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[balky]

Just tried MC22 on a spare Pi today and can say there is a huge improvement in library buildup speed, recognition of sound card... etc...
For the first time, I select the audio device to use, it worked right away...

For some reason I can't understand, it seems like there is a kind of internal sampling / re-sampling or whatever that is going on...
The high-end seems to be somewhat laid back compared to MPD... and audio sounds overall somehow distorted...

I have set audio leveling, turned off volume control, et al, but it looks like there is some kind of internal de-esser in the chain that is keeping the high end kind of shallow...
The DSP studio shows the same sample rate in / out and all seems to be passed untouched but overall quality says something is going on to me...

Hardware is a Pi 2B with HiFiBerry Digi+ running ALSA.
I built the system ground up from a minibian install to ensure nothing pulseaudio ever shows up.

I won't label myself an expert, but I'm not a newbie either...

I really want to move away from MPD if possible largely due to the fact that MC is more user-friendly when you get it to work...

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[bob]

What device are you choosing in MC's audio settings dialog?

[balky]

the following devices both worked...

- hw:CARD=sndrpiHifiberry,DEV=0[ALSA]

- default:CARD=sndrpihifiberry[ALSA]

[balky]

Something else I am seeing now is a huge lag in switching from a playing album to another one and irregular dropoff / reconnect while audio is playing...

Delay is the 30 - 40 seconds range...

Using JRemote, Pi is connected wired gigabit network

Thanks

[bob]

the following devices both worked...

- hw:CARD=sndrpiHifiberry,DEV=0[ALSA]

- default:CARD=sndrpihifiberry[ALSA]

Use the HW device. The default probably uses the system mixer.

[bob]

Something else I am seeing now is a huge lag in switching from a playing album to another one and irregular dropoff / reconnect while audio is playing...

Delay is the 30 - 40 seconds range...

Using JRemote, Pi is connected wired gigabit network

Thanks

Turn off the spectrum analyzer in MC (right-click on the Media Center 22 title).

[balky]

Use the HW device. The default probably uses the system mixer.

Both sound exactly the same, and when I switch between 44.1khz, 48khz and 96khz tracks, the display on the DAC changes accordingly, which might indicate that even if the system mixer is doing something internally, the source sampling rate is still being sent to the DAC.
Any idea how I can bypass the system mixer completely? 

[balky]

Turn off the spectrum analyzer in MC (right-click on the Media Center 22 title).

I will do this later today when I am back home and post the result.
Thanks

[bob]

Both sound exactly the same, and when I switch between 44.1khz, 48khz and 96khz tracks, the display on the DAC changes accordingly, which might indicate that even if the system mixer is doing something internally, the source sampling rate is still being sent to the DAC.
Any idea how I can bypass the system mixer completely?

If the display on the DAC is changing the system mixer isn't being used since it can only do one sample rate at a time.

[balky]

If the display on the DAC is changing the system mixer isn't being used since it can only do one sample rate at a time.

What I thought as well... Thanks...

I have now overclocked the Pi and disabled the spectrum analyzer.
This has helped a bit but the lag is still there, only much shorter than before... now approx. 2-3 seconds delay...

Thanks

[bob]

What type of material are you playing and how (local files, push as renderer, etc)?

[balky]

All FLAC / ALAC files on an NFS mount...

Just out of curiosity, I installed MC 20 on the same device and the MC20 did run quite flawlessly... no lags, 35K librarry files loaded in lesser than 20 minutes, audio played fine while library was being loaded in parallel and overall audio a lot better than on MC22.
The reason why I didn't use MC20 back then was the feeling that the internal DSP processing couldn't be completely bypassed no matter what...
I only wish you could compare playing audio side by side with MPD and you can maybe understand me better...

Yes, it's a given that MPD doesn't have all the processing capabilities bundled with MC, but there should also be an option in MC that allows to completely bypass all DSP processing...
it will really make my day if this can happen, because i will be able to fully justify upgrading my master license from MC20 to MC22...

Thanks for the response anyway...

[bob]

If the option to configure sample rate on playback error is off and output format is disabled in DSP studio, we aren't doing anything with the data before it's sent to the selected device. The HW: and Front: devices in ALSA go to the device without processing by ALSA.

In the linux code for MC, nothing has changed in the way that's done. I know for sure, I wrote that code.

[balky]

If the option to configure sample rate on playback error is off and output format is disabled in DSP studio, we aren't doing anything with the data before it's sent to the selected device. The HW: and Front: devices in ALSA go to the device without processing by ALSA.

In the linux code for MC, nothing has changed in the way that's done. I know for sure, I wrote that code.

Yes... spot on... I unchecked output format in DSP studio and can confirm I couldn't tell anymore if it was MPD playing or MC20...
Many many thanks for pointing this out... I always felt leaving no change in the output column meant that aduio was passed along as is... really... thanks a lot...
The next issue is with the license...
I have inserted my master license key but nothing happens, when I click ok the license window just sits there and doesn't do anything

[bob]

Yes... spot on... I unchecked output format in DSP studio and can confirm I couldn't tell anymore if it was MPD playing or MC20...
Many many thanks for pointing this out... I always felt leaving no change in the output column meant that aduio was passed along as is... really... thanks a lot...
The next issue is with the license...
I have inserted my master license key but nothing happens, when I click ok the license window just sits there and doesn't do anything

It's probably a certificate error. You could try
sudo update-ca-certificates from the command line then try it again.
If it still doesn't work you can install the license from the command line, search on this forum or the MC 21 forum to find out how..

[LawshrinkMD]

I have a similar question, on my Rasberry Pi 3B hooked up to a PS Audio Nuwave DSD over USB I get many choices, which seem to sound different.  There are lots listed, not all of them work.  Which should sound best?

default: CARD=P20 [ALSA] PS Audio USB Audio 2.0, USB Audio.  Default Audio Device

front:CARD=P20, DEV=0 [ALSA] PS Audio USB Audio 2.0, USB Audio. Front speakers

hw:CARD=P20, DEV=0 [ALSA] PS Audio USB Audio 2.0, USB Audio. Direct hardware device without any conversion

iec958: CARD=P20, DEV=0 [ALSA] PS Audio USB Audio 2.0, USB Audio. IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

plughw:CARD=P20, DEV=0 [ALSA] PS Audio USB Audio 2.0, USB Audio. Hardware device with all software conversion

Thanks!

[Awesome Donkey]

I'd choose hw:CARD=P20, DEV=0 [ALSA] PS Audio USB Audio 2.0, USB Audio if I were you. As you can see, it says Direct hardware device without any conversion next to it.

[Hendrik]

The "front" device is usually what we recommend to use on a default ALSA setup. The "hw" device would likely also work just fine. Not quite sure if the front device goes through the ALSA mixer though.

[bob]

The "front" device is usually what we recommend to use on a default ALSA setup. The "hw" device would likely also work just fine. Not quite sure if the front device goes through the ALSA mixer though.

It's been my experience that the front: doesn't go through the ALSA mixer.
In the ALSA version that wheezy supported, the HW: device wasn't displayed as a choice, the ALSA in jessie now shows those as well.

[Awesome Donkey]

In the ALSA version that wheezy supported, the HW: device wasn't displayed as a choice, the ALSA in jessie now shows those as well.

Yeah, in my Arch Linux install it doesn't show as a choice either so I use front: without issue. However, my Ubuntu install does show it so I do use it.