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

I'll put in another vote for Audirvana.  I use it exclusively on a mac mini server and run it from the very good iPad app.  Mostly playing local files stored on a NAS but I do use Tidal some.  You don't have total control of A+ from the app but it is excellent for playback.  Sound quality is excellent.

I have used Roon a lot and I think the interface is terrible.  It is so convoluted and cumbersome to navigate.  To me, simplicity is king and A+ is way way ahead in this regard.  Roon does have a little more flexibility in terms of browsing Tidal, but I don't think it is fun to use.  FWIW this is coming from someone age 33 so it is not like I am a geezer struggling to use new technology!  

Late to the party, but I'll add my comments.

I have been using Audirvana Plus for several years and Roon for almost a year.  Running on 2011 & 2014 macMinis.

Most important to me is sound quality and reliability.  On both counts, the move to A+ was clearly superior to iTunes.  I decided to audition Roon in early 2018 (not sure what version) with the free trial, mainly because of the multi-room, multi-device capabilities. 

On sound quality, I preferred A+ over Roon.  A+ had better detail and body to the sound. Roon sounded somewhat flat, lacking atmosphere and depth in comparison.  I was very disappointed because I love the Roon interface, multi-device capabilities, artist & album info, etc. With Roon it seemed like I could control all my networked systems with a ton of different devices in the house versus A+ which I could not. I don't own an iPhone or iPad so I couldn't sit back and control A+ without stealing one of my wife's Apple devices. Roon also integrated my personal library very well with Tidal.  A+ works, but library and Tidal are still somewhat separated in their own boxes.

After several months, all the extra features of Roon compelled me to purchase Roon.  A year later, I now essentially use Roon most of the time, because of the interface and convenience of remote controls for all zones. Surprisingly the Radio is excellent feature I did not realize I would enjoy as much as I do.  When I do more dedicated listening in my main system, I still use Audirvana. 

I will say, I think the Roon audio quality has improved over the last year, although I have not tried any direct comparison.  Cheers

I have Audirvana + 3.5.10. I recently tried Roon (14-day trial). I love the multi-device and library management features of Roon. Very easy to setup. I also like how it automatically combines duplicates so that only the highest resolution shows in library. However, I just did a comparison with 3 different songs and Audirvana + beat Roon each time. Roon's soundstage is a bit more flat. I tried Indian fusion, R.E.M.'s automatic for the people in 192/24, and Mariah Carey's One Sweet Day just to have several different genre. Audirvana+ had more robust sound and better soundstage on each one. 

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.