[moemoney]

I bought a lifetime Roon subscription before the price went up 40% and before the Roon Certification saga which you rightly call a debacle. I'm not sure I'd commit to a lifetime subscription with Roon now. My confidence in them has been shaken.
I think the higher end segment of the audio industry plays fast and loose sometimes with this sort of thing, and maybe it's just down to ignorance or inexperience of what's involved or what can go wrong with software implementation. Chord of course released the Poly advertising Chromecast support on the retail packaging. Another example: I bought a pair of Kef LSX's when they came out, and was personally assured by Kef that airplay 2 support was right around the corner. In the event, it took another another five months, by which time I'd lost patience and sold the speakers on.

I purchased an Astell & Kern SP 1000 only because they stated that they were working with Roon and it would be Roon certified soon. That was almost two years ago and Astell & Kern is still saying today soon. I just gave up on them and now I’m all in with Chord products. I feel in short time things will get iron out with H2go because all there other products are working fine with Roon.

 

[MatW]

I purchased an Astell & Kern SP 1000 only because they stated that they were working with Roon and it would be Roon certified soon. That was almost two years ago and Astell & Kern is still saying today soon. I just gave up on them and now I’m all in with Chord products. I feel in short time things will get iron out with H2go because all there other products are working fine with Roon.

I sold my sp2000 and replaced it with a nucleus and topping stack, for that reason. Very happy with the result.

 

[Currawong]

I purchased an Astell & Kern SP 1000 only because they stated that they were working with Roon and it would be Roon certified soon. That was almost two years ago and Astell & Kern is still saying today soon. I just gave up on them and now I’m all in with Chord products. I feel in short time things will get iron out with H2go because all there other products are working fine with Roon.

I imagine Roon has now been flooded with certification requests. Another manufacturer I just contacted said that they have to wait a few months for certification, so I don't see it as Chord's fault if they did everything required of them.

I don't really blame Roon either. It reminds me of when the iPhone came out and people complained that the battery was not replaceable. Having been through quite a few phones by that point, where everyone and their dog would use cheap Chinese replacements which would cause issues with reliability, I can see why they did what they did. It must have been a massive headache for Roon when manufacturers were saying that their products were "Roon Ready" but not working reliably and complaining to Roon about it. So, I think that in the end this will just be a hiccup that we move past once it is done.

 

[enragedlemon]

No, it means I would have decided there and then to sell it.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who found Chord’s response to be borderline offensive and utterly without substance. Fortunately, I was able to return my 2go.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Apparently the “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” monster has bitten me. I (foolishly) upgraded (???) my 2go firmware from 1.0.0 to 1.0.3, and the couldn’t connect to my home WiFi. Strangely, when I went to my router, there was a new ‘blocked’ device whose MAC address I had never seen before. So apparently the upgrade changed my 2go’s MAC?

That’s bizarre!

 

[Peter Hyatt]

2 lengthy cross country flights and a 5 hour lay over, 2Go carrying 1.5 TB of the world’s greatest music was a great blessing.

 

[jhoneyball]

"so I don't see it as Chord's fault if they did everything required of them."

if Roon is to be believed, and I see no reason not, then if chord did everything required of them, I wouldn't have a unsupported Chord 2Go which still claims to be Roon Ready on their website.

 

[stancorrected]

if Roon is to be believed,

I'm not sure they are to be believed totally. I suspect in the early days, it suited Roon's purposes to be able to claim that well regarded, high end hardware manufacturers had bought into Roon's software, and to turn a blind eye to the inevitable bumps in the road relating to certification. So things drifted over time.
On September 21st, they got religion, as they say.

 

[miketlse]

I'm not sure they are to be believed totally. I suspect in the early days, it suited Roon's purposes to be able to claim that well regarded, high end hardware manufacturers had bought into Roon's software, and to turn a blind eye to the inevitable bumps in the road relating to certification. So things drifted over time.
On September 21st, they got religion, as they say.

Always makes me think of the parallels with Uber - when Uber started out, it was glad to accept all drivers in order to increase it's market share. Once Uber felt it was 'big enough', it started introducing driver KPIs etc, to try and harmonize the passenger experiences, plus weed out the drivers who 'did not meet the KPIs'. Inconsistent driver ratings by passengers, plus drivers fearing their livelihoods are at risk have resulted in driver strikes and bad publicity.

 

[Currawong]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who found Chord’s response to be borderline offensive and utterly without substance. Fortunately, I was able to return my 2go.

This discussion brought to mind the habit many people have of creeping forward at red traffic lights hoping that they'll change faster, because it's a matter of simply waiting and there's nothing you can do to make things go faster.

 

[AndrewOld]

This discussion brought to mind the habit many people have of creeping forward at red traffic lights hoping that they'll change faster, because it's a matter of simply waiting and there's nothing you can do to make things go faster.

Well since a solution to the problem is entirely under the control of both companies, unlike traffic lights, it Is perfectly understandable and sensible to put pressure on. I am sure a solution could be achieved in a couple of days if competent people from both companies worked the problem co-operatively and were driven by a genuine desire to solve the issue. But it sounds to me like the ball has been kicked into the long grass and each side probably thinks the other should be looking for it.

 

[miketlse]

I am sure a solution could be achieved in a couple of days if competent people from both companies worked the problem co-operatively and were driven by a genuine desire to solve the issue.

Have you ever performed any software development, testing and debugging yourself?

 

[AndrewOld]

Have you ever performed any software development, testing and debugging yourself?

Yes, from the age of 19 till I retired at about 55. Plenty of devices on the market have had their Roon Ready status confirmed by Roon. It thus cannot be difficult to achieve where there is sufficient competence on both sides.

 

[miketlse]

Yes, from the age of 19 till I retired at about 55. Plenty of devices on the market have had their Roon Ready status confirmed by Roon. It thus cannot be difficult to achieve where there is sufficient competence on both sides.

I still think that just two days, to identify the root cause of the issue, then update the code, then perform exhaustive testing, is extremely optimistic.
Currawongs post mentions a manufacturer telling him that it takes months.

 

[AndrewOld]

I still think that just two days, to identify the root cause of the issue, then update the code, then perform exhaustive testing, is extremely optimistic.
Currawongs post mentions a manufacturer telling him that it takes months.

It seems clear from this thread and the Poly one that Chord do not have significant in-house software expertise. They also evidently have a poor track record of managing software developed by third-parties. They are incapable or unwilling of giving a best estimate of when a solution will be found, or what is holding one up. Contrast that to other manufacturers like Cambridge who got their approval sorted within days of Roons new tough line, and others who pulled out of the program and changed their website. Chord can’t even change their website.
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/uncertified-roon-ready-devices-announcement/120298/54