But wouldn’t you think that the vendor selling the hardware, knowing about this requirement, is the one who is failing customers?
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in fact i would and i do.
But the vendor isn’t the one pulling the plug for the customer.
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Sometimes, being right, and proving you are right, is not necessarily the best way to solve a problem, especially if your customers suffer for it, even 1 percent. I think Danny is going to solve this.
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Hire a communication manager
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Moderators have removed some posts that were becoming personal. Please keep to the topic.
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I do understand the reasoning behind Roon doing this and support the move in general.
I am one of the 1% of users and I have been a lifetime subscriber in 2 places for a few years, so have a lot invested in the platform. My current uncertified hardware is not the first piece of hardware I have had that was uncertified, and the last took forever to resolve! I have just invested a considerable amount in my new ‘uncertified’ hardware a point which raised with the manufacturer straightaway when Roon showed it as ‘Uncertified’. I do appreciate the fact that I should be unaffected providing I don’t have to re-enable the endpoint any time soon.
However, the only part that annoys me, as I agree with Roon asserting their rights, is the two weeks notice given to me. As most things in life require at least a months notice to the ‘Tenent’ for want of a better description. I thought I was investing in more thoughtful ecosystem.
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I think that the whole audio industry as well as the consumers still have to adapt to a new model for audio distribution, storage and consumption. One thing we see at the moment is that every audio hardware company out there is rushing to push out products to not lose out in the up and coming network player or streamer hype. For consumers it is ever more difficult to gain insight into what is really necessary and what doesn’t make sense.
If one is invested in the Roon model of managing the digital audio experience I believe that there is a big benefit in assuming a somewhat calmer and more conservative attitude to all this. There is no necessity to buy into any hype pushed by the hardware vendors. Instead, think about assembling a nice system, like you would have done 15 years ago - decide upon your speakers and your amplification chain, and at last think about a fitting DAC as your source. Any DAC that fits your listening preference can be made to work beautifully with Roon. That’s what Roon bridge is for. You have the choice to assemble a bridge device yourself, or you can get any one of many endpoint devices offered by the industry. All this device has to do is receiving the digital signal on a network interface and output it on any digital audio interface to your DAC, be it USB, S/PDIF or HDMI.
All this seems quite elegant to me, natural, beautiful. If you’re using Roon there is no immediate need to get any of the integrated devices cooked up and pushed out by an industry in change, trying to not being left behind by a new, software-driven audio world. But I see no benefit in a product category like integrated amplifier with DAC and streaming module which is still immature, takes away flexibility and choices from the user and doesn’t really know to which protocols and distribution or streaming systems it should adhere and certify for. This may become clearer some years down the road, but at the moment as buyer I would be wary.
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Why Roon keep the mouth so tight on Astell & Kern Certification?
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No pun intended hahaha
Fair point. It’s a two-way thing. Managing relationships with consumers like us is important, and managing relationships with commercial partners is also important. Apple seem to be going through a phase of abruptly stopping things working too. Maybe it is all a game, and it will all be sorted in a fortnight.
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Thanks Danny
Hopefully see that nice little brand logo & image of my streamer down the bottom of the signal path soon
Hopefully it will kick manufacturers in to gear a little bit & everyone can get better performance from this.
End of the day Roon is a subscription based service that justifies much of it’s cost on solid reliability.
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I guess I was just destined to lose my cash because roon first allowed and then restricted a mysterious category of devices defined solely by their own accreditation processes. My own dumb luck.
So I am a recent subscriber to Roon and purchased a Bricasti M3 DAC with network card. Several other Bricasti models are certified, including their network bridge (M5) which is the same technology embedded in their DACs. It is unclear to me why the network card isn’t certified for all implementations in their DACs, and hence just be grandfathered in? Right now I have an investment in Roon and Bricasti - two small companies probably struggling to do their best. Roon potentially stranding the M3 can’t be a good thing for either. I totally get not supporting manufacturers that aren’t Roon Certified, but this seems to be a case where there should be a clear solution.
I did not buy my arcam because it was advertised as roon ready. I bought roon because it worked great on my arcam.
What Arcam product do you have?
Well said Martin. Roon is designed to work alongside these premium/super-premium brands & should do so.
The customer service from the guys at Roon is like nothing I’ve ever experienced elsewhere & everything is followed up with action & result.
This will push any lingering manufacturers to pull their finger out & get the job done, because either way, people look for that well respected Roon logo, whether they are Roon users or not.
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I have the SA30
Oddly enough, I was just messing about with the DSP settings & it appears the NP5 has dropped off the list in Roon Ready so soon!? I didn’t remove it, just seems when I reopened Roon on my MacBook, it couldn’t find a zone & that was why.
It was my understanding this wouldn’t happen for a few weeks. Not the end of the world, as I can use Roon on the Chromecast rails for now, just seems it won’t reappear.
Oddly enough, Primare did email back saying they are aiming for Roon Ready before the 21st September date, so that side of things looks positive.
Seems like as I wrote this Bricasti and Roon figured this out - I am no longer seeing uncertified in the M3 device list in Roon.
