I don't think this is a fair comment for Manic Moose. However, you are right about Sony and its past software and they were known to abandon their software altogether. But, Manic Moose has been improved since 2012. The interface is the same, but its fine. But, when you mention about occasional Roon dropouts, I remind you that Roon was an afterthought for the BDPs that were deigned primarily to play music through USB drives. While you may like the Roon interface, I dislike it as its too busy for me. Last night I am using the BDP3 and watching 4k on my 65" Sony A9G. If the BDP were anywhere approaching the look of Roon, it would be difficult to look at both my 4k TV and the interface of a Roon related product.There would be too much colors for me. The Manic Moose interface is easy on the eyes. Additionally, both Aurender and Auralic have their own issues so the grass is not greener.
I think my comments are more than fair. Equipment performance is what I’m after, both system and sound. Manic Moose needs an upgrade, and Bryston is apparently working on it. My point in using the Sony example, is that getting outside help might be the prudent play. Do what you’re good at, and hire out what you’re not good at.
From a raw quality standpoint, the BDPs are great machines, and I think Bryston MPD sounds better to me than Roon RAAT rendered by the BDP, but that’s a personal preference and hard to quantify.
Roon being an afterthought is a reasonable statement. Roon compatibility was added after the initial BDP-1 hardware release. The firmware was adapted, then pulled back, and fixed to be Roon RAAT compliant.
When I purchased my first BDP-1, Roon had not yet been developed. Roon was released in 2015. I’ve had a lifetime subscription since early 2016. BDP-1 hardware was released in 2011. Purchased my first one at Audio Advisor in 2012. I’ve reflashed several CF cards on the BDP-1. They’d get corrupted. The BDP-2 with IAD are far more stable. The firmware update rollouts were iffy….I used to do the beta ones, but they’d get screwed up half the time and I have to reflash the stable version.