To Roon or not to Roon

I used Roon for a 30 day trial and chose not to stick with it. It is an attractive program in many ways for organizing and exploring one's music collection. However, I actually found it frustrating since Roon doesn't have an option to explore my server's folder setup, which is my primary method of organizing my music. They want you to find music their way and to hell with the way you used to do it.

Also, I am very happy with the way Qobuz lets me explore new music and material I don't have in my own collection. Roon didn't improve that experience for me.

All in all, it just wasn't worth the cost for a few bells and whistles, and it went backwards in areas I wanted to keep. However, I know a lot of people who love Roon, so this is a decision only you can make for yourself.

I will say my exploring of Qobuz through Roon is very seamless and once I easily discover titles I wish to stream I can have them always appear in my collection.  The experience of having my 13TB of music files and my Qobuz selections all appear in the same singular library presentation to me makes it a superior experience. 

Roon is delivered via ethernet to an Ayre QX-5 digital hub that is both endpoint and DAC.  The sound, especially Qobuz 192/24, is superb.  The suggestions that follow the end of my selections have introduced me to recordings that have become some my favorites.  That process is uncanny in its predictive ability -- thumbs up or down helps train the process.  

If you use both tidal and qobuz, like I do, then roon is genius. No Spotify, though, which means you can't use it anymore, or at least I don't think so. 

Roon is great.  The RPi can be a great endpoint, but honestly, if you get a quiet, dedicated server, I think it's fine to just run USB from the server to a quality DAC. I have an RPi with a LPS and (this changed the game) a quality DC cable from the LPS to the RPi.  But I have a 3m AQ Diamond USB and run it from an Intona isolator connected to my server often instead.  Keeps it simple, Ubuntu server, fast and few issues.  Keep the power clean and consider optically isolating the where you can.