Feature request: relay IR remote play/pause/skip to USB host

Audio Components DACs
1

As much as I love using Apple Music and now Roon on various portable devices to browse and cue music for my DS DAC, I still rely heavily on infra-red remote controls to provide instantaneous control of play/pause, track skip and volume. There’s no bridge in my DS, so the Harmony remote is sending commands to either a SqueezeBox Touch (using as a Roon endpoint with USB connection to DAC) or Apple TV (Apple Music player, optical to DAC).

I’m interested in two other source options via USB:

  1. PS Audio LANRover bringing audio from a computer in a different room

  2. Directly attached iPhone or iPad using Lightning-to-USB adaptor

In both of those configurations my Harmony remote is unable to control play/pause and skip. So I’m wondering if it’s possible for the DS DAC to step in and help by declaring a USB multimedia keyboard device profile through its USB port and triggering the appropriate “keystrokes” when the IR receiver sees play/pause/forward/back commands from a remote. This would only happen when USB is the currently selected input on the DAC of course.

Hoping this is doable in a software update and of sufficient interest to people to make it worthwhile.

2

There’s really no data path from the control processor to the USB processor and the path from the FPGA to the USB processor is I2S and goes the wrong way to implement your request. That’s not to say it’s impossible, but it’s not easy.

3

Maybe a Bluetooth interface would be a better option for (2) then you can use the iOS device at a distance. Oppo ha-1 has a nice implementation in this regard and also supports a USB connection - I think with remote controls too, but it uses the normal PC/Mac inputs not a DAC input.

4

wizardofoz thank you for help tried it and it was fine