Currently I stream from a Minix Z300 to the Roon Endpoint with RAAT, but my endpoint limites streaming to DSD256.
Is a USB Connection to DAC less good (SQ) than streaming? Does it depend on OS or Hardware or both? I assume ROCK is better than Windows 11 Pro.
Higher bit rates can get difficult to implement, it isnât as simple as plugging in a USB cable to a ROCK or windows machine. The USB receiver in your DAC might not be capable of higher bitrates on Linux and probably why your endpoint is limited to DSD256. Your DAC might require special windows drivers to achieve > DSD256.
Donât worry. My DAC supports more but my streamer not over RAAT. The DAC is not my endpoint as it does not have wifi. My streamer is the endpoint and while the streamer only supports DSD256 the DAC supports DSD512.
I understand that but you arenât getting my point. Plugging your DAC into a linux based machine (Rock) via USB might have the same DSD256 limitation as your streamer unless the Linux kernel has a special drivers for the USB implementation in your DAC.
Does your DAC have special windows drivers? They might be the only way to get DSD512.
Modern Linux implementation has been good with DSD for a while now. The limitations that confine it to DOP should no longer be there. What is the streamer?
I googled this topic a little bit in the meantime and I think the problem is the following:
RAAT is better than a USB Connection because of the noise from PC.
A good algorithm combined with DSD256 is better than a less good algorithm combined with DSD512.
A fanless PC managing DSD512 combined with best available algorithm will probably not be available in the next 10 years.
Conclusion: DSD256 over RAAT with good algorithm is best solution.
Problem: HQ Player does not support Roon and Roonâs algorithms are less good than those from HQ Player.
Possible Solutions: If roon adds better algorithms or uses a HQ Player plugin that allows to still use RAAT.
Opinions?
The server youâre using is less likely to support Rock and may not support USB.
Rock in my use limited DSD to 256 when connected to a DAC that could support DSD512 via USB.
I use DietPi and when using Roon Sever it gave me full DSD512 support.
As @DrTone mentions, Rock is the limitation here and more so with an unsupported device.
Windows 11 Pro, would work if you have the driver available for your DAC.
If the results were from AI, you shouldnât really be posting this.
AI can and often does hallucinate.
And this is shown with
Yes, donât Google stuff 
Or did you get an AI-generated answer? Seems so, and the answers are incorrect. HQ Player and Roon work well together.
First, what DAC are you using? Everything else could be moot.
Essentially, you use RAAT to a Roon endpoint.
If Roon hands over to HQPlayer you use its proprietary transport layer to NAA. RAAT is not in that equation. NAA can be loaded onto a simple Pi4 (or CM4) based end point and be part of software like Ropieee. It actually isnât hard to do and will work up to and including DSD1024. If you want to buy a streamer that can act as NAA then there are various options including Holo Red, Eversolo, iFi, Sonore and a few others. Not as numerous as Roon but not impossible to achieve.
I used AI and google. AI told me that you need a high end PC for DSD512 and the most demanding HQ Player algorithms. Knowing the progress in CPU performance over the years and assuming that new more demanding algorithms will appear, it will never be enough for a fanless PC. Did you ever hear the saying âRay Tracing is the future and it will always be?â That was true for a looooong timeâŚ
In audiphile forums I read that a good algorithm with DSD256 is better than a less good with DSD512 (Iâm talking about upsampled FLAC).
Noise issues I once observed myself with a cable bringing the TV signal to the media streamer. Nevertheless noise is a problem for every producer
of audio equipment but maybe they also hallucinate.
Yes I could buy a NAA endpoint but I wonât. I use what I have and that is a Roon endpointâŚ
After All ROON wants that all these companies support RAAT and make a roon endpoints. They might not be happy if every user of roon uses HQ Player and a NAA Endpoint. They should improve their algorithms so that people actually use Roon endpointsâŚ
Opinions? Roon is very nearly 10 years old. Yet it restricts itself to the capability of a gen7 i7 laptop processor with the added limitations of passive cooling. Itâs time for Roon 2. Roon 1 can remain as a legacy product for lifetime users and those who donât want to upgrade. But 2 should be able to leverage the advantages of modern processors and even AI where appropriate. It wonât be a popular move with a lot of people but Roon has to look to the future. The fix for your problem needs to be a renewal of Roon, not a dependency on third party software. I think on that we agree.
