· Other
· The Nucleus boots up and I can connect to it in the Roon app without issue, but I have a question about configuration/storage/attached devices
· Nucleus One
I am attempting to connect my Nucleus USB to the external DAC in my Rega Saturn CD player but i have no idea which DAC in the available list to select. None of them identify Rega or Saturn.
Hello @Howard_Sambol and welcome to the forum.
Here is what Rega has to say about it:
I hope this answers your question.
Roon is already calling it the XMOS Audio Device but how do i make this active with a selected DAC? Without a selected DAC from the list it is not functional, correct?
Please follow the article above. If you run into an issue please describe your issue thoroughly, preferably with included screenshot(s) to show others what is on your screen.
I still have no idea which DAC in the list to select. isn’t there any9one here who can help me?
I followed the instructions in this article carefully and went through every device in the list one by one. I’m not seeing ANY device or any DAC that says it is the Rega or Saturn or gives me ANY clue it is correct for me. Guessing is useless right?
I need someone to tell me if you have a Rega or Saturn CD player, pick this setting!! Rega as a company has been around for a very long time and makes extraordinary audio equipment. Why the mystery?
Sadly we potential helpers have to guess because you did not provide the requested screenshot(s) showing us the list of devices you see / have to choose from. Again: Rega states that the USB driver should read XMOS.
I don’t think there is a mystery at all. This here simply is Roon support and not Rega support. Maybe you should contact Rega suport about your issue with their product.
Note: Your Nucleus runs Roon OS (a Linux distribution) with generic (driver-less) USB Audio support. Rega offers Windows drivers only for their product. It might be that there is a fundamental incompatibility at play. Please contact Rega support directly for clarification about Linux compatibility of their product.
I have studied the Rega Saturn R manual and learned that in order for the USB inputs on the Saturn to work, it is necessary to install a windows driver software on the connected Server device.
Since Roon is a linux based device it is therefore questionable as to whether it can run windows software. Is this possible? Would the HDMI connector be simpler?
The Saturn manual also says that this USB driver software is not required on the Mac OS suggesting that a mac computer such as a mac mini could connect directly to the Saturn USB and bypass Roon entirely. Can’t the mac mini also run the Roon software?
If yues, it would seem i could do everything i need from a mac mini and can return the nucleus. I welcome your thoughts.
No, these are operating system kernel drivers that are written for a specific OS.
However, the existence of an additional driver from Rega for Windows doesn’t necessarily mean that another OS like macOS or Linux doesn’t have fitting drivers included, as evidenced by …
It’s a matter of trying it out with the Nucleus, either it works or it doesn’t.
It would be a possible alternative
Yes it can
You can’t run any software of your own on a Nucleus. It’s an appliance without user access to the firmware (Roon OS) installed.
This means that there is general (driver-less) USB Audio support by the Rega and it should therefore work with the Nucleus as well as he’s supposed to work with an Apple MacOS device.
It can if he fulfills the requirements:
Okay so given all we now know what is the best course of action? I’m confused.
I can give you tons of screen shots of DACs but what use will they be if the Saturn manual explicitly says the windows drivers are needed?
Knowing that macOS can interface with the Saturn R USB does not help me see how the nucleus fits into the picture.
I can purchase an HDMI cable but don’t know if this will work and what is needed for it to work.
Are we now reduced to a trial and error method with no clue or guidelines? Feels like a guessing game.
I’m hoping someone here can help me figure this out.
Am I the first one on the planet who attempted to get the nucleus to work with the Saturn R USB? Can’t we build on existing knowledge somewhere instead of reinventing the wheel?
Yes, please show us the screenshots of the available audio devices in Roon (shouldn’t be that many actually) so people know and can tell or at least make an educated guess instead of blindly stabbing in the dark.
It tells us that the Rega has generic (driver-less) USB Audio support so Nucleus as well as Apple MacOS or newer Windows machines can use this DAC without the need for drivers.
Why would you do that? What Rega device do you have? What manual did you read?
According to the manual for the Saturn-R, there is no HDMI connector on that device.
Maybe, maybe not. How knows? And even if there is one or more other person, what’s the chance they read this thread here on the Forum? Please give us something to work with.
Well, obviously Windows drivers are not needed everywhere because obviously they are not needed on macOS. The onboard USB drivers of Windows seem particularly limited in general, so many devices come with their own additional drivers. (Or at least this was the situation in the past. The Rega manual speaks about Windows 7 and Vista … it may be different today and Windows 10/11 may even work with built-in drivers)
It simply depends on whether the onboard driver is sufficient (like on macOS) or not (like on Windows). The situation with the Linux-based OS in the Nucleus might be like with macOS (does not need special drivers) or like Windows. Since Rega says nothing about Linux, you’d have to try.
