Continuing the discussion from Roon 1.1 Is Live!:
“Ouch!” says the guy with the third-gen iPad. I have a general idea of why this is necessary, but it just caught me by surprise.
Oh well, now the Great Pumpkin has another reason to bring me a shiny new iPad for Halloween.
yep, in the same boat over here. Was planning to hold off buying a new one until Apple released an update, but apparently that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Ipad Pro maybe?
I had access only to a first and second gen iPad here. Ordered a mini 3 today for Roon duty.
The smart money seems to be on an October announcement of new iPads. Not sure there will be an iPad Pro, but if one emerges, it won’t be the one for me. Think I’ll be fine with whatever the replacement for the iPad Air 2 is.
I was hoping one of the Roon guys might comment in more detail on why they need the OpenGL ES 3.0 support.
–David
So sad that my iPad2 not is supported. I was looking for this feature (iOs) for month
FYI, android app is great, I have a galaxy dedicated to Roon so the IPad 2 lives on with general duties.
You may want a dedicated tablet as the editing feature will absorb all your time and others in the house may be placated by acces to your iPad whilst your busy.
[quote=“orgel, post:4, topic:3227”]
I was hoping one of the Roon guys might comment in more detail on why they need the OpenGL ES 3.0 support.
[/quote]Because the graphics library that Roon uses requires it.
Was very disappointed by this news I have to say. Quite a few first gen iPad mini’s in this house that were destined to be the remotes for Roon!
But when I searched for OpenGL ES 3.0 support, apples developer pages has the following list - which includes first gen iPad mini’s?
iOS Device Compatibility Reference
Table 2-1 lists the devices that are compatible with Metal and OpenGL ES 3.0.
[quote=iOS Device Compatibility Reference]
iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi
iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular
iPad mini 3 Wi-Fi
iPad mini 3 Wi-Fi + Cellular
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
iPhone 5s
iPad Air Wi-Fi
iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular
iPad mini 2 Wi-Fi
iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular[/quote]
[quote=“hifi_swlon, post:9, topic:3227”]
iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular
[/quote]I’m sure that’s just a typo and it should be:
“iPad mini 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular”
and then the list ties in with Mike’s post:
I reported this to Apple, using the “Feedback” button on the page in question.
Probably a good idea if some others report this, too.
–David
I’ve just done some digging have a read of Wikipedia iPad Mini2 I think this is why there is some confusion:
Wowser, that’s a HUGE disappointment to say the least! That’s my iOS remote plans down the pan.
That pretty much rules out remote control from every iOS device I have.
This might require a Roon rethink which is a real shame - I just never counted on having to buy new hardware to use iOS remotes when they finally arrived….
Same boat over here as I have a 3rd gen iPad… kinda sucks.
I guess new iPad Air 2 here I come. (not happy about spending more cash to be honest though)
If you can stand it, you might want to wait until mid-October (could be earlier, but probably not, I think) to see what the new iPads are like. Even if you don’t like the new ones, at that point you should be able to get a bit of a discount on the old ones.
Here’s some pretty trustworthy commentary on the likely announcement date.
–David
Thanks for this. Doesn’t 12.9" screen seems quite large for a tablet? It would be great for reading newstand magazines and stuff, but I wonder if it would be akward to handle and the weight may be heavier much like my 3rd gen now… But the price drop of the Air2 would surely happen.
Too large for me, but I’m guessing there will be new versions of the iPad Air and the iPad mini, too. If things follow their usual pattern, the new iPads will be about the same price but will offer more in some way (e.g., faster, thinner, lighter, longer battery life).
My “strategic thinking” on this is that by waiting a month or two for the newest model(s), I’m pushing the next Roon-style “issue” farther into the future. (No such thing as future-proofing, IMO, only delaying the inevitable.)
FWIW.
–David
Really out of luck it seems. To use Roon I’d need a new HTPC (my MacMini only goes up to 10.7), Roon software (lifetime for the big jump and savings in the future), and now a new iPad (now on iPad 4 that could be used for many years more otherwise)…
It would be nice if these limitations where not fixed but as some kind if ‘try it and see how it goes’. It’s a music system, what kind of advanced graphics do we really need? I don’t care about speed that much but €1000+ to use some new software?
Admittedly, the hardware bar is set pretty high. I think, though, one of the central things about the overall Roon experience is the visual dimension — the UI, the photos, etc. If you don’t care about that stuff, software like Audirvana Plus (a favorite of mine), Pure Music, JRiver have much more modest hardware requirements and very good SQ.
Normally we’d absolutely support these older models, but the move from the iPad 3 to the iPad Air, and the iPad Mini to the Mini 2, represents a major architectural shift for Apple from 32-bit to 64-bit devices going forward. These new 64-bit devices also support OpenGL ES 3.0, which gives us the same flexibility in our UI that you see in the desktop version – smooth animations, custom graphics, fluid navigation – characteristics of Roon that distinguish us from competitors and have earned us lifetime customers.
We could support older iPads, but in the end we have to recognize that we’d be developing for a dying line of devices, and we wouldn’t be giving our customers the same great experience they get with our desktop apps because of the lack of OpenGL ES 3.0 support. Ultimately, looking at the cost-benefit analysis in the development effort for supporting these older models, it just doesn’t work in our favor. We’ve pored over this extensively and looked at all of our options, but we’re being forced to develop in the direction Apple is taking us.
That said, the move from 32-bit to 64-bit by Apple is going to help us greatly in the long run. By building a 64-bit iPad app, we’ve laid down the foundation we need to move our desktop application to 64-bit. This means massive performance improvements, and better support for larger collections.
I hope that you understand our situation here, and that support for the older iPad models is not so cut and dry. I know you say that you’ve been happy with the older iPads, but as a former iPad 3 owner myself who made the move to just the lower model iPad Air, the difference is night and day. These new devices are so much snappier and a joy to use. A few of our team members are also owners of the iPad Mini 2 and 3, and they’ll say the same thing – the new iPads are top-of-the-line and the Roon experience on them is unparalleled.