My thoughts exactly. I’d expect the lifetime option to be removed sooner rather than later. It was as you say, a way to bring in additional investment.
There’s a link on the Roon forum stating lifetime subscribers are protected and that the agreement with Harman acknowledges to maintain it. I’d imagine, as they’ll want to increase user base, they may not want to add to the numbers of the lifetime users they already have.
Maybe Harman will drop the price significantly to increase appeal and apcatch those whoe generally like it but don’t feel it’s benefits justify the cost.
I think what’s holding back its appeal is (the cost and hassle of) the additional server required, not the subscription cost. Unless they somehow find a way to make it app only (from a users perspective) it will always remain a niche product.
So my expectation is that either they’ll invest to develop a cloud solution, or start using some of the IP for their own products and ditch the generic solution longer term.
Unfortunately for users, it was Google not Samsung.
The problem I had with Roon is that on my systems the sound quality was not as good as other options available to me. The user interface was good but not enough to reduce my system sq so I cancelled and moved on. I can’t imagine a ‘typical’ person bothering with it and I don’t see why someone who values sq would live with it if you can get a better sound without it. Shame because it had some nice aspects to it
I genuinely have never heard a sq difference between it and any other streaming solution, but I guess if you hear it then that could be a problem.
Whilst I can’t say you’re wrong, there have certainly been a number of people on this forum who have indicated that [to them] it is not worth the cost.
Regarding the additional server required, If that can be combined with the local music store, where the person has one, then I don’t see how it is a major issue as there need be only the one box so not anything additional, just possibly different. A cloud based server I suspect would have just as many difficulties, varying from person to person according to internet connection speed and latency, and, I assume, add additional subscription cost.
In my case the cost was a major consideration given that Roon’s bells and whistles weren’t of interest to me, my trial not involving another box. If sound quality is adversely affected, as some say, then it would be a non-starter anyway, though I suspect that may be a matter of how Roon is implemented.
That’s certainly what held me back, along with ongoing grumbles from classical music fans about problems they’ve had.
Roger
Lots of speculation here but little in the way of facts. I still really like Roon – excellent GUI, seamless integration of local and streamed libraries and the ability to use devices outside of my main system for playback.
I’ve certainly got my money’s worth out of my lifetime sub and fingers crossed for a rosy future.
If not, Inuous seems to be rapidly catching up, so no biggie if it all goes wrong.
This thread seems to be drifting from “the sale of Roon and potential implications” into a Roon love/not love in.
They still need the current users to help with the marketing so they are unlikely to do any drastic stuff. I think 
It is not uncommon the buyer declares the intentions to calm current customers. Either the sellers just wanted to do something else or the purchase was initiated by Harmon and they have some ideas to improve Roon. For Roon I this the latter would be preferable.
I’ve just taken up the Black Friday 3 month Roon trial offer, so this is good timing for me. I’ve tried it a number of times over the years but the cost has always put me off. If Harman were to reduce this and add more services, e.g. Idagio, added I’d be more tempted.
For me, it is very very clear that Roon does not sound as good as the Linn native Linn App on the Linn Klimax DSM/3, which I own, but I am a Roon lifer so I just stick with it.
I hope Samsung/Harman would someday somehow improve or re-implement Roon, as Roon still has many other issues, apart from the SQ issue, as @CrystalGipsy pointed out earlier in this thread.
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This link helped me for SQ. I used to play around with a bunch of settings seeking the best SQ so I may have inadvertently left a few things turned on.
Thanks, the best SQ that I get from Roon is to set it lossless, everything else will make it sound even worse.
Sometimes I use HQPlayer with Roon, and this would improve the SQ somewhat, but this solution is a bit clunky.
Yeah I think for SQ the native apps from either Naim or Linn or Innous likely sound just a smidge better but I’ve grown so accustomed to the Roon interface after using it for a few years.
I once thought the Naim app sounded a little better than Roon, but found when using the Naim app it was very, very slightly louder. Once volume was equalized between the two, they were identical for me. (And, no, I haven’t bothered to keep checking this across firmware updates.)
I use HQplayer with Roon. The key is it is no longer using roon’s audio player. I also upsample to dsd so it is a bit of a different ball game
Once I followed the optimization guide, now I can’t tell the difference between the Naim app and Roon. I clearly got myself in trouble a while ago messing with settings/DSP/upsampling etc.