I recently purchased an Integra DRX-8.4 and have been attempting to connect my ROCK server running on a NUC7i7BNH with 16 GB of RAM over HDMI. However, no matter what I have tried, I am not able to get a signal over that path. I have many multi-channel DSD files in my music library and I understand the only way to play those is through a direct HDMI connection (please correct me if my understanding of this is incorrect). I have searched the internet and Community Forum for solutions and have tried standard trouble-shooting efforts (e.g., different HDMI cables, different ports on the Integra, all of the HDMI devices available in the Audio tab in Roon) but nothing has worked. I have ensured that the Audio out over HDMI flag is set correctly in the BIOS on the NUC.
Everything works fine for two-channel files over the Roon-Ready connection to the Integra. Roon downmixes the multi-channel files to stereo when I try playing those over the Roon-Ready connection, so I believe my understanding on that topic is correct.
I'm sure I am missing a setting or a configuration parameter somewhere. Any advice you can provide would be most appreciated.
Describe your network setup
Network runs on two Asus AX6600 tri-band WiFi routers in mesh configuration Linksys SE3024 gigabit switch
Ensure that Roon is configured to convert DSD to PCM prior to HDMI output. Try 24 bit 44.1 kHz as the maximum PCM rate. If that works, then try increasing to 88.2 kHz if so desired.
Hi, with a PC like hardware (no matter what OS) you will very likely never be able to ouput native DSD over HDMI as stereo or mch. Unfortunately, that’s how it is.
But… in roon you may set the output option to PCM or DoP. Mch PCM over HDMI is usually accepted by AVRs. DoP may work as well for your AVR.
Some here say many roon ready AVRs would accept native DSD over roon/ethernet, but only as stereo. That might be the reason for what you experience.
So, using a PC hardware with HDMI or ethernet to your AVR unveals the limitations on both devices. And roon is trying to offer you the best possible options in this situation.
Try to find out what your AVR offers in its manual.
The HDMI connection from NUC to AVR will play multichannel Hi-res PCM files but not DSD. DSD gets converted to PCM during playback. I can tell you from experience that the conversion from DSD 256 5.1 to PCM 5.1 drags my processor down to 1x processing speed and causes dropouts and skipping.
It should play PCM 5.1 files (no conversion) without any problems.
Are you able to play any files over the HDMI connection?
Thank you for your responses! Allow me to add a few more bits of information:
I’m not able to get anything over the HDMI connection, including regular CD-quality ALAC/FLAC files.
I am able to play stereo DSD files over the Roon Ready connection; when I try playing the multi-channel files over this connection, though, Roon downmixes them to stereo (so it knows that the Integra can’t play the multi-channel DSD files over the Roon Ready connection).
I may have confused things by bringing up the multi-channel DSD files-I was just trying to explain why I wanted to connect via HDMI.
Unfortunately, the documentation for the Integra (and there are no physical docs, just web-based) does not include any detail concerning it’s Roon Ready-ness, just that it has that feature. Neither am I able to find anything when I search their website.
I am grateful for your input and will use it to troubleshoot further problems if/when I am able to actually get something into the Integra over HDMI.
Are you able to get audio playback outside of Roon altogether? Yes, over the Roon Ready connection.
Do you see the HDMI connection option in Roon Settings>Audio at all? Yes…I have options for HDMI 0, 1 and 2. I have tried them all without success.
On the Integra DRX-8.4, can you make sure it is set to the correct HDMI input? Done. I have also tried connecting to different HDMI ports on the Integra (to rule out a bad port) and used different HDMI cables (to rule out a bad cable), again, all without success.
What do you have as the Channel layout settings in Roon’s Advanced Settings for the HDMI connection? And it will be the HDMI 0 connection that you use…
I think that 7.1 channels is the maximum that Roon supports, can the Integra deal with this?
Thank you for responding, Geoff. It was probably a mistake on my part to mention the multi-channel feed. My problem is that I can’t get anything to play through the HDMI port…the Integra gets nothing to matter what I feed it using HDMI. Thank you for confirming that HDMI 0 would be the right choice…I settled on that one myself, though I tried them all. To answer your question; I selected 5.1 as the channel layout as that matches my actual speaker layout (though, here too, I tried them all to see if it made any difference…it didn’t.)
Apologies if this has been glazed over, but are you able to get audio output via HDMI from the Integra outside of using Roon?
Perhaps refreshing your RAATServer settings on the ROCK will help. You can generate a new RAATServer instance on your device by following these instructions, but please be aware that this will reset your Roon Settings → Audio Tab to factory settings and I would advise making a backup of any custom DSP settings you have:
Thank you, Benjamin. I will give this a shot and let you know how it goes. I don’t have any custom DSP settings so I think I’ll be OK there. I’m assuming this procedure will not wipe out my music library…I wouldn’t want to lose that, obviously.
