As already mentioned roon comes into its own when used with multiple devices a single user interface for so many outputs. At circa 85 quid a year I just think its a no brainer. Personally I would not outlay 700 for it, and neither do they want you to.
I cannot help on the two locations thing, I am not so fortunate.
It may be worth just paying for a few months, a tenner a month has to be worth a try.
Do you really need Roon in both places? I can’t imagine that this is very satisfying. If you groom your Roon library and make edits, they will only be in one place and missing from the other Roon (unless you keep copying the database between the places). And if you don’t groom it, the advantages of Roon are diminished.
Maybe it’s an option to have one central Roon installation and just play from Qobuz/Tidal in the other house? (Everything you add from Qobuz/Tidal to the Roon library will anyway be added as a Qobuz/Tidal favorite)
Unfortunately, the both are not mine, I’ve just one (and not finished the mortgage), but I spend some time in this second place. And Moreover, I have my audio file backup there also.
The fact that Roon seems to keep the data you edit in is database, and do not store it in my files is also something that prevent me to buy Roon…
But Roon is probably one of the best for presenting, multi-room and maybe the largest base of transport accepted.
@Suedkiez, you’re probably right, maybe just have it in the main place should be sufficient…
I also see that with the Roon interface, you can create some profile. So every person in the house (we have 3 kids) can personalize his view, music to their needs/preferences.
Its worth pointing out that for multiroom in roon the end point devices need to be sort of the same. i.e. an apple tv and a pi for instance cannot multiroom together. If thats a concern.
I have no apple devices. I am not Apple compatible 
But thank you for your remark. I believed that every Roon compatible device can be mixed in a multi-room environment.
“RoonReady” ones are, but not together with other types. From the Roon documentation:
Zone Grouping
Roon supports Zone Grouping, or synchronizing audio playback in several zones within your house. Zones can only be grouped with other zones of the same type, meaning Squeezebox zones cannot be grouped with RAAT zones, Meridian zones can’t be grouped with Airplay zones, etc. Not all technologies support grouping, but the most commonly used options do. These are the types of zones within which grouping is possible:
- RAAT Zones
Roon Ready devices
Roon and Roon Remote outputs on macOS, Windows, Android and iOS
Roon Bridge outputs on macOS, Windows, and Linux
Squeezebox zones
Meridian zones
Airplay zones
Sonos zones
Chromecast zones
KEF Zones (LS50 v1 + LSX)
Note that Chromecast zones are not grouped using Roon, but grouped using the Google Home app. See the Knowledge Base article on Chromecast for more information.
It’s been mentioned further up the thread but for myself as a longterm Roon user, having the ability to put all the control in to one place is a meaningful benefit that Roon brings that nothing else does. I’ve got a mix of Roon capable equipment covering Naim, Linn, Chord, Sonos, Google. I do on occasion find myself gravitating back to the native apps from the various manufacturers, they do a decent job of the basics but once you want to go on a more involved discovery or curated journey they fall flat. If you’re one of those people that has an encyclopaedic knowledge of their music and their tastes, then the native apps from Naim or others are probably plenty good enough.
I like to be taken on a journey and uncover things I’d never ordinarily look for or know where to find. For this aspect of listening I find Roon is a consistent companion and guide in ways something like a Naim app isn’t.
I’m also not someone to labour over the most minuscule refinements, by my reasoning, If I’ve spent as much as I have on the kit I’ve got, it should do a decent job regardless, although I appreciate the interest and potential benefits of those exercises, get the basic setup right and enjoy what you got being the main mantra here.
I’ll admit I was initially skeptical, why pay for something that doesn’t provide any content or appear to make what I have better somehow, but having spent more time with it over the years, and laboriously digitising my CD library from scratch within Roon (approx 12,000 CD’s, lockdown drove me to it) I found it a clever and clear way of both discovering what I had and being shown things I would probably like based on that CD library.
