Founded in 1980 and an independent subsidiary of Samsung since 2017, Harman is well-known for its presence in the automotive, consumer, and enterprise audio markets. Roon’s acquisition gives Harman access to a music player for all major operating systems and the Nucleus hardware server appliances.
Yesterday, Samsung’s wholly-owned subsidiary Harman announced a new corporate acquisition that aims to complement its wide range of audio offerings for the enterprise, consumer, and automotive markets. The target of this move is Roon, a small company that released its first product in 2004 and developed music software for HP, Meridian Audio, and Sooloos. Roon Labs was actually born in 2015. The company also released the Nucleus server as the best hardware solution to run the Roon software on, which is also compatible with all major operating systems.
According to the official press release, Roon will keep its existing team and operate as a standalone business under Harman’s banner. Dave Rogers, President of Harman’s Lifestyle Division: “All Roon operations will stay in place and continue to be dedicated to serving and growing Roon’s community of device partners and customers, under a joint mission to deliver engaging and personalized audio experiences across a universe of products and platforms.”
Roon’s open device ecosystem has grown to include collaborations with over 160 audio brands and compatibility with more than 1,000 devices. The Roon music management and listening solution works with the user’s local music files, as well as Internet Radio streams, Tidal, and Qobuz.
Unsurprisingly, the financial terms of this deal have not been disclosed. However, it is worth mentioning that Harman itself was acquired for no less than US$8 billion back in 2017. For a closer look at the Roon software ecosystem, those interested should check this article.
Last but not the least, those who are looking for a good deal can grab the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 7 wireless portable speaker for a solid 42% off (US$139.99 instead of US$239.99) on Amazon.
Codrut Nistor – Senior Tech Writer – 6209 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013
In my early school days, I hated writing and having to make up stories. A decade later, I started to enjoy it. Since then, I published a few offline articles and then I moved to the online space, where I contributed to major websites that are still present online as of 2021 such as Softpedia, Brothersoft, Download3000, but I also wrote for multiple blogs that have disappeared over the years. I’ve been riding with the Notebookcheck crew since 2013 and I am not planning to leave it anytime soon. In love with good mechanical keyboards, vinyl and tape sound, but also smartphones, streaming services, and digital art.
Codrut Nistor, 2023-11-29 (Update: 2023-11-29)
