Which AVR with integrated endpoint supports *multichannel*?

There is a bunch of AVRs, also newer ones, that are advertised as Roon Ready|Certified.

But the details miss in the spec pages: does the AVR roon endpoint accept and handle multichannel music (5.0 or 5.1 FLAC f.i.)? Preferrably with DIRAC on board.

So does anyone happen to know if multichannel roon streaming is possible with

  • NAD T778 (I fear it doesn’t because of BlueOs in the middle)
  • Arcam AVR10|20|30
  • (I know Anthem announced Roon for MRX740)
  • Onkyo TX-RZ50
  • or any other brand I might not be aware of and which is available in Europe

I investigated already the options with RasPi as an endpoint to transport the signal over HDMI, but there again multichannel isn’t supported. My questions here: Rasperry Pi multichannel output to an AVR other than via HDMI?

Another option I don’t want to consider at this point is a NUC in the living room, I have a Synology NAS that already consumes power day and night and roon core runs perfectly on the NAS.

Trinnov, afaik.

I use Yamaha RX-A… connected via hdmi to the core on QNAP TS-453Pro
This should be work with any other AVR.
It don’t work via network connection because this is AirPlay

Trinnov, ahhh, Hypex etc.
Maybe in another life. The price tag is “impressive”.

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My Synology is placed in the basement and its fan would be too loud anyhow.

I’m going down that rabbit hole for while now, when does it stop? Must I consider a NUC with HDMI out nonetheless? On the other hand, modularity with an independent endpoint is an advantage too.

A non-roon-ready high-end AVR that looks attractive to me is Rotel RAP 1580 MKII, it has DIRAC too. If it had a Roon endpoint, it would be a no-brainer for me.

Ok,
That’s a problem. I use a 5 meter hdmi cable from the neighbor room

Hello good people,
I’m new to Roon and I’d like to revive this topic for I can’t find the answer to a similar question.
My Roon Ready Arcam AVR31 is a multichannel AVR. Bought this because I’ve a Roon subscription and a lot of multichannel music. My Oppo UDP-205 als is Roon Ready, but that one turned out to be stereo-only and my former Marantz SR7009 ‘doesn’t do’ Roon. I put my hopes on the Arcam, but so far I can’t get it to work. In the help pages from the Roon website there’s a tutorial that I can follow until the ‘Device Setup’- item. There I’m missing the opportunity to select my Channel Layout. Does it mean the Arcam is also not able to receive multichannel streams from the Roon server (which runs on a Synology)?
Really like to hear something from you experts, my web search so far didn’t help me.

Greetings from Holland,
Jan

I suspect that you may need to connect it via HDMI to the device on which your Roon Server runs to obtain multichannel support, and I don’t know whether that will be possible for your Synology.

Thanx a lot Geoff,
that’s something I already was afraid of :face_with_raised_eyebrow: :thinking:. Unfortunately my Synology (DS1819+) doesn’t have such a connection. I’ll try to get some information about the Ethernetport on the Arcam. Funny that it swallows high bitrate 2ch music via ethernet and not a much less heavy mc-flac.

Do you have the Roon client running on a PC or a laptop and do either of these have a HDMI connector?

If so, you could test my theory out by setting up an endpoint using the HDMI connection to the Arcam. If you get the appearance of the multichannel selector in the advanced settings of the device setup, then we’ll know that the Arcam does not support mch via RAAT over ethernet…

Hey Geoff,
I feel like such a nitwit not thinking of that! Thank you very much, I’ll go and install Roon Server on a NUC and see if that works.

Cannot thank you enough for your help,

best regards from Holland,

Jan

Too bad, HDMI doesn’t provide me with multichannel setup either. Besides the Arcam, 2 other output devices show up: ‘Dirac Live’ and ‘16 ch BlackHole’. Both have the multichannel setup-possibility, but I can’t seem to get any sound from these outputs.

I’ll have to look further. Again, thanx a lot!

Is there perhaps somebody who knows what HQPlayer adds to this (apart from another couple of hundred €€)?

My final solution to stream multichannel FLACs was without roon in the pipeline. Some might consider this a spaghetti solution, but it works quite well if you accept to switch to DLNA for this job:

  • Synology NAS 218+
  • Sony UDP X800M2 (a UDP 7200 works fine as well)
  • Arcam AVR20

With the Android app Hi-Fi Cast, I grab the material form my NAS and choose the Sony as the DLNA renderer, and obviously the Sony transports the stream via HDMI to the Arcam.

Now, the funny part is that Arcam can decode multichannel DAB+ (Oh yes, digital radio in surround quality! This is sometimes available on special occasions on the public Bavarian classical radio), and you ask yourself why this seems to be impossible via a (W)LAN network - as this is not depending HDMI?!

Is it a software issue (firmware update?) or is it not possible from the hardware side, because splitting the stream into channels and feeding them separately to the DACs works differently?

Nowadays, you cannot ask anybody in a hi-fi shop any more. They look at you with eyes wide open: “SACD, mCh DSD (or FLAC) … does this still exist? SACDs are not produced any more (=wrong)! Why do you want to do that? Is the difference so big?” Yes, the difference is enormous with good source material, like with my latest purchase: https://www.nativedsd.com/product/ptc5187027-bartk-concerto-for-orchestra/

But you need good built-in DACs in the AVR! I got my brother hooked on the topic. He goes down the same rabbit hole I did 3 years ago. What hardware should he get?

But in the meantime there is new gear on the market:

  • Eversolo DMP-A6 is a roon endpoint and can stream mCH HDMI.
  • Maybe exaSound Sigma Streamer mark II

But you must investigate if it would really work via roon.

I find the Eversolo very unreliable when used as a Roon endpoint. I get a lot of stuttering using the HDMI multichannel output and often unable to play anything at all. The Eversolo works better on its own, but sill get a fair amount of stuttering.

I though any device running Roon with an HDMI output (NUC, PC, Laptop, MAC, NAS) would work for Multi-channel PCM. Guess I was wrong to think that.

The ExaSound S88 and MKII works perfectly with Roon streaming Multi-channel PCM and DSD over Etherent.

Can you post a screenshot showing these devices in Roon’s Settings > Audio screen?