After seeing this announcement and seeing the feature set and price point of the Bluesound devices, I treated myself to a Node 2 as well as a Pulse Flex.
The Node 2 is hooked up to my Abacus powered speakers in the living room, the Pulse Flex brings some nice sounds to the kitchen.
Very happy with these devices as is. Once the Roon support is ready, this system be amazing for the price point.
I have pulse mini, Node2 and Powernode2.
To me the Powernode2 was/is the most impressive piece. The amp is very good for anywhere but a primary listening room and the DAC is solid. After trying it out I decided to start using the DAC on the Node2 (where previously I has using my Peachtree Nova DAC and hadnāt even considered using the Node2ās). Pretty solid hardware which has kept me hanging on waiting for RoonReady integration despite its subpar BluOS app.
So, a question that relates to the Bluesound vault. Will it be possible in a setup with Roon and Bluesound for Roon to have the vaultās music storage folders as one of its watched folders?
and a further question, if soā¦ My setup will be:
Roon running on the i5 sonic transportor which will be attached to my NAS and my router and beaming wirelessly to the Bluesound vault.
The vault will be attached to my nad51 Dac, and from there to the power amp.
Now, if Iām playing a file that is in the vault using Roon, is Roon just sending it from the vault to the dac, or will it be pulled from the vault to Roon and then sent from Roon back to the vault-as-Roon endpoint, thus doing an extra lap around the circuit?
Too late for meā¦ I tried on their forums but they ignored all conversations. Spent my money elsewhere. They are a company that does not care about their customers until they see the big profit potential. I get that, but there are other companies out there that better balance the need for customer closeness and profit.
Anthony,ā¦
Good questions. Iām guessing it is more a question for Bluesound than Roon though.
My guess: It depends on whether the Vault will be a Roon Server or a RoonReady endpoint.
If the Vault is but a RoonReady endpoint, then the Core Roon device (your computer) is still doing all of the work and must be able to see the music files on the vault as though it were a NAS. (I donāt have a Vault, can you navigate to the files from your computer without using Bluesound? If not, Bluesound will need to open up the security protocol so that Roon can see them). Thus File on Vault --> Read by Roon Core --> RAAT encoding --> RoonReady Endpointsā¦ so in your case that would mean a loop.
On the other hand, if Bluesound allows the Vault (and the Vault has the processing power) to be a RoonServerā¦ i.e. to BE the Core system, then youād be even more in luck, as the Vault would be the device sending RAAT to other RoonReady devices in the home.
Hopefully the Roon guys can provide their $0.02
It would be fantastic if Vault or Vault2 could work as a Roon Core/Server. Roon Core and/or Server typically can play music stored on a local disc or stream from Tidal, Radio Stations, etc.
It wonāt. Even the Vault 2 is only carrying an ARM Cortex-9 CPU, lacking the oomph to run RoonServer with a collection of any reasonable size.
Any news on this topic? As soon as its official iĀ“m buying a Node 2.
Not official. should say working.
The node2 and powernode2 are excellent. I have both.
I concur. I bought the node2 when I read about itās impending integration with Roon by the āend of the yearā and, even without Roon, itās a surprisingly good device. I actually use it as a hidden āreceiverā of sorts that powers speakers in my living room with two separate inputs. (see setup below)
I have taught the node2 to switch to the optical input when it senses the tv power on RF signal (everything is in a central server rack in the basementā¦~50ft speaker wire ran to each speaker from 980CI). It is the absolute perfect pre-amp for this specific scenario and once Roon is implemented it will be icing on the cake. Could have just done a power node but already had the 980CI up and running to said speakers.
###SETUP:
Video Devices > 6x2 HDMI Matrix > output audio via optical >
node2 > NAD 980 CI > living room speakers
FreeNAS music library > routing > ethernet >
Roon was supposed to support the BluOS module by 12/31 but my understanding is that the launch has been delayed to 1/31.
I have a NAD M12 with the BluOS module so Iām also waiting for the Roon supportā¦
Thatās not quite correct, It is Bluesound that has to support the RAAT network protocol. from Roonās view point once implemented Bluesound devices will just be another RAAT device.
What you really need is for NAD to also support RAAT.
I not 100% on this but Iām not sure Bluesound implementation of RAAT will extend to the BluOS module inside a NAD. Iād suggest you contact Bluesound for clarification.
http://www.bluesound.com/en-us/news-en-us/2016/bluesound-announces-roon-partnership/
There are minimal details in the announcement above so Iām not sure how this will work but it should allow me to use Roon with my NAD M12 with the BLU OS card. Did you read something different in this announcement?
Hi John,
Thanks for posting that link, this is the part I missed / forgotten:
About BluOS
BluOS is a proprietary operating system shared by high-end audio brands Bluesound and NAD Electronics.
Iād not appreciated this, so after reading that press release, I agree with you ā¦ it does look promising for NAD units that have a BluOS module.
Letās hope you donāt have to wait too much longer.
Dan recently posted this:
Roon comes to BluOS by 31 Jan.
Oh yes - I am waiting ā¦ Bluesound Node2 and 2x Pulse.