I recently had two unrelated events occur at approximately the same time: (1) My Windows 10 installation went through such a BSOD epidemic -- twice daily, for a week -- that I had to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch, using the restore USB stick. (2) I replaced my Geek Pulse DAC with a Wyred4Sound DAC2DSD SE.
I reinstalled MC21 and imported my old library from the backup. I had to change my audio settings once I installed the W4S drivers. (One difference between the old and new settings is that the Geek Pulse volume was controllable with the application or system volume setting, but the W4S responds only to the internal volume setting.) In both cases, I checked "Play files from memory." The files themselves reside on a NAS addressed via gigabit ethernet. In troubleshooting, I have gone back and forth between ASIO and WASAPI, but believe that the behavior is identical under both drivers.
I frequently need to pause or stop albums that I have begun to play. With my current DAC, however, I have encountered an issue that I haven't found before: After pausing or stopping album's playback, I'll find the same album and track playing again without my even having accessed MC21. Often, but not always, the sound quality is adversely affected by stuttering or ticking that makes the music unlistenable. That's bad, but, mostly, when music is not playing, I do want it off and to stay off.
Anything in my setup that I ought to check out to prevent this from happening again? I don't think I am missing any Windows 10 components or drivers despite the fresh installation. I am certain I have the correct W4S drivers installed, as well.