I don’t agree that Roon needs to stick with servicing customers at the higher end of the audiophile market. The way roon software works makes it’s very compatible with what ‘lower’ end users may want too. What I mean, is that it’s not all about high quality audio, features like multi-room and combining local/streaming libraries have universal appeal. We don’t want a race to the bottom where the focus on audio quality is abandoned but that would seem counterproductive also.
I agree with you Nathan that Roon is more than high end audio. The features you talk about (and others) make it a great experience.
However, you can get Tidal for just $10 more a month than Spotify. If you can’t afford that, you probably can’t afford Roon either.
For years I refused to even look at Roon due to its cost…and I consider myself semi high end Audiophool.
But I eventually capitulated and gave the 14 day free trial a whirl and became hooked…lol.
I still think the cost is off-putting to a lot of casual users who are quite happy with Spotify and are never even going to look at Roon.
Yes I think you are right, it’s not that the capabilities of roon will fail to appeal to a broader audience. It’s just that most people resent spending more than the minimum amount possible to listen to music.
Roon is for users that listen to digital music sources and care enough about sound quality that they are willing to spend more money and deal with more complex systems to get improved sound quality. That market consists mostly of audiophiles and that isn’t going to change much, which is why Roon will always service a niche market.
If Roon is going have a shot at growing, they have to try to get younger people that are accustomed to streaming and gain an interest in higher resolution music. There probably isn’t much growth potential in attracting new users that have digital music collections numbering in the thousands of albums that have not already tried Roon. Due to the aging demographic of the audiophile market, the market with people that own big digital music collections is probably not growing much. Roon has to aim young to expand. I am a member of the aging demographic, by the way.
I love Roon and I think that Roon offers a lot value to users in the audiophile market whether they are streaming via Tidal or Roon or own collections of ripped/downloaded music. I look at Roon as a cost effective means of getting good quality sound throughout the house using disparate hardware on top of providing an outstanding user interface and user experience. Of course, it takes time and effort to make Roon work in three different rooms with different systems like I have done. Many young people just don’t want to deal with that, which is why the simplicity of playing LP’s appeals to them. I just hope that Roon can stay in business.
The simplicity of getting up every 19.5 minutes to turn a record over, and the challenge of keeping your cat off your turntable? Yeah, totally something “young people” are focused on. 
Hell, that’s not something a whole load of old people like me are remotely interested in.
@Rockhound Presume your being a bit tongue in cheek here 
@Alan_Sherman interesting analysis.
I’ve ditched Tidal and am very happy to have done so. I won’t be joining any other streaming service (caveat - unless Bandcamp or another provider came up with a model that properly pays artists).
Vinyl revival is of course niche but I think like anything that is retro there is something about the simplicity that is appealing along with the aesthetics, the community aspects, enjoyment of the search for new music etc.
Personally I doubt more than a tiny percentage of the vinyl revival is about an audiophile quest for the best sound, although clearly that does exist with expensive 45rpm/half speed mastering/audiophile grade etc and so on.
So, imo, digital music is on the one hand incredibly simple - Spotify app on your phone, maybe a Bluetooth speaker - and on the other hand is incredibly confusing. Confusing in terms of the overwhelming choice of music that ironically often narrows listening habits.
But also confusing in terms of the equipment choices if you are looking for something better than Bluetooth. You have non-standard network streamers, you have proprietary apps, you have streaming amps and dacs and streaming dacs, you have servers and server software and you have people insisting Sonos is rubbish and only equipment that costs €1000s is worthwhile. You have raspberry pi’s which are cheap and simple except you have to install software and ‘hats’ and cases and have everything that allows you to do that and then it still costs €100s and who knows if it will really work.
So I think there is a huge barrier to take up of Roon simply because it is hard to put in simple terms why Spotify on your phone doesn’t do the job and what it is Roon does and why that is worth €100s.
Personally I just love the way Roon manages my music and enables me to explore it via year, genre, tags etc. It’s completely transformed how I feel about digital music, but I really only use a fraction of what it is capable of. Also, from reading these forums, I feel what is important in Roon to me, is possibly the least important aspect to many of the users
So, as a non streaming user of Roon, how do I see the future? Well I still love it and I still see the benefits even though one benefit (fantastic integration of streaming and local files) has been lost. But there is no denying it is a fair bit of money, tbh if there was software that provided something close to the same music organization I would leave Roon behind. My subscription is until the end of the year so I have plenty of time to see if there are viable alternatives.
Have you considered that this might be cargo cult behavior? Young people see the cushy lives their boomer grandparents and relatives lived, and feel that by spinning records they too can participate in the bennies of post-war economic revival? Just a thought.
That’s not a term I’ve come across before so I’m not sure I fully understand your point tbh but yeah sure I think if young people see that their grandparents/parents often created a sense of identity around the things they had - be that records and books or cars and houses - than maybe having a small physical collection becomes a desirable aspiration?
Equally most young, or not even not that young people (like me!), are now excluded from owning their own home. They have to rent apartments they aren’t allowed to decorate so maybe having some nice records to look at is a relatively affordable way to personalize a space.
Looks like one for a thesis 
I meant that by imitating the surely incomprehensible rituals of their elders (“Why is he putting that flat thing on the spindle instead of just dialing up Spotify on his phone? Oh, he still uses a flip-phone.”) the young might be errantly hoping to re-create the benisons they received before they were forced to live in the garage and pay rent.
Fascinating. Thanks for the link.
Think you might be on to something. Now if only the boomers could understand we don’t have the money/space for all that audio equipment…
If you want to know what it’s like to use Roon if you’re a non-streamer just log out of any services and just use your music. That’s what it’ll be like.
You lose:
- discography section if you are browsing by artist
- recommended albums
- key members of
- new release for fans of
- collaborators associated with
I’ve just recently noticed there is quite a bit scrolling of involved just to see what albums I have of an artist in my library.
- a huge picture with a play now and like button
- overview tag
- lots of genre tags
- a description
- popular songs
- finally! my albums!
Yes this is definitely a shame.and in Album view I miss seeing other albums by the artist or which they appear on, that aren’t in my collection, but which were in Tidal/Qobuz.
It would be nice if this information could be brought in from elsewhere but maybe that isn’t technically possible or worth the resources?
Roon’s philosophy is never to display content you can’t play, except when it isn’t, like genres.
If Qobuz is available in your country, you can actually register without subscribing a streaming service.
All information available in Qobuz will be visible in the same way as when you do have a streaming subscrkption.
Dirk
Wow brilliant work around - I’ll give it a go!
Thanks.