Wafubloke, yes, I use the Chromecast on the Shield. I cannot draw a diagram of the signal path, but I believe it passes in digital form until it hits the analog to digital converter in my Denon, which is why I mentioned the specific unit. If anyone reading this believes the technology functions in a different manner, please spell that out.
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There was a review of Chromecast Audio both as implemented in the device and then as handled by Roon in its use of Chromecast. It dates from 2016 but should be relevant. See https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-chromecast-audio-digital-output.4544/
My expectation is the quality of the Room implementation shows up on the Shield as well and that my Denon is at least of reasonable quality in handling jitter, hence the fine results I achieved.
I’m talking about both local files loaded via USB and the same files located on a network file server mounted by Shield (probably using Samba as a network protocol), vs the same files sent via Chromecast to the Shield. I don’t hear any difference between local/network files in my listening. The Chromecast delivered files do sound different (tested with 16 bit FLAC files - I’m unclear so far if I have a preference). Since about 50% of the music I listen to is some flavor of high resolution, DSD or MQA, Chromecast doesn’t really cut it for my purposes. I will be setting up a Allo Rasberry Pi as a Roon Endpoint soon to see if Roon/Pi will be superior to my Shield sonically soon. The Shield works with some software players, but they are frankly kind of a pain to work with and buggy. That’s why a Shield as a Roon Endpoint would be awesome!
That’s how i use mine.
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Yes come on Roon…there are enough of us asking for this solution.
A shield connected via HDMI to AVR for surround sound, and also connected via USB to a 2 channel USB Dac (And then via analog audio to AVR) with the Shield seen as a 2 channel end point via Roon would be awesome and allow us all to spend our hard earned money on Roon subscriptions, rather than lots of black boxes linked together with a tangle of wires!
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Hi , I don’t know if this is relevant but I have a shield pro and it is recognised as a roon endpoint, I imagine that is because of chromecast built in. It also allows me to see the library pages on my TV
Yes that’s standard but its limited quality. Most are wanting it as a RAAT based endpoint and to be able to use it as a controller with Android TV interface.
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Hi - just wanted to chime in and add my support for having the Shield as a proper endpoint (not Chromecast). I have a new Pro and connecting to my Denon 4700H, I really don’t want to have to buy another streamer to install beside it just for high quality Roon playback. Having Roon in the Shield would be so convenient, my receiver plays in 2 other rooms via zone 2 and 3 so sending Roon to all 3 zones would be awesome.
Would love for Shield to be supported as well.
My ideal use-case is high resolution MULTI-CHANNEL audio via HDMI. I have a collection of those and have to play them back via a PC --> HDMI to get it to work. It works, but the overhead of PC management and starting Roon app, then starting the browser to visualize it (on my TV) is a lot of hassle.
Chromecast is great, though not a solution, because:
- No multi-channel support
- not even Roon supports higher res audio on Chromeast on Shield TV (which itself is an issue - I can stream 192/24 directly from Qobuz to Chromecast on Shield - why not Roon??)
With Plex on Shield I can get multi-channel audio over HDMI including a nice leanback TV interface - why not Roon?
I did side-load Roon for Android on Shield (a pain, but possible), but it’s not usable in the way I intended (same what @ Ricky_Cash said). You cannot configure multi-channel audio via HDMI.
Shield TV is the best streamer/player out there. Has compute power that shames any and all streaming clients out there. It would be a fantastic platform to support. Or at least fix high-res audio over Chromecast - Qobuz figured it out…
I’ve been using the Shield Pro as my endpoint via ‘Built in Chromecast’. Very happy with the results - you get bit perfect playback and the track info on your TV.
The only snag is that to get bit perfect audio, you have to go into the Google Home app, and set the shield volume to 100%, or it applies DSP. Unfortunately I’ve had to do this every single time. Not the end of the world, but many of us strive for a slick experience that matches the quality of our audio 
Please note I am not suggesting the DSP issue is something Roon needs to address, rather something I was hoping perhaps someone else has found a permanent fix for to stop the volume changing in the Google Home app.
Never happened for me it’s always fixed to 100% as I have the shield set as fixed volume in its settings never had to go into Google home once to do anything to it and get bit perfect for all things up to 48/24.
Go into your shields settings for audio and video and set it to fixed. It uses a DSP volume so if it’s not set to fixed or 100% Roon will report this nothing it can do the volume on it is not bit perfect.
Go into your shields settings for audio and video and set it to fixed. It uses a DSP volume so if it’s not set to fixed or 100% Roon will report this nothing it can do the volume on it is not bit perfect.
It is already set to fixed on the shield, but sometimes it shows DSP on Roon, and the only way I can get bit perfect like on my screenshot is to go into Google Home app and put it back to 100. No idea what is causing it to go back to 45% or whatever it is.
Odd, never had that happen at all.
+1 definitely think a native Roon app for Nvidia Shield TV would be a good thing.
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I think there is a key aspect missing in this discussion: Roon control via Android TV ( and shield in particular) would be a cheap and easy way to give people a TV interface with remote. Android TVs are getting cheap and many Roon users would consider buying one to get simple play / pause / skip support, let alone navigation of collections. So while appealing to existing Shield users is nice, the overlap with the Roon market could easily grow fast given how cheap they are.
As a related note, I am a shield user and would love this, but just for the Roon Remote functionality. I would not need actual audio out.
Given how you have to navigate on the Shield I can’t see it being a good experience. Plex for instance really sucks for music and is available on the Shield TV and quite frankly is awful for navigating large video collections let alone music. I used Tidals and Spotify apps once before reverting back to phone apps and casting instead, just dreadful. Search is awkward at best on any Android TV app.
Android TV has guidelines on what you should and shouldn’t do and most apps follow this and work in similar manor. Roon does not make native apps it’s cross platform and attempts to keep the experience the same across them so having an Android TV app would really not fit their model as it would need to change drastically to work with a 10 foot interface and a remote control for navigation. It would ruin absolutely everything it’s trying to be and likely would be even more limited than the phone app is now.
Having been an Android TV user for many years I have no desire to see it on Shield or any other Android TV device. Roon is just not suited for this environment if you ask me and would rather resources be use where they are better served.
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We know @CrystalGipsy doesn’t like the UI implications, or the platform, but there are UI and functional limitations on other devices such as the iPhone. I’d be very happy with a functionally slim app as described by @Noah_Horton.
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I don’t not like the platform I have two Android TV devices and readily choose it other other TV platforms I just know it’s limitations and that they would not be a good fit for the Roon UI. Yes the phone app has limitations and I regularly moan about the limitations of those and it needs fixing not putting resources on this platform which will lead to another app that limits functionality.
FWIW I keep audio and video separate. I feel the requirements are fundamentally different
Audio
Roon too RPi > headphones
Roon > CXN > Aux to Samsung HW 950 sound bar
Roon > Chromecast > Direct to TV HDMI
Video
Jriver > MyGica 1960 (Android) > HDMI to sound bar controlled by JRemote
My 2p
For myself there are 3 aspects - Audio to a device, Display to a screen, and Control from a device. Plus, it has to work for the whole family.
In my example I want the control and display to be via the huge 4K TV dominating the room where everybody consumes their media. The sound goes to the cinema surround amp and speakers clustered around the TV. That’s where everybody’s eyes and ears are.
Nvidia seems like a perfect choice for control - as it is already used by the family with just a remote control to consume media. Currently, you need yet another another device for ROON control (laptop, phone, tablet) and that isn’t push-remote-button-as-normal-and-play family friendly.
Consequently, Plex always wins over ROON as first choice music player (also does music video on the 4K screen).