I am using my Devialet via Ethernet, which Roon detects flawlessly, in my living room.
When working, I am located in another room and listen to music via Roon on my iMac.
When having guests over, they have Kodi on a Raspberry Pi attached to the TV in their room. Kodi offers AirPlay which is why I can control it via Roon as well.
Next, I intend to set up old passive speakers with a raspi amp incl. roon bridge in the bed- and kids room.
Given this zoo of different technologies, and the comfort of roon being able to communicate with this zoo, I was wondering why I cannot group any zones. I saw in the KB that only devices within a group type can communicate with each other, but I do not see how my current setup disqualifies, at least i would have expected t to group iMac and Devialet together. Having Kodi with AirPlay it unfortunately disqualifies as it is a group type of its own
Zones only work with RAAT capable end points. Devialet will have to implement RAAT capabilities before you will be able group the Devialet into a zone. Airplay devices aren’t group-able either.
RAAT has the timing smarts built in to handle keeping the devices in sync and thus a requirement for zones. Devialet Air has it’s own buffer, similar for Airplay so the zoo of delivery methods makes it impossible to sync audio playback.
If you have a Devialet Expert Pro - then eligible to the free streaming board upgrade - the good news is that Devialet just announced they will implement RAAT which will allow grouping. Although you probably have to wait a couple of months.
They indicated that they will review their planned RAAT implementation again in a few months as they currently have other priorities, this shouldn’t be interpreted as RAAT will be out in a couple months.
Their latest statement (yesterday) is "Roon Advanced Audio Transport is already on our roadmap, we are looking into how we can speed it up. "
Nothing is never for granted, but it looks like a clear commitment to deliver it… someday !
I agree. it is a miracle that they even started to listen after spamming them with Roon requests. And given that we waited so long for a Roon/ Devialet partnership, I do not mind waiting a little more for true Roon Readiness.
Knowing that it is part of their roadmap already gives me peace of mind…
