Are you sure ? Many ? Some brand name ?
I agree RAAT implementation seems not so “easy” for vendors (cf the delayed RoonReady PSAudio Bridge 2), but in the other hand, i read new announcements from AYRE, BRINKMANN and others.
No, I’m not sure; just seeing things anecdotally. I exchanged some e-mail with another high-end vendor that had advertised Roon Ready at CES and now are not planning to support it on their streamer.
I just wonder if it’s an issue of technical difficulty or if some vendors are shying away for business reasons.
Interesting question … i have the same concerns
We asked Bryston to pull it because they released a Roon Ready to users without submitting their integration to us for review/certification first. The review process is a requirement of the license agreement for Roon Ready–it ensures that our shared customers are getting the experience that they are supposed to be getting, and that we are prepared provide competent support if they are issues. It’s something we have always been clear on, and the review process is something we present as a feature/benefit to our users–so we take attempts to skirt it seriously.
As for Bryston’s timing–the pace of the review process is largely up to the device manufacturer, and we aren’t in a position to make statements about schedules of other companies. I am not aware of any reason why they would be waiting on us at the moment. They might be willing to provide an update if you ask.
As for Bryston’s SQ: My understanding is that that issue has been resolved internally within Bryston. They did not contact us for technical help on this point, so we never learned the details. I know that the SQ stuff was the subject of a rumor mill, but I wouldn’t read into it too much. All it says to me is that a product was made available to the public before it was ready. I don’t think it really provides insight into what is going on within Bryston or within Roon.
From our perspective, the pace of RR adoption is speeding up, not slowing down.
Some general comments regarding some of the other points:
-
The most technically trying parts of RR integration are not related to audio. They relate to user-experience touch-points like volume control, source selection, standby, settings, and parity between RR and other input options. On devices with well-engineered, centralized infrastructure for managing this stuff, it goes quickly. On others, RR might motivate some infrastructure work on their end.
-
RAAT has some basic system requirements that exclude certain weaker devices, particularly devices that don’t have a modern fully featured kernel and networking stack. This is largely about ensuring stability, reliability, and future-proofing. It also means that some older-style platforms are left behind. Tough choice, but we think we’ve made the right call for our and our users’ future.
-
Some audio companies do not build their networked audio modules in house. Their core competency is in analog circuit design, or DSP, not in networking. Involving a third company that must be paid, must schedule the work, and so on and so forth, adds months to the time-to-market. We’ve worked through several of these situations–they take time. On the flip side, each of these third parties is typically tied to multiple products and multiple brands, so getting through one of those enables a lot of products to be released.
-
Going back to add features to existing products is more work than integrating it into future plans. Some of the manufacturers we are working with are approaching RR this way, so RR support in those brands is waiting for product releases entirely unrelated to what we are doing.
-
Lots of companies say lots of things before/during/after trade shows that don’t become true, or don’t become true for a long time. The socially normative thing to do at/around trade shows is to say yes a thousand times and then work out the details later. This is just part of how the industry works, not something I would read into too deeply.
Without visibility into what’s going on, it’s very difficult to guess why a particular manufacturer is taking a while to release, or why they are/aren’t supporting RR at the moment, or why they may have changed their mind. We can share what’s going on within Roon (and I’m happy to take any questions on that topic), but we really cannot share the private internal details of other companies–it’s up to them to decide whether or not to be open about that stuff.
9 Likes
Thanks for taking the time to reply. To clarify, a number of people have asked on their support forum on AudioCircle, hence the posts on this thread.
I have asked my dealer, who is in contact with James at Bryston, to see if they have an update. If anything is forthcoming I’ll post an update. However, if they’re not responding on their own forum regards this I don’t know how likely it is he’d respond with anything concrete.
We’ll see.
P.S. Brian, many thanks for your input.
I own a BDP-1 and hope to be able to try it Roon Ready. At least it works in squeezelite. When the questions about Roon implementation are posed to Bryston, the responses are vague and non-definitive, so it doesn’t appear to be a priority. The cynic in me foresees Bryston making RR available on new product releases (like the Bryston pi) but not retro equipment, since that doesn’t help sales.
As far I know Roon has a Bryston BDP for evaluation. That is what Bryston claims anyway. So what is taking so much time for getting Roon approved on the Bryston BDP’s?
SQ ??? MPD sounding better than Roon,…? In my experience they are really close, but if I have to decide which one wins, it would be MPD. But that’s only for SQ. On every other aspect Roon is king, and SQ-wise it’s so close that differences are only noticable to very experienced listeners. I used uncompressed files for evaluayion of SQ. Using compressed files for evaluating SQ makes no sense to me.
As far I know Roon has a Bryston BDP for evaluation. That is what Bryston claims anyway. So what is taking so much time for getting Roon approved on the Bryston BDP’s?
This is what the review process looks like:
- Manufacturer sends us hardware
- Manufacturer develops their integration
- Manufacturer asks us for technical help if they need it.
- Manufacturer provides a firmware update and says “we’re ready, review it”
- We review, and either certify the implementation or send the manufacturer a list of issues
- Repeat until the device is certified as Roon Ready (2-3 rounds typically)
- Manufacturer announces that device is Roon Ready + releases firmware to the public
There are two places in the process where it’s possible for a manufacturer to wait for Roon to do something:
- Requests for technical help (3)
- Waiting for us to perform a review (5)
There are several points in the process where Roon has hardware in their possession, but is not the bottleneck. As best as I can tell, no-one is attempting to mislead you.
5 Likes
My dealer had a reply that Bryston are still talking with Roon, and that it will likely take a few months to sort out.
Hopefully that’s good news that things are being worked on, one way or another, if slightly disappointing that it’ll take so long.
BDP-1 and BDP-2 are Roon Ready!!
Per James Tanner’s post:
Bryston S2.28 Firmware Update offers Roon Ready Capability for Digital Music
Players BDP-1, BDP-1USB and BDP-2
2 Likes
Completed the Bryston S 2.28 firmware update for BDP-1. Update went smooth, and Roon Ready mode engaged without issue. Sounds very nice.
2 Likes
Does this mean the whole Bryston “problem” has evaporated? If so that’s great news for users, and kudos to Bryston and Roon for sorting it out!
Glad they rolled it out for the new and old BDP media players. Have to eat my own words, since I suspected the Roon Ready update would be limited to current equipment. It certainly sounds great, and IMO, seems to have better depth than in squeezelite mode. No double blinds here, just first impressions. I think Bryston users will be the big winners if they select Roon, since it blends great hardware with a superior interface.
Just installed, the Bryston S 2.28 firmware on my BDP-1. I had given up hope.
No SQ assessments yet but the front panel display, front panel buttons and the BR-2 remote all do work 
. That was not the case with the old Roon beta.
This is great!
Likewise… I will also be eating my words. I am re-installing/importing on RoonServer to give this a go.
And, I am impressed that Bryston continues to support the BDP-1 with new S/W features. They are a great vendor.
This is the best upgrade for the BDP-1 available! Thank You BRYSTON!
Been running the S 2.28 update on the BDP-1 for a couple of days now (about ten hours worth). The thing really sings in Roon Ready mode - makes me smile!