Roon Certification affecting other equipment

Audio Gear Talk Small Green Computer
1

My question relates to the announcement of uncertified products not having the ability to use Roon after 9/21/20.

My PlaybackDesigns, Stream-IF and MPS-5 DAC/disc player are awaiting certification to connect to Roon ethernet directly.

I use Roon that is in my SonicTransport i9 that is connected to an UltraRendu. The UltraRendu is connected to my PBD Stream-IF and on to the MPS-5 DAC.
Roon shows the MPS-5 as Not Certified in its settings.

Would you think, since the STi9 is a certified Roon product that is sending a signal to the PBD’s equipment there should not be a problem with continuing on.

If you use a Roon certified streamer, does your DAC also need to be certified? I guess that is really the question.

Thanks
Brad

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STi9 is not Roon Ready certified. Roon servers/core are not within the scope of the Roon Ready program.

DACs do not need to be certified. Only streamers with a network input that wish to use the RAAT protocol.

In a nutshell, you have nothing to worry about if you just plug in your DAC directly into the STi9 via USB.

4 Likes
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Thanks Bart, That seems logical to me. I hope it works out that way.

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It’s unclear to me which device you’re actually streaming to in Roon. If the MPS-5 is listed in Roon as an uncertified audio device, then you’re streaming to it and it will be a problem. You also list an UltraRendu, which is a Leo a streaming endpoint and is certified. And isn’t the Stream-IF also a streamer?

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If you use a Roon Ready certified streamer like an ultraRendu with a USB DAC your USB DAC does not need to be certified by Roon.

@Brad_Rockwood Your DAC (MPS-5 DAC) has a USB port hopeful you have connected the Rendu to it and are not using the other streamer. This will work. Make sure you are using the ultraRendu as a player.

6

So my system is as follows.

Synology > LAN > Netgear gigabyte switch > LAN > SonicTransport i9 > LAN > UltraRendu > USB > PBD Stream-IF > fiber > PBD MPS-5.

The Stream-IF can use one part of the internal configuration with a LAN only connection. With the LAN then connected directly to the Network Switch. This would allow you to connect directly to Tidal, QobuZ and Roon, via laptop or iPad to your account .

I am going to guess this is where the certification comes into play. I am not using that segment of the Stream-IF.

I am using the USB that allows an upsampled signal to 4X DSD.

Based on what Andrew is saying then it should be all right.

Where I am puzzled is the MPS-5 shows up in Roon as uncertified even though the MPS-5 is not being used as a streamer/player.

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So, I received a message from Dylan at Roon Support about the certification update as most of you did I’m sure.
As he suggested I went to register my uncertified piece of equipment with the screen shot Audio page.

I went to Settings then to Audio and now it shows my MPS-5 DAC as Roon Ready.

I don’t understand it but I guess “I stand a better chance of being lucky than good around computers”

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Even though it’s not being used it’s available on the network sop it shows up. Just deactivate it in audio settings.