I was thinking is it not possible that future updates for Auralic go through Roon for Roon ready devices. I know that Roon is a standalone company but never the less it has grown so much this last 10 years and i find it very bizarre how a company like Auralic falls all of a sudden.
Come on members we are with many. Bring on your thoughts for a stable Auralic in the future.
A part of the beauty of RAAT is that the logic on the endpoint side is super simple. Even if the company is alive, they are not obligated to update the Roon Ready SDK on the devices. (When was the last time a Roon update required you to update the endpoint…).
It does not do much more than load a script from the network, which then does the complex stuff. I.e., “future updates for Auralic go through Roon for Roon ready devices” is already what’s happening by design as far as Roon Ready support is concerned, and nothing more can be expected without the manufacturer, anyway.
Support for new streaming services, file formats, DRM schemes, etc can be supported without a firmware upgrade. In fact, the only reason an upgrade should be required is to fix a low-level bug, or to access more hardware functionality. This is really important. Not all partners/hardware have easy firmware update paths that can be done at home. Our acceptance of this reality has deeply influenced RAAT’s design. Just as with Google’s Cast devices, the majority of the business logic is delivered to the device at run-time as a script. This means that we are capable of completely re-designing the audio streaming and buffering logic without updating device firmware. This is absolutely critical, since most of the bugs + evolution in a system like this relate to networking, not audio. Other than Cast, we are unaware of another system that is this flexible.
Why i ask for this topic is that i bought a fairly new Vega S1 and a couple of weeks later the PSU all in august. It sounds amazing in my setup with the Primaluna Tubeamp and my Sonus Faber bookshelfs. So if i read it wel i dont have to worrie if i stay with Roon otherwise i try to cell it as soon as possible.
I’m sorry for the bad timing, but yes, there’s a much bigger chance that Roon Ready keeps working than anything else.
And the Vega S1 has digital inputs (Coax, Toslink, USB Audio) and, I believe, a PureDAC mode that lets you disable all streaming functionality. So in the worst and unlikely case that the Roon Ready input stops working, you could still connect a little Roon Ready streamer box by USB and use it that way.
(Of course, you may still be concerned that something else breaks and sell it now for that reason, but I wouldn’t)
The LDS app wil come opsolitte in the near future and that is what i ment with my thought.
There are besides Roon so many other fun stuff you can play with as you know.
The 2 things i want with my Vega is future updates and that it wil not be forgotten if you know what i mean. lol
Suedkiez
I want as little possible gear in my setup,hooking up a other brand to my Vega i really dont want but thx for the advice.
There has to be other ways that Auralic gear can stay alive.
I remember the very first time when i signed in to Roon and became a member is how fast it knows what kind of gear i have in my house.
How about Harman International—Roon’s owner—purchasing Auralic’s IP? It’s listed as only $2 million in the stereonet.com report.That would make Auralic owners smile.
This would require purchasing Auralic‘s IP at least, probably also keeping some staff, so that would be much more than just „updating Auralic through Roon for Roon ready devices“.
With the sad news that Auralic seems to closing down, there are many customers become uncertain what the future will bring for our Auralic streaming devices. Will no support and future sw updates from Auralic have any impact on still using ROON with our Auralic RAAT/Roon ready devices?
@atletico, I have merged your post with this thread. This should provide you with some answers.
IMO, the biggest concern with discontinued streamers is their vulnerability to remote hacks, as their operating systems will no longer be updated when vulnerabilities are discovered. A compromised device on your local network can serve as an attack vector not just against your own computer and other devices, but also against targets on the broader internet (botnet).
Only if the device is accessible from the Internet or connects out to the Internet (and to comprised hosts) though. This doesn’t seem a huge risk as those aren’t computers that go to random sites. Most streamers won’t be getting updates after a few years at most anyways.
One could take away their Internet access if one is concerned that, e.g., the original domain falls into bad hands and a new owner installs malware through firmware updates. Or just turn off the update feature. Maybe this would be prudent. They don’t need internet access to work as Roon endpoints.
It only appears to those outside the company that Auralic failed suddenly. It’s even possible that some people inside the company didn’t know it was failing or at least didn’t know the extent of the financial issues. But I assure you that the owners/leaders knew it was failing. The general public is usually the last to know. Sometimes they don’t find out until there is an all things must go fire sale. Even if tariffs, as some have suggested, were the straws that broke the camels back the foundation was already crumbling.
My guess is that Auralic hardware will work for years to come with Roon. I have a Oppo UDP-205 that still works great with Roon. Last firmware update was in 2018.
The only potential down side of using products that no longer get updates is the cybersecurity risk. If the product that you’re using has a vulnerability (software/firmware) then your product could fall victim to a malicious attack and that vulnerability could even expose your whole network to an attack if that product is on your network. That also holds true for not keeping your product updated with the latest updates. It’s not necessarily likely, but you don’t want to find yourself compromised.