Taking a risk with an Audiolab 9000n

I am furious to say the least that I have bought the Audiolab 9000n and set it up today only to find it is not Roon Ready despite what Roon on my Mac says. I read the short topic on this so no it isn’t RR despite what Audiolab say, which is illegal here in UK.

However, it plays directly streaming Qobuz to which I have a subscription.Trouble with that is I can’t alter the sound (as far as I can tell).

The main thing is I really like Audiolab stuff and the sound and I like this stremer and how it works BUT I either send it right back and look for a different one or do I wait till Audiolab or Roon pulls it finger out and gets the certification.

Audiolab are only down the road from me and if I wasn’t a wheelchair user I might go and say my piece them! Instead I’ll phone them on Monday but tomorrow will tell the dealer the situation and that I may be returning.

In the meantime can anyone recommend a streamer DAC or just a DAC?

I would never buy something because it “might” do something advertised in the future. Roon’s partner page does not list the 9000n at all, it only lists the 9000a as “Roon Tested”. Here is a link to the Roon Partner page to verify the status of any certification, What does Roon work with?

Many like the DMP-A6 and many like the Rose 150. Both give you big video screen to look at. I have not used either so can’t really give a personal endorsement.

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It may not be on Roon’s Audiolab page, but Audiolab are clearly advertising it as RR :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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They seem confused, the text says “It is officially Roon Tested” while the picture shows “Roon Ready”. If they can’t get this right, not sure if I’d trust their engineering

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I have the 8300a and 8300cdq and both are excellent. They are a well respected audiophile company and thy have effed up with this. You are correct all the advertising says Roon Reday which as it is not is not ok in UK.

I do not have to have a streamer. I can go fo just a DAC which is all I had before. In fact I still have one as the CDQ has a DAC in it but not up to date and I don’t think RR.

I’d rather have a new DAC.

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This reminds me of ‘Hegel-gate’ all over again! :neutral_face:

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A unit can be Roon tested and still be awaiting RR status. I read on Darko it would be RR but doesn’t say it was at time of release. Another product advertising it is before it’s past certification which is the norm these days. Given Roon have struggled with certification due to staff shortages it’s hard to say where this lies but as is always mantra don’t count on it till it’s ready.

Unless I have misunderstood, as this is network device it is supposed have Roon stuff inside it. It obviously doesn’t. I am so confused now as I don’t if it’s ok to buy Roon Tested or only Roon Ready.

It’s does it’s not passed certification yet. All articles online say it’s coming none say it’s been released. It will when it does arrive with a firmware update. The 9000n is using a new streaming platform to previous models and this is capable of being Roon Ready but has to go through a certification process. Marketing depts get excited and promote things before they are actually released.

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Sure, but it’s sloppy.

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So are 99% of oems. Only Naim seem to manage to release a device as RR.

And FiiO, among others.

@Knitman

Is it running on the latest firmware v1.10

True, and Naim’s RR is rock solid, but their whole website is sloppy and I never liked that either :wink:

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They don’t all launch as RR though. My M11 wasn’t nor the M17. Don’t think the R7 was on day one was it?

If they aren’t RR on release, even if they’re still in the Roon Certification stage, they aren’t advertised as RR.

I think my R7 was advertised as RR before I bought it?

Anyway, it’s simply wrong to market a product as RR when it’s not, whichever manufacturer it is.

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I don’t disagree, Roon really need to stamp down on it, but don’t seem to bothered as it’s all free advertising for their product I guess.

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Yes it is, the first thing I did was check firmware.

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Are you suggesting I should keep and wait?

ProJect DAC Box RS2 DAC I am looking at this. It is Roon Tested. I am only looking at what is on the Roon list.