Audirvana Plus vs Roon - High Sound Quality at Lower Cost?

I was an Audirvana fan/user from 2012 until 2017. convinced it offered the best SQ available. As with most A+ users, I spent many an hour tweaking the settings.  Two years ago I decided to try Roon (1.3 at the time).  I immediately preferred the Roon presentation.  And that's without factoring in the file management and especially the radio function of Roon - which is probably the biggest difference.  So last year I coughed up the Roon lifetime membership fee with no looking back.  In my experience, you get what you pay for.

I have completely changed my mind on this question since the arrival of Audirvana 3.5. I have a lifetime subscription to Roon so this is a dilemma. Over the past two weeks I’ve been going back and forth between the two platforms but it’s clear to me that Audirvana has surpassed Roon in a significant way. As things stand, I’ll listen to Roon radio but when I really want to *listen* it’s worth the hassle to switch on Audirvana. It’s that clear and that much better.

I listen to bit perfect native files. No upsampling. Roon via Sonic Tranporter. Audirvana from my MacBook Pro. Both feeding an upgraded microrendu.

I also switched from A+ to Roon a couple of years ago for the same reasons.  Last year I bought the lifetime subscription to Roon, I was so convinced about its superior SQ, compared with A+.

However A+ 3.5 has changed everything on my setup.  It sounds better than Roon.  I use Roon these days mainly for its wonderful radio, connected to Tidal. And yes, the GUI is great.  But on those occasions when I really want to listen to my music, I go A+ 3.5.  For me, the difference is component level - using no filters or upsampling on either.