Best playback possible through Roon?

I am a new user.

My system is an Asustor NAS, a core i7 high spec PC, and a Lumin D1 playing into high end hifi. I use a Sony Xperia Z4 tablet to run Roon Remote.

My issue is that when I look at the signal path in playback with any audio file - whether MQA or CD quality I get purple until I get to ‘Sigma-Delta Modulator’ where it says: DSD64. And the star is blue not purple. I use Tidal for the MQA files.

If I use the Lumin app with MQA files they play back natively.

Is Roon doing the same, or am I not set up correctly? The Roon Audio Setup does not look like it is expected in the instructions - there are fewer parameters.

Please help me set this up to play the best possible way.

Kind regards,

Mike Anderson.

There are less settings because the D1 is Roon Ready, and they’ve already configured it to sound the best.

What Lumin firmware are you running? They released something new for Roon integration last month:

  1. Make sure your’re running Firmware 9.x for Lumin D1 using Lumin app.

  2. In Roon Audio Setup, please find Lumin D1 under networked Roon Ready devices, enable it (if you see a blue Enable button, it’s NOT yet enabled). (If you don’t see it listed at all, please turn off Roon Ready setting in Lumin app, then turn it on again).

  3. Make sure you’re playing to Roon Ready Lumin D1, not the AirPlay Lumin D1.

  4. Make sure Re-sampling setting in Lumin app is OFF.

  5. Make sure DSP Engine in Roon is set to Disabled.

  6. Make sure Volume Leveling in Roon Zone Settings is set to OFF.

  7. Please post your signal path.

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Hi,

Thank you for the extremely helpful replies. I think I have 90% of it correct!

Please excuse me if I have been stupid with the set up!

To answer your queries:
0. I was running 9.03 but this morning I have just upgraded to 9.04 for Lumin firmware.

  1. The Lumin is enabled under Roon Ready Devices.
    2, I am playing through Roon Ready - Airplay is not enabled.
  2. Re-sampling was on in the app, so I have changed that.
  3. I am not sure if Volume Levelling was on or off but it is now off.

I think it may be fixed as when I play a track now the Sigma-Delta Modulator section has vanished.

  1. The signal path is now:
    Signal Path: Lossless
    Lumin D1
    Source: Flac 44.1kHz 16bit 2 ch
    Lumin D1: Roon Advanced Audio Transport
    Output: Analog output.

This is playing a file from Tidal Masters, which when played through the Lumin app is marked as MQA. Does Roon not indicate the same?

Clearly it is different now as the star indicators are purple all the way through. Do I assume that Roon does not actually indicate when an MQA is playing?

Thank you again for your great help!

Regards,

Mike.

Sorry about the dodgy formatting within my reply - not sure why that happened, but hope it’s understandable!

Mike.

There are always multiple versions of the same album on Tidal with the same album art, and it may not be obvious which is Tidal Master, and which is Tidal HiFi. Your signal path indicates you’ve chosen a Tidal HiFi, not Master album.

You should play a track from all Tidal albums with the same album art one by one, and watch the Lumin front panel. When you see MQA Studio displayed on Lumin front panel, you’re playing Tidal Master. If you see 44.1kHz 16-bit, you’re not playing Tidal Master.

Thank you for the second helpful reply.

I see exactly what you mean and although I haven’t explored Tidal extensively yet, I can see that its organisation is sometimes less than perfect.

Now that I know the different file versions can sit side by side, it’s relatively easy to separate them by tagging.

And if I click the Signal Path on a file title when playing, Roon will tell me if it is MQA (or anything else!).

It would be nice if you could select an MQA before playing it - but maybe that will come at some point…

Thanks again,

Mike.

Please confirm you see MQA Studio in the front panel, when a Tidal Master is being played. This would imply your Lumin setup is now correct.

Yes - it does say MQA Studio on the front panel when an appropriate file is being played. Thank you for the help.

But it would be useful if Roon/Tidal could indicate which the MQA Master files are without having to try them out to find out if you’re playing the right album out of several. Since clearly Tidal has its catalogue in a bit of a mess as some of the titles in the Masters section are definitely not MQA.

The Lumin app can display this information - why can’t the Roon/Tidal set up?

Mike.

There are several threads on this subject, e.g.

Sorry - I should have looked first before asking an old question.

Thank you for all the help - my Roon/Lumin set up is now working really well and I can now tag MQA albums once I know they exist, which is a pretty useful way to keep track of them.

Mike.

I’m not so sure you are playing the same file?
This is what my Signal path looks like when streaming Masters files from Tidal:

Apologies for answering this again… There is something dodgy going on when viewing some threads on iPad…

You are right - it wasn’t set up correctly at all, but it is now!

Thank you for your response in any event.

Best wishes,

Mike.

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i am glad to be apart of roon family , make no mistake the best quality audio player in the world i am so happy:heart_eyes:

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Peter,

I haven’t updated Lumin Firmware since switching from the Lumin app on iPad to using Roon on a dedicated server Mac. I know this is probably obvious, but how do I update the Firmware if I’m no longer using the lumin app?

Thanks,

Will Connor

You’ll need to launch Lumin app using your iPad, iPhone or Android device connected to the WiFi router network that your Lumin player is on.

After the update is done, you don’t need to use Lumin app any further.