KEF LS50 wireless - roon ready? [not roon ready, but supported natively]

Sorry about that.
So my MicroRendu arrives today which will Roonify these speakers until Kef makes it native :slight_smile:

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I’ll be curious when everything gets sorted, if you notice an audible difference between the two.

Yes right now I’m playing Roon through a 4th Gen Apple TV connected by HDMI to my TV’s (Samsung JS9000) One Connect Box and the One Connect is connected by optical to the Kef’s.
I’m playing Apple Music and Tidal files.
It will be easy to A/B this solution with the MicroRendu.
I’m also interested to know if Tidal MQA will pass through the MicroRendu to the speakers with the Tidal software doing the first unfold. I think it will from what I have been reading.

Yes. What I mean is, a rendu is not necessarily needed if you already have a Sonic Transporter for running your Roon core. Because the Sonic Transporter can run (besides the Roon Core) an app called ‘UPNP Bridge’. This makes it possible to stream your music from Roon directly over your network (wireless or wired) to the KEF LS 50W.

I think the UPNP bridge app is also available on the MicroRendu so you can test it. Using the UPNP bridge App on the rendu, you can stream music from Roon to your KEF LS50W over your network. Just make sure your Roon Server, your rendu and your LS50w are connected to your network and it will work (so then you don’t need to connect the rendu to the usb port of the LS50W).

Hi Danny, Team Roon,

I know I need to be patient for LS50W “Roonified” and it does takes time to figure out what you guys do your things to make it work. My question would be does LS50W even have necessary hardware / Space for Firmware updates so that they can be made Roon-endpoint / RoonReady. Dont mind waiting long enough if there is even some headroom for Hardware that can accommodate changes around Roon.

Appreciate all work done!.

Thanks!

I’m curious to know how you could install ROCK on an LS50w. I wouldn’t;t think it has the shortage for that among other things. Or perhaps we are just talking about making it an endpoint?
Could there be some mad scientist way to make it install on a usb drive connected to the Kef’s?

The LSW50 isn’t powerful enough to run ROCK, which is a Roon Core, and you wouldn’t want it to anyway, as ROCK completely takes over the device. RoonBridge is an Ouptut only and has a much lighter processing footprint. The message here is watch this space.

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Yes thats pretty much my point as it seems some are thinking that’s what is being said. No storage is another reason.
I think what we are actually talking about is it being a Roon endpoint on it’s own.

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Correct! LS50W cannot be ROCK. But RoonReady device. A Endpoint for Roon. I hope its easy to implement the firmware to make them RoonReady.

So once they do this I assume there is no physical need for something like a Micro Rendu but would it improve sound quality over just going over ethernet to the Kef’s?

By the way since I am going from optical from my Samsung JS9000 to the Keys I ordered an iFi sound purifier to go between the TV optical and the Kef’s. Seems like a no brainer for $149 and a lot cheaper than the Wyred for sound version.

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Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but no-one has confirmed the LS50W will become RoonReady at all. All we know is that @danny’s got a pair in his office that somehow make him wink. Even if said presence is Roon-related, there’s more than one way to skin that cat.

But if in time they somehow become part of the Roon family, it’s a pretty safe bet that a direct network connection will lead to better results than taking a detour over USB.

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Thats Correct!. Do we even know if LS50W has enough hardware or space for firmware (not sure what all it takes) to get them RoonReady or RoonEndpoint?

I agree. Its completely left to Danny and team get them prepare for Roon endpoint. I dont think its easily done deal. Good Luck to my patience :slight_smile: .

which exact ifi device you have ordered ?

This: http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-spdif-ipurifier/

I use one – it’s good. I did not want to like it, but I do.

@Jnan_Roon

Pure conjecture but I’d guess if the LS50W hardware’s capable of rendering a UPNP/Tidal stream directly from the app that it can handle a RAAT stream from Roon. After all even a Raspberry Pi can manage it fine.

I’d also wager there’s an alpha firmware with Roon for testing and RoonReady certification. But as with any software development it could take several iterations to get to a release.

Hopefully KEF have an in house firmware engineer(s). Audio hardware manufacturers still seem to be getting to grips with the fact they now need to be software developers too so some outsource the work which creates further delays.

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Judging by their very poor software quality I’d say it is very likely they are outsourcing development to somewhere else.

I linked to the Darko review of it.

I dont understand why we need this?. LS50W does not have SPDIF digital input right? (Or i dont know?)

Here is why we “need” this. If the LS50W was Roon ready we could use it as an end point via the ethernet connection and utilize the internal DAC in the speakers and remove the need for a microRendu or other such device. I remain doubtful that this will ever happen.

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