A set of very specific questions

I don’t know what could cause this. I have never seen this, just tested it and it shows high rate PCM and DSD64. I currently have the Pulse connected through a MicroRendu, but I have used direct USB from Windows previously, with no problems.

I agree with you about LHLabs, I’ve given up on them.
But in this case I suspect the Mac…

EDIT

I connected it directly to Windows and it plays up to 352k and DSD128, I guess DSD64 was a MicroRendu limitation.

You can open the settings in Roon and verify that it sees the correct capabilities for the Pulse. USB devices report back to Roon what rates they support. This is what I see with a direct connection. If you see only 44 and 48k in green, that shows the problem, something in MacOS is interfering with the USB connection. If that shows 352, something is downsampling, could be DSP?

@AndersVinberg
Apologies! False alarm!! I have been doing so much switching back and forth of settings in so many different places that I somehow had the Roon Audio settings wrong. Now the Geek Pulse is full enabled and those two Hi-Res Evans files both play at the proper rate and display the proper rate, 192K for one and 96K for another.

SORRY! Thanks for your patience.

1 Like

Congratulations!

1 Like

5 posts were split to a new topic: How to set up an iPad as a Roon Endpoint

Thanks!

We need to know what you will be connecting it to in order to know.

The iPad is connected by a an Apple camera adapter, via USB to a Bel Canto 2.5 DAC. I’ve used that connection for months and it is completely reliable when I stream from the Tidal iPad application.

But unexpectedly I need to go out of town, so I may have to come back to this in a week or so.

Thanks again for all the help.

1 Like

The USB input on the Bel Canto 2.5 appears to be limited to 24 bit 96kHz, so you could specify those as maxima in the Device Setup, but otherwise it should just work without changing any of the defaults.

1 Like

Just following along as one on the learning curve also. Keep those questions coming. Know that after the “involved” setup, Roon is a marvelous product. Go ahead and spring for a lifetime membership. You know you want to! :grin:

I started out with iMac being keeper of the core, library, and remote. I have migrated to a ROCK and haven’t looked back. A very good solution IMHO.

@John_V apologies as somehow I never saw this. “iMac being keeper of the core, library, and remote” is exactly what I think I am trying to do. I have no idea what ROCK is.

I initiated another series of questions here on a new thread titled, “A question about hardware.”

ROCK (Roon Optimised Core Kit) is a stripped down version of the Linux operating system, dedicated to running RoonServer on an Intel NUC.

The idea is that users can buy a NUC, install ROCK, turn it on and have an appliance like Roon Core which requires no further messing about with computers.

Rock is the Roon server chunk put on a dedicated mini-computer called a NUC.

This isn’t absolutely necessary. But over time, Roon performance may start to decline as your library grows, your zones expand, and you use Roon’s upsampling features.

But the all-in-one scheme will work fine for now.

@John_V

I wish that had turned out to be true.

I have posted my experience with the 218 here

But long story short:
Connected 218 via an Apple Express (to allow for a hard wired ethernet connection as I can NOT run an ethernet wire from my Wi-Fi system hardware to the room with my main stereo). The sound was lovely. But it frequently cut out and either the Meridian or the Roon Core (my iMac in another room) had to be rebooted. Over a four hour listening period this happened 8-10 times. Sometimes I got uninterrupted play for a full album or so. Other times the music stopped after a much shorter period of time.

I do NOT believe the problem is with my home network for the following reasons:

For months I have streamed Tidal via an iPad connected to my Bel Canto DAC in my second room. No hardwired connection of any kind to the Wi-Fi. An Apple camera/USB connection between the iPad and the DAC. No problems.

Whenever the music cut out yesterday using the Meridian 218, the green light on the Apple Express remained lit. Other Wi-Fi devices were NOT affected.

Thoughts?

Geoff, sorry it hasn’t worked yet. I’m a “brute force” troubleshooter, but you would be better served by someone who can isolate the problem more logically than I.

That said, the signal isn’t being “sent well” or isn’t being “received well” or, heaven forbid, a combo. One thing to try. Disable DSP and see if there is improvement.

1 Like

@John_V Thanks!

I have disabled DSP on my Roon Core (my iMac) for the zone that the Meridian 218 is in. The zone that is served by my Meridian Explorer DAC has not had this problem and still shows DSP enabled. So far so good. Playing without interruption through the 218 for now. But…it will take some time to test if this is a long-term fix or not.

I know nothing about DSP. Could I be making some use of it in the zone where it doesn’t seem to be doing any damage (where my Explorer is)? What – if anything – do I lose by disabling it in Roon’s control of the Meridian 218?

Depends on what you use DSP for. What it shows in the DSP panel.

But as a first approximation, you don’t lose anything serious. Roon was a great product before DSP was added, we all lived happily.

One guess: if your DSP is set to do serious upsampling, it would increase the demands on WiFi. Upsampling in Roon is a luxury, not necessary,

@AndersVinberg thanks.

I was not using DSP for anything – that I was aware of. I never even noticed the setting before.

I have used “upsampling” when I used the Amarra software. I never heard any appreciable improvement in the sound.

Well, briefly, DSP attempts to improve SQ by using “several” manipulations. If this is on, and particularly on in several zones, it can create CPU overhead that can interrupt the music.

Your setup at present may not be able to take advantage of the manipulations, but you can test the SQ with it on and off. Don’t turn it on until your system is stable, you have a sense of what it is, and you’re willing to experiment. Some people actually regard it as a fun exercise!

Hope it stays good for you.

2 Likes

@support

Apologies but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to open a new topic (even though I have done so in the past).

This is only tangentially related to the original issues I raised here, so by all means if this is now the wrong place for this question, please advise me where and how to ask it.

I am listening to many of the Tidal MQA files. In my Tidal account (in other words NOT in Roon but in Tidal itself) I have gone through and made sure that where an MQA album exists, that version is the ONLY one in my personal Tidal library. I did that to insure that when I looked for that album in Roon the only version that would come up in my Tidal library is the MQA version.

But that does not seem to work, For example when I search for Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden performing either “Jasmine” or “Last Dance” (albums NOT tracks) two versions of each album are shown in Roon. And because Roon does not distinguish which are MQA and which are not (very annoying!) the only way I can tell is to play each version and check. When I am trying to load an all MQA queue, that is not very practical.

Why can’t I see ONLY the Tidal albums that I have selected as part of my own Tidal library?

Thanks.

If you add the album to your Library, by favoriting, the album added does not show up under Tidal Library anymore it shows as part of Your Library. “Last Dance” for example, has 3 versions available, 2 of which are MQA. So if you added the 192kHz version to your library and then searched for that album, you would see the one you added/favorited under Your Library, and the two you did not under the Tidal Library.

1 Like

Hi Geoff,

To open a new topic, go to the appropriate section index (top right three line button) and use the “+ New Topic” button.

1 Like

@andybob and @Rugby thanks for the responses. Because it might be possible to clarify this with one more question I will ask it here, in the hopes that Rugby can answer it. (Thanks too for the reminder about how to start a new topic!)

I know there is more than one version of an MQA album (or a combination of MQA and non-MQA albums). That’s why in my Tidal account I have made certain that ONLY ONE is a “favorite.” Where I had marked a non-MQA album as a favorite and an MQA version became available, I UNMARKED all versions but one MQA, as “favorite.” So why do I still see more than one version in the area of Roon that should reflect MY Tidal library choices?