Will the Network Bridge III be compatible with Roon?

I.e. will be it a Roon endpoint ala Bridge II or will be Octave only?

Thanks!

Why would you buy a PS Octave music server if you plan to use Roon?
In that case it should run Roon server and I can’t see a reason why PS Audio should develop just another Audio PC for us to install software on. Roon endpoint allready exist in the DAC, why build more expensive hardware to do the same?

But I see your point, how can PS Audio compete with the Roon metadata handling? I guess they prefer to compete in audio quality. It will be interesting to see if/how they will integrate Qobuz, Amazon and Tidal

I’m asking about the Bridge III, not the server. Your point is valid and is also one of my points, how can PSA compete with Roon for metadata handling, not to mention UX, especially as it will be a v1.0 product.

There are the music servers that are analogous to what Octave is likely to be (Auralic, Lumin, etc) and they are also Roon endpoints.

I would totally but a PS Audio Octave server if it would work with Roon and it delivered the same SQ PSA are capable of.

Sorry, I misread and agree with you !

Paul has said that Octave will not support Roon. Search the forum for details. However we aren’t sure of details on Bridge III other than it will no longer be from a third party ie. ConversDigital.

Octave is intended to both sound superb, as well as compete with/better Roon’s tagging and metadata handling.

I honestly don’t doubt PSA’s ability to produce superior SQ and software, but as a software engineer I know it is incredibly difficult to produce something better and as robust as a well established and feature-rich quality product.

Having said that, my question was about the Bridge III and not Octave. :smile:

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Our threads certainly wander as to topic. :slight_smile:

I agree with you, competing with Roon’s handling of data is setting a high bar.

Keeping in mind rumors are rumors, the last I heard around the office is that the Bridge III is going to be completely different from the previous bridges. It will be exclusively for Octave.

:cry:

Hey it’s Friday, you can’t be too sad. Again though, this was just a rumor I heard. No guarantee.

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For someone locked into a life time subscription to Roon, having the bridge iii not support Roon makes it a lot less interesting to me. I understand there may be underlying reasons why making it a Roon endpoint might be impossible which would be a shame. On the other hand it might a question of the technology allowing it but ps audio not wanting to invest to make the bridge compatible. Is that’s the case then hopefully we’ll see an Auralic style back flip!

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Although I’m not yet a lifetime Roon subscriber (I intend to be soon), I couldn’t have said I better myself!

IMO of more importance…there were rumors that BridgeIII would not even be UPnP compatible…:disappointed:

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Agree, I’m waiting but will move away from the Bridge if that happens. Not the end of the world these days, lots of good choices but I still like my Bridge II.

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Being a Roon endpoint shouldn’t be very difficult. It’s just a little more than an alternative rendering an application. I can understand why Paul doesn’t want to support a competitor. Optimizing for Octave is what the bridge III is about. I really doubt that the same level of user experience that Roon offers is going to be achieved out of the gate. Roon has been at this for a long time. Remember our experience with our power regeneration software and the abrupt withdrawal of service? That still smarts. That software was very basic in resources and delivery yet it was pulled with a promised quick replacement that we are still waiting for.

I love PS Audio and I want them to succeed but they have irons in so many fires.

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Like a lot of Bridge II owners I use Roon and would love for the Bridge III to support it. I think it would make the Bridge III more marketable. Also I think when PSA’s server finally comes out it will be competing with the likes of Aurender more than Roon.

For Roonies (like myself) though for the price of the new B3 you can probably get a very good streamer that supports Roon for USB or another connection.
I am hoping the B3 with Octave is better than Roon for SQ (not a very high bar set there) plus software to rival Roon too ( a much bigger task IMO). From what I remember @Paul saying he was confidant of doing both.

We have yet to decide about the compatibility of Roon as an end point on Bridge III. As to metadata handling Octave will be designed as robust as Roon. It’s one of the reasons we’ve taken as long as we have. Both will be a joy to use.

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Thanks @Paul for the clarification - hopefully we’ll hear a confirmation either way at some point.