Ropieee as Roon endpoint and what DAC to choose

I run Roon since a year with PS Audio gear but now I thought I should get Roon in the kitchen. I have an old HRT iStreamer USB DAC but I cannot get it to work, i e the endpoint is not displayed in Roon Audio settings.

I have previously used the same RBP3 with a Oppo Sonica DAC which worked OOTB and without any hiccups.

I have read threads on this forum and also the codexwilkes instruction but cannot figure out if the USB DAC connected to the RBP3 has to be on the compliant hardware list (which the Oppo is but the HRT is not).

To be recognised as a Roon endpoint, is it the combo of the RBP and the DAC that is critical, or just the Ropieee “OS”?

Hi @Per_Lundqvist,

In general the rule is simple: every USB DAC should work. The ‘should’ is because the USB audio standard is rather complex and there are devices that do not work out of the box. From my experience most do however.

I assume that with ‘compliant hardware list’ you mean the ‘Roon Tested’ list?

Back to the HRT DAC: If you have it connected to to a RoPieee endpoint you can send me feedback (from RoPieee’s webinterface on the advanced tab) so I can have a look why the DAC is not working.

Thanks,

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Great, thanks for looking into this. I have sent the feedback just now, idnr is 31859cfa5fa34a0f

@spockfish
I also reached out to the HRT support and just got a very clarifying answer:

“An iStreamer is a host, not a device and therefore can not be used with another host (such as a Raspberry Pi). USB relationships always require one and only one host, and one or more devices. The LED behavior indicates that it has not paired with a compatible device (such as an iDevice). I suspect that you attempted to use a USB DAC (device) with the Raspberry, and, as would be expected, this pairing meets the stated requirements and is therefore compatible. An iStreamer will never pair with a host as it is a host.”

So, no need for you to investigate this further. And I have certainly learnt something new today.

Now I will shop a Hifiberry HAT instead, a DAC+ Standard.

Btw, thanks for you work with Ropieee, great stuff!

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