I have tried again, and can’t hear it, even with my ears 20cm from the speaker.
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It is a WiFi related issue. When I play from USB or toslink, everything is fine.
Only WiFi, only 24/96 or above. Always left channel, if you switch L+R on the back panel the noise also switches speaker, thus always remaining to channel L. Ergo not a problem of the speaker’s hardware.
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Yep, that is the key question for me - the room correction. Whilst my room isn’t the liveliest it definitely makes a difference (easily demonstrated by switching it on and off in the Buchardt app).
I confirm hearing a scratching noise on 2 of 6 drivers. One on the front and one on the backside.
In my case regardless of sampling frequency. Verified with different tracks in 44.1, 88.2 and 96 kHz. Roon DSP upsampled and native.
Always on the left speaker. Never moving to the right speaker after channel swapping.
I also…
Therefore I noticed this only after reading Your post.
Hopefully Buchardt will get this cured through a future mastertuning, stereo hub firmware update or a hub replacement.
Stereo Hub Firmware: p12141.430.0
Chromecast Firmware: 1.36.145856
A 700 Mastertuning: 98DBD37001.bin
Rather than casting Roon to the hub’s Chromecast endpoint i’ve since tried using my Surface Pro laptop as a bridge and then USB into the hub. Not only does it remove the scratching issue but it also sounds noticeably better - i always struggle with the appropriate terms but it sounds smoother, more three dimensional and with better texture than using wireless. I was quite surprised with the improvement to be honest. I’m not sure if this improvement is due to RAAT or the USB input being cleaner, or a combination of the two but i’ll check it again once the hub is Roon Certified.
Worth trying for yourselves.
My bet is RAAT. Feeding USB from a electrically noisy notebook directly into a DAC is everything but “clean”.
My guess is that RAAT in this case is so superior, that the “dirty” USB connection does not have that much of a bad impact.
In my experience with some Auralic devices RAAT WiFi even sounds superior to RAAT LAN, probably due to galvanic separation. But I am only speculating here, since chromecast was never an alternative for me due to the lack of gapless playback.
Yeah, I do hope RAAT is solely responsible here as there is a loss of functionality when using USB: no auto switching to the correct hub input and no use of play/pause/skip on the remote.
People are very different. I hard ever use the remote. And if I use it, switching tracks is probably the least likable use 
Can you control volume with eat Roon app when connected directly via USB?
Supposedly! It doesn’t work very well for me: the volume would only increase/decrease at certain points on the scale; most of the time it didn’t register a volume change.
The Platin Hub is no longer displayed in Audio settings. Previously, it shows it with a pink Enable button indicating not certified. Now, it’s no longer there at all (the via Chromecast and Airplay is still there though). Is it’s just me? perhaps this indicates the certification is coming?
Hmm, I still have it under audio settings, but it is behaving strange, it have stoped two times the last hour, it is the first time it does that. It is still the same firmware version…
Nevermind, it’s back after I power cycled. False alarm. I’m hoping though that on 1.8 update, the Platin hub will get certified finally.
The existing hub was what kept me from getting the A500. For the new version, I really hope they add some kind of volume control. I have kids: They hide remotes.
Preferences are very different. Bein able to control volume via Roon remote app is crucial for me. Another benefit of wireless/active IMHO is, being able to hide stuff like the Hub. A design with a “volume knob” would be unacceptable for me. At least If it was a neccesitiy to use it
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I have A500 with Platin Stereo Hub, run from NUC with ROCK. I also get gapless playback over Chromecast. Dark side on as I type…
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This does not concern my main system since there is RAAT support. But I also have a Pioneer AV-Receiver with chrome cast built-in. No gapless playback here with Roon. Does not work!
I can play gapless as well but there has been problems in the past. They must have fixed it i guess. But what about that RAAT support. It was supposed to be right around the corner
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Yes, I hear you! I am also increasingly frustrated about this. Not because the process brings some technical issues with it and takes some time. But the constant “right-around-the-corner-rhetoric” is getting on my nerves
This is somehow disappointing because communication with Buchardt has always been very upfront, sincere and reliable in every other case.
I am also experiencing some technical problems with my A500 which force me to downsample any music above 48 kHz in order to have a clean signal. They are also hoping that the hub’s firmware update towards Roon Readiness will solve that issue as well.
So for me it’s not just about RAAT, it is also about being able to listen to HighRes-Files properly again.
Again: I do get that some measures take time. What I’m complaining about is that solutions are always “right around the corner”. But then they are not.
I can only hope that Roon has just been really busy with the launch of 1.8 and that now, as the first couple of bug fixes are through, the certification won’t take that long.
So when we all heard Darko waxing lyrical about both the Buchart A500 and KEF LS50 wireless 2 last year as Roon ready (I seem to remember that he said beta at the time) and that was in the bNovember sort of time frame.
How bad must that beta have been that it is still not out at the end of Feb.
It’s got to be disappointing for those expecting it almost immediately.
It did made me wait months for the Matrix Audio mini-I pro 3 to get Roon certification before I ordered it and while I am very happy with it, it felt like an eternity at the time.
I know how you’re feeling. I guess that ruins resources have been taken up by the deployment of 1.8 in the last couple of weeks or months. I am perfectly fine with acknowledging technical issues which make things take some time.
What I am complaining about is the lack of realistic conversation. I’m just tired of hearing “right around the corner”… for months.