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Samsung (Harman) acquires Roon
The Well Tempered Computer
Follow Ups:
This should not come as a surprise. Nothing will replace the CD (SACD) nor LP.
Says the Luddite.
It seems obvious to me. Roon could sell hardware like Sonus or create a streamer or market it to other AVR manufacturers or even put Roon in Samsung smart TVs.
-Rod
Makes some sense.
Now that streamers are built into DACs and even integrated amps, all one is gonna have to do is plug an ethernet cable into the back of a device (or WiFi) and ya got QOBUZ, Apple Music, Amazon Music or whatever streaming service you like.
Not computer required.
Why would you even need ROON?
First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass
nt
...and I suppose they could do much more under HARMAN.
They presently have the Nucleus and Nucleus Plus. These are basically just PC servers with different processing power. The Plus model can handle more challenging DSP operations but some folks like me don't even use the DSP. I use the occasional parametric EQ (DSP) to bump up the bass and treble to simulate the old school LOUDNESS button when listening at low volume levels. This hardly requires much CPU performance but some sample rate conversions and on-the-fly PCM to DSD conversions are more taxing.
Roon Nucleus turnkey Roon server :
Would be funny as it started as Sooloos. At that time (2007?) a very impressive piece of hardware with its touchscreen control.
https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/MusicServer/MS_S.html
It was bought by Meridian and one day they decided to set it apart as a software solution.
So full circle if it become a media server again
The Well Tempered Computer
My first thought was, is the beginning or the beginning of the end?
If I was a competitor of Roon, today would be the first day that I doubled down, hired new marketing and PR people and accelerated all my future plans.
Today is Roon at its most vulnerable.
Competition is good. Look at Audirvana. They kicked things into high gear AFTER Roon hit the scene and they've been adding features in recent years to catch up. But that's a good thing. Prior to Roon Audirvana was my favorite player.
Harman has been an independent subsidiary of Samsung since 2017. They obviously see value in Roon or they wouldn't be buying it. Lets just hope they don't turn Roon into Ruin as you alluded.
No such thing. All the underling entities are subject to the whims of the ultimate owner.
Harman will likely manage Roon so as to extract maximum profit for the parent company and its shareholders. If not, then Harman is not doing its job.
I am a strong believer in doing business with companies that are NOT publicly owned. The management of publicly owned companies are beholden to the shareholders, not the customers. So buy your goods from privately owned outfits insofar as you can.
Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone
thus the proliferation of companies "taken private".
Way less information on their operating shenanigans available, as well -- 'cause they're "private".
Consider that Musk guy and his little boutique shop called "X".
all the best,
mrh
you left out one critical parameter: in what time frame does the profit need to be extracted?
Will it be a company that provides investors with 2% profit per year over 20
successful operating years or a company that provides investors with 15% profit in one year but destroys the company within that time frame?
it is pretty meaningless to talk about profit margins without taking into account the term.
And, I wonder if revenue and profit from each of HARMAN's brands or if HARMAN brands collectively are even broken-out in investor reports by a huge parent company like Samsung. In the grand scheme of things that "HARMAN stuff" is probably "in the noise" like pocket change for them.
Edits: 12/03/23 12/03/23 12/03/23 12/03/23
The sky is falling! Roon is doomed! Come on Mike there are many incredibly outstanding public companies around. Obviously Samsung / Harman saw value in Roon and they didn't buy it to ruin it.
Yes "all underling entities are subject to the whims of the ultimate owner" but.....
"Harman International Industries, commonly known as Harman (stylized in all-uppercase as HARMAN), is an American audio electronics company. Since 2017, the company has been operating as an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. "
Ruin it? To what end?
ROON only has value (to anyone) if it is universally accepted and supported by ALL (or most) of the players in audio world.
ROON Ready doesn't work unless all of Harman's competitors are 'Ready'.
Integration of the Roon business too closely to Harman might be seen as a threat to others so that can't be allowed to happen or it devalues Harman's investment.
Simple as that.
First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass
Harman bought Roon because they think they can make money with it. However, there are different ways that things can play out:- Leave Roon to "do their own thing" and continue as-is
- Use the larger financial resources of Harman to dramatically improve things
- Do a classic acquisition move -- cut expenses to improve profit at the risk of stalling development and poorer customer service
- Make changes that leave prior lifetime subscribers behind (i.e., add new features that require annual payment, etc.)
- Decide to go more mass market and make changes that dramatically expand the customer base but leaves the original clients frustratedThat's hardly a complete list, plus various combinations of those options may happen, so as noted in the subject line, it will be interesting to watch what happens. Get your popcorn ready.
Edits: 11/29/23
As a somewhat early adopter of Roon this bullet point in your post caught my eye:- Make changes that leave prior lifetime subscribers behind (i.e., add features that require annual payment, etc.)
That could happen. We'll have to see.
In the very early days of Roon you could outright buy a lifetime license for a one-time price of $499. Instead, I chose to subscribe for almost two years thinking this new company could fold and disappear at any moment. Just the opposite happened. Roon continued to rapidly develop their product with bug fixes and new features gaining momentum in the audiophile community with end-users, manufacturers, and dealers. I then made the decision to outright buy a lifetime license. So I paid the one-time $499.
Fast forward a couple years and Roon announced a price hike to $699. They openly stated that their goal was to increase the number of subscription customers as the sale of lifetime Roon licenses would not be a sustainable business model to support ongoing rapid development and new features. That makes sense as nearly every viable software company on the planet has moved to a subscription based business model.
There was another more recent price hike announced in 2022 and implemented in 2023. You can still buy a lifetime Roon license for $829 or you can subscribe for:
• $12.49/month, billed annually
• $14.99/month, billed monthly
• Lifetime billing for $829.99, one-time.
Edits: 11/29/23 11/29/23
"We are excited because" ...- "Roon will continue as it is"
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