Well, thatâs good reason not to go lifetime, or at least not before Roon 2 
I agree we need a Roon 2, but Iâm not sure about sunsetting loyal lifers with it.
Are you working for Apple? Sounds like their philosophy. I prefer the NVIDIA philosophy where a ShieldTV Box is getting updates for more than 10 years.
I donât see the connection to a version 2. They do not offer better algorithms because their Nucleus servers cannot handle it and they cannot sell servers for roon if they are too weak for roon.
Now letâs talk about the PC. In front of my TV I would not even want a computer with a fan as a media player for movies and certainly not for music. That would make the effort of upsampling pointless.
Of course streaming allows people to stream from PCâs in an other room, but did I mention they want to sell their own servers?
Many audio companies are licensing roon for their streamers. Do you think these companies like to explain their customers that there is now a roon 2 that is not supported?
You seem to like numbers but what it needs are improvements and not a new number - like iphone 17.
RAAT is a dumb endpoint. It could and would continue to work with future versions of Roon. We are talking about the core functionality here. About replacing ten year old PCâs that in every other respect are obsolete. You canât even load Windows 11 on them. Roon 2 is better than no Roon because someone else stepped into a ten year gap in capability. Remember, this has already happened. It was called Soloos. The massive investments those owners made culminated in limited access to its successor. Is this really any different?
If they want to improve it they will do it but it must be aligned with their server strategy and not with yours. It would not be an issue to get closer to HQ Player I think.
Are Nucleus Server so bad? I heard they have more or less the performance of an intel i3-N300 and I did not see a much better fanless PC and Win 11 works on an i3.
Next year, panther lake and nova lake will probably be available in 1.8 nm process. That should improve things at least when multi core is supported and if they refresh Nucleus with it.
And in the more distant future intel and nvidia will offer SOC and then it will get much better for fanless PCâs.
Wasnât it you originally asking for change? Listen, like many here I am a lifetime user with no financial input to Roon but a lot to say about how it progresses from this point onwards. I want to think Roon can survive through the oncoming challenges. But for them to do that they need to modernise and that will mean leaving legacy hardware and perhaps even legacy users like me behind. I wonât be overly happy about that but I know it may need to happen, just like it needed to happen once before. That old legacy hardware and us âtimers who were once the wind in Roonâs sails are becoming the drag anchor to their future progress. Very few people in this game are still supporting ten year old hardware. That might be likened to Apple like behaviour, but they are successful. Is being that in the music streaming industry so bad?
Roon saw itâs 10th year this year
A lifetime subscription covers Roon 1.x and 2.x and will likely do so when Roon 2.1 or whatever is released.
The OP cannot get DSD256 from Rock over probably due to a limitation of Roon Ready implementation on their streamer.
The OP wants to know if DSD512 is possible via Rock using USB. Very unlikely as I mentioned above.
Using HQPlayer is not a solution for this issue. HQPlayer is for those who want to seek nirvana.
Yes, I asked for a change but I understand that they will not do it until they have better servers for selling. I hope both will soon comeâŚ
I think however that your proposal of a new roon is stupid. Giving Roon a new number doesnât magically change it in a new software and I do not have even the smallest intention to pay for a new Roon.
The software ia good and I think they could easily improve things like Upsampling but they will not do it until they can offer better servers.
I think however that your proposal of a new roon is stupid. Giving Roon a new number doesnât magically change it in a new software and I do not have even the smallest intention to pay for a new Roon.
And there you go pretty much proving my point. A lifetime user (like me) who wants to dictate the future direction of Roon but doesnât want to contribute financially because lifetime means forever. And it can do, but that doesnât mean you get a new version. You just carry on with the old version like some stayed with 1.8. Again there is a past precedent.