Anyone looking to get their hands on a pair of Dutch & Dutch 8Cs in the US, we just launched them in the new Roon Store.
These come preconfigured out of the box with Roon Ready firmware - it should take minutes to get them set up and audio streaming to them. We also ship them with stands and all sorts of goodies to make the whole set up experience spectacular.
So now you can buy them new with features that long time customers are still waiting for. Thatās insulting.
Others will get them soon enough, we happen to have gone through the pain of setting them up in advance with beta firmware. I know the beta is missing features (REW), and existing users may use that. New users will obviously not, so itās something we can do.
Iām sure D&D will be releasing the new firmware w/ Roon Ready AND REW soon enough, and probably will see it without REW even sooner. The firmware has been certified for a few weeks already, as you can see in the above posts.
Donāt be insulted, there are no bad intentions here against you or any other existing users. Logistics just make releases difficult.
Could you elaborate on the REW relevance? Why would the low-frequency equalization (room matching) with REW be of no interest to new users? Thanks.
I did not say that. I said that new users will not be using REW. Taking away features from existing users is different than offering firmware to new users w/o that feature.
People that buy new (from our store) will get REW integration later, and itāll be a fantastic firmware improvement for them, but they will get Roon Ready now.
So those still waiting for the beta version will have to wait longer, unless they buy from you. Iām not attacking you. It is D&D who appear to be treating others with contempt. And how did you manage to get hold of the beta when long time customers canāt?
As I said, Iām sure itās going out any day now. We just beat them to the release because we knew we could get away with it. They have a much worse issue since they have to make sure they donāt take away existing features from users. More messaging and more planning is required.
Be a bit more patient, they will deliver and when they do, itāll be splendid.
I beat up Martijn for his lunch money and firmware.
And extensive testing too (which is what I did for them last week), e.g. to make sure all previous RM-settings are still there when migrating.
Exactly. They have a lot of extra work to do that we donāt have to do for new users.
For the units we sell, we upgraded their firmware, did factory resets, then configured them from scratch to work out of the box with Roon, setting up left and right speakers in a āroomā with a decent name, and then we put L / R stickers on each speaker.
My guess is that they will release the Roon Ready imminently without REW (assuming they can do so without breaking anyoneās REW settings), and then do Roon Ready + REW soon after. That said, I can not speak for their schedule, and if I was them, Iād keep my mouth shut about any future dates.
Its not access to the beta that Dutch screwed up, its allowing anyone to preempt (especially Roon) their release. Martin did not think this one through well as it does, as Peter said, treats existing customers as 3rd class citizens. Martin, WTH were you thinking?
Are you not getting roon to your 8cās already?
This is all very confusing. In the the link/site provided above, it states:
āIn addition to its stellar performance and professional pedigree, the 8c is Roon Readyā¦ itās as if this speaker was made for Roon.ā
So are the 8c speakers now Roon Ready or not?
They are only Roon ready if you buy new. Those that already have them have to wait. Disgusting!
Are you getting roon to your 8cs or not?
Roon are offering beta roon ready, not official roon readyā¦ they are ironing out a few tiny wrinkles ATM
I know Peter it does feel a tad insulting to existing users, unless you happen to have hitched a ride on the beta programme. But as existing users we are a captured market and the speakers are already good, regardless of Roon Ready status for the product.
Like we keep being told āthey are nearly thereā. But this is where marketing in young organisations runs away with writing cheques the company cannot cash - for new users it wonāt mean a jot, but yes, if it wasnāt for the excellent sound I would have given up on D&D long ago. Letās see how long ānearly thereā takes
And with regard to offering Beta Roon Ready, I made a support query to D&D only last week on the very subject - told to wait not offered anything
Well this otherwise good natured thread has taken a turn for the worse. It rather underlines the requirement for anyone engaged in Beta testing to keep quiet about the fact outside of the testing group. I am surprised that D&D didnāt make this a requirement.
I really donāt see why it would be disgusting. As an 8C owner I am in no way worse off by the fact that someone can buy new Roon ready 8Cās. This does not in any way affect the time line for how long I have to wait for the final release. As has been discussed above, there are a few thing that has to be fixed before the final release.
I think it is a good thing for all 8C users that Roon actively promote the 8Cs in the Roon Store. It will make this new and still small company more successful, which will benefit all owners in the future, for example by higher capacity for software development.
Well, what really makes this annoying is buying 8Cs 2.5 years ago with the expectation of imminent Roon ready as set by the company yet still undelivered.
And then getting an email from Martijn offering access to the beta Roon ready code months ago, immediately responding that Iād be delighted to test it and then never hearing anything back despite numerous email pings asking him about it.
And then having Roon roll out their new store reselling Roon ready 8Cs to other buyers and yet still not being able to get it myself.
While I do like the speakers, my overall experience has not been good due to poor company execution, bad customer support, and now a poorly thought out (by Roon and D&D) rollout of the Roon store that further insults existing 8C customers by offering capability they have been waiting for years for only to others. If I hadnāt already bought the 8Cs I would probably not be inclined to again given my experience with all this.
Calm down chaps, its just music. Believe me; if the beta version/s went āpublicā it would be a far bigger mess and take roon and D&D considerably longer to get things rightā¦ I reported a little bug in the app just 2 days ago, a new version was released yesterday for testing again.
Iām perfectly calm but Iāll stand by everything I said in my post.