Multi-Room Sync Issues

This issue keeps coming up and none of the recommended solutions I’ve reviewed extensively has solved the issue in my use case.

I just upgraded from Roon Nucleus Plus to Titan and the problem persists. The Titan (as did the Nucleus Plus before it) is hardwired to an Ethernet switch which is then hardwired to various Roon-Ready streamers (LUMIN U2, LUMIN U2 Mini, and ifi Stream) in the home. The U2 Mini and ifi Stream are then connected via USB to 2 separate R2R Denafrips DACs while the U2 is USB connected to a Bryston BDA3 DAC. Each plays great without hiccup on its own but group sync is waay off—defeating one of the primary uses in my setup. There is no WiFi used for streaming and all devices are on the same network. For context, I upgraded from Sonos to accommodate/stream hi res music. Here’s the interesting thing: using Roon to play the Roon-Ready Sonos devices in group fomat connected to the same DACs yields a much better result. There is no detectable delay or sync issues whatsoever with Sonos. So it does not appear that the delay is caused by the different DAC formats/configuration.

Finally, delay correction in the Roon Audio setup for the non-Sonos streamers works momentarily but eventually they go out of sync once a different resolution track is played. I realize Sonos’ proprietary net may be responsible for the improved sync but I cannot imagine that feature is best left to constantly adjusting delay settings for each Roon-ready device that, again, only results in temporary synchronization.

I am fairly new to the Roon tech but I’ve become much more proficient with its use and it has delivered on everything else it’s touted to be. Multi-room sync? Not so much. Appreciate any feedback and recommendations to help improve that final frontier—multi-room sync nirvana! Thanks.

I cannot say about different brands of DAC, but if you used Roon Ready products with analog outputs (not just from Lumin but other Roon Ready partners as well) you should have a much better experience.

In your case, I suggest you use the two Denafrips DAC with two Lumin (make sure both run the same firmware version). Try a group sync with the two Lumin. The rationale is that the two Denafrips hopefully share similar USB processing, so the difference in delay should be less.

Thanks for the reply. I think I’ve found a solution that provides the best group sync experience—adjusting the Bryston BDA3 DAC’s delay in Roon to about 100-110ms. That range appears to keep all three streamer outputs in sync from normal 16bit/44.1kHz up to DSD 512…for the moment.

Btw, I appreciate the recommendations re: direct analog connection from streamer to amp. However, unlike the Eversolos or other streamers with internal DACs there are no analog outs on the Lumins. Both Lumins require DAC connection. Thanks again.