Like @BlackJack already said repeatedly, post screenshots of what you see.
Does the Rega have an HDMI input? Then it probably works. You’d have to try (and an HDMI cable is a few euros).
Edit: As per the manual posted by BlackJack, there is no HDMI input on the Rega, so no
It would be up to Rega to write what it works with. Roon can’t test and write instructions for every DAC on the planet. There are the Roon Tested and Roon Ready certification programs for this.
I don’t know, did you search the forum?
Edit: A Rega Saturn worked with a Nucleus here:
and here (same user):
However, there were no problems with this, so nothing else was said. Maybe @James_Knapman who opened these threads is around and can tell you what you have to choose in the Roon Audio settings for the Rega Saturn DAC to work.
I will send screen shots of the DACS i see. The DACs are all part of the Roon built in software and are not unique to my situation so i cannot understand why you don’t already have these. None make ANY reference to Rega or Saturn.
My personal experience here is that you expect me to be a techie and not simply a customer.
Not a good feeling.
I don’t know what you mean.
Please be aware that I am just a user like you.
Roon doesn’t “have” them because Rega didn’t submit the Saturn to Roon Tested certification. Like I said, you can’t expect Roon to know and test with every DAC on the planet.
If you want something that is guaranteed to work with Roon, buy Roon Tested or Roon Ready equipment. Many (most) other DACs work, too, but you’d have to find out. Like I wrote, the Saturn worked for others
The list of available Audio devices in Roon is very unique to your situation (example picture):
We don’t know what you see there in your environment, but it is where the Rega DAC should show-up when connected and turned on. Here you need to enable the DAC to be able to use it with Roon.
Please simply omit the step “Device Identification” from the linked instructions (Audio Setup Basics) above as it does not apply to your situation (you do not have a Roon Tested device). Omitting this step shouldn’t influence your DAC’s capability to work with Roon.
Hi there,
Many thanks to @Suedkiez for @ing me so I got an email notification about this!
Yes, @Howard_Sambol I have been and still am using the DAC in my Rega Saturn-R to stream from a Roon Nucleus.
I took the plunge not knowing whether the Saturn-R and Nucleus would cooperate or not, but they did and I don’t recall the setup being particularly tricky.
I am, however, struggling to understand exactly what the issue is here. I have the Nucleus connected to the Saturn-R via the USB port and the Nucleus directly wired to a switch connected to my Sky router.
In order to use the Saturn-R as a selectable zone, you need to pick and enable the XMOS USB Audio 2.0 option from the “Connected to Roon Server” section.
This is what that looks like by default before I changed anything:
You need to enable “XMOS USB Audio 2.0”. I later renamed mine to “Rega Saturn” (you can rename the audio zones yourself to whatever you like). You won’t see Roon making any direct reference to Rega or Saturn by default because - as another user mentioned - Rega didn’t submit it to Roon for testing and certification. Roon knows simply that another “device” has become available that it can see and potentially run with.
This is what my working setup looks like after doing that (and renaming it “Rega Saturn”):
Once that’s done, you can then select the Saturn from the list of zones inside Roon.
Your setup is different from other users who use different devices to the Nucleus as their core. The Rega Saturn-R manual has no conception of the Roon Nucleus, so the instructions are specific to connecting it directly to a device with Windows or MacOS running on them. The Nucleus runs on Linux.
So if what you’re trying to do is get the initial setup done so you can stream Roon through the DAC to your hifi amp you can safely ignore most of what it says about that. The Saturn-R DAC shows up in your Roon app’s connected device list as XMOS USB Audio 2.0. That it literally the DAC and the only other relevant piece of information needed from the Rega Saturn manual.
I hope that helps at least a little? I can keep following up to try and help if necessary. Just let me know!
Cheers,
Jame.s
Thank you! This is exactly what i needed and was looking for, someone who preceded me in the quest. I’ve already completed the steps described and have my XMOS USB Audio 2.0 set up.
When I click enable on this button I’m presented with identify this device and below a series of technical parameters. If I click save the name changes to Roon Server which was probably a name i selected earlier.
So am i done now with the Connection to my Saturn? How do i test it? Please let me know if something else is needed.
I have a similar question regarding an item in the top of audio section “This Mac”. This is my main macbook pro workstation that has a Klipsch speaker system connected to the main headphone jack.
On my Roon audio setup i see an item external headphones. I enabled it and saved it and it is still called external headphones. Is this now sufficient to stream music to these headphone as one of my zones? Seems like it.
Where can I view all my existing zones?
I’m excited to report that I was successful in playing a radio stream from Tidal on my mac external speakers!! Yay. We’re getting there.
