Questions about connecting NUC directly to a receiver

[dcw96161]

There are no USB ports on the receiver. Would have to convert but not sure that would work, as it seems to be on the receiver end that things are falling apart.

I guess the next thing to try would be optical.

[otinkyad]

@dcw96161 – Can you post a screenshot of your Audio settings from inside Roon?

Also (sorry if obvious!), are you sure that the receiver output is set to the same HDMI as the input it’s getting from Roon?

[dcw96161]

I don’t mind the obvious question. Happy to have egg on my face if it solves the problem.

Here’s a screenshot of the connections out of the NUC.

I enabled all then combined them into a single zone to see if something happened. Then if something did, I was just going to remove them from the zone one at a time until I ID’d the right one. But no sound at all.

The “failed to open audio device” message has me thinking that it’s gotta be in the receiver. I don’t know exactly which “audio device” it’s referring to but doesn’t it have to be the receiver?

Oh…and I only get that Roon screen info on the TV if the right HDMI input is selected.

[Geoff_Coupe]

First, I would disable all the HDMI outputs except for HDMI 0 (the one that’s presumably connected to your TV via your receiver). That’s the one used for your audio output as well.

Next, could you post screenshots of the device settings that you have configured (click on the gearwheels icon of HDMI 0, and then choose Device setup). It may be some incompatibility in these settings that is the cause of the issue.

Edit: it’s possible that there’s an HDMI handshake issue being caused by the TV connected to your receiver. See this thread for details:

HDMI output for multi-channel work with Denon AVR?

Is your Denon AVR being used in a home cinema setup, with its HDMI output being connected to a TV? If so, try physically unplugging the HDMI connection between the AVR HDMI output, and the TV HDMI input, and see whether the Nucleus HDMI output can be set up and work with the Denon. In my case, I ran into HDMI handshake issues when I replaced our old Panasonic LCD TV with a new Samsung QLED TV. In the end I had to invest in a Dr. HDMI device to sit between my ROCK NUC and my Denon 3808 AVR. No…

[dcw96161]

You mean this?

I’ll have to work on the other suggestion.

But there is a curveball in the mix too. I use a universal remote device called Caavo. The way it connects is that AppleTV connects IN to HDMI inputs on the Caavo box, and then HDMI OUT from the Caavo box to the receiver, and then out from receiver to the TV. That enables the Caavo remote to control the whole AV setup through the Caavo remote. The receiver has to have the HDMI that Caavo comes INTO selected for the Caavo system to operate, which has led me to assume that the receiver is keeping the two HDMI signals isolated from each other. In my case its HDMI 2. Nothing magic about HDMI 2. That’s just the one chosen.

Roon NUC is connected direct to the HDMI 5 port on the receiver. (At the moment. I have tried other HDMI inputs too.) When I am trying to play Roon, I just select HDMI 5 on the receiver remote, taking the whole Caavo part out of the loop. My thinking being that the audio/Roon signal is just passing straight from the NUC to the receiver HDMI 5. The TV and Caavo aren’t anywhere in the link.

I suppose it’s possible that the Caavo system has hijacked the entire audio output capability of the receiver? Maybe?

I can try just unplugging the Caavo input on the receiver and seeing what happens.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Well, for a start, does your Yamaha receiver have MQA capabilities? If not, set that to No MQA Support.

Next, can you provide a screenshot of your Advanced Settings? Scroll down to see them once you’ve clicked the “Show Advanced Settings”.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Sorry, I’m signing out for the night now - will pick this up tomorrow morning, if no-one else jumps in…

[dcw96161]

See advanced. Oops…Need to disable the MQA decoder there too.

I figured the MQA setting is only relevant if there’s an MQA signal coming in, and I figured that only mattered with Tidal I don’t subscribe to Tidal, so just play my own library and Qobuz.

[dcw96161]

Geoff…You’re a genius!

That was it. Disabling MQA in both parts of device setup solved it. Thank you!

[Geoff_Coupe]

Well, the “Enable MQA Core Decoder” should actually be enabled I think. It refers to the MQA decoder in Roon itself (i.e. the “first unfold” of an MQA stream). This is independent from any MQA abilities the Endpoint hardware may or may not have.

Second, I notice you have the channel layout set to 2.0. Is your Yamaha a surround sound receiver? If so, then try out the multichannel settings here.

And depending on your receivers capabilities, you may need to adjust the Max Sample Rate (PCM). My old Denon 3808 for example needs this set to be “up to 96 kHz”.

[dcw96161]

Thank you. I will look at those things. My main objective has been to simply get sound to come out. Now that I’m there I can look at some of these other things. Thank you again.