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[kstich]

I am hoping that JRiver would investigate improving the synchronization of separate zones for simultaneous playback. I see there being two separate use cases for this request.

• Conventional Zones - For example, a zone on the deck and the adjacent living room with open doors, or living room next to a kitchen, etc. Additional zones within earshot of each other need to play simultaneously for a seamless transition between them.
  
• Expanded capabilities for playing additional channels of audio in the same room. For example, playing through a dedicated two channel DAC for the left and right speakers and adding a subwoofer output on a separate DAC or soundcard. Other example may be multichannel systems with three way active front speakers or expanding a 5.1 system to 7.1.2 with height channels.
  

I have tried both of the above with limited success. I found the zone synchronization would drift with each song. Sometimes one zone would be ahead of the other and other times vice versa. The delays were typically audible enough to make it unworkable. I have attempted since MC20 so I don’t know if there have been improvements but it would be great to have a system that supported stable and consistent synchronization.

[imeric]

I am hoping that JRiver would investigate improving the synchronization of separate zones for simultaneous playback. I see there being two separate use cases for this request.

• Conventional Zones - For example, a zone on the deck and the adjacent living room with open doors, or living room next to a kitchen, etc. Additional zones within earshot of each other need to play simultaneously for a seamless transition between them.
  

Do u mean on the same PC or different MC instances on different machines on the same network?

I too have tried to get this to work either with zones or DLNA and never managed to get it to work properly (Been trying since MC17 or 18 I think).  Closest I got after getting them in sync by adjusting sync the music would pause between songs and eventually lose sync.

I too would love to be able to do this and control the music from any 3 different PCs in the house that are all earshot from one another.[/list]

[Fangio]

I have tried to get this working with zones, without success.  I have MC running as a client on a wireless NUC, and it’s never in playback sync with the server. It’s either in front of or behind the server. The sync will alter on every track change, which usually causes the server to pause playback for a second or two.

[imugli]

I believe this is something the guys at JR are looking at, but I don't know any more than that.

[dtc]

This a long standing issue. Here i what I think the current situation is, in general terms, although I have no direct knowledge.

MC only has easy control over its own system and has added various timing parameters to try to do the syncing. However, it does not have direct feedback from each of the zones. It needs that to do  precise syncing. It is hard to sync something you do not control.

Sonus does a good job of synchronizing, but they have direct communications between the nodes under their own control. There is also some thought that their synchronization breaks the bit perfect model.

Bottom line - Matt knows about the issue but given it would take a significant effort to establish the feedback needed for precise syncing, chances for a fix are not good.  But it is good to raise the issue on a regular issue. I believe Matt is open to fixing this, if he can figure out a good way to do it, without a huge development effort.

That's my best guess. If anyone has better information, I would be glad to hear it.

 

[kstich]

Do u mean on the same PC or different MC instances on different machines on the same network?

I too have tried to get this to work either with zones or DLNA and never managed to get it to work properly (Been trying since MC17 or 18 I think).  Closest I got after getting them in sync by adjusting sync the music would pause between songs and eventually lose sync.

I too would love to be able to do this and control the music from any 3 different PCs in the house that are all earshot from one another.

I am referring to different zones on the same PC.

[millst]

You can't have MC play bit-perfect to two different pieces of hardware and expect them to stay in sync. Even if you were to use the same exact brand/model, they have different clock crystals that will oscillate at a slightly different rate. You need a hardware solution e.g. audio devices that have an external clock input.

If you remove the bit-perfect requirement, MC could adjust the playback speed like it does for VideoClock. Not sure how easy that is...

-tm

[kstich]

You can't have MC play bit-perfect to two different pieces of hardware and expect them to stay in sync. Even if you were to use the same exact brand/model, they have different clock crystals that will oscillate at a slightly different rate. You need a hardware solution e.g. audio devices that have an external clock input.

If you remove the bit-perfect requirement, MC could adjust the playback speed like it does for VideoClock. Not sure how easy that is...

-tm

I get it may not be bit perfect. Consistently leading or lagging would be enough. Then it could be compensated to a tolerable level. Right now it is out by 10's of ms and changing from song to song.

Perhaps the audio buffer size has an impact on the zone sync. I have my asio card set to 50 ms, not sure what the other driver was set to when I tried this last. That driver would have been WASAPI though and the two different driver styles will likely have an influence too I suspect.

[millst]

Lowering the buffers would likely help since that will reduce the latency. In the end, the hardware may have some non-deterministic behavior that's going to cause problems as they weren't designed with the intent to synchronize.

-tm

[imeric]

I get it may not be bit perfect. Consistently leading or lagging would be enough. Then it could be compensated to a tolerable level. Right now it is out by 10's of ms and changing from song to song.

Perhaps the audio buffer size has an impact on the zone sync. I have my asio card set to 50 ms, not sure what the other driver was set to when I tried this last. That driver would have been WASAPI though and the two different driver styles will likely have an influence too I suspect.

I was about to post pretty much the same thing.. As long as they are close by about a few ms or so and no glitch/pause between songs I'd be happy with it.

[Fangio]

When I have friends round, it would be great to have the same music playing quietly in several areas of the house. In this scenario, I'd be ok with a non bit-perfect solution.

[jmone]

Yup - Matt knows about the issue and was looking at it late last year but who knows.  The only workable soln so far for Muti Room Audio and MC is to use a third party soln in combination as outlined in this thread. http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,95760.0.html