I think it’s loss/neutral/win, Aqua, Roon, Customers.
In fact, it’s a massive win for future customers of LinQ products (and others too). Roon Ready is about creating a trust that certified products work as best as they can with Roon.
For example, Aqua refused to send us a box with 2 modules. We don’t know why, but we suspect that there is a problem with switching between modules where the music keeps playing and they don’t have a way to fix it. It means a core feature of Roon Ready devices (convenience switching) would not work for any Aqua user that bought the box based on it’s Roon Ready status. This may not affect all users and it may not affect all sold devices, but it does affect a configuration a user is allowed to purchase. We can not have that situation untested or it is our brand that gets damaged. Anyway, this is just a guess. They may have had other reasons, but this is the reason this whole thing broke down.
This type of thing hurts us in the short term, but in the long term, it builds trust in the Roon Ready brand and trust in the products that claim to be Roon Ready. The Roon Ready program came out in 2017. Within 3 years it is massively popular amongst manufacturers. If you don’t see a manufacturer making Roon Ready devices, they are probably in the works already. This happened not because we forced the hands of the manufacturers. If we tried that, they’d tell us to F off. Instead, it comes from the fact that customers kept asking for it because the devices provide a better experience. We certify so many devices, and no one passes on the first try. Everyone cuts corners. But to get that stamp of certification, they get their product in good shape and the customers end up winning.
Also, it’s unclear how many Aqua products have actually been sold to Roon users. It is clear @Mikhail_Khleborodov was sold one. While he has been vocal in many topics about his situation, he’s been the only one. Aqua also made an announcement to their dealers about dropping Roon support. One of those dealers have contacted us already and canceled orders with Aqua. Better now than after the future customer gets screwed.