I wonder if those more familiar with audio and AV systems might help me figure out how to set up this system. Thanks! I have all the pieces in the diagram except the new Apple TV, which I’d like to get. I can rearrange and if necessary swap new pieces in (e.g. if something like an Aries Mini would work better than the express).
I would like to be able to:
Play music from Roon in Room 1 through the DAC (works now)
Play music from Roon in Room 2 wirelessly
Play music from Roon in Room 1 and 2 at the same time, synchronized
Use the system in Room 2 to play the audio track of movies and video from a (new version) Apple TV, which lacks audio out
I haven’t yet tried 2–4. But reading the forums suggests that since the DAC connection is USB and the Express connection would presumably be AirPlay, #3 (both rooms simultaneously) won’t currently work as I’ve got things diagrammed.
I think all this would work fine if I were playing audio from iTunes only, but of course I want to use Roon!
Any ideas? Do I need to use a protocol other than Airplay? Will Roon Speakers help me? Will a future update to Roon that allows zones combining USB and Airplay be my best hope for #3?
Right now, we only support linking between supported network zones of the same type. So you could add an Airplay device to Room 1, or add a Meridian device to both rooms, or wait for RoonSpeakers to be available, which should give you a variety of different potential network zones for the two rooms.
With regard to #4, I’m not sure there’s a lot I can add – I’m guessing you’ll want to split the HDMI, or split the audio and video on the HDMI cable. I know the Meridian 621 does this, but I’m sure there are cheaper options out there. Very annoying that Apple removed the audio out!
