Roon has changed how I listen to music for the better. It watches what you listen to and suggests similar music. The suggestions have always been good and led me in new directions. The UI is very good. I’ve got a Tidal subscription and 1500 CDs in iTunes. It feels like I’ve got every recording in the world in my personal library. (I don’t, of course, but there’s not much I can’t find.)
Roon sometimes calls themselves “Airplay for Audiophiles.” Roon is led by software designers and is very much an engineering based company, IMO. They have written proprietary software for moving the digital sound files thru your network with no loss. But you can run using Airplay, which is how I got stared with Roon.
Couple of downsides…
You need to have some admin chops to install and Troubleshoot Roon.
Roon crowdsources their support. My experience on the rare times I’ve had problems was not good. My fix was to uninstall Roon and reinstall it. Once was with a poorly tested release.
Finally, Roon does not support Amazon Music.
Good news is that Roon is generally stable and works great I’m a fan and don’t intend to drop them Roon was recently purchased by Harman and it appears their engineering focus will continue. I do hope they’ll get better at support