Even in 2025, Roon still treats all Android-based devices as if they’re locked behind AudioFlinger with system-wide SRC forced to 48 kHz. That assumption no longer reflects reality—many modern Android DAPs (HiBy, iBasso, FiiO, etc.) support full system-wide SRC bypass and are capable of bit-perfect playback at higher sample rates.
The critical point: even low-end Android phones can accept higher sample rates; Android will simply downsample via AudioFlinger in the worst case. So there’s no real risk of functionality breaking—at worst it’s downsampled. Roon could allow higher sample rates to be selected while marking the path “lossy” when it cannot confirm bit-perfect output. DAP users who know they have system-wide bypass would ignore the “lossy” flag.
What we need: a setting in Roon that allows the user to feed the DAP at its native sample rate via Roon’s engine/resampler, rather than being locked to 48 kHz.
As a “nice to have”: Roon could optionally support or integrate with UAPP (USB Audio Player Pro) or a similar bit-perfect/USB-driver app. UAPP already provides reliable bypass of Android’s sample-rate conversion and audio stack in many cases. This would allow for definite bypass on devices where status is unknown and allow dongle users to profit from bit perfect playback as well as controlled upsampling by Muse.
In summary: better sample-rate control + optional recognition of high-end Android audio paths would modernise Roon’s Android support and give DAP users the control their hardware already supports.