These are a good read but the costs would be out of this world for many, interesting subject though.
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Even if Roon could do all of that to an Atmos stream (and why would you want it to in the first place?) you still need an AVR to handle the objects (Roon or a multi-channel DAC in Roonâs path wouldnât know how to process the objects) and thatâs assuming that the developers could get Roon to preserve the Atmos info kind of like it does with MQA signaling.
Until the day comes when you donât need an AVR (Iâm not counting the fake Atmos you get from soundbars or headphones) to fully enjoy Atmos, the best way for Roon to support it is to just pass it along to an audio device with HDMI out to an AVR and let the AVR handle everything (decoding, DSP, objects, etc.). Anyone who as already experienced Atmos music has done so with an AVR in the chain.
I completely agree with you. Let an AVR do the work rather than Roon. As far as the âwhy?â of Atmos, for me itâs the immersion it gives to videogames and TV/movies. Immersion in music seems to provoke many differing viewpoints.
I wasnât asking why Atmos but why would you want to have Roon apply DSP to it in the first place. An AVR will do the same thing and and would likely downsample any upsampling you did anyway.
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An AVR is not needed. Many soundbars now have Atmos support. I agree that for most users Roon DSP is unnecesary with Atmos, although it would be nice to have.
(Of course a soundbar is not as good as having a full Atmos system, but it is a pretty good compromise for those with cost and/or space constraints).
Yes. I have seen so many argumentative posts concerning how music âshould beâ presented. I canât offer any empirical reasoning on why I like the âExtended Stereoâ effect my AVR provides in a 5.1 system, only that I do. Therefore I can only assume that Atmos may be fun to at least give a listen to. If itâs artificial or gimmicky I can still use the setup for the aforementioned games and video.
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There is now a fair amount of content available on Tidal that is mixed for Atmos (instead of just upmixed). Some of it is gimmicky or poorly done, but a lot of it sounds really good to me.
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Yes, I agree. In my case I am so happy with my Goldenears 3dArray XL soundbar and Pioneer Elite AVR that an Atmos soundbar would not be my choice. But there are certainly well-known audio companies producing them with positive reviews.
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Even on a 5.1 system you will get some added benefit with objects (assuming your AVR supports Atmos with only 5.1 channels setup) but I would say a 5.x.2 system would be the bare minimum (at least for me). I have a 6.3.4 system (I donât run a center).
Unfortunately, my surrounds, surround backs, front overheads and rear overheads are very small speakers (its a living room HT with vaulted ceiling so in order to get decent spacing and placement I had to go small) so while they work well for movie/TV sound affects or the occasional voice behind you I found them too tin sounding with the few Tidal Atmos tracks I listened to.
Nothing I actually listen to is in Atmos anyway so for now 2.2 is good enough for me. Iâm still all for Roon adding âAtmos pass-through support for AVR playbackâ though since Atmos music seems to be here to stay (I think we have movies/TV to mostly thank for that).
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No AVR needed for Atmos playback to a MCH DAC through the Dolby Reference Player, which sounds better than HDMI running through my AVR (a Marantz AV-8802A). The DRP allows setting the speaker arrangement so objects are sent to the correct DAC channel. Yes, a 5.1.2 setup is the minimum for Atmos. One does not need to spend for all Wilson speakers in a 7.1.4 format like Chris Connaker has to accomplish Atmos. Two height speakers on top of a standard 5.1 home theater setup will do fine. JCR
The Dolby Reference Player is a tool for pros working with Dolby audio products. It certainly isnât intended for consumers to use in place of an AVR. Are you suggesting Roon devs should use DRP as a way of supporting Atmos playback?
No need. macOS already DD+Atmos build-in and can do full 7.1.4 decode. Iâve been using Apple Music Atmos + virtual audio interface (such as BlackHole or Dolby Audio Bridge) + HQPlayer (as DSP engine) â multichannel DSD256 since Apple started streaming Atmos contents.
Hereâs the demo for 7.1.4 full decode from Apple Music:
My system is still 5.1.2 tho (saving money and plan to upgrade to 7.1.4 in the near future) 
but at least I can use EC modulator to gain better SQ:
AVR cannot handle very high taps / very high quality IR filters (for example 130K taps / 352.8KHz) and upsampling to MCH DSD256âŚ
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Atmos streaming is thru DD+. Apple can be Dolbyâs partner and put DD+ decoding capability into CoreAudio, why canât Roon? Integrating DD+Atmos for Tidalâs Atmos content is a cool idea. 
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Iâm assuming your Roon Core is on the mac too? My Core is on Ubuntu and I certainly wouldnât want to buy a mac just to do this when I already have an AVR. And what are your speakers connected to if you are not using an AVR?
Iâm using NUC ROCK.
Thatâs why we request DD+Atmos decoding capability in Roon.
You only need multichannel DAC. And you can choose the Amps / Speakers you like. No more restrictions.
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Yes, of course, El Guapo, I too like you am using my Mac for DD+ Atmos directed to HQP â although my MCH DAC only permits me to upsample Dolby Atmos to DSD128. But, this is the lossy version currently being streamed by Apple Music. For lossless Atmos, we still have to rip the disk, in a complicated manner, to get the TrueHD files off there â and those canât be decoded by the Mac, right?
Totally agreed with the separate comment above that the DRP is only a pro software product. It is rather clumsy for consumer use. But, Iâd presume that if Dolby and Roon were motivated, Roon could have APIs to call the DRP under the hood whilst retaining the look and feel of Roon. Thatâs what I just donât expect to occur because the Roon community just isnât large enough, I would guess, to convince Dolby to license Roon to do such a thing. Apple has the market power to get Dolby to license decoding for CoreAudio. My understanding is that Dolby itself has no plans for a consumer version of the DRP. JCR
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So you wouldnât need the mac in the chain anymore? That would be slick but it still wouldnât help those with AVRs and Iâm sure there are many more AVR users out there than MCH DAC users. Seems like Roon supporting Atmos passthrough would still be the best bet at least initially. I would think it would be a lot easier/faster to implement than a full decoding and DSP solution too.
How many channels is the DAC? A 7.x.4 system is 11 channels not including subs.
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Merging+Hapi with 2x DA8P has 16 channels can do 9.1.6. Or you can peering two Mergingâs equipment for it.
BTW if you have many 2ch DACs, you can aggregate it as a multichannel DAC in macOS. Hereâs the example using 3 DACs as 5.1 channel output and tested DoP MCH DSD256.
If you use 4x 2ch DACs youâll have 7.1 or 5.1.2 output. If you have many 2ch DACs and would like to try Atmos itâs a good reason to get a Mac. 
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If Roon and Dolby were so inclined I would assume they would come up with a solution that didnât need DRP in the first place but you are right that it is unlikely to happen.
Does this work with TrueHD based Atmos or just DD+?