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DS Junior Bridge and Audirvana issues

#1

I just got my DSJ and finally got things working.

  • Mac Mini (2012)
  • USB 3 external drive with all media
  • Static addressing on DSJ and Mac Mini. (No DHCP, nothing else on the network between the mini and the DSJ._
  • Tried both ethernet switch and crossover cable (I have hear a straight through cable should work as well. Haven't tried that) Currently setup with the crossover cable
I have tested everything up through DSD128 on TOSLINK and USB and everything is working ok. Sounds great.

When I switch to Audirvana to the DSJ bridge, the playback is horrible. Drop outs every couple of seconds. It is ridiculous.

PSA has no experience with the Audirvana software so they had no comments or suggestions other than try Roon. I am sure Roon is great but I am not sold on a subscription service at this point. I just want to play the media I own to the PSJ via the bridge.

What are some alternative uPNP server software options for the mac?

Any comments on how I might tweak audirvana to play nice with the DSJ bridge?

Thanks for any help here. Brand new to the DSJ and brand new to streaming. So every little bit helps.

#2

I verified the bridge is functional with the crossover cable and the static addressing by starting the roon trial and roon was able to play flac and DSD64 over the bridge without an issue.

Roon is not an answer for me. Not interested in a subscription service.

It might be audirvana settings that are not correct but my trial ended before I could do more investigation. I am not paying them $80 to find out their software won’t work with the bridge.

I do wish PS Audio had a bit of experience with Audirvana to the point of providing some configuration templates. It is not a bad product and the price is not terrible.

I will give JRIVER a try next to see if that will work.

#3

As you’ve discovered computer audio can be finicky and frustrating. JRiver can also be finicky and frustrating but I mostly use it anyway. (I also have Roon but I just bought an annual subscription since I expect I will switch to PS Audio’s Octave once it comes out). JRemote, the iPad (also available for Android) control point for JRiver, remains my favorite.

#4

Finiky is one word for it. The Roon implementation into the bridge is dropping out like crazy today. Reboot of the mac mini and the DSJ had no effect. Flac rips of CD quality, DSD 64 and my attempt to play and MQA track from 2L all have problems using the bridge. USB of course is fine.

Gotta say, not pleased with the bridge. Not sure if something like the rendu in front of the PSJ isn’t a better bet of streaming via ethernet.

#5

Could be a network issue because both Roon and Audirvana are working for plenty of people, including me (both with JRiver and Roon using various servers). I don’t have any experience with a straight through network like you are using. Do you have the option to connect through a regular switch or router? I’d give that a try, just to eliminate the straight through network as a potential issue.

#6

Hi. Yes. I had the same problem with a 10/100 switch between the mac mini and the bridge. I do not have the capability to insert a router in the path at this time. I am sure others are working otherwise there would be all kinds of negative feedback but it sure isn’t working in this environment and there is almost nothing else going on. Mac Mini is dedicated to this function and only the two devices are involved in the network.

Very perplexing

#7

I finally gave up trying to make sense of the connectivity. I scavaged a router, set the address to 10.10.10.1, setup the dhcp pool for 10.10.10.0/24. Reconfigured the mac mini ethernet adapter and the DSJ to use DHCP.

Everything reconnected like it did with the crossover cable and the ethernet 10/100 switch experiment.

Play back through the bridge with Roon is not dropping out any more for 44.1 or DSD64 using Roon. audirvana on a mac book pro was able to play through the bridge as well. I have not been able to verify audirvana from my mac mini due to trial being over… :frowning:

But I suspect it might be ok.

So for whatever reason, a router and DHCP appear to have made a difference in bridge play back. Go figure. The network is still isolated as it was with the switch or crossover cable implementations.

Thanks for the comments and taking the time.

Tim

#8

Glad you got it to work.