Unknown
Probably one month and a half ago…
Did not realized until playing some mch album
Which version/build of ROCK do you run? 254 or 256?
254, but was on 254 also when it was working
Any DSP enabled in roon?
Denon F/W up-to-date?
In both cases: no changes to settings and hardware. Was working before, only change is roon updating
Might be. But, did you also check the Denon’s F/W?
No, just 24-192 in the settings, but same as always
Yep, but did you check the firmware version of your Denon? There might be an update available.
Checked anyway: last firmware installed
But not relevant in my opinion, since it was working before
Following article seems to reveal NUC problems with e.g. HDMI to Denon.
Seems that people face HDMI audio issues esp. with NUC10xN versions
Another article points to eARC…
As said, worked perfectly until few weeks ago
No setup, hardware or setting change in a long time
Only change is roon updates
Therefore no issue from denon
Earc goes to tv, not to nuc
No bitstream dts or atmos, pcm only
No windows player, roon rock and roon
Firmware shown are for windows
Besides, as for others, it now works only up to 24-96, before all the way to 24-192
Other threads shows other AVRs
Worked for two years, Only thing changed is roon build
Latest firmware is loaded, and I loaded the latest on the NUC twice (there’s another audio issue loading the bios 2x in a row supposedly fixes)
eARC, passthrough, HDMI Control are all disabled per a recommendation from Roon support
Multiple inputs have been tried.
Not sure how to check the operating temperature, it’s not on the web ui, and if I reboot it, it won’t reflect the real temps. Cooling is running in Balanced mode, so the fan will run as needed. The compartment it’s in has a PC fan circulating air.
I haven’t hooked the Rock up to a TV… I’ve got several HDMI devices on the Denon AVR and none have had any distortion issues, so I don’t believe it to be a problem with the Denon.
I have a Dolby Atmos setup (looks like 5.1.2 to the receiver). I’d like to be able to switch between Stereo and MCH if the source dictates it. This works and is automatic with the limited MCH material I’ve tested so far. I’ve not observed the distortion beginning while switching between stereo and mch.
The NUC only has a single port.
One thing I did notice while responding is that HDMI CEC was enabled in the bios, I went ahead and disabled that to remove it from the equation.
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Now that I’ve set the delay to 1s and disabled CEC, I think it’s worth letting it run for a few days to see if the issue recurs.
Yes, let’s see. I had a very similar issue with my NUC8. Whenever I switched from non-dsf to dsf I got distortion very soon. Happened with stereo and mch dsf.
I then put in some value for resync. And after that, it never happened again. I just have to wait few seconds for the next title to start, but that’s totally fine since roon doesn’t know of any configurable pause between two titles 
Maybe different Denons react differently on different resync values.
Fingers crossed.
My guess… roon doesn’t focus on mch testing since this is a rather rare scenario. And hardware on both sides seem to play a bigger role here than with stereo.
Did you open an official support ticket? Writing here may not be as efficient as a ticket.
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I have the same issue on Ubuntu with the MeLE Quieter 3Q Fanless Mini PC. (And ROCK, if installed on this Mini PC)
Had distortion this morning when turning it on.
Wondering if this is an ALSA problem, I’ve found a few other references that sound similar -
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=288490
Perhaps I should just load windows on the NUC and run Rock server that way?
Concern with Windows is I haven’t been able to consistently play audio from my PC to an Anthem MRX-540 over HDMI. Day-to-day I use 5.1 for gaming (Dolby). MCH will play in this mode, but attempting to play 2-channel files errors out and I have to manually set the Sound Settings device to stereo, it’s a hassle.
In case you want to try Windows you have to install roon Server, AFAIK. Since ROCK brings its own mini OS.
It definitely looks like multichannel and stereo with dsf/DSD over HDMI introduces problems roon wanted to circumvent with using their own protocol instead of e.g. DLNA/UPnP
Obviously, different receiving/rendering devices behave in different ways when fed (by roon) with officially supported signals and rates. Now, we could easily blame roon or a device manufacturer for issues of this kind. But, in the end it often is a matter of who really obeys official standards for data transmission. We know, some at least are not 100% doing so .
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I have exactly this same distortion. Seems to occur after the ROCK has been running for an hour or so. Only way to clear it is a reboot using the power switch. I always need to reset it before beginning a new listening session if it has been idle for a while. All other networked endpoints (primarily Sonos) work fine and never exhibit the distortion. Setup is a NUC11PAHi5 running via HDMI into a Marantz A7703 AVR. I wonder if it might be an issue specific to AVRs from D&M Holdings?
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