I never really thought of the Apple TV as a high res audio device particularly if you run it through the TV before the KEF.
Apple TV is pretty handy and easy for Pandora, Apple Music, Plex for Flac files on my NAS and now Tidal. I don’t use Spotify any more but they should really do an Apple TV app too.
All of these coming from Apple TV sound really good via optical to the Kef’s and they should be using the Kef’s dac and amp so I would think Apple TV is basically a pass through. The Apple TV is ethernet connected and passes HDMI to optical to the Kef’s.
I think Roon has done some pretty special things to make Roon on the Kef’s sound better…
I use Roon with Tidal, iTunes Music, and FLAC files on my NAS and they all sound great on the Kef’s attached to my TV.
I also use Roon with two stereo paired Sonos Ones in the bedroom and that sounds good enough for bedroom speakers plus I get Alexa functionality from them.
I see a new app update showed up on the 21st but no firmware update since the last one yet this says it works with the firmware update from a month and a half ago…
Does he explain the failure rates?
I’ve been using Roon wireless on the Kef’s since the released of the update. Today I tried the optical input on Kef’s just straight out of my MacBook Pro. Exclusive mode in Roon. To me it sounds better than the WiFi. I have no idea why. Anyone else compared?
Looks like the Elacs may finally be coming out.
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/elac-argo-speaks-loud-and-clear![elac|690x448]
Much more on the Elacs including you can use their Discovery server to do Roon essentials with them.
http://www.avsforum.com/best-of-ces-2018-elac-argo-series-powered-speakers/
This is interesting. Combining a Bluesound Node 2 and the Kefs for Roon.
Agree interesting stuff. That Bluesound Node 2 is only $500. Are you planning to try it?
Hi John, I think I am going to try it for the combination of full RAAT and MQA. Besides I’m going to be getting my yearly work bonus in a few weeks and its already burning a hole in my pocket 
Plus let us know how you like it. Especially vs the stand alone KEF.
OK, sounds good.
Haha you beat me to it @JnanM . Anyway, having ifi itube2 in the chain is giving a warmer sound.
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Any update on your Bluesound integration, is it worth the cost over Ethernet Roon to Kef’s (ERK) to your ears?
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Hmm, is this question directed at me? Bluesound Node 2 is a great add-on in my scenario as I subscribed to Deezer Hifi over Tidal Hifi. And, at the moment Roon doesn’t support Deezer yet. I also wanted to add a tube in my music chain, so again another reason to add Node 2.The warmer tubed sound is definitely better for my ears.
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AFAIK the KEF LS50W are not ROON-ready and do not support RAAT. ROON support for KEF is native and somehow different to RAAT.
Is this signal path bit perfect and, whenever ROON will be able to do the first MQA unfold, would it enable the KEF LS50 to do full MQA rendering (in case of future MQA support by KEF)?
Hard to say that they are not Roon Ready since I am using my LS50W for Roon without any additional help. It’s fair to say that they are not RAAT. Doubt that the DAC in the KEF can support MQA. You buy this system for simplicity of use and for convenience not for it’s capability to act as a $5000 DAC.
You are correct that the LS50W is not Roon Ready in the technical sense, because we do indeed use a non-RAAT protocol to talk to them. That link in the signal path is bit perfect.
I don’t know anything one way or another about whether the LS50W will support MQA in the future.
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