Squeezebox Touch → optical output → Marantz SR6009 home theater receiver - no DSP active
also
Marantz SR6009 home theater receiver via Airplay (connected via Ethernet) - no DSP active
Description of Issue
The Multichannel page from the Roon Knowledge Base states that there should be a full channel layout option as part of device setup and yet the device setup only shows a “Mutichannel mixing” option, not the full channel layout option.
Is there a way to get the full channel layout option to be part of the device setup.
Please note that Squeezebox Touch → optical output → Marantz SR6009 home theater receiver will play 5.1 flac files as discreet 5.1 channel audio since this worked in the past when I was using LMS, in other words the Touch supports bit-perfect playback of 5.1 flac files.
Okay I’ll play along. Please point to a technical article which explains this. My understanding is that toslink transmits a digital signal and it up to the receiver to properly decode the signal. As I stated the Touch → Marantz combo played 5.1 flac files as discreet 5.1 channel when I used LMS to send the files to the Touch.
TOSlink is a version of S/PDIF which cannot transmit/convey discrete multichannel. The only multichannel signals it can handle are based on lossy, compressed codecs such as DolbyDigital or dts.
Can you supply the actual source reference that supports your statement to the contrary?
Gentlemen please accept my humble apology. You are both indeed correct. I was relying on my rather faulty memory instead of actually checking things for myself. I do have several multi-channel albums in my Roon library and when I double checked to see if they actually playback as mulit-channel on my Touch → Marantz I discovered that the albums are encoded as 5.1 DTS files and NOT as 5.1 flac files.
Now I just need a program that will convert 5.1 flac files to 5.1 DTS files!
Why would you want to do that? Assuming these FLAC files started out as lossless (and weren’t just converted from some lossy codec to FLAC), doing this would be a step down in quality (never mind that Roon’s lack of DTS support). Better option would be to use HDMI. I bought a MeLE mini PC and installed Ubuntu server and Roon bridge just for this purpose.
You can use for example eac3to for encoding PCM into dts or DD, but also from my side:
Use a roon endpoint with hdmi out (a mini pci with Rock on it, is here a very good solution) and connect it to your Marantz for playing loose less multichannel.
I have some 5.1 channel DTS files that are encoded as 2 channel flac files. I don’t remember where I got the files but when played via Roon to my Squeezebox Touch and then into my Marantz SR6009 the files play and are decoded as 5.1 channel DTS. Hence all my confusion about 5.1 flac and DTS.
By the way, the recording I have been referring to is Bjork’s Medulla, one of the best, if not the best, 5.1 recordings ever released. Bjork makes full use of the surround sound field, giving equal weight to all 5 main channels. In other words, the rear channels are not just low level reflective sound but an important part of the entire listening experience. If you ever get the chance give this recording, which was released as an SACD, a listen on surround system.