I have been getting dropouts on nearly every song. Just a quick, less than 1/2 sec. I don’t know where to start troubleshooting.
System: Mac mini running Mojave
DSD w/ Snowmass
JRiver MC 24 Latest
AIFF fines mostly 16/44
I will test tomorrow & notice anything the files have in common, as a start. Any insite on where to start looking will be appreciated. I will also note MC 24 config relative to buffering. Right now MC24 is set for “load decoded file into memory.” Other choices are “no memory playback, load full file (not decodedinto mem), load full album (not decoded) into mem. Switched to “ no mem playback cause I don’t know what they mean by “decoded”. Anyway, I will see if that makes a difference.
Thanks & appreciate any advice,
Kev
If it’s a quick ramp down followed by an about 1 second ramp up it’s because the DS has seen a clock start, a change of sample rate or a transition from DSD -> PCM or PCM -> DSD.
If it’s happening only at the beginning of a track change the “Play silence at startup for hardware synchronization” to about a second in the Audio options.
If it’s happening anywhere but the beginning of tracks then you have either an unreliable connection or your source is skipping. You can play the Bit Perfect test files (https://www.psaudio.com/ps_how/how-to-run-a-bit-perfect-test-with-directstream/) to verify if that’s the case.
If you are getting skips it might be a cable, but more likely is something slightly misconfigured in the playing software. Check that your Prebuffering isn’t, say, 2 seconds. I have used the default of 6 seconds successfully but I prefer 20 seconds so my drives have a chance to spin up without interrupting the music. Also if you are using the “PS Audio USB Driver (ASIO)” audio device, you should click on the “… Device Settings …” right below that and check the “Use large hardware buffers”
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Thanks Ted. Prebuffering is 6sec, but will try 20. The glitch is abrupt & short & not at the beginning of a track. I will try to see if I can identify anything going on on the Mac. I think the problem started with Mojave, but I also got a JRiver update & Snowmass the same week!!! Too many variables.
Edit: Audio device = PS Audio USB Audio 2.0 Output [Core Audio]
Device setting choices are Hardware, Maximum (pwr of 2) & Maximum. SW buffering is @ 100 ms.
BTW USB cable is Audioquest Diamond cable & it has worked fine in the past.
Regards,
Kev
Dumb question. When’s the last time you rebooted the Mac ? I’ve run into dropouts in the past and something is going on w my laptop. Reboot fixes the issue.
Good point. I’ll be sure & reboot before doing any testing.
THX,
Kev