Revolution Native DSD support on a Mac

[stefsam]

Hi,

New Rev here, extremely happy about SQ but...it seems to be unable to hook into OSX Catalina with "Native DSD" support, see below screenshots in Roon and Audirvana:

 

I've tried the following:

1. change USB port

2. reboot OSX Catalina

3. restart from alternative boot volume with OSX El Capitan

4. turn the Rev DAC off/on across all of the above stages

5. Roon: changed Volume Control to Device Volume, still "Native DSD" doesn't come out as an option for DSD Playback Strategy

6. Roon: changed to Fixed Volume, same result as n.5 above

 

..but to no avail.

 

Needless to say, it's OOB with no fiddling on Firmware or others - a Windows laptop does not recognise the device, so I would assume it's XmosID.

 

Is this a faulty DAC that I have to return, or is there anything I'm missing?

 

Warm thanks in advance for your kind advice!

 

 

 

 

[stefsam]

UPDATE: the DAC works perfectly when connected to 2 Linux boxes: Raspberry OS Debian/buster, and Ubuntu20. It decodes DSD natively, and it's even recognised by Roon Core as remotely-connected "Native DSD" appliance.

 

It's impossible to hook it into Windows 7, once CemSolutions_UsbAudio_v4.82.0_2020-05-20_setup drivers are installed as per your supplied instructions, the DAC is not visible. Therefore: I've no way to flask ThesyconID, nor to check which FW is on - albeit I suppose it's XmosID.

 

Back to Mac OS: I've tried a second MacBook with Catalina on, same behaviour as on my main iMac: no "Native DSD" Roon support.

 

Any feedback or hints, most welcome! Thank you.

[DuckToller]

Salut Stefsam,

- according to Allo both firmware versions (Thesycon amd XMOS) are compatible with IOS, while  - due to the USB Audio 2.0 specifiction -  you should be enabled to playing PCM192 and DSD256 with Apple devices that are USB AUDIO 2.0 compliant. That may be dependend on the IOS or OSX in use.
- The CEM solution driver is a Thesycon USB driver. 
- If your device has supposed XMOS FW, why not try de-installing Thesycon drivers and look if the revolution starts now ...
- Allo notes that no usb drivers are needed for the using the Revolution with XMOS firmware. (which imho refers to recent devices).
- b/c for older Windows like XP you may need a specific Audio driver
- If you have a windows device at hand you may have the possibility to change the firmware  according to Allo's instructions or usinge the attached document
Allo-Revolution-Firmware-Update-Converted.pdf

- check with Roon that volume function under DEVICE SETUP is set on device volume to play DSD (bitstream)
underlining refers to embedded links

Good luck, Tom