Hi all,
apologies if this has been discussed earlier - I haven’t been able to locate specific information about my query.
Currently running Roon from a Roon Core installed on Windows 10, directly connected via USB to a Mytek Stereo 192 DSD-DAC. The Core is on a laptop which is on its last breath, and am looking to replace it with a somewhat long term solution. To do so, have been exploring building a separate networked PC which will run Roon Core, and will need a networked endpoint which supports USB DACs.
RoPieee seems to fit the bill, with one particular caveat. The Mytek DAC does not seem to have native Linux support for the USB connection. However, there is an effort on GitHub that seems to have a working Linux driver for the Mytek:
Now, I know pretty much nothing about Linux, so have been wondering - can anyone confirm if this two things will work together (RoPieee + this Linux driver)? And if they can work together, will RoPieee’s automated updates overwrite the driver forcing one to go through the installation procedure every time?
The Raspberry Pi is not suitable for Roon Core and can only run Roon Bridge. As an alternative, take a look at the Intel NUC with Roon ROCK.
However, you’ll need to check if ROCK (custom Linux) can support your DAC. There are quite a few threads on ROCK and Mytek, so it may be a good idea to ask in the ROCK category if you decide to go down that route.
But in the section you quote, I thought I had made it clear that I am looking into a separate networked PC for the Roon Core. I should have said “I will ALSO need a networked endpoint”.
The RPi would only be a networked endpoint - hence RoPieee. It would connect to the separate Roon Core (most likely Windows 10 based) via Ethernet and also to the DAC via USB.
But for the RPi to connect to the DAC via USB, and support higher sample rates + DoP, I would need the custom driver in addition to RoPieee.
This effort is abandoned and not compatible with a recent kernel build (which is what RoPieee uses).
Contrary to Windows a driver for Linux needs to be up-to-date with a recent kernel as the interface changes constantly.
So as long as this project is not picked up by someone this is not going to fly I’m afraid.
There are some great cheap Windows boxes that you can use as an endpoint only. Load the Mytek drivers and RoonBridge on it and done. Given it is just going to be used as an endpoint the requirements are drastically lower than one which will run a core.
I just got the Linux driver to work with Raspberry Pi OS using the USB2 (DSD) port on the Mytek Stereo128. I installed Roon Bridge and it plays DSD files using Roon remote with no problems. If anyone is interested, there are a few modifications that need to be made to have it compile and install on the current Raspberry Pi OS, which I believe is 6.8. If you are using this OS, then all you need is the .ko file and instructions on how to install it, which I can supply. If you have other RaspOS versions, you will need modify a few of the files and then compile and install. Since it has only been tested with 6.8, I cannot guarantee that it will work.
I tried running the Mytek supplied driver on a cheap Windows box, but it was not reliable. The Mytek supplied driver will not work on Windows 11, so if you do buy one of these boxes, you will have to downgrade to Windows 10.
My next effort will be to install it on Ropieee. If anyone has info on installing a custom driver on Ropieee, please respond here. My guess is that, since Ropieee is based on Linux, it should work.
The latest Raspberry Pi OS is based on 6.6, not 6.8 and the driver was compiled for 6.6. Sorry for the error. I think that the latest Ropieee is also a 6.6 derivative, so the port might not require a recompile.
