Need help on DAC input

[Dennis_FL]

I have a Mac Mini feeding Roon music to my Gustard DAC via USB and the Gustard in turn feeds a Buckeye amp via balanced XLR.

In addition to Roon, I'd like to add the option of playing music from other players like Apple Music, SiriusXM, and the Tidal, QOBUZ apps on my Mac.

I don't have a preamp but I can switch inputs on the Gustard.

Since the USB input on my DAC is taken, I'd have to use one of the other available inputs (aes, iis-h, optical, or coax)

I also have a Raspi 4 which I can use as a Roon endpoint (with Ropieee) instead of the Mac Mini (and switch Roon to Optical).....but I'd rather keep Roon the way it is.

Macs used to have optical outputs but no longer.

I have tried changing the audio out on the Mac to the same USB that Roon uses. This works fine for Sirius XM, Apple Music, etc, but Roon doesn't work after I do that and I have to reboot to get Roon working again. So it is a somewhat workable solution.

I also have another USB DAC which I could hook up to a second USB port on the MAC and I also have a headphone amp which can feed the DAC unbalanced to the amp and also do the volume control. I'm not sure if I can feed balanced and unbalanced at the same time to the amp (it is auto-detect on).



Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[Dennis_FL]

I think I found a good solution here

 

[voodooless]

Why do you need to switch anything? Just start whatever app you need and play the music… am I missing something here?

 

[Dennis_FL]

Why do you need to switch anything? Just start whatever app you need and play the music… am I missing something here?

That works but Roon doesn't like it. If I use other apps and then return to Roon, it doesn't work until I reboot. I think there is a problem using multiple apps with the same USB digital output.

Roon picks up the DAC as an endpoint automatically and some of the other apps don't. For those apps I have to change the audio out of the Mac from internal speakers to the USB to the DAC.

Probably have to run only one app at a time to make them play nice together.

 

[NiagaraPete]

Why do you need to switch anything? Just start whatever app you need and play the music… am I missing something here?

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[voodooless]

That works but Roon doesn't like it. If I use other apps and then return to Roon, it doesn't work until I reboot. I think there is a problem using multiple apps with the same USB digital output.

Restarting Room is not enough? Otherwise: file a complaint at the Roon forum. An additional interface sounds like a lot of trouble for a simple software bug…

You may try this in a terminal:

sudo killall coreaudiod

 

[NiagaraPete]

Doesn't roon support Tidal directly?

 

[Dennis_FL]

Doesn't roon support Tidal directly?

Yes...but there are additional advantages of using the Tidal app solo. 90% of the time, I use Tidal in Roon. But when I download playlists for my phone Tidal APP, I use the Tidal APP, not Roon.