Before I make my point I’d like to stress I’m not being provocative for the sake of it and recognise that people use Audirvana in different ways. I am not a full blown audiophile but like good sound and love the fact it’s getting easier and cheaper for everyone to enjoy their music more.
For me Legacy Mode, after sound quality and plug-ins, is the strongest feature of Audirvana and the product would be much worse without it.
Towards the end of my trial I was so unhappy with the track management side of things I was considering trialling Roon even though I don’t really want to experience my music collection that way. I even wrote some Python script to update the Audirvana database with missing information from my Apple Music database. This isn’t the type of thing that’s going to bring a lot of customers to the product.
Then I discovered Legacy Mode and I got my wallet out immediately. That’s exactly what I was after and believe is where the product can find a big market.
I am a newbie to this higher end audio but I’m older than the “hipster vinyl with a bit of streaming on the side” crew. I’m sure I’m not alone that as my lifestyle allows I’m seeking better sound but I’m not likely to have a dedicated listening room anytime soon. Kids eh! 
With an extensive collection ripped and tagged up, many crafted playlists, an airport express in the kitchen, and DjIng software which is compatible with Apple Music moving away from that eco system is a pain the butt and a barrier to using Audivarna.
Until I found the magic button. Boom!
Now I’ve plugged AudioUnits into Audivarna to tinker with my a little too bright digital sound, and effectively plug that into Apple Music for file management and decent UI it’s happy days at my house my friends. Now they have fixed the iTunes remote app for Catalina I can control things from another room, or when I am trapped on the other side of the room, to my hearts content.
So Audirvana is a beautiful stepping stone into this world for people like me who still buy digital music, love to tinker, or for those who can’t afford Roon. With the prices of great sounding audio coming down all the time more and more people are going to enter the market and Audivana can go head to head with Roon’s “will handle everything”approach by offering a “supercharge your Mac” approach.
Ultimately the streaming is going to win. I already spend a monthly streaming budget on downloads so why bother? I have my reasons, DJing being one, so grab us downloaders while you can Audirvana! Big up the “Future Mode”!