· Hi! I am trying to get Multichannel Audio working on my setup, but every time I try to play a 6ch FLAC file, it seems to revert to streaming in Stereo. The option to set more than 2.0 channels is greyed out. My setup:
# Roon Server 2.6.2 (build 1641 - production) - Mac Mini (2023, M2)
· * Also hosts local music files on an external hard drive
# Marantz Cinema 70s
· * connected to the Mac Mini via HDMI ultra high speed cable onto an 8k port * 5.1.2 Bi-Amped * Tested multichannel audio on my Blu-Ray player and it works fine, so I know it's not my gear
I've tried the following: * Closing Roon, opening the "Audio MIDI Setup" app, and changing the "marantz-AVR" to 8 channel 96kHz, and then opening Roon - it reverts to stereo "2ch 24bit 96kHz" when using exclusive mode; without exclusive mode, it is not honored, and the channels remain greyed out
I've followed the instructions laid out in other threads, but it doesn't appear to be honored. I'd really like to be able to use exclusive mode and rely on Roon instead of the OS mixer to stream audio in multichannel.
your pic on the left shows that Roon is set to play in 2 channel mode (channel layout - 2.0) and to downmix channels (Multichannel mixing - Downmix as needed). Have you tried setting channel layout to 5.1?
Yeah. What ends up happening initially is that it lets me change the channel setting to 5.1 or 7.1, but it still outputs in stereo. Changing a setting, such as toggling Power-of-2 buffer size, sets the channels to 2.0 and greys out the option (not allowing me to change it). In both cases, the OS reports it’s outputting 2ch 24-bit integer 96kHz.
I read a bit more about this. Seems to be a rather known issue with some Mac Mini Mx models.
Some say they worked around it by disabling exclusive mode.
You have a monitor attached to the Mini and turned on while the issue happens? It’s said that there are sometimes issues with HDMI when the Mac runs headlessly/without monitor (turned on).
Others say they solved the issue using an HDMI EDID emulator in between.
Thanks for reaching out to us. We’ve checked our database and confirmed that your AVR is supported as a 2-channel device in Roon.
Please try disabling the exclusive mode on the AVR so it’s not fully controlled by Roon. If that doesn’t help, set it as the default speakers on your Mac and connect Roon to your System Output.
Setting Exclusive Mode to off does allow for multichannel output, but then I’m relying on the OS mixer and not CoreAudio to process the music. The signal path then indicates the stream is not lossless unfortunately. It would be great to have both lossless and multichannel!
I understand the point you’re making here and I agree with you.
But upon certification of this AVR with Roon it is marked as 2ch for USB connection and for Roon Ready protocol.
If you will look at logs you will also spot that upon “handshake” the machine claims it supports many formats but all in 2 ch mode. So basically it is the machine telling Roon that it won’t go in Roon Ready mode over 2 ch.
So the only way for you to have full 7 channels is to play music via 3rd party (OS mixer) so your AVR does not talk to Roon Directly and works at its best.
It can definitely be frustrating that almost all Roon Ready AVRs and processors are only certified for 2-channel audio, especially since the hardware is clearly capable of more. I suspect that securing multichannel certification simply requires a significantly heavier R&D lift for the manufacturers.
I am in the exact same boat with my JBL SDP-55; it’s Roon Ready, but strictly for two channels. Prior to that, I owned a Marantz AV8802a which wasn’t Roon Ready at all, so a dedicated endpoint was necessary anyway.
I originally used my Roon Server as a multichannel endpoint (Intel NUC running ROCK), similar to what you are doing with your Mac Mini. It worked flawlessly for a long time, but unfortunately, a Roon update eventually introduced skipping issues on multichannel tracks and it could no longer play smoothly. That is when I decided to set up a dedicated multichannel endpoint.
My Solution: To bypass this limitation, I picked up an inexpensive, fanless PC with an HDMI output on eBay. I installed Roon Bridge on it following these instructions ( Roon Bridge - Project - #3 by Ron_Witkamp ), and it has been working beautifully ever since!
Yes, I fully understand the frustration regarding AVRs’ roonReady support being limited to almost always stereo. There’s a long history regarding this here, without any hint for a solution regarding proper/open communication towards (pot.) customers. Not even talking about actual roonReady multichannel support in AVRs at all, though.
I myself also purchased a dedicated device, an eversolo DMP A6. This is roonReady via Ethernet, including multichannel support for PCM and even DSD.
And it can output multichannel DSD over HDMI.
Together with my Denon X7200WA AVR no issues so far. Though, about extra 600 bucks to make it happen.
But, be aware… HDMI handshake has its very own obstacles. Some Onkyo AVRs are known to have issues here.
