Roon Core -> CCA (96Khz/24bit or ? )

Audio Gear Talk
1

I am streaming from a Roon Core running on my laptop to a ChromeCast Audio dongle. CCA supports:

  • High-resolution audio: 96 KHz / 24-bit

So I would assume that when I stream from the Roon App (iOS) to the CCA it would at least stream with 96KHz/24-bit when the source is at least that quality (I have connected Qobuz).

This also seem to be the case with e.g.:
https://open.qobuz.com/track/162056929

But then I stumbled over this post:

Roon Ready can play any Res my system supports, Via Chromecast it limits it to 48/24 when it capable of higher

Might be that I am missing some context here but to me it seems it works fine with up to 96KHz/24Bit.

So what is that talk about in the above thread? :slight_smile:

2

You are using a physical Chromecast.
The discussion is about devices with a chromecast embedded in their circuitry. Supposedly the same but as the thread explores, different.

3

Very different devices. Roon in their support for CC decided to rely on a metadata tag from the device that indicates hires audio support or not. Unfortunately only the CCA seems to use this so even other CC enabled devices that can handle 96/24 Roon downsamples to 48/24 the base limit that they all do support which is annoying.

4

Hm ok so this old Chrome Cast Audio dongle I am using is actually better than more recent Chrome Cast?

How would you identify which Chrome Casts will give you up to 96/24 and which are capped by roon?

Also why does Roon not just roll out a software update that will fix this issue?

5

I would say all but the CCA are capped at 48/24 I don’t know any others that allow higher. All mine don’t, Sony TV, Nvidia Shield TV box, Naim Uniti Atom, JBL Link 20.

6

There’s a HighRes flag that can be enabled in Chromecast implementations that support HR. Roon just follows the flag – it would be quite messy to play a guessing game with the device.

It’s on the device’s manufacturer to properly set the flag however. My KEF LS50 Wireless II speakers f.i. do 94/24 over Chromecast, even from Roon.

1 Like
7

Strange all my CCA’s does not seem to have this problem. I also have this amp

With built in CC, also works fine with 96/24

8

Yes, some manufacturers are more diligent than others in their embedding of the Google Chromecast SDK. So you’ve got to find someone who does it right – like most other audio hardware.

9

Amazing this rabbit hole just gets deeper and deeper :joy:

10

You wonder what their certification programme actually entails checks for with as many devices don’t use this flag and still get certified. Perhaps Google are bothered only bothered about getting their license fee?

11

Yeah, I think Google is more interested in getting their Chromecast SDK into devices than in how well the device manufacturer uses it.

12

Chromecasts transcode any pcm resolution it doesn’t support so other than saving bandwidth this flag really isn’t needed as it will deal with it but I guess because of Roons ethos of all processing on the core they stick with it. If I send 192/24 via other apps to CC in my TV and it’s always transcoded to 48/24 as I can see this on my AV amp input from the TV and it never has an issue receiving any res above the 48/24 cap.

13

I have a new Sony Bravia 65A95K with built it Google TV (4K), and a latest Google Chrome 3 for my old sony Bravia TV (1K). Both seem to downsample to 48 Khz 24 bit, from 96 KHz or 88.2Khz 24 bit, although the specs says the Chrome protocole should support 96Khz/24 bit. what am I doing wrong ? the TV is connected via an eARC HDMI link to my DAC (Marantz 7706) that supports 192 Khz/24 bit ?
thanks.

Screenshot 2023-02-22 at 16.18.26
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14

You doing nothing wrong, its down to Roons Chromecast implementation nothing you can do, its been mentioned by me already further up as to why.

15

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