So it looks like Roon prices will be increasing on Jan. 1st, 2023. The lifetime option will be increasing from $699.99 to $829.99, an increase of $130.00. Trying to decide if its time to bite the bullet and pay for a lifetime subscription. Roughly a 4 year payback against the new $149.88 annual price. A lot can happen technology and audio wise in 4 years, but I do hate paying for monthly or annual subscriptions. Anyone else thinking of buying the lifetime, or has bought the lifetime subcription?
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I went with Lifetime a number of years ago. I don’t recall what I paid, but it seems a bargain now.
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I bought the lifetime sub as soon as it was available. It’s worth it for me not to have to think about it and whatever the price is it is still a bargain compared to any other “piece of kit” that we all have. No regrets here at all.
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I had the same feeling when it went from $350 to $500, and was doing the same sort of math against annual, and having the same questions🙄 Though I did unsubscribe entriely for 3 years when I was fine with Qobuz and Auralic Lightning. But got sucked back into it again recently. I could go back to living without it, but…I dunno🤷🏻‍♂️
I have thought about getting a Roon lifetime license, but I was going to wait and do a free trial after the Air Lens comes out. I currently have an Innuos Zenith Mk3 and use the Sense app.
What benefits, if any, does Roon have over the Innuos Sense app? I would be most interested in finding more information about an artist and similar artists to discover new music.
These are, in fact, two of the strengths of Roon - along with the way it integrates all of your music (including subscription services) into a massive library for easy access.
Roon Radio is a great way to discover new music and the artist bios and other information you can get about the music and artists through Roon is a plus.
I bought the lifetime subscription before the first price hike and have never looked back.
Just do the trial to see if you are really interested in what it offers.
My $0.02.
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Both Darren and my brother have/had Innuos streamers, and both hate the app, if that is what Sense is. Both also have Roon. It spoils you for anything else, frankly. It really is the 800 lb. gorilla in the area of seeing, organizing, presenting and playing your own music as well as streaming music. But that’s where it ends. It does not sound the best. So you have to sort out what is more/most important to you.
Since I ended my three-year hiatus from it recently, I’ve discovered so much more great music through it than I was with Qobuz or the Auralic Lightning app alone. But I do not use Roon, even with a Nucleus, on my main system for sonic reasons. Auralic with Lightning just sounds better - to me. But I use Roon on my 2nd system all the time.
My needs are simple as far as not being a metadata freak or using a large NAS, etc. I just play albums from Qobuz for the most part. That was how I could be happy with Lightning for three years, despite my initial three years with Roon starting about 7 years back.
I should perhaps qualify the above - I would say that the “sound” of Roon isn’t “bad”, it is just somewhat “softer”, as in rolled off top, and perhaps some other more difficult to define things - than other means of playback. Many would likely feel it requires an obsessive to care about the difference. As it happens, on my 2nd system this isn’t so much of a liability, so it works in that system better, in the sense of component system synergy. It is also generally a system that I don’t agonize over SQ about.
Thanks for the feedback on Roon. My only streaming service is Amazon Music (HD). Innuos is working on supporting it. I plan to rip my 3500+ CDs to a NAS after I retire early next year, so handling a large NAS library is important.
Innuos Sense is their new app that came out with the 2.0 upgrade. I have not taken the time to explore everything that it does, but I have heard that it is a significant improvement over the old app and I have found it adequate for search and playback.
I should do the Roon free trial now and decide if I should purchase the lifetime license before the price goes up.
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I was like beef and I delayed when the price was $350. I bought in at $500. Basically the price of a cheap cable. I use Roon for 10 hours a day and I love it it’s ability to integrate physical storage and streaming platforms into a library. I have 6 Tb of ripped music and it’s growing weekly as I work through my CD’s and SACD’s. I wouldn’t be without it.
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Good summary.
To be clear, It does not sound “bad”, however 
(as you also noted).
Put me down as another who thought it was too expensive years ago, but later had to bite the bullet at a higher price for a lifetime subscription. I have had a love hate relationship with Roon for many years. I have been pleased with the many improvements and upgrades in recent years, so I use it more these days without too many complaints. The best recent upgrade to be able to use it outside of the home is long overdue. In fact, was a big reason I had stopped using it years ago. Now if they would resolve the search feature I would be a very happy camper.
