Taking the PC that is working for HDMI audio and putting it back in my den system with the USB-connected miniDSP U-DAC8 properly works. Multichannel is sounding just as good there as before.
Taking the replacement used PC I bought to replace the other down to my living room now produces the expected outcome in Roon. First, you can see below that the PC recognizes the Integra receiver via HDMI:
But here are the remaining weird things. First, Roon does not recognize the Integra receiver by name as does Windows Sound itself. How do I fix that? Second, the music is playing out of the speaker on the PC and not coming out of the receiver. I can control the sound coming out of the PCâs tinny speaker with Roon so we know the PC is working right.
You can see that the Integra receiver is selected as the default device in Windows Sound, so I donât understand why the music doesnât come out of the receiver.
Progress, but now a different issue. Nothing simple on this endpoint! Thanks in advance for your advice. JCR
Jeffrey, I think the problem is that your new PC is still not seeing your AVR in Roon. I assume that the PC is called DESKTOP-R86JDQ? It is still not showing the Intel Audio Display Device (in Roon). Your âLiving Room Roonâ device is actually the PCâs built-in audio hardware (connected directly via Wasapi, rather than going through the Windows software audio mixer, which is the âSystem Outputâ device). That explains why you are hearing your music through the PCâs speakers.
Here are the equivalent screenshots from one of my laptops connected via a USB-C to HDMI dongle to my Denon 3808 AVR. In the Windows Sound Control Panel, the HDMI audio is seen as the Intel Display Audio device. Note that this will not appear unless the Denon is switched on and connected. The HDMI handshake that occurs when the connection is made provides the name of the connected device (DENON-AVAMP).
Once the device is seen by Windows, then Roon is able to use it as an audio device (i.e. the Intel Display Audio; I havenât yet enabled it in this demonstration):
@Geoff_Coupe, I assume you mean pick the speakers as default rather than the Integra receiver? Same result: music comes out of the PC speakers and not the receiver. JCR
@Geoff_Coupe, correct, just the High Definition Audio Device.
But, I tried installing the Realtek HD audio manager and its drivers and couldnât get that to work. Instead, as you can see below, the Intel Display Audio finally (magically) appeared!
Now, next problem is that it plays only in 2 channel. I have the choices to select 5.1 and 7.1 and to swap back channels if required. No permutation gets me anything other than the transport failed to initialize the audio device. When I go back to 2 channel, it works.
I also note that this all very fragile. Of course, when shutting off the power on the Integra receiver, the HDMI endpoint disappears. When turning the receiver back on, it doesnât reappear until I remote into the PC with Device Manager open â and then I can actually watch as the Intel Display Audio pops into the lineup. Weird.
Not sure why you canât have anything other than 2 channel, Iâm sorry. I know that for my Denon, I need to have 7.1 selected for the connection to work for multichannel. Also need to have:
DSD Playback Strategy - Convert to PCM
MQA Capabilities - No MQA Support
Volume Control - Fixed Volume
Max Sample Rate - Up to 96 kHz
Max Bits per Sample - 32
As for the driver disappearing, I think whatâs possibly going on is in the clue that you need to remote into the PC. Roon runs in User space, which means that the Roon user needs to be logged into Windows. That means for headless servers, an auto-login function needs to be set up as described here.
I just wonder if something like this is needed for the PC connected to your AVR?
@Geoff_Coupe and @noris, I am not running RoonServer on the PC in question. Just RoonBridge. It looks like the auto login is for RoonServer and that is when rebooting. Here, thereâs no shutdown to reboot for. You are still thinking that setting up the auto login would solve that driver disappearance issue?
What does the Roon senior development team think may be the issue on multichannel, that being the more important issue now to resolve. Thanks. JCR
The key is that I rolled back the processing to 24/96. Then it works. At 24/192, I get the transport error.
@noris, this now leaves us with the final issue to resolve: the requirement to remote into the PC for it to âwake upâ to the Intel Audio Device. JCR
I am glad that you were able to resolve the main issue at hand with @Geoff_Coupeâs help (really appreciate you chiming in here Geoff ). As for the requirement to âwake the pc upâ, can you please confirm whether this issue only happens with Roon, or if it also happens with other apps that are using HDMI audio streaming? Meaning, if you try to stream from another source (web player or another music app) with Roon turned off do you run into the same issue?
IHello, @noris and @Geoff_Coupe. I have accomplished several things since the last note:
I have the Integra playing using the 5.1 surround selection, instead of the 7.1 selection and swapping the rest for the surrounds, at 24/96 max. See below.
No idea why this now works. This is great but for that the Integra manual says that the DTR-40.3 supports 24/192. But, if I change Roon over to that, I get the transport not found error. I assume this is nothing to do with Roon and 24/96 is fine for this secondary listening post. Of course, if you have any further suggestions on this point, it would be appreciated.
I solved the HDMI shutting off issue. Turns out that I set the power to never shut off but my selection for the display never to shut off did not stick. Of course, thatâs why the HDMI would shut down until I opened Device Manager again. Once setting the display as well never to shut off, the HDMI is staying on.
Glad you were able to get that HDMI shutting off issue & surround sound resolved! As for your question regarding sample rate, while the Integra may support that resolution, many Intel Display HDMI Audio devices do not. While I cannot find any specific documentation regarding the capabilities of that Intel 4600 Graphics card on the web, a few of my colleagues have confirmed seeing this same issue with similar setups. A simple test here would be to see if you are able to play that resolution with another program, if it doesnât play properly then it would indicate a hardware limitation at that point.
The result? 24/96 is still the max. Must be a hardware limitation of the era.
But, itâs playing well on multichannel at a high quality level. So, many thanks to you and the Roon team and to @Geoff_Coupe for the assistance is sorting this one out to a good conclusion. Cheers. JCR
Glad to have been of help! If thereâs anything else thatâs not working properly in Roon, just let us know and we can take a look at it. Since the issues are fixed, I am marking this thread as [Solved]. Hope you have a great day!
). As for the requirement to âwake the pc upâ, can you please confirm whether this issue only happens with Roon, or if it also happens with other apps that are using HDMI audio streaming? Meaning, if you try to stream from another source (web player or another music app) with Roon turned off do you run into the same issue?
