Roon and CXN/DSD disappointment. DSD suggestions please

Thanks Martin another much appreciated response and great detail. It seems though that Roon can not overcome defaulting to Airplay even in an Ethernet non wireless network setup. Certainly seems the case with the CXN & Roon regardless of any hardware add ons. I just want to be able to sit, for example, with my phone using Roon throw to my CXN and play DSD. There is no hardware set up that will do that with Roon and an iPhone or IPad

The RPi was a cheap experiment, I have JRiver still in play to do Hi Res and DSD to the CXN if I need it

I was just seeing what it does.

I love Roonā€™s UI but JRiver is still a more convenient tool to m

M8e

Hi, there is the option of the Sonore UPNPBridge. I think the cheapest way to achieve this is using the SonicOrbiter SE. It plugs into your network and emulates a Squeezebox end point to Roon and translates that to UPNP to send on to the UPNP endpoint. In this configuration it only lists CA as a plausible solution, i.e untested and it may be limited to LPCM or WAV. Or you can use it as a RoonBridge into the USB in of the CXN. This will make sure Roon sees your CXN and determine the best way to get music to it. That method will give you the full capability of your CXN.
I was using the Moon MiND180 when I found Roon and I decided to get rid in favour of something that worked in the Roon environment but the CXN is nice hardware and it is worth finding a way to get it to work with Roon.

Hi Henry

I was aware of the options you mention. I am trying the RPi option really to see if I can tell any difference between RAAT> USB > Audiolab M-DAC and Airplay> CXN > Audiolab M-DAC

I use the M-DAC as a headphone amp since the CXN showed up .

I am 68 so my hearing is hardly ā€œGoldenā€, so before I start shelling out for more hardware I thought I would try the cheap option since the RPi & Roipeee get some pretty favorable results

The USB>CXN (as a DAC) route doesnā€™t seem a goer at the moment, I can see the M-DAC in Roon via the RPi but I cannot see the CXN as a USB DAC , just as an AirPlay speaker (there is a thread running elsewhere)

Another snag is that the devices you mention are not available in South Africa (like a lot of things !!)

Thanks again for the ideas

Mike

Thanks Henry. Are the CXN is nice hardware but hard to break the Roon Airplay nexus with CXN. The problem really is that Roon is such a great UI I just want to make it work to easily play my DSD files the same way I play my other digital files. Most of my listening is on vinyl, which i prefer sound wise but some of the DSD files Iā€™ve listen to on my set up sound great.

OK, I didnā€™t know the CXN USB thing was a known issue. If it is proper class 2 USB it should be fixable though.

Does anyone know if Roon can be played from Macs at all and not be Airplay? Seems that Airplay (Mac, Phone, iPad even when network connected non-wireless) and Roon is always 44/16 regardless of hardware, is that correct?

I just tried another test, I connected the USB input of the CXN via a laptop.

Roon can see it and play to it at 192 , albeit giving a slow load error

That points to the Roon Bridge rather than the CXN doesnā€™t it

Mike

I am no Mac expert, or user even

I use an iPad Mini as my remote and can stream to it at 96 / 24 and use my AudioQuest RED DAC with an Apple Camera Kit . So it definitely will stream to iPad at 96 .

The Red has a 96 top limit so I cant comment any higher

Mike

@spockfish

Hi Harry

Have you been following this ?

Using a RPi 3 , Roipeee etc when I connect my Cambridge Audio CXN in USB mode to the RPi and no network connection Roon fails to see it as a device

Mike

Yes, either using the built-in output or feeding a USB DAC (some also have mini Toslink in the 3.5mm jack.) DSD isnā€™t supported, so Roon will do the conversion.

I have had the CXN for long time. The USB 2 should be activated in the menu and Roon will recognize without any problem. Thereā€™s a step by step guide on Cambridge Audio website. The OP should be able to play DSD 64 if hĆ© plugs directly the CXN to MacBook using USB. Iā€™m sure the USBridge would play just fine as well.
This is an interesting article for a CXN owner (particularly the comments): http://www.audioappraisal.com/cambridge-audio-cxn-review/

Hi Julio

Good review, Iā€™ve had my CXN for 3 yrs and am very happy with it

I have just put a Raspberry Pi in the system to get around the Airplay stream. If have Roon running Airplay to the CXN and to the RPi direct to my Audiolab Mdac via USB which I use as a headphone amp

When I tried to run Roon RPi USB to CXN Roon didnā€™t see the CXN on the network as a USB source only as Airplay. I unplugged the LAN cable and it didnā€™t see it all

Do you have any idea why

Mike

Is USB Class 2.0 activated and the latest firmware installed?

Hi,

Iā€™m confusedā€¦ what do you mean with ā€˜no network connectionā€™?

I have a RPi 3 with Ropieee

If i attach my Audiolab MDac via USB, it shows up in Roon as aDevice on my Network as I would expect. The MDac on usb is limited to 24 96 so I thought to try my CXN which does 192 on USB

The CXN is connected by Ethernet and shows up as an AirPlay speaker in Roon

So I have now set it to Network Wired only and disconnected the lan cable , effectively disconnecting the wireless and the lan so that the CXN isnā€™t part of the network. Now when I connect via the RPi via USB I expect to see it as a standalone Dac. I donā€™t , it still shows as an AirPlay speaker despite the fact itā€™s not on the network, wired or wireless

It seems that I canā€™t use the CXN as a standalone DAC despite it being designed that way.

Hope that clears it up

Do you have any ideas

Mike

Yes both

I suspect that Roon has the CXN down as a Airplay speaker ONLY. If it do such a thing ā€¦

Mike

Ok. Now I understand.

This sounds like a device issue. As if the XCN is not behaving like an USB Audio Device, which is required obviously.

I read a few posts above by @Julio that you need to enable USB 2 in some kind of menuā€¦ Did you tried that?

Oh @Mike_O_Neill,

Can you go to the web page of RoPieee (http://ropieee), go to the ā€˜advancedā€™ tab and hit the ā€˜send feedbackā€™ button? I can have a look in the logs.

Regards,

Hi

The CXN is basically a network streamer and DAC It effectively contains the CA DAC Magic 100

It has a USB , direct input to allow it to function as a DAC via. PC, ie the little square USB plug, like a printer lead.

CA provide a windows driver to enable USB audio 2 which allows 192. The unit needs to configured USB 1 or 2. Mine is set up 2 and displays USB 192 when you select the input, so I am happy that all is well there

The driver is installed on my server but the CXN isnā€™t connected by USB so itā€™s unlikely to matter

Iā€™ll do the log thing in a minute

Mike