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Audirvana & SOtM Streamer Skipping/Buffering

Network Audio
#1

I’m having some pretty regular issues with my music skipping using Audirvana on my Windows 10 PC. I use an SOtM SMS 200 streamer connected via WiFi and my internet regularly runs 80 mbps downloads, so my speed is sufficient. However, I upsample everything to DSD 128, so my computer has to do some heavy lifting. I have a 256 solid state drive, 8 gb or memory, and an i7 processor…so my computer’s power shouldn’t be an issue.

My guess is that my problem(s) lie somewhere in my Eunhasu settings or Audirvana upsampling settings (butter times, memory allocation, etc.). Any thoughts out there? I’ve found SOtM’s and Audirvana’s “help” areas on this not very helpful, or perhaps I just don’t understand their advice on the matter. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

#2

Hi, @dbanker. Did you resolve this issue? I have the same problem despite I’m using a Macbook Pro i9 eight-core processor with 16GB of memory and a gigabit connection with the sMS200ultra, no upsampling.

#3

Sorry for the late response. Yes, my issues have mostly resolved. Not sure if it was an Audirvana fix or my switching to a wifi dongle for my SOtM…or something else? Much better now though with little skipping (every 20 songs or so)

#4

Never mind @dbanker ! Can you share your sMS200 MPD config with us?

#5

Sure thing, I’ll try to get around to it sometime next week :+1:

#6

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#7

Hi, @dbanker! Thank you a lot for sharing your MPD configuration with us. However I got in doubt about some of the parameters you set. Why setting “audio buffer size” and “buffer before play” so low? If you are using Audirvana as the only player in your setup, what is the meaning of setting OpenHome, for instance?

In my system I set the MPD section as follows:

  • Audio buffer size: 100 (the maximum)
  • Buffer before play: 95 (I saw no difference between values from 40-95, but always below 100)
  • Buffer time and period time are the same as yours.
#8

Happy to share it. You know I haven’t thought too much about some of those parameters other than it works so I don’t mess with it.

Would you recommend me changing some of those? I keep the buffer numbers there so I can continue to use my computer while at the same time allow the music to play without skipping seems like a good balance.

#9

Yeah, @dbanker, it might make sense. Mine is a dedicated Mac mini. I’ve seen people putting low values for the buffer size, but I can’t find a reason for that, since the sMS200 has enough buffer to store more than 3 minutes of a 44.1 KHz / 16-bit PCM file. But, as you said, if it works for you, that’s what counts, after all.

Anyway, if someone thinks differently or takes a different approach, please share your thoughts with us.