I think if the Qb could be made Roon ready by a firmware upgrade, they would have already done it, so you can probably assume that it won’t ever be, not because Naim don’t want to but because of hardware limitations.
I already have an ND5 xs2. I need it for the floor above and near there is an airport express that acts as a bridge to the main one. I listen to internet radio, Tidal and Music from NAS
That’s not actually the case. The NDX, ND5xs, NDS, 272 and the previous Unitis are not Roon ready and cannot be made so. The new Unitis and the ND555, NDX2 and ND5XS2 are Roon ready. They use a new streaming platform, as does the Muso 2.
As I understand it, a Qb2 will follow the muso 2 and will be Roon ready, but the muso and Qb cannot be upgraded.
The hardware platform for their roon ready players is totally different to muso and muso Qb. Note they also haven’t provided roon ready for the NAC N-272 (which is still a current product), the ND5 XS, NDX or NDS.
So by all means wait in hope, but it will be an indefinite one I think.
The reason is the hardware streaming platform. The upgrade path is to sell one and buy the other. The other question worth considering is whether Roon is actually important.
You can use Roon with a Muso QB (and Muso V1) in a couple of ways.
Airplay - I think this sounds fine on a QB given the limitations of what is an excellent unit. Currently there is a volume control issue with Roon that they (Roon) are looking to fix. Once fixed I think this makes Roon on a Muso very viable without the need for any workarounds.
Use either a Sonore UPNP bridge or LMS-To-UPNP to bridge Roon to UPNP. Basically Roon sees the bridge as compatible and send the music to it and the bridge sends it on to the player. I use the latter as I’m tight (it’s free!) and it works faultlessly on my 3 Muso QB’s and also my Naim NDS. With the Muso’s you get all the features of Roon, including a working volume control. Sound quality is fully lossless as it is passed through.
Option 2 has removed any need to move to the new platform and I do find that Roon has transformed how I discover and select music.
I use Airplay, it’s OK but would just prefer full Roon Ready compatibility.
I’ve got a few other pieces of hardware that I can link to the QB to give me a better quality source that works with Roon but I’d just like it to work out of the box without the faff.
If you want Roon, you will need to wait for a QB2 to appear. The old version isn’t going to get it as a firmware update, and even if Naim wanted to do this, I don’t think the hardware would be capable.
Am I missing something here? I control my Qb via Roon, works really well. It appears to use the Airplay connectivity as opposed to RAAT, and appears in my Roon zones etc.