Michael,
I'll give you an example of something very cool roon does. Yes, other music services do it on some level, but not to this level.
I had been listening to Billy Gibbons and the BFG's (a very, very cool and fun recording) think part ZZtop, part latin/cuban music and mix it up. Roon had suggested The BFGs album to me after listening to ZZtop and Santana. After that I listened to the Black Keys new stuff which I hadn't purchased yet... but with Quboz it streamed. When those tracks were over, Roon just went into playing a Ben Harper / Charlie Musselwhite album that I had never heard before. I've listened to a bit of Ben Harper, but had not heard of Charlie Musselwhite. I loved it, so I added it to my playlist. Then, I started reading about Charlie Musslewhite (who has been around forever!).
Then I listened to some Kenny Wayne Shepherd yesterday and some Joe Bonnamassa.. after it ended a cool track by Robben Ford (again, new to me) came on and I saved it...
It's just super super cool.
Which, gets back to the Salk Streamer... it's really such a bargain compared to other options out there I'm so glad I bought it. If you compare something like a Roon Nucleus, plus what you would need to add - the Salk is a bargain.
But, it's really opened up a lot of new music to me. Very, very cool.
I have a 16 year old daughter (and a 14, 9, and 7... but that's a WHOLE other issue). But as she has started to explore music, she likes some of mine. But we were listening to one of her bands the other day which I thought was OK, but another track came on by another artist and I told her - I like that a lot. "so do I Dad!" So that was pretty cool.
I'll work on an Avatar. Hoping to have some new (or new used) Salks back in the listening room this year!