BluOS 4.0 spring 2023 announcement
Answered
Quite a bit of useful information in the press release.
https://bluos.net/2023/01/bluos-announces-4-0-mobile-application-update/
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Don't fix things, @Lasse? 🧐 I'd say BluOS releases notes show otherwise.
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Because the release something with very small release notes, with MONTHS between, I would not really consider it bug fixing bit rather an attemp to keep the systems alive.
E.g Ive reported an bug which they could not answer when it would be fixed, because the support had no knowledge about the Roadmap??!! WTF! How can you have an support which knows nothing about Whats going on. I have my theories..
It took then 4 months!! 4!! To fix an simple slider issue on the IOS app and only IOS app. I read the same through the Forum that things are not really fixed, even simple things which are (sometimes) introduced by an bug in an firmware/app version. And its not possible to revert.
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I've reported a bug 6 months ago (an annoying audio dropout *every* 8 minutes on the Soundbar+) which the support team can replicate but they don't know when I'll be fixed.
But, ofcourse, dear customer, we do our best to resolve this as soon as possible.
Literally everyone who comes at my house and watches a movie with my setup for the first time says "there's something wrong with your audio, do you hear that?". It's hilarious.
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Here in DK they just dropped the prices with like 20-25% on some bluesound products..
Wonder why.. ;)
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Hi Bodi - I have reopened your request. Our Support Crew will be in touch likely asking for updated log files.
Lasse - the price adjustment you are seeing on some products has to do with logistical costs caused by the pandemic being returned to pre-pandemic levels and Bluesound passing those savings back to the consumer.
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Fair enough Tony. But the prices are still MUCH lower than seen before the pandemic, which seems Odd?
But I wonder why you are still not answering if this is an UI Update only or if there will be feature improvements. Again we are missing answers. Why not just honest, and give people answers, I simply dont get it.
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Skip 4.0 and start work on 5.0
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@Lasse
Re: Price adjustments - these have occurred globally on the Pulse speakers: Pulse Flex 2i, Pulse M, Pulse Mini 2i, and Pulse 2i. As Tony stated above, much of this has to do with logistical costs coming back to earth after the pandemic. Another reason is the manufacturing costs, which went absolutely astronomical during the chip shortages, have levelled out again as well. You'll note on Flex 2i, for instance, we never raised prices even during the madness of the past couple of years. The new price points reflect the world as it is now, and the market conditions we all see around us. No better time than now to add that 2nd or 3rd zone to your Bluesound system!
Re: the BluOS 4.0 launch - it is both a wholesome UI overhaul, and knocks off some of the outstanding feature improvement requests. What we're most excited about with 4.0 is that it sets us up on the backend to develop the features our customers ask for in a much more focused and efficient way going forward.
This is a good time to lay out some of your specific feature requests or annoyances with the product experience -- even right here in this conversation. I'm quite keen to have the Bluesound community weighing in on how the experience should evolve.
Thanks, Matt
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@Matt S, would BluOS 4.0 finally display bit rate and bit depth on my NAD M10 V2 playback screen, along with covert art and playback controls?
Also, when will the long promised (more than 3 years?) DLBC upgrade be available for M10? Will it come together with BluOS 4?
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I would love and several have asked but in Qobuz, please have ability to alphabetize artists under favorites. Playlists work fine once ordered in Qobuz app, then updated in Bluos but Artists NEED to have ability to alphabetize like the native Qobuz app does. So really hope that happens after all this time.
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Matt, if you are following the discussions on this forum, you would know that people are asking for the same features over and over again. Please don't ask for feature requests or annoyances in this thread, you can find them all over this forum. No need to pollute this thread with all that.
How will this new 'backend' in 4.0 help in a 'much more focused and efficient way going forward'? That's marketing talk, give us more details. How will development benefit from this new backend? What does it do exactly? How will users benefit from this?
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@Bodi
Love following the threads and discussions here, and I will continue to ask for feedback, feature requests, etc, especially when answering a comment directly.
Not too many more details available in regards to the backend improvements but it's probably not too difficult for you see through the 'marketing talk'. Simply put, a more friendly handshake between BluOS (which runs the Players) and the Apps (which let you tell BluOS what to do with your Player). Easier for our devs to work with = gained efficiencies in development timelines.
How will customers benefit from that? We'll be able to implement features down the road that we just couldn't on the previous platform (ex. Playlist editing, Settings Menu overhaul, etc). More info on all of that soon.
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@Erik
There's a very high chance the Qobuz Favorites sorting will be included in BluOS 4.0. We've had two beta test runs over the last 8 weeks, and the feature has been in and out. It's dependent on a couple of other items getting finished up. If it doesn't make the October 4.0 launch, it will be coming in a subsequent release.
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Glad to hear you're making great progress! Here's my wishlist:
- Don't break the wonderful REST API. I feel there's nothing I can't do with this framework from a home automation standpoint. Combination of Siri Shortcuts, home assistant, and REST API gives me local voice control of my BluOS installation.
- Lock screen playback controls on iOS. Please don't claim you can't do it due to Apple developer limitations, because Sonos does it and Spofity does it when using Spotify Connect. They don't have some sort of exception; I'd imagine they are just playing back some dummy file on the device and linking controls to the remote player, having discussed this with a friend senior iOS developer who works for Apple.
