Does Roon Core know what DAC my endpoint is connected to

Roon Software Discussion
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Hey @brian

For Roon endpoints connected to DACs via USB and ethernet, my understanding is that Roon Core does know what DAC is connected. Is that correct?

How about Roon endpoints connected to DACs via Toslink, Digital Coax and AES/EBU? I’m guessing Roon Core has no idea what DAC is connected with those DAC inputs?

Many thanks in advance

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From personal experience, I’ve only seen DAC identification appear on certain USB DAC connections. In some cases, it will appear at the end of the signal path (Meridian Explorer2). When I’m using HQPlayer in conjunction with Roon on my iMac core, HQPlayer correctly identifies my Schiit DAC downstream from my microRendu. Can’t say I’ve seen such data from other than a USB connection.

Here’s a photo post from back in February showing the Meridian Explorer 2 in the signal path.

IMG_0112.jpg2048×1536 336 KB

Only seems to be displayed on certain DACs. I returned the Meridian Explorer 2, and upgraded to the Meridian Prime Headphone amp/DAC. The Meridian Prime doesn’t display in the signal path. It is only listed as USB output.

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Thanks Robert but I meant like a deeper knowledge of the DAC, more than just showing the name of the DAC in the signal path.

Maybe something for Brian.

I can’t imagine Roon Core knows what DAC is connected via a SPDIF endpoint for example.

To cut to the chase, the reason I ask is thinking about MQA. I really don’t want this to turn into a frantic speculation thread though, so I didn’t mention it in my OP lol.

This has been mentioned before in this forum so nothing new here, but I was only wondering if Roon knows what DAC is connected to the endpoint, it may be possible for MQA to allow up to 24/192 rendering, if MQA allowed it. I put that in bold to take some pressure of the Roon chaps :slight_smile: because ultimately it’s all subject to MQA approval

I don’t want to ask Brian about MQA specifically because he’s got enough going on at the moment. So just wanted to ask in general, about if the Roon Core does know what DAC is connected to a Roon endpoint.

Since you already have the Meridian Explorer 2 you don’t have to worry about any of this! :slight_smile:

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I actually sent back the Meridian Explorer 2 and replaced it with the Meridian Prime. Both of which were procured just for MQA stuff.

I would venture to say only USB connections can be identified, but the Roon guys would know for sure, and I would be interested on their thoughts on upsampling MQA files down the road when the features are rolled out.

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I have a Bluesound Pulse 2 in my conservatory. Roon recognises this and displays the fact that DSP is occurring in the Pulse 2. This is a ‘Roon Ready’ device.
There is a software issue currently which means the device doesn’t recognise MQA via Tidal/Roon but I understand a fix is on the way. MQA via the BluOS app sounds great though.
As a side note. I am able to link zones on this with an Explorer 2.

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Chord 2Qute connected via USB to an Auralic Aries and… Roon doesn’t see beyond the Aries (all it says is “USB Output”)

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My guess (I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so take this with a bottle of salt) is that if the MQA Team were to allow Roon to decode to 24/192 it wouldn’t be allowed in that setup. It would be for a direct USB or direct Roon Ready ethernet connection, at a guess. I hope I’m wrong of course.

And likewise I don’t think Toslink, Digital Coax or AES/EBU would be allowed to output 24/192 (if my assumptions in my OP are correct) and again only if the MQA team allow/approve Roon to decode beyond 24/96 - which we have no idea about and I really don’t want this thread to be asking Roon for updates either - there’s a few threads for that already lol.

I think the Bluesound Node 2 is a good example as the digital outputs are limited to 24/96 even though the DAC can/will do the final unfolding from 24/96 to 24/192.

However, back to my OP - your example is a really good one actually, with a combination of ethernet and USB. Even though Roon doesn’t show you that a 2Qute is connected, I wonder if Roon Core knows a 2Qute is connected?

Because when I had a microRendu, Roon didn’t show me my USB DAC that my microRendu was connected to, but when I went to the microRendu’s Roon status log (under sonicOrbiter settings page), my DAC was shown in there

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Lets confine this discussion to USB for a second, since there are a range of other situations with networked products that play by different rules.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • We (mostly) only recognize products if the company has a relationship with us and has enrolled the devices in the Roon Tested program.
  • We only recognize products that have unique identifiers in the first place–it is very common for a manufacturer to make one USB audio module, then “share” its identity across many products. For example, you might see something like “FooCorp USB Audio 2.0”. These scenarios make it impossible to precisely identify devices.
  • We can only recognize products via driver frameworks that provide information about the USB device associated with a sound driver. This means ALSA, WASAPI, CoreAudio, but not Android or ASIO.
  • We CAN recognize devices that are plugged into a Roon Ready USB bridge, but only if they meet the above criteria.

To address some more specific points…

Chord 2Qute connected via USB to an Auralic Aries and… Roon doesn’t see beyond the Aries (all it says is “USB Output”)

We do see behind the Aries, but Chord hasn’t submitted this device for “Roon Tested”, so it is not recognized. We do recognize some other Chord devices.

How about Roon endpoints connected to DACs via Toslink, Digital Coax and AES/EBU? I’m guessing Roon Core has no idea what DAC is connected with those DAC inputs?

There is no mechanism available to us to do this.

We first had this idea back in 2015–it’s one of the reasons why we added all of this device identification support to Roon in the first place, in fact. As you say, it’s up to MQA whether or not to allow something like this.

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Thanks Brian!