I have installed Roon on a new M1 Mac mini. I use Roon for multichannel (5.1) playback. I have configured the output (Denon AVC-3800H) as 6 channel output in audio/midi configuration program. All works fine until I configure exclusive mode = yes in the Roon configuration for the Denon AVR. Output is immediately reduced to stereo (as I can see in the audio/midi configurator app). I didn't have this issue on my old 2014 MacMini. Please help.
Thanks for writing in! It’s good to see you on the community again.
In exclusive mode, Roon takes full control of the audio device, bypassing the system mixer and any system-level settings like those made in the Audio MIDI Setup. After enabling exclusive mode in Roon, open the Audio MIDI Setup again and verify if the output configuration has reverted to stereo.
If it has, manually switch it back to 6-channel (5.1) and see if Roon picks it up.
I’d also make sure that your macOS and any drivers or firmware for your Denon AVR are up to date. Sometimes compatibility issues arise due to outdated software.
Can you lastly share a screenshot of your device settings>advanced>multichannel mixing?
Hi @benjamin, thanks for the quick response.
I’ve tried the things you suggested.
Audio midi setup to 6 channels
Start Roon server
Channel layout in Roon for Denon = 5.1
Enable exclusive mode for Denon
No effect on number of channels, until
press Play → and we’re back to stereo
Audio midi setup back to 6 Chanels (after stopping music)
Play → stereo
One more thing I ave noticed: after the switch to stereo, the output device in Roon is still the Denon, but in Mac OS the output device has changed to Mac mini internal loudspeakers!! (with an exclusive lock on the Denon).
After all of this, Roon still says we have a 5.1 device:
Please try the same test again. This time, when you see that the Denon has reverted to stereo after you press play in Audio Midi Setup, open the Terminal app from Applications → Utilities and enter this command:
sudo killall coreaudiod
This should completely restart the audio daemon and help isolate the source of the erroneous command reverting the endpoint to stereo.
Logging should capture all of these events. Our servers haven’t been able to reach your RoonServer machine to request logs yet, so after you perform the above test, can you please use the directions found here and send over a set of logs to our File Uploader?
Our team will replicate the issue internally in the meantime if we can. We’ll post here with updates and next steps as soon as possible.
Thanks for sending those over! Our team will take a closer look and see if we’re able to pin point the issue. We should have more information to share tomorrow!
Our team has yet to reproduce the issue in house, so progress is slow. We do have a ticket in for this issue though @HenkD so even if the thread closes, any new updates we have we’ll re-open and share our findings.
We very much appreciate your patience in the meantime
You have our extreme apologies for the long delay in following up on your thread and issue. Our hardware team attempted to reproduce the issue on a few different Denon devices, but were unsuccessful.
Are you still running into this issue?
It sounds like it could be linked to the Mac Mini specifically. I see that you’re now running the latest version of Sequoia, are you seeing any changes in the behavior you’ve mentioned above?
Thanks for your reaction. Unfortunately the problem is still there.
For sure it is the Mac mini m1 that is causing the problem. The issue does not occur on a Mac mini I7 or on a raspberry PI 4.
In the meantime I have installed Audirvana on the Mac mini M1. No issues at all with exclusive mode and multichannel files.
Thanks for the update - sorry to hear its still an issue! After reviewing the thread, I realized we haven’t tested out refreshing your Roon and RAATServer database, which may be worth trying:
Let’s try a fresh database and see if your issues persist:
Thanks for the update! I’m sorry to hear you’re still experiencing issues. Our team has a development ticket open for further review, but we don’t have a timeline to share just yet. We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop as soon as we have any new information!
