The Big A500/A700 and Hub update.
Dear all A series customers.
As many know already, we and Platin have been working very hard to improve stability for the whole system, including fixing and changing some known issues. Even though It's still a relatively low number of customers with issues, it's important for us to work towards pushing this number as close to zero as possible.
The big update is about to hit, and we have this scheduled with Platin to release a few days after new year, so we know all hands are on deck, should there surface any problems doing the update process.
This update will require all customers to install updated mastertunings into their speakers. This is to ensure they work as intended with the new App and new hub firmware that will automatically be installed.
So what has changed?
- New speaker setup method : When you set up your speakers for Left/Right, you no longer do this on the speakers itself. This is now controlled from the hub. You can do this via the new App, or from the remote (new setup video guide is in the works to be released with the update). *This is done to increase stability against radio frequencies interference (wi-fi) and help reduce the risk of dropouts.
- XLR sensitivity changed : This means the speakers would no longer go into standby at low volumes after 20 mins when connected to XLR (A500 and A700).
- Automute removed : The speakers would no longer go into a mute stage 5 sec after the music is paused.
- Significant sound improvements for A500s newer mastertunings. (do not include changes to the Theoretical tunings)
- All new mastertunings for A700 with completely redesigned DSP structure and sound.
- A second update to the hub would be coming later, depending on when Google and Roon give the go ahead.
- Google Cast update to version 1.55. This is a very big and needed update from Google that would significantly improve stability over Google Cast. Gcast stability is something that has been a struggle for many audio companies that offer this feature - great to see this fixed.
- Roon Ready : We've been waiting for a very long time here! I apologize for being too optimistic about this in the past with release dates. I would have never believed it would have taken this long to get the Roon Ready certified since the hub had it working at launch! There has been a lot of back and forth with Roon and Platin since the Platin hub was the first WiSA transmitter to be certified with Roon Ready. This included a lot of new requirements from Roons side in their certification process.
- Platin has delivered all needed material to Roon, we are just waiting for them to return with the certification now. We strongly recommend our customers to consider using Roon Ready protocol. It's by far the best option to stream to the hub.
- Tidal Connect : Platin do not have any information about the process on this matter yet, sadly. We would provide updates when we get them.
- Android App : Would be released in January as well.
We thank all of our customers for the support so far, without a great community, many of these improvements would simply not have been possible! We know that for some, the system has not been a problem free experience. It has been horrible to see customers' frustration about the Hub performance in particular, which has led to customers finding alternative solutions to replace it. Despite the hub being relatively cheap for the features it offers, it still needs to perform as intended! We are sure that 2022 will look much better with these updates.