Roon and Sonicorbiter SE = The Spark Killer

[Hifi_swlon]

Just to answer a few questions here.  First we have fixed the output rates on the SPDIF port of the Sonicorbiter SE.  It now supports 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, and 192kHz both in 16 bit and 24 bit.

Next the supported rates of the Devialet Phantom and Bridge.   Devialet does not list what sample rates they support in any of their literature or their web site. But the Devialet users I have talked to have determined through testing that Devialet also supports all of these rates.

Now on to DSD. Devialet does not support DSD so it's important to convert DSD to PCM if you want to play DSD on the Devialet.

DSD 64 is 2.8224 mHz at 1 bit which would be the same as 176.4kHz at 16 bit. Since 176.4kHz is a multiple of 2.8224 mHz you get a very good conversion to 176.4kHz. This is what Roon does.

As for volume control. You can do software volume control in Roon. Roon Server uses a very good resampling algorithm for this. You get the advantage of controlling both the volume and music played from one app. If you want the Devialet to do the volume control you will need to use their app. You should make sure you are only useing one app for control and have volume disable (set to 100%) in the other.

Only listening tests will determine if fidelity of Roon or Devialet volume control is better or the same.

If you are using Roon you get some advantages using a RoonReady certified endpoint, such as the Sonicorbiter SE.A certified endpoint has been tested in Roon's lab and guaranteed to have the highest quality connection. You can see, in the attached image, the Roon Advanced Audio Transport light is on at the Sonicorbiter SE end of the chain.

Couple of questions for you -

1.  Brian, the CTO of Roon, implied that the lack of 88.2 and 176.4 were a limitation of the iMX6 processor used in the Sonicorbiter.  - from his post on the Roon forums -

"The SonicOrbiter SE's s/pdif port has a unique (and unfortunate, IMO) quirk: It only supports the following rates:
44.1, 48, 96, 192
This is extremely unusual in the world of audio products--it's customary to support rates in pairs--meaning that a device that supports 96k should support 88.2k as well, and 192k support should imply 176.4k support. As I recall, this limitation comes from the iMX6 itself, since the S/PDIF interface used on the SonicOrbiter SE is built into the SoC."

Obviously, as stated in your post, 176.4 is v. important for DSD playback.

Are you saying you've managed to get the processor to do something it wasn't designed to do?   Or was it not a limitation of the processor and just a software issue in your program?

2. What are the advantages of the Roon Advanced Audio Transport over Squeezbox (upto 192k, as this is the max that's relevant in this discussion)?  All the audio processing is done in Roon regardless of the transport, so why is RAAT better than Squeezebox?

Thanks

Atter

Since both questions relate specifically to Roon/RoonReady device, perhaps fire the q's over there too?