In only a few years, Roon has become a true reference for music lovers, simplifying playback of streamed music. This success is set to accelerate with the acquisition of Roon by audio specialist Harman International, owned by Samsung, who also owns AKG, JBL and Mark Levinson. What changes can we expect from this buyout?
Roon: indexation and simplicity
Launched in 2015, Roon is the musical equivalent of Plex or Kodi. It offers an intuitive solution to easily centralize and index a large music library, as well as various streaming services. Whether it’s with its software or a dedicated server like the Roon Nucleus, Roon makes it easy to organize and share your music to various compatible devices. In addition to an ergonomic interface, Roon’s advantage lies in its ability to automatically adapt the transmitted stream to the decoding characteristics of the receiver, be it an amp, a pair of connected speakers or a network player, for example.
Roon: the solution of tomorrow
With over 1000 Roon-certified devices in less than a decade and 200 compatible brands, Roon’s rise has been meteoric. It could well become the reference hi-fi software in the future. A future that is now being written by the American manufacturer Harman. Roon benefits from the strength and expertise of this giant to continue simplifying and popularizing digital music enjoyment.
“At Harman, we take great pride in our ability to create exceptional audio experiences for our partners and consumers around the world,” said Dave Rogers, President of Harman’s Lifestyle Division. “The Roon team shares our passion for delivering exceptional sound and connectivity to music lovers as they browse, discover and listen at home and on the move. We look forward to welcoming Roon, whose impressive talent will join the Harmanet family and strengthen our already strong engineering capabilities.”
Roon: the same formula
As Harman already does with many other subsidiaries, Roon will operate autonomously and retain its existing team. All current Roon operations will remain in place and continue to be dedicated to software, with the shared goal of delivering engaging and personalized audio experiences across a universe of products and platforms. Harman is also committed to accelerating the development of the Roon Ready ecosystem of certified devices to maximize compatibility.
Enno Vandermeer, Roon’s CEO stated “Our team is thrilled to join Harman, a visionary company that has been driving the audio industry forward for decades. By combining forces with Harman, Roon benefits from the incredible scale, resources and reach of a global technology leader, while retaining our independence to invest in the company’s growth and future. We look forward to continuing to bring our advanced data management, SaaS expertise and consumer engagement capabilities to our vast ecosystem of partners, as we join forces with Harman to deliver even better audio experiences to our customers.”
Harman’s acquisition of Roon will be transparent for existing customers. Pricing remains unchanged, with a monthly subscription of $14.99 or $149 per year. A lifetime license can also be purchased for $829.99.