I’ve still got it running on a reworked but now ancient Mac Mini Server, it’ll have it’s 10th Birthday this year! I don’t push it with any filters or correction, it’s there to manage the database and drive the front end mostly but even on that basic setup it runs fine and doesn’t complain.
Everyone has a different listening preference, it’s worth a little effort and patience to see what it can do to support a more involved and rewarding listening experience.
App: “scrolling” tab still doesn’t work. 
Well said, Mr. M. I couldn’t agree more about the benefits of using Roon. It has opened up many discoveries for me and is mostly a joy to use.
I like to think of it as being like having a friend with you that knows and shares your tastes in music and you pass the remote back and forth between each other.
I’ve been doing it today in fact, I picked a recommended artist/album it suggested and it’s been playing me tracks I enjoy ever since, in most cases tracks/artists I wasn’t familiar with or played before.
If something stands out I can take control back again and either bookmark an artist/album or start a new journey.
Seems we have similar tastes in Naim kit as well looking at your profile!
This is a great description of Roon. I too have discovered lots of new music and new artists this way. I also really like the way Roon integrates my local library with Tidal. And as Suedkiez says, the ability to edit streaming metadata is wonderful. The icing on the cake for me is the breadth of the cross-linked credits which lends itself to hours of discovery.
We do indeed have similar tastes in Naim kit. I am very happy with the synergy of my system and hope you are too. The Naim gear we have works very well with the Kantas. I’ve said before that the Kantas do many things well and I am constantly astonished by the music they make and the level of involvement they enable.
Roon addict here. Awesome UX and no other service used has been as good in connecting to artists, music, albums and in finding new music as this service. Only use Naim app as a volume control these days.
Crumbs, they are aren’t they - is it higher than normal demand or supply chain issues? Maybe a new release around the corner? Quite like the RPi400 that seems to be available built into a keyboard, but probably not ideal for audio usage assuming builds are even available for it (or is it just a standard RPi 4 in a case in the form of a keyboard?).
Must resurrect my RPI 4 as a server. We have several RPi models I largely got for the kids when they were younger but they have probably lost interest since they got laptops which were actually invaluable when the pandemic struck.
For the life of me I’ve never quite figured out the appeal of simultaneous multiroom playback.
It’s a bit like Roon itself, I liked it originally but took an annual subscription rather than lifetime and still subscribe.
The other day I opened Roon as Audirvana could not see my Nova on the network though macOS could.
I had to sign in to Roon as I’d apparently been logged out as I’d not used it for over 4 weeks. That was quite illuminating. Not sure I’ll continue with the subscription.
It’s good software but I’m not convinced of any SQ benefits for me personally.
I think more importantly I just want to search an artist/album for playback and don’t really have the desire or patience to use filters and explore similar content etc. It is probably too feature rich for me in all honesty though I appreciate many people love the features it has over more basic methods of playback.
For me at least the 700 seemed a bit silly for life time and it turns out Roon are really saying dont use this option. I have had roon for 4 years at this stage so have about another 4 before I reach that 700 and who knows what might come out in the mean time.
I never use multiroom, but it is a concern for some. My house is such a size that the NBLs do multiroom for everyone 
I’ve probably paid the original £500 lifetime in annual subs by now, but my usage fluctuates greatly. I can go weeks/possibly months without using at all. There are certainly ‘integration factors’ which I dislike that others love, and I was disappointed when they removed the ability to select Qobuz purchases to stream from the WAN as I don’t always have a NAS running or attached drive with copies of all downloads of purchases.
How long you had it. Would take over 5 years to get near the original lifetime price. The price hasn’t changed for yearly since I started at around 85 quid a year, dependant on exchange rates but it’s never varied much at all and never got to 90 yet. I am in my 5th year.
Must be nearly 5 years.
I wouldn’t expect any SQ changes as there is no reason for any (if used without DSP), it’s all about the metadata, filters, and library editing (and multi-room for those who need it)
I have never heard a difference in SQ from a streaming perspective. Certainly from a DAC perspective. This is where people should spend their money imo!