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I too bought the life time subscription when it was around 350 (after a few months of indecision), and now pay monthly for Qobuz. I would most likely buy now at 700 given my enjoyment of streaming high res files. Currently, I stream 98% of the time versus CD and vinyl; so save 50 to 100 monthly by not buying those purchases. Some people like the convenience of listening to new music via Roon before buying the CD or vinyl.
Not to confuse, but I love the new ARC feature. It was a free enhancement; but, I can’t help believe that it is the reason for the price increase.
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Consider me a Roon fanboy! 
Best you can do is try it. But do look through the roonlabs website and understand how it works and the different components. It’s a tad more complicated then “click install”. They provide a 2 week trial but there is no way to touch everything in 2 weeks. Plan out what’s really important to you and make sure that two weeks has you using Roon and not troubleshooting it. Tons of really educated Roon users over on their community willing to help.
As far as pricing goes… No one ever has any idea when the next big thing will arrive. Betting on that next thing not arriving in the payback period… yeah… I advise people to buy lifetime only if they don’t like looking as monthly / yearly subs. And, that not ever seeing a bill again is plenty motivation to go lifetime. As someone else said… it’s the cost of a nice cable to many.
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I may have bet on (or at least prayed for) ProTools falling off the radar decades ago due to it being non-user friendly, expensive and restrictive - only approving very specific and costly associated hardware.
I was proven wrong about that over the ensuing decades, at least as far as longevity and market acceptance. I now have the feeling that Roon is similarly that far ahead of the game that they will not be replaced anytime soon. So I may bite on the Lifetime.
Ironic that they’ve claimed to want and need regular/short term subscibers in order to finance their ongoing development, yet compel a bunch of us to buy lifetime subs with price increases. I guess that’s how it goes in this biz.
Unlike ProTools, which I still to this day do not care for and do not use (lucky that I don’t HAVE to) for its ugly UI and some of its functionality (or lack thereof) - Roon is sorta the opposite of that. On the other hand there are a bunch of amazing and vigorous alternatives to ProTools in the DAW space.
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I don’t use ProTools because it’s just not part of my world. But, I have met many and know a few who do use it. I don’t know anyone, nor have I ever met anyone, who likes using or thinks it’s “good”. 
But, here we are. You are probably right about Roon. One thing that keeps it viable, in my opinion, is both the closed but also open status of the project. There is no source code available but they have an open API, you can run it on darn near anything, it sends audio to almost anything, there is a whole community of people who “theme” it, etc. I don’t agree with everything they do but they get an amazing amount of stuff “right”. I bought a lifetime sub simply because of how easy and flexible it was as my “whole home” framework. Even if I stop using it in my main system for primary listening my switch to something else in all rooms won’t happen for an extremely long time.
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An excellent simile.
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Really good discussion, lots of pro and con - and lots to think about. Like some of you I’m not really a streamer and primarily use Roon to serve up local hi-res files. It’s not the only game in town, but it certainly has its charms. It’s also not as expensive as it first seems when put into perspective of the overall investment I’ve already made. I have almost no issue with spending thousands on new hardware, but balk at a few hundred for some well-crafted software that adds enjoyment to my hobby? Really appreciate everyones perspectives and thoughts. Like I said…lots to think about.
I guess with the cost of gas and shipping makes sense. Wait…. Wtf? I had a two month trial and it lapsed. I went almost a month on the 1 year plan and they raised the lifetime price from $479 to $699 I contacted Roon and they said I missed out on the lower price by a week. I’m wondering if I should just stick with Auralic lighting even tho I love the Roon experience.
I have tested so many options other than Roon. In my room, Roon on a Grimm MU1 eliminates worries that I might do better with something else. It doesn’t need improvement. The difference between my top three sources is vast and yet not. Whatever I listen to sounds amazing. I’m pretty sure it’s all due to the fuse in the P20. Or the tuning ring I put on my mouse cable.
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Bit the bullet and pulled out the AMX card this morning. I’m now a Roon lifetime member.
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