Denon’s first HDMI 2.1 receiver has been announced with Roon and HDMI 2.1 support. NAD has also released a receiver that supports Roon
https://usa.denon.com/en-us/shop/receivers/avrx6700h?varId=
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/nad-t-778-av-surround-sound-receiver-review
For the Denon at least, nothing has changed. It’s still just a Roon Tested device, not Roon Ready. Spec page does not list Roon under networking. So they are sticking true to form and artificially protecting their HEOS initiative.
/pass
“certified” means nothing?
IMNSHO, if a device has a network port and supports streaming, but isn’t Roon Ready and instead requires you to feed it via HDMI, then it isn’t a Roon endpoint, “certified” or not.
It’d be different if they had no native streaming functionality of any kind. But this is just deceptive advertising to make people think it’s good to go with Roon, yet still requiring the consumer to jump through hoops so they can try to push people towards their HEOS platform.
There’s a difference between “Roon Ready” and “Roon Tested”
Denon has not implemented RAAT into any of their receiver hardware, so they are not Roon Ready devices.
What is the difference? I stream via the network to my Oppo connected to my Yamaha receiver from my Qnap NAS controlling it using the Roon app on my iPhone. Seems to work fine.
If the Denon requires streaming via HDMI rather than the network then that would be a problem. I’d have to stream to my Oppo feeding the Denon. That is what I do now (with my old Yamaha). I’d like to avoid that.
What am I missing?
With Roon Ready processor/receiver you can avoid the entire HDMI and Oppo from your signal chain. Much better, and you avoid sending signal over SPDIF (SPDIF goes over HDMI)…
No, S/PDIF does not. S/PDIF audio and HDMI audio are completely different transfer protocols.
AJ
What do think goes over the HDMI wire? S/PDIF 
Edit:
If my memory serves me right; HDMI 2.0 can transfer up to 32 channels in 24bit/192kHz, and these are S/PDIF streams.
No. S/PDIF is a continuous audio signal. HDMI is an intermittent audio signal included in the video signal vertical blanking interval. Again, different protocols.
AJ
Are you sure about this? Base clock for audio is always a multiply factor of 44.1kHz or 48kHz. Audio does not care if you har 23.976 FPS video signal. This is also why you get double frame of video if it does not match audio signal. It will be better with correction of video than audio. Yes, you will se correction of video drift (double frame), but that is much better than correction of audio stream (everyone will hear that). Of course, if video material is played back in native FPS, both audio and video will match. What is pushed over HDMI is pictures and audio and a specific clock (not the same clock of course); the source controls the video and audio streams selected; and the clocks.
The two formats are different physical layer protocols. Similar data can be extracted from the transport layer protocols.
If the RAAT protocol is implemented into the endpoint hardware, it allows for additional features to be supported above what can be done with Roon Tested devices. From the Roon Ready page:
Two-way communication (for volume, mute, convenience switching, metadata displays, standby controls, and other commands)
Roon Ready means a device is full Roon compliant. It uses Roons own Transport system RAAT to send music to the device via network. Basically the manufacturer has incorporated it into their own firmware. It allows for greater control, transparency and Roon knows what the device is and can have access to other internal features of the device.
Roon Tested generally refers to DACs that have been tested and work with Roon without issues and generally offer up all the formats it can support. In the Denons case it likely refer to it having Airplay support as Roon can send to devices via this but it’s limited to 44.1/16 for audio, or as a DAC with hdmi. Other cases of Roon Tested are inbuilt ChromeCast ones as Roon can use this to send music again with caveats of that protocol.