Hi,
I’ve searched a lot to find an answer, but I’m probably using the wrong keywords.
I have a Marantz Cinema 50, I want to buy a Nucleus.
Will I get the best sound to have a straight HDMI connection between Nucleus and receiver or is it better to have like an Bluesound Node in between?
Thanks
@Tomboli I would try to connect the Nucleus directly to the Marantz via HDMI and see if Roon recognises the DAC in the device and can use it accordingly.
If the direct connection works and the sound is good, I would do it that way. But see:
If it doesn’t work that way, then a streamer, e.g. a Bluesound Node, might be necessary in between. And from there via RCA out analogue into the Marantz. But that would be a compromise in my opinion.
A direct HDMI connection would be simplest but you would have limited control of the Marantz Amp from ROON.
You could access using Airplay but that limits the resolution https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/airplay-setup#AirPlay
If you are interested, the RHEOS app will allow you to stream at Higher resolution and offers limited control of the receiver, as well as the ability to group with other HEOS enabled Marantz/Denon devices.
Still refining zone controls, but is pretty solid. The easiest way to set up is with ROON extension manager - happy to help.
Sorry for the late response, i’m going to see if the RHEOS app is something for me. What is meant by limited controls, what would I miss?
Limited control, at present, allows on/off/volume/mute for Main Zone and Zone 2 individually. Selection of direct/pure direct/stereo/multi-channel stereo/ virtual. At present one way control of these but 2 way should be there shortly (i.e. if you change on the receiver this is reflected in ROON).
In addition, you can group the receiver with other HEOS enabled devices from ROON, create fixed groups of devices if you frequently use a set combination. Standard play/pause/skip of any HEOS device all from the ROON control app.
Streaming is possible at CD quality (48kHz) or Hi res (192 kHz) or as ‘pass thru’ which does not convert the steam and should support up to 192kHz or the maximum your receiver allows.
Other controls of receiver features may be possible if needed.
Zone functionality is presently in “test” mode but OS becoming very stable and I hope to release in the next days a new “latest” mode that will be available as a roon-extension.
Not missing much that I use when listening to audio. Better than the HEOS app.
I’ll add you can’t scrub any tracks at all whilst playing this breaks the stream completely and doesn’t resume until it’s stopped and started again. No track metadata on display if it has one. This is same mind for all implementation using the LMS2UPnP bridge as the backend.
What do you mean by “scrub” - just not familiar with the term here 
. I tend not to use forward / reverse so may not be aware of the issue but pausing and resuming tracks seems to work for me. Probably not much I can do about it, if this is intrinsic to the LMSUPnP.
Sorry, I may not have been responding to what you were really asking- the “limited” description above is with the RHEOS app. With a direct HDMI connection I don’t think you get any control of the receiver other than the ROON interface for play, pause etc. You should be able to group with other ROON endpoints if you connect this way.
Scrub through a track with the slider to get to position. Yes I know it’s the plugin that’s the limitation here as I pointed out. I have issues with the plugin on some other UPnP kit where even pausing breaks it.
Back again. i bought a mini pc i7, only for running roon core.
No i get this:
No option for Exclusive mode, just wasapi. When i use my desktop pc it shows the exclusive mode but like volume control is limited, got lossless sound but also music stops randomly. thing is i want to use the mini pc as core.
I try to install RHEOS, but cant get it installed, seems a little difficult, maybe someone can help? im stuck installing roon extension.
other question; if may rheos will not work and im gonna buy a bluesound node x will i get lossless audio for sure? cause its an roon ready device, and how about connecting it to receiver? minipc via hdmi to receiver and also bluesound to receiver, both with separate hdmi cable to the marantz?
RHEOS works great use it all time for my model
40n.
When connected via WASAPI exclusive mode should be available in the device settings menu for the zone.
That’s odd - WASAPI should give you the Exclusive mode option. Your signal path shows the System Output to be the OS mixer - which implies you’ve chosen the system default device (which does NOT have the Exclusive mode option), rather than the WASAPI device
You are absolutely right, I thought I had looked at all outputs, but now it works in exclusive mode and is therefore lossless, thanks! Everything is ok for now, only thing is that if i want to listen to music via my marantz is to put it first on an hdmi output to get sound. With heos my marantz reacts direct to it and switch to the exact source immediately. To let that work is probably to buy an roon ready device and connect it to hdmi with hdmi cec on oris there something else i can do?
RHEOS will switch to the HEOS input works well for me.