- zone linking with other Roon Ready devices
- wifi support
- signal path goes deeper into the device on many roon ready devices
- no mac/pc needed
- some devices have buttons or remotes that can trigger actions send signals back to Roon for things like transport
- convenience switching
- standby support
- future Roon exclusive enhancements
The first one above, is huge for me… For example, I have a Meridian DSP7200 speakers setup, and I used to use a MS200 streamer to talk to them via Roon (Roon supports the Meridian streaming protocol).
However, because the Meridian stuff is not Roon Ready, I can’t sync it with another Roon Ready endpoint. Dropping the MS200 kills my control of the Meridian volume/standby stuff, so the loss in functionality is not an option.
So my solution is to use RoonBridge + spdif to get audio to the speakers, and a Roon Extension speaking via RS232 to do the control stuff above. It solves it nicely for me (well, as nicely as the 9600baud RS232 protocol allows), with no quality loss, and I can do it on a Raspberry Pi w/ one of the many digital output HATs.
It’s very important to me that I be able to sync up 2 floors in my condo during parties.