at the moment. If Roon is satisfied with the market they have and not interested in expanding the other smaller markets with the rent-to-buy option, it is what it is. I hope they change their policy. I’m not at all interested in a subscription service.
