Roon started out as a kind of High-end Itunes, for the folks with large libraries and related management needs, adding a High-end High-res Airplay, for the audiophile folks which wanted to work via wifi and/or multiple room needs, and finally became a High-end High-res streaming service indirectly via Qobuz (in a certain sense the Qobuz Connect which Qobuz never released), with integrated library management and search functions. For all three purposes it was the only viable software around, because the streaming apps of the various Hifi hardware producers were and are non-competitive.
However, with the emergence of the WiiM Pro this has radically changed. For a fraction of the price of a Roon set-up you can now have a bit-perfect high-res streamer together with arguably the best non-Roon app on the Iphone and multi-room capabilities. If you ignore the incorporated Dac, it is basically the streamer all audiophiles always wanted.
That only leaves Roon as the best library management system around, although even there the WiiM allows for certain things which Roon does not, and in particular DLNA playback via Folder browsing, and direct playback of your local libraries on the Iphone/Ipad via their app.
The Qobuz PC app’s management and search functions for Classical and Jazz music work perfectly well for experienced listeners, i.e., people who see the cover of an album and know more or less whether it is interesting and/or important, when it has been recorded, etc… Mixing up classical with rock in your Qobuz library is a complete mess though, because of the different tagging system (as btw in the other streaming services).
If you are newer or less specialized regarding this hobby, then Roon gives still perfect sense for the search and sort functions and the slickest user interface around. As a matter of fact, the WiiM Pro is roon-ready for this purpose and handsomely replaces all the usual old computers as roon ready endpoints.
Unfortunately, Roon has become very expensive just for the library management and search function. The WiiM Pro might eventually turn out to be the beginning of the end for Roon. Which would be a pity for such an excellent and pathbreaking product, but I am sure they come up with something new.
Or am I missing something here?
