A prospective question as at the moment I have a different Roon setup.
The Matrix Audio X-Sabre Pro (MQA) is a USB DAC which is based on the XMOS XU216 chip. However Matrix Audio only offers Windows ASIO drivers. Is it then possible to use the X-Sabre Pro as a USB DAC when attached to the Nucleus USB output (as Nucleus is Linux based)?
My first suggestion is to ask Matrix Audio that question to get their authoritative response. I do not know if Roon OS is patched for that XMOS chip.
But, my guess, is that yes, it will probably work with some potential limitations. Some DACs straight up won’t work with Linux at all, but, they are not in the majority. Any recent DAC will probably work fine with Linux but may have some issues reaching high rate DSD.
If the Matrix cannot do native DSD with Linux then you will be limited to operating in DoP DSD mode. This means the DSD is encapsulated in PCM and the overhead to do so, lowers the resolution by a full step. So, if your device’s native DSD output is 512, the best you’ll get is DSD 256 with DoP.
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Thanks for your prompt reply. I’ll check with Matrix Audio.
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Did they ever get back to you with an official answer? There are a couple of other people who have the same question.
actually I did not continue investigating this path, I got a X-Sabre Pro MQA but decided to keep my main Windows 10 PC on which I run Roon, HQPlayer and soon Acourate.
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I use the Matrix Audio X-Saber Pro (not MQA) with Ubuntu server (server DIY, not Nucleus) via usb. It works perfectly at 512 and native mode
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For what it is worth, I use allo usbridge signature between rock and matrix x sabre pro mqa. It works perfectly fine.