iFI Audio iDSD Micro - DSD512 capable but Roon displays DSD256 as max

You need to use “native” mode – DSD512 isn’t going to work over DoP.

Let us know if that helps @Jens_G!

Hi,

Thanks for the proposal but it didn’t help. Situation remains unchanged.

Jens

Hi Jens

That Win 10 PC is the Roon Core Machine in my house.
It feeds my Roon network.
I use it to do maintance work on the database and a bit of listening with earphones while doing that.
The DAC in use here is the Ifi.
There is no Hifi System or loudspeakers attached to that PC.
It is an i7 6700 machine with a good cuda capable graphic card to do the heavy HQP work if necessary.
That PC is per se noisy and is isolated from my other listening places via network.

Can you post another screenshot of your audio settings, in particular the Playback tab?

Hi Mike, here it is.

I have a iFi Micro iDSD and can confirm the same issue, Using roon bridge on a Pi 2.

Hi @Jens_G ----- Thank you for the follow up. I had a chance to touch base with my team yesterday and we would like to kindly request one more screen shot.

Please provide a screenshot of your “audio tab” as we would like to see the zones you have in Roon.

-Eric

Hi Eric, here are the screenshots of the Audio Tab. It’s really crazy. I have completely re-installed Windows10 and RoonServer. Initially the DSD-upsampling option was available but after having played some somgs it completely disappeared again and I cannot re-activate it.

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Hi @Jens_G ---- Thank you for the follow up and providing the requested screenshot.

I am fairly certain that we have an iFi in house and will schedule time to test it with our tech team. In the interest of being consistent, may I ask for one more round of screenshots in a PM displaying all of the settings you are using currently so we can test under the same conditions confidently?

I will be on the look out for your PM!
-Eric

So in OSX is not possible to play DSD 512?

Not directly. You could theoretically use a fairly powerful Mac running Roon Server or Roon to do the upsampling, but you’d need to output via a Linux or Windows endpoint that supported native DSD512 on your 512-capable DAC.

This is a Roon issue. I have the exact product and I get the same issue. I review a DAC every month and all of them are reporting one step lower then their specs. So, if a dac supports DSD 128, Roon will only use DSD 64. If another dac supports DSD256, yep, thats right, Roon can only use DSD128. All the dacs I have plugged in into Roon get the same treatment. All of them using DoP. So dear @eric, you are looking in the wrong place.

Hey Dusty,

The iFi micro iDSD will only work at DSD512 via ASIO or native DSD512 Linux drivers. You’ll need to select “native” in Roon.

There is no chance you’ll get DSD512 working via DoP, with this DAC with any software on the planet.

This thread is over a year old, but for clarity’s sake:

This is plain wrong. There are two ways of sending DSD to a DAC:

  1. ‘Native’, by sending the direct bitstream. This requires drivers – most (if not all) DACs make these available for Windows. For a number of DACs, patches are made to the Linux kernel, allowing native playback. For macOS, these drivers are (extremely) rare. When playing the native bitstream, DACs are able to receive DSD at their maximum advertised rates.

  2. Via DoP. Leaving out the details, this way the bitstream is encapsulated in PCM packets. This allows any Class 2 USB DAC to receive the stream without the need for special drivers, but this requires roughly double the bandwidth. Hence when using DoP, usually half the advertised maximum DSD rate is available.

All of this has nothing to do with Roon. The limitations of using DoP are at OS/driver level and apply to any application sending out the music. When the conditions for 1. are met, Roon is perfectly capable of shipping out DSD natively at full rates.

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Thank you for the explanation. Now I understand whats going on. When I connect my iFI Micro iDSD BL to the Auralic Aries Mini and set it to use it as DAC then I am able to select DSD512. Why is that? The Aries Mini has drivers built in? Whats going on?

I am not intimately familiar with the Aries Mini, but in all likelyhood it is running a Linux kernel of sorts. In that case, it will probably have the kernel patches that support native DSD playback for the iFi applied.

Am I right in guessing that you are using a Mac for your other DAC explorations? That would explain why you are limited to using DoP.

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Yes, I’m using a Mac.

This is right.

I run my ifi iDSD under Linux native DSD512, I could only do it after a patch…

And my mac will not use native DSD ether… I agree, Its a kernel limitation and not Roon.

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I understand. Thanks for the input.