RoonReady Releases this fall?

This is amazing news, and exactly what I was waiting for. I just ordered four Nodes and two Pulses. This is also a MAJOR development, because NAD has now extended BlueOS throughout their line. Essentially every NAD product that has networking or accepts an MDC board will now be a Roon endpoint.

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WOW, this is really really great news!!

I like to believe that our begging for Roon integration over at the Bluesound Forum might have helped a bit ;), but anyway this is going to be a great partnership.

The combination of Roon software and BlueSound hardware (and price point) is a match made in heaven.

I couldn’t be more happy! :grinning:

Wish Devialet would get of their backsides and do the same for their products (Expert line in my case).

Don’t know if they will have it included with the new OS Streamer-board that will be added to the Pro Expert Range next year.

PS Realise the above is the standard whinge about Devialet not incorporating Roon - Sorry :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

This honestly is the happiest audio news I have heard in years. I bought into the BluOS family and was not a huge fan of their app… or rather once trying Roon I could not go back to BluOS. Now I don’t need to sell their products and have an option with DACs/Streamers/Integrates across a wide range of price points (from $300 speakers to multi-thousand dollar NAD integrateds/DACS)!

Great move by both companies

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I have a NAD C390DD DAC/Amplifier, and NAD just released a BluOS module that will plug into an available expansion port in my unit. It is not cheap, and I am wondering what real-world benefits having BluOS will really give me over my current system using a PC as the host and a Ipad as a remote controller. Anyone care to give me an informed case for/against going with BluOS?

Very little. Roon will still need to be on another Machine on your network. You willmjust connect to the NAd with an Ethernet cable from a network port rather than connecting your PC to you NAD with USB as you do now.

Some say the direct network connection should sound better. It you will have to try it to know.

The only possible benefit I can think of from the Roon architecture side is that if you hvae other blu os zones they can be synced together and I believe that would also apply to any RAAT zones you may have.

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If you are using Roon in only your main listening room (where the NAD is) then I’d have to agree with PhilR. Unless your belief system says you are exposed to noise transmitted down the USB pipe from the PC (my belief is no), then there is little to benefit from Bluesound (note on semantics… BluOS refers to their software app… you won’t be using it. You will be using the module to receive the Bluesound coded audio).

That said, if you would like to have Roon in multiple rooms, and the ability to group and synchronize, then you will find benefits for Bluesound. Multiple Bluesound devices will play together and (in the near future) will be able to receive signal from Roon and be controlled by Roon as “Endpoints”. My understanding is that multi-room audio can only be “grouped” by Roon if the devices are the same manufacturer (all Airplay or all Bluesound).

So if your plan is to go multi-room and care about HiRes capability, Bluesound may soon be the best (reasonably priced) option. I have a Node2 and a Powernode2 and have been impressed with the DAC on both. The Powernode2 amp is also VERY impressive to me at that price point and it compares very well to my NAD D3020… seems to have more power and separation to my ear. Their hardware is excellent for the price point and from the same manufacturer as NAD. The only issue is functional but very clunky BluOS software that does not suit large libraries. But that’s the whole point of using the beautiful Roon to replace the BluOS software. :smile:

I am also not sure… perhaps Roon can confirm??… whether the direct USB to NAD setup you have can be paired AND in sync with the audio sent by Roon to Bluesound (or any other endpoint)? I fear the music sent by RAAT/Bluesound (how will you do it guys?) will need to be re-timed/buffered so that each room is in sync, whereas the direct connection from the computer is not?

I know that I experimented with:

Mac Roon --> USB --> Peachtree Amp --> line out --> Bluesound line in >>> Group with other Bluesound device…

My goal was to have three rooms (Peachtree, Bluesound 1 and Bluesound 2) all in sync, but the audio on the latter two was retimed/delayed. Maybe in Roon Endpoint setup (once the Bluesound devices are available as endpoints) this problem would be avoided since Roon “knows” about the Bluesound devices and is sending audio directly, rather than my daisy-chain solution.

A really nice little amp actually.

Agree, the D3020 lives up to its positive reviews and is a no-brainer at the <$500 price point.

But if one does not need multiple inputs and is building a multi-room system, the PowerNode2 is even better IMO. Bluesound started out as a collaboration between NAD & PSB, so their amps are probably quite similar. If I had to guess, the PowerNode2 is sharing the guts of the D7050 though I’ve not seen that in print.

The thing that matters is the streaming technology used, not the manufacturer. AirPlay is a streaming tech–so airplay plays with AirPlay.

In the case of Bluesound, their devices will become Roon Ready–which means that they will implement RAAT, our streaming technology, in addition to their own pre-existing stuff.

All RAAT-based zones can be grouped with other RAAT-based zones, regardless of manufacturer. Local outputs (for example, USB DACs/interfaces), are RAAT-based zones, too, so you can indeed group them with Roon Ready devices.

Yeah, exactly.

BTW, we are also planning to add settings for fine-tuning synchronization for devices that have unaccounted-for downstream delays in 1.3. This might have helped make the daisy chain solution tractable, assuming the delays were consistent each time.

Brian,

Thank you for your clear answer. That’s all very exciting to me. I now realize that my universe of audiophilia has opened back up to all “RoonReady” devices rather than simply Bluesound with Roon as a controller.

I still think Bluesound (with its ability to receive HiRes/MQA) and overall high quality hardware is in an ideal price point for adding rooms (at $450 for a RoonReady streamer or $700-$10,000 for RoonReady Amps or $300-700 for RoonReady speakers)… but it is really nice to know that I would not be limited by brand in my main room, provided I find RoonReady devices.

Hadn’t realized things would be this “open”, thanks for clarifying.

What RoonReady speakers are available on Black Friday?

Bump. What’s been released to buy now?

https://roonlabs.com/partners.html always has the up-to-date released partners and products – if you find otherwise, send me a PM … its probably just a delay in deploying the new website. we require marketing materials like logos and line-art during Roon Ready certification.

Glad it’s starting to feel like this… we got a lot of crap for being “closed”, and some manufacturers have chastised us for being too closed. The goal was to let the audio device manufacturers do what they do best: sound. Leave the UI and music browsing/discovery experience out of the device manufacturers hands – they just don’t have the budget or expertise to push it where it needs to go.

Are Bluesound speakers, or any other for that matter, RoonReady and for sale this Christmas season? Looking for gifts.

I’ll get our bizdev guys to ask around… in the meanwhile, there is always the gift of Roon!

https://roonlabs.com/account.html#tab_gift

Can’t see Ayon Audio on that list anymore. It’s my understanding that the new S10 should be Roon Ready, but is it, or is it still being worked on?

Moon Neo streaming DAC’s with MiND are also interesting to me. Am I correct in surmising that they are only USB tested so far and are not truly Roon Ready?

HI Jani,

We have an Ayon device on its way to us for certification. I can’t say how long that will take, but they are on the case.

At this time, the Moon line is Roon Tested and will happily work with any of the Roon Ready network bridge devices. They’ve been very committed to working closely with us on the Roon Tested program, so any acquisitions you make there can be done with total confidence.

Hi Fritz,

You’d have to check with Bluesound on updates to their Roon Ready timeline. They have an incredibly broad range of products to support, both current and legacy, and are in the middle of some big upgrades to the capabilities of BluOS, so this isn’t the kind of integration I can comfortably gauge in terms of timeframe.

But I will say that they are actively and deeply engaged in working on their integration and I’ve been impressed by both their capabilities and commitment to doing great work.

There are no other speaker products in the nearterm pipeline.