a remarkably basic question about Roon

I second the recommendation to just bite the bullet and buy the lifetime Roon subscription. $699 feels steep but you come out ahead in only 6 years, assuming no more price increases, which is probably a naive assumption. After 6 years it's all gravy. I fell in love with Roon within a couple of hours of playing around with it, then when I added Qobuz it became an absolute no brainer and something I knew I would want to use for years to come. It's also an excellent quality player, at least as good (and usually better) than the best stand-alone app/players available. Couple all this with the extensive, high quality DSP options available and the value is obvious.

@pwayland, you're reaching an inaccurate conclusion based on a weak link in your setup, and I would assume it's your NUC, though I don't know for sure. A buddy that owns an Auralic Altair and I have done extensive comparison with my setup which is; an M1 Mac Mini (running Roon/Qobuz and virtually nothing else) feeding a Schiit Yggdrasil (less-is-more version) through their proprietary Unison USB interface. Using the same headphones on both setups (Focal Clear Mg, powered by a Schiit Mjolnir 2 amp) reveals that, if anything, my setup sounds slightly more fleshed out and full-bodied. Bass is tight and tuneful. The differences were small, to be sure, but even my buddy admits that my setup gives up nothing. A previous poster correctly pointed out that streamers are indeed computers themselves. Any "magic" that happens is with the way the DAC handles the data it's being fed.

@pwayland the statement I take issue with is "My interpretation of these results is that a quality dedicated streamer will be far superior to roon, which is essentially a software attempt at making computer equipment perform high quality audio tasks" and I stand by this as being inaccurate. Your limited test did not give you sufficient information to make a blanket statement like that. I have no doubt, however, that the PS Audio/Zen Stream combo is an excellent one.

@mahughes what's "fairly dumb" is your assessment that Roon is small. Manufacturers are falling all over themselves to incorporate Roon into their products because it's very popular (and for good reason) and their customer base wants it. Equally dumb is concluding that Roon will remain static. It will obviously evolve and improve over time and a lifetime membership sees all the improvements with no added cost. It's also a hedge against future price increases.

@mrcorky it's fine if you don't like it, but to say that you found the interface "too busy" is fairly mind blowing. The UI is a paragon of simplicity. The only way it could be made simpler would be to remove a lot of the features that make it unique.

@mahughes I'm not an evangelist for anything, I'm simply defending against ignorant remarks about a product that I think is pretty great, and I'm far from alone. These threads are heavily weighted by those in the "pro-Roon" camp, and this is an audiophile forum, so 'nuff said.

Really curious about why you mentioned being visually impaired. Do you practice "organically" working that into conversations? Has absolutely nothing to do with Roon so one can only guess as to why you do that.

"I find it straightforwardly and intentionally offensive"

Methinks that is exactly what you were looking to achieve...