- Every quality indicator you could possibly want called out on both input + output side. The data is right there in the API, so just expose it elegantly please. Focus the experience on the audiophile crowd. Anyone who isn't that crowd is buying Sonos.
- A lot of competitors are achieving great things by simply running Android apps on Android installs. Without blowing up everything you've done with BluOS to date, which I do not think you should do, you could launch an 'Android Hub'. Essentially, a HUB running Android where you could plug any Android app into it, which could then feed the rest of the products in the existing ecosystem. BluOS app would control playback of the app installed on the Android HUB.
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@BluOSfan, why do you believe implementing Dirac Live Bass Control is related to BluOS? I'd guess it is more likely a hardware deficiency – possibly a lack of discrete sub outputs on the current lineup of NAD devices. Thankfully, the coming M66 will offer a configuration that supports the implementation of DLBC.
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@steadilyfred, M10 V1/2 missing DLBC is NOT a hardware deficiency as there are independent sub-outs. Also, BluSound has press release saying they will be launching DLBC update to M10, so what else can explain more than 3 year delay except the BluOS 4 release?
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@Matt S. I noticed that you have replied to others but skipped my 2 questions above. To recap:
1. Will BluOS have bit depth/bit rate display on app and devices like M10?
2. When is DLBC coming? Together with BluOS 4?
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@BluOSfan, I hope you're right but it's not easy to be optimistic after four years of waiting. 😕
What Bluesound press release are you referring to? Do you have a link you can share?
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@steadiluyfred, I was wrong. It's NOT been only 3 years, it's actually been MORE than FOUR years since M10 Dirac Live Bass Control was promised. Here is the release:
https://www.dirac.com/2019-8-21-dirac-live-bass-management-at-cedia-2019/
"The M10 BluOS streaming amplifier and C658 BluOS streaming DAC will be the first two products from NAD to feature Dirac Live Bass Management. Depending on one’s specific system, customers will have the option of purchasing the Single-Sub or Multi-Sub options."
I contacted Dirac Live support and they blame NAD.
I really hope the hurdle was BluOS 4 and now that it will be launched, hopefully DLBC will come as well.
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BluOS Fan
1. Will BluOS have bit depth/bit rate display on app and devices like M10?
In The App... Yes - on the front panels, not at release as the front panels are independent from the App
2. When is DLBC coming? Together with BluOS 4?
DIRAC product development on NAD products are not directly tied to BluOS releases. DIRAC is also not available on Bluesound products (which technically this forum is about). That being said yes there have been some unforeseen hurdles in the release of DIRAC Live Bass Control up until now however NAD is committed to DIRAC as you have seen the press releases on the upcoming NAD M66. For news on NAD Products please subscribe to their e-mail Newsletter by clicking this link.
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Will BluOS 4 fix this longstanding bug (3+ years since multiple users reported it!) where browsing albums via Library -> Artists and sorting by Release Date was picking up the wrong Year and Track Count if there was another album with the same name by a different artist? Basically the app would very often show the details from the other artist's album instead. Yet if you browsed the same albums by Release Date via Library -> Albums then it used the correct date? It completely ruins trying to browse an artist discography by Release Date.
Full details with examples in this (old) thread:
Taking over 3 years to fix this is frankly quite insulting to your end-users.
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@Tony W.
Your response is much appreciated. A couple of follow-up questions:
That being said yes there have been some unforeseen hurdles in the release of DIRAC Live Bass Control up until now
By "up until now," am I understanding correctly that the DIRAC Live Bass Control hurdles have finally been overcome recently?
however NAD is committed to DIRAC as you have seen the press releases on the upcoming NAD M66.
Is it reasonable to expect that following the release of M66 with DLBC, we can expect to see other models, ie. M10 V1/2 to get DLBC?
Thanks so much for your update.
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Thank you Bluesound for asking our input, not every business would do that.
This being said, I personally would appreciate more consideration for those users working with a desktop/laptop (me) without touch screens. The side bars are so narrow it makes navigating the menu's rather difficult. Scrolling is not a fine experience, having to use the edge of my touchpad to scroll down a list of tracks because there are no scrollbar arrows! Moreover the app makes poor use of the available surface, more information could be made available. For these reasons I'm almost forced to use the obsolete, but very user friendly, 2.14.0 controller.
Should one of your dev's have some spare time on his hands, a Linux version of the controller would be very useful.
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@Tony W thanks for creating another ticket for my issue but the response is roughly the same as 7 months ago. Yes we can reproduce the problem and no we can't tell you when it will be fixed.
So that was a waste of time wasn't it?
Another customer having the same issue.
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@Alain DW
Should one of your dev's have some spare time on his hands, a Linux version of the controller would be very useful.
They don't even need to have their dev work on it, someone has already ported the controller to Linux, alerted BS and made it available so BS can't take it over. They just won't do it.
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@edward,
Which linux controller do you mean?
Until now, all the variants that I know of ( on github etc.) are more or less experimental and do not produce the full functionality of the original.
Unless something more polished comes along, I will continue using WINE.
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Okay, continue using WINE
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Is anyone here involved in a beta program for 4.0? Is there even a 4.0 beta testing program for customers?
Very afraid that the fixing of the current bugs will even be more postponed due to the unforseen issues 4.0 will introduce without any customer feedback on the beta's.
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Dang 9-17 came and went, I fell for it again, lol.
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Mike Majors wrote:
Dang 9-17 came and went, I fell for it again, lol.Psst, Mike... October 17. 😉
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