Hi @benjamin
I have exactly the same problem, unable to connect BLUESOUND PULSE SOUNDBAR+, and the rest of the HT via Roon Ready, only through AirPlay since last 4.8.17 FW update.
Let me explain the issue:
I have a Bluesound Home Theater system consisting of the following components:
- Philips 48” OLED806 Series TV
- Bluesound Pulse Soundbar+
- Bluesound SUB+ Subwoofer
- Two Bluesound Pulse M as rear speakers
The speaker system is configured as a fixed Home Theater group in the iOS BluOS 4.8.1 app, which was recently updated.
On January 30, 2025, I installed the latest firmware version 4.8.17 on all speakers. After successfully installing it on all four speakers, I attempted to play music from Roon, but nothing played. In Roon, I could see the playing trying to start, but the timeline never go beyond 0:00. After about 10 seconds, on the same timeline position 0:00, without playing, it skips to the next track, and the same thing happens again. This repeated continuously.
From the BluOS control app, the speaker system appeared connected to Roon, displaying the album artwork, and the time cursor was advancing, but no sound was coming from any speaker.
I performed a factory reset on all the speakers, reinstalled them, and, for the moment, kept them as independent speakers, without configuring them as a fixed group, except for the SUB+, which I paired with one of the PULSE M speakers to leave the PULSE SOUNDBAR+ as an independent unit. After this, both the SOUNDBAR+ and the two PULSE M appeared as Roon Ready devices in the Roon app, correctly connected to my Roon Core, which is installed on an Intel NUC i5 with everything up to date and working flawlessly.
I confirmed that both PULSE M speakers played music perfectly from Roon Core when used independently, but the SOUNDBAR+ still had the same issue, it did not play anything. The time cursor in Roon remained static, and after 10 to 15 seconds, it skipped to the next track.
I want to emphasize that all speakers are connected via Ethernet. Despite having a strong 5 GHz Wi-Fi signal in my room (around 45 dB) with virtually no interference from neigh boring networks, provided through a Unifi AP6 Long Range, the performance of the speaker system over Wi-Fi was a disaster with constant dropouts, lag between speakers, etc.
At this point, I must warn anyone considering purchasing a Bluesound system with similar characteristics that using it over Wi-Fi is not a viable option. Even in my case, with a dedicated Wi-Fi network created specifically for this function, it did not work properly.
Finally, I created a fixed Home Theater group with the Philips TV. The system now works correctly as a Home Theater setup with the TV, but it still does not play music via Roon, just as before. Now, since all the speakers are grouped as a fixed group, none of them play music, even though the system still appears Roon Ready.
I have restarted my Roon Core multiple times, but without success.
I have also looked for a way to roll back to the previous firmware version before 4.8.17, but it is impossible due to the fact that Bluesound does not provide any way to do so, which is very frustrating.
I must express my deep dissatisfaction with both Bluesound and NAD. In addition to the issues I mentioned and other past problems, I own an NAD T778 since September 2023, and the experience has been disastrous. This device has spent more time in the repair shop than in my home.
I have had to send it in twice, and they still haven’t fixed the issue with the display, which does not turn on, leaving the entire device completely dead and non-functional. As of today, it is still in the repair shop, and neither the reseller, the importer, nor NAD itself has offered me a replacement or a refund in all this time.
Unfortunately, I must say that my investment in Bluesound and NAD equipment has been the worst purchase I have ever made. I wouldn’t recommend these products to anyone, no matter how appealing their advertised features may seem. A complete waste of money.
Now and here, that someone from the Roon Support team is following this topic, I would like to say that it Is quite disappointing that Roon Labs, despite being such a great product and a magnificent support team, presents and endorses these devices so positively, because they do not deserve it.
There are many users with different Bluesound and NAD devices experiencing serious issues and being completely abandoned by the support teams of both companies. In my case, NAD stopped responding to my requests about the T778 months ago, marking them as resolved and closing them, even though today the issue remains unresolved after five months. Regarding Bluesound, I opened a support ticket a week ago, and it has yet to be answered or resolved. When I complained about this, they simply censored and deleted my posts. Intolerable, I have no other word for it.
@Benjamin, I will follow the instructions mentioned at the beginning to send you the necessary information in case something can be done from Roon, although I am inclined to believe that the root of the problem is the new firmware version 4.8.17.
In any case, thanks for listening.