06-Jan-2018, 00:40
I am a Roon convert - after some initial scepticism. Firstly (for a reason that may not apply in your case), the connection to my Devialet via Roon has proven to be much better than Devialet Air. Secondly, I have come to appreciate the collection management and cataloguing as well as the integration with Tidal (and yes, as a classical music lover, I would prefer it to be Qobuz). I have been able to clean up my own digital collection (around 3,500 albums and 95,000 tracks) - getting rid of duplicates, identifying corrupt tracks and systematising). However, I still use my own album titles. In addition to the Roon notes, I can also load and read album notes, libretti etc within Roon - a real boon for opera lovers in particular. I have also enjoyed the radio facility which has enlarged the scope of my listening and lead me to explore some of the forgotten treasures of my own collection - let alone what Tidal might have to offer.
Given the cost of my system of around $25,000 (which I would classify as mid range compared with what some people here appear to have) - the lifetime one off cost seemed to me a reasonable expenditure. In that sense, it seems that we are quite prepared to pay quite a bit of cash for hardware (some of it of the most esoteric kind and marginal benefit), yet expect software to be free or minimal cost - which is only possible if it is either full of ads or has a mass market - and that will never be the case with Roon.
Given the cost of my system of around $25,000 (which I would classify as mid range compared with what some people here appear to have) - the lifetime one off cost seemed to me a reasonable expenditure. In that sense, it seems that we are quite prepared to pay quite a bit of cash for hardware (some of it of the most esoteric kind and marginal benefit), yet expect software to be free or minimal cost - which is only possible if it is either full of ads or has a mass market - and that will never be the case with Roon.
