I am not sure how this discussion got off the rails
or where it’s going.
Our plans aren’t all that complicated.
Bridge III (or whatever we call it) will be based on new hardware we’re developing in-house - where the current Bridge II is based on third-party hardware from Converse Digital. To Badbeef’s point, it will be managed by our own software, Octave, and will not include a Roon endpoint, though that decision is not final or even really thought out. Endpoints aren’t too difficult to implement. What I had said in the past is that using Roon as the server software inside Bridge III won’t happen. But that does not explain the endpoint like in Bridge II.
As some people have figured out Roon requires three pieces of hardware to operate: a server (usually running on a computer), an endpoint (in this case Bridge II) and a controller (maybe an iPad). Once all that hardware’s installed and running you can then add extra endpoint hardware in different rooms and run them off the main computer which must be on at all times.
Octave is different. Octave does not require the computer/server part that ROON does. Octave runs as standalone or ties together with multiple devices in different parts of the home, controlled by an iPad, Android or web browser. Octave players will eventually be available from the very inexpensive (several hundred dollars) to the expensive (probably $6K) and everywhere in between.
Octave maybe doesn’t work for everyone and that’s ok. We wouldn’t want to build a product that does. What works for everyone works well for no one.