LS50W Mk 1 was never developed as, and had never been advertised as, Roon Ready. It was, however, capable and advertised as a Roon Tested product (as is LSX), hence why we are currently listed under the Roon Tested part of Roon’s partner list.
Because “coming soon” can be anything between a couple of weeks or years…and from experience, the later(or even never) is the most common…
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Thanks, Ben, for your concise and quick reply. To be absolutely clear, has KEF ever achieved Roon Ready status with any product at any time?
LS50W2 will be our first Roon Ready product - after all, we only had X300A, LS50W (and II) and LSX as networked products up to this point. But I would also like to point out that Roon Tested is still (AFAIK) a certification of sorts and needed to/fro with Roon to get working.
Thanks again for the clarification. For a number of Roon users, the availability of the RAAT protocol will be an important feature of their listening experience, and they might feel somewhat misled if the Roon Ready certification takes longer than a couple of months from launch. For others, Roon Tested will be adequate and the other benefits of your exciting new product will suffice. I just wish the process that you’re following with Roon was more transparent!
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So a reviewer not employed by KEF gives you the wrong information and it’s KEF and Roon’s fault?
KEF has not advertised them as Roon ready and Roon has a process they go through which takes time.
Would you rather have Roon certification rushed through but not work properly and then wait 2 years for KEF to fix it? Ask any Devialet Expert Pro owner what that feels like.
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While I understand that for some people the full Roon-compatibility might be a make or break reason to buy the LS50 Wireless II, for me it’s not. I bought the speakers for what they are and what they might become in the future.
I added a 50bucks cheapish USB to Coax/Optical Bridge with an XMOS-chip which goes to 24/192 and or DSD64, so I can connect my computer with Roon directly to the digital-coax in. So I have Audirvana (UPNP/DLNA), AirPlay II, TIDAL-connect and this coaxial-bridge to connect to my LS50 and enjoy my music while waiting for the full Roon-implementation. Not that bad I guess.
But no solution for people who build a whole house of HIFi with Roon at it’s core, that’s for sure.
HI all, I have the LS50WII too and using Roon to stream to it via Airplay. Is there any difference in sound quality between Roon Tested and Roon Ready? And has anyone tested if there is any difference in streaming via the KEF Connect app and via Roon?
Hi @Ben_Hagens
Does the ‘Chromecast Built-in’ input support 96kHz sample rate?
Could you ask the Technical team to confirm?
I am so glad that I found this thread and that my failure to be able to set up Roon with my LS50WIIs is not because of my own stupidity. I can wait - no rush but I’m excited to be able to set up my first Roon system!
Yes I believe it does. It will even pass MQA final unfolding data from Tidal to the speaker.
Everyone, I know RAAT compatibility is a big deal. But setting up Chromecast streaming from Roon is a very good alternative until certification occurs. It has been mentioned above by others.
- Set up LS50WII in Google Home. Make sure to enable high fidelity mode.
- Enable chromecast streaming to the speaker in Roon. Enable MQA full decoder/renderer.
Only things this can’t do is non-MQA > 96/24 and grouping with RAAT.
Please correct me if I’m not accurate in anything.
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Best App by far for me is TIDAL (iPhone/iPad/Mac) with the new TIDAL-Connect! You get the full MQA-Sound just via Ethernet, no need for any Transport or Chromecast! You just have to be TIDAL-User with HIFI-Quality-Account. TIDAL-Connect is technically the same as Spotify-Connect. The App does only the Handover to Ethernet and your Music gets streamed in the best quality possible from TIDAL directly to your LS50s Wireless II! Imho the same as what you will get from Roon when the LS50s are finally authorised!
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Streaming via Airplay (in Roon and elsewhere) always means you are bound by the technical limits of Airplay, which is 16Bit/44,1kHz, which equals max. CD-Quality. All Sources greater 16/44,1 (96/24, 24/88,2 or 192/24 etc.) gets downsampled to 16/44,1.
Just tried it out. Tidal Connect works very well with the LS50w II. And - no wait for any certification 
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I had a look at the signal path in Roon when using Cast, which turned up as downsampling to 24/48, so the team is looking into why that is the case, and whether that is specific to Roon casting to LS50WII or not and how to sort.
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Many non-Google Chromecast devices improperly report their capabilities to Roon. The fix would have to come from the manufacturer. See the following:
Thanks for looking into this.
It’s not a problem with the new Tidal Connect feature + MQA since I imagine the 24/44 and 24/48 MQA content get’s ‘unfolded’ within the LS50WII itself. So it’s happy days for people using the Tidal app and Tidal Connect.
But it is interesting for Roon users, as you mention.
It’s also interesting for people using the Qobuz app alone too, since that app supports Chromecasting too. I imagine those users don’t prefer their 24/88 or 24/96 content downsampled either.
Hopefully someone in the design team can confirm what sample rates the Chromecast Built-in input supports.
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“It’s also interesting for people using the Qobuz app alone too, since that app supports Chromecasting too. I imagine those users don’t prefer their 24/88 or 24/96 content downsampled either.”
Thanks! I use Qobuz and did not know that, either about using Chromecast with my Mk2 or the down sampling.
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I’ve discovered Tidal Connect and absolutely love it, ROON will need to pull something special out the bag to better it.
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