I have firmware 23.14 in the Discrete which allows for 8X DSD (DSD512), and I have it enabled in the menu system.
I believe the firmware in the ProUSB is 2.1 (when viewing output devices in HQ Player it shows “ProUSB XEF V2.1”
The Rendu is capable of DSD512.
Neither Roon nor HQ Player recognize that I have DSD512 capability.
In Roon/Audio/Device setup, the maximum setting available is DSD256.
In HQP, I can set my preferences to DSD512, but it downsamples to DSD256.
The display on my Discrete shows “DSD 4X” when playing DSD512 whether straight from a file or upsampled in HQP.
I don’t use HQPlayer but I’m pretty sure it has, independent of what kind of processing you ask it with do, a setting that limits its maximum output rate. It should be set to 11289600 Hz if you don’t want DSD512 downsampled.
If this doesn’t work go to community.roonlabs.com an ask about how to get HQPlayer to output DSD512 (in the Audio Gear Talk/HQPlayer category). Jussi (designer of HQPlayer) hangs around there and is pretty quick to answer questions about HQPlayer.
I know the screen shot says it is a Select DAC, but I think because the Cascade isn’t listed on the Roon partner site so it just masquerades as a Select.
The setup screen for the Cascade USB input looks different than yours. Yours looks like the setup screen for the (Roon Ready) Renderer, i.e. Ethernet, input on the Cascade. The Renderer is not capable of doing DSD 512
I’ve been a Lifetime Roon subscriber since its inception, and I’ve used HQP for many years so I’m very familiar with their setup but this has me scratching my head…
My guess is the drivers for the USB on your Rendu are out of date. The ProUSB XEF is a different version and by default the built in linux drivers limit it to 256x DSD. The performance is the same, it’s just a different USB identifier.
This is not a driver we have control over. I know our product was updated in the open source linux driver by it’s creator last year. It would take Sonore to update their software to make it work at the higher rate.
I would say plug it directly into your Mac/Roon but the Mac operating system has the same limitation.
Hey Jonathan, I just realized that with my LAiV Harmony DAC fed via USB from the Rendu, I had no issues playing DSD512 via either Roon or HQP.
Wouldn’t that indicate the issue doesn’t reside with the Rendu drivers?
Regardless of whether I use the V2 Renderer fed via Roon, or I use the ProUSB fed via the Rendu in either Roon Endpoint configuration, or in NAA configuration using HQ Player, I can only play DSD256. When using HQ Player if I don’t send the output in DoP, DSD won’t play at all.
Another odd thing I noticed is that in Roon Audio Device Setup, there’s no selection for the DSD Playback Strategy as shown in @Dan’s screenshot above. This is what I see (nothing under Advanced Setup either):
I have had this same issue. Not eith rendu, but windows. Hqplayer NAA on windows would not play dsd512. I then installed the naa on a Ubuntu machine, and everything went well.
Thanks for the input. I’m thinking the issue resides with the ProUSB itself (mine is a loaner from my dealer, not a new unit). Here’s why I’ve come to that conclusion:
My LAiV Harmony DAC plays native DSD512 just fine via the Rendu using both Roon and HQ Player as the source so it’s not a Rendu issue.
Via the MSB V2 Renderer, I can play native native DSD 256 so it isn’t a Roon issue, nor is it an issue with my Discrete DAC.
Via ProUSB fed by the Rendu using HQ Player, I can only play DSD256 and only using DoP. Native DSD will not play.
It might be a Linux driver issue with the pro msb. The only way to rule it out is connecting a Linux machine with a new (24.04) Ubuntu install. If you have a raspberry pi around, it should be easy.
Not that dsd512 matters that much….
Indeed, in another thread, MSB hinted that the internal sample rate of the DD and dac is 2822/3072, that is equivalent to dsd x1. So it would immediately downsample the dsd512 feed, as it would upsample any lower rate.
Also, I have not experienced any sound quality gain using dsd512 from hqplayer to my cascade.
Yeah, I’m not hung up on DSD512 per se, but I want to make sure the ProUSB operates as intended before I make the financial investment. I’m pretty happy with the quality of the Renderer, so I may just stick with that.
I could re-employ my older Nuc/ROCK server and run ROCK > USB > ProUSB/ISL. While not a new Ubuntu build, it would/should further isolate the issue.
I have both inputs. My experience is that the proUSB is superior to the renderer.
I am feeding it via hqplayer without any filters enabled (hqplayer in “bit perfect” mode). Superior to roon via the renderer (roon via renderer gives me some “sharp edges).
NAA is in a low powered nuc, running Ubuntu 24.04 server (and nothing else). You could give it a go booting Ubuntu live on your nuc (just boot from a usb stick), and installing NAA. I guess it would work pretty fine.
Nevertheless, this diffenrence in SQ is the main reason I wanted to see the NAA integrated to the renderer.
