Roon core runs on a NUC 8 I5 processor and connects to among other things a Denon USB 300 DAC via USB and an Onkyo 740 via USB 3 to HDMI connector. Sounds good and runs with no issues on either output.
Integrated an older Sony notebook as a Roon bridge to understand the options better.
Now is there an advantage to either setup when it comes to sound quality?
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If it all sounds good to you, just go with what provides the better functionality, etc.
a few more things. I connected the Roon bridge (Vaio laptop Win 10) with a Denon 300 DAC, set the output of it to 24/192, enabled MQA core decoder on the bridge as per attached pic.
The signal path showed a full MQA path (see pic) the Denon input display however shows 48 khz.
Why doesnât the bridge preserve the 96 khz from the first unfold?
The same setup present a non MQA 24/192 correctly as such on the Denon input display. Just trying to understand how Roon core and bridge work together.
You are passing all that through the OS output. You should be using an wasapi or ASIO output.
Enabled the Denon WASAPI on the bridge and get this:
The Denon input display shows 48 khz as opposed to the expectd 96 khz. Exclusive mode is set, input max 192khz 24 bit. What am I doing wrong?
Does the denon have Dirac and is it on?
No Dirac mode on this 2014 Denon DAC. Same behavior when I connect it directly to the core.
Oh, sorry missed the pic. Settings for MQA are per connection. So, in the WASAPI screen pic, you are not doing the MQA decode. Go under settings for WASAPI and setup the MQA decode options.
Set the Denon DAC to ârenderer onlyâ and it work now. The Denon does not support MQA, but doesnât seem to choke on it eitherâŚ
Thank you for teaching a novice.
Many thanks to Rugby for giving me this tip:
I needed an inexpensive way to get my Bifrost Multibit connected to Roon to take advantage of itsâ 32/192 capability, instead of relying on my AVRâs Chromecast which maxes out at 24/96. He suggested using an unused PC to connect to the Bifrost via USB and then installing Roon Bridge on the PC to complete the connection to Roon. I had an ancient Lenovo T430 collecting dust so I gave it a try. It found the Bifrost, let me adjust the soundcard settings to feed it 32/192, and Roon Bridge let me connect to the Roon server! ( There is even an icon for the Bifrost ).
It may be listener bias, but I believe I hear an uptick in audio âqualityâ going from Chromecast to the DAC.
Thanks again to Rugby.
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Based on this signal path, Iâd suggest to disable the Roon DSP Engine.