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 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