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[smithfky]

I can't find this exact topic with a search, so I'm trying here. Most of the search results are problems when people are playing from a network drive. The "help" section said to produce some log files, and they are very long, so I'm not sure this is the right place to post them, but they are here, attached in zip file form. I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64 bit with 8Gb RAM.
Here's the problem: Whenever I play Hi-Rez files, especially 24 bit/192Hz files from my internal hard drive the play stops and I get the "buffering" message. Doesn't happen with mp3 files. The Output Format is set to "No Change" up to 192k Hz, then 176,400 for any audio files higher than that like DSD. I don't want to reduce the resolution because, why pay for Hi-Rez files if you're going to listen in a lower resolution? Anyway, the song resumes then stops again to buffer some more. I've tried checking and unchecking and changing settings like the Pre-buffering to 20 seconds and "Play silence for hardware synchronization" to 10 seconds with no results. My Audio Device is "MF USB 192 ASIO Driver" which is a Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 USB/SPDIF DAC. Here is the log file that was produced after the error occurred:

Running 'Math' benchmark...
    Single-threaded integer math... 4.105 seconds
    Single-threaded floating point math... 2.729 seconds
    Multi-threaded integer math... 2.267 seconds
    Multi-threaded mixed math... 1.480 seconds
Score: 1796

Running 'Image' benchmark...
    Image creation / destruction... 0.846 seconds
    Flood filling... 0.422 seconds
    Direct copying... 0.704 seconds
    Small renders... 1.501 seconds
    Bilinear rendering... 1.077 seconds
    Bicubic rendering... 0.661 seconds
Score: 4222

Running 'Database' benchmark...
    Create database... 0.250 seconds
    Populate database... 1.770 seconds
    Save database... 0.774 seconds
    Reload database... 0.335 seconds
    Search database... 1.232 seconds
    Sort database... 1.509 seconds
    Group database... 0.811 seconds
Score: 3219

[JimH]

... Whenever I play Hi-Rez files, especially 24 bit/192Hz files from my internal hard drive the play stops and I get the "buffering" message. Doesn't happen with mp3 files. The Output Format is set to "No Change" up to 192k Hz, then 176,400 for any audio files higher than that like DSD.

The problem is probably beyond MC somewhere so do some testing to try to learn more.

Try forcing everything to 48K, for example.  If it works, try higher sample rates.

The driver is also a possibility.  Try other paths to your DAC, if possible.

[Jamil]

I have a USB DAC that I play music from too.  This DAC offers two different types of drivers for the hardware:  straight USB audio and an ASIO layer over USB

In my case, the ASIO over USB performs very very poorly.  It is so bad, that I never use it.  The straight USB is flawless.

I do not know about your particular DAC, but can you eliminate the ASIO over USB overhead as I can with mine?

[smithfky]

I appreciate the two replies I have received on this matter. I understand the "scientific method" value of forcing the Output Format to a lower resolution to see the results. I consider this a last resort action because I value the Hi-Rez files' fidelity. I suspect it would work because, as I said, mp3 files play with no problems. I use dBpoweramp to rip CDs. I save to .mp3 files with the settings at Constant Bitrate at 320kbps to user/music/iTunes/media/music, which I use for my iPod Classic. I don't use the iTunes Media Player except to update my iPod.

The CD files I listen to at home through JRiver MC 22.0.97 are ripped to flac files at Lossless Level 3. I have tried ripping to uncompressed wav files and even converting 24/192 downloaded files to .wav so that my computer didn't have to uncompress the files for playback, thinking this might solve my interruption/buffering problem; but no luck.

Under the Tools>Options>Audio Device menu for my JRiver MC version 22.0.97, the device I selected is: "MF USB 192 ASIO Driver [ASIO]" where "MF" is the Musical Fidelty V-Link 192 DAC I am using. On "Device Settings" I have the Buffering setting at 500 milliseconds (the max) and a checkmark on "Use large hardware buffers (recommended to prevent stutter)".

I do have other choices under the "Audio Device" dropdown selection for the MF USB 192 Driver. They are shown as: "Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 Audio [WASPI]", then under the "More" sub-dropdown there are these choices: "V-Link 192 Audio 2.0 Output [Kernel Streaming]" and ""Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 Audio [Direct Sound]". I had read somewhere that my current choice (ASIO) is the best choice for the best fidelity, so that's why I chose it. Maybe a tech-savvy audiophile could suggest a driver that would work better (i.e. not stopping & buffering) while retaining full fidelity playback.

My equipment is an HP Pavilion HPE h8-1256s Desktop PC, Intel Core i5-2400 CPU quad core @3.1 GHz with 8 GB RAM running Windows 10 Pro 64 bit with all current updates. Playback is via one of the two high speed USB ports on the top of the PC, from a Western Digital 1 TB internal drive model WDC WD10EACS-00D681 designated as drive:E, through the aforementioned Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 USB DAC and into the Coax input of a Denon AVR-2310CI receiver. The motherboard sound card's digital output is not capable of outputting a 24/192 signal, which is why I bought the outboard DAC. The receiver displays "24/192" when playback begins, so this is confirmation that it is receiving a hi-rez signal from the outboard DAC. The computers Performance monitor tab in Task Manager indicates low processor usage and memory usage is at 2.6%; this with "Memory Playback: Load decoded files into memory" selected in Options>Settings. I did move the DAC's USB source from a rear motherboard socket to one of the two on top, which are designated as being high-speed ports. No luck, still stops and buffers. I think the playback driver choice may be the solution, but I don't know which would be the next best choice "below" ASIO.

Thanks again for your consideration and your thoughts on this problem!

[Jamil]

If you switch to WASAPI instead of using ASIO, does your issue go away?  For audio in a DAC, exclusive use WASAPI and ASIO will be identical.  They both bypass the Windows mixer.  Just make sure you set it for exclusive use WASAPI.  You will not hear a difference.

[smithfky]

Thanks Jamil!
As you suggested, I switched my Audio Device selection under Tools>Options>Audio Device from the ASIO driver to "Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 Audio [WASAPI]" and played two songs from a 24 bit/192 khz file of Cream's first album "Fresh Cream" downloaded from HDtracks.com and NO pausing/buffering! The Denon receiver still indicated that it was receiving a PCM 192 khz signal, so I think all is good now!
Thanks for your help, and I hope that my experience may help someone who also has this problem!

[smithfky]

Update, Saturday 22 April, 2017:
After I changed the device driver choice in JRiver MC 22 from ASIO to WASAPI it turns out that I was just halfway there as it is still pausing and buffering, but not as badly as before, in fact it's very rare now, but it still happens. It still only does it only on 24 bit/192 khz files and seems to do it when other things are going on, like closing the web browser but that may have been just a coincidence. So I'm still looking for opinions as to things to try while maintaining the full fidelity of hi-rez music files. Thanks!

[JimH]

Try resampling those files, using MC's DSP Studio > Output Settings.

[Jamil]

Update, Saturday 22 April, 2017:
After I changed the device driver choice in JRiver MC 22 from ASIO to WASAPI it turns out that I was just halfway there as it is still pausing and buffering, but not as badly as before, in fact it's very rare now, but it still happens. It still only does it only on 24 bit/192 khz files and seems to do it when other things are going on, like closing the web browser but that may have been just a coincidence. So I'm still looking for opinions as to things to try while maintaining the full fidelity of hi-rez music files. Thanks!

Some basic things to make sure of--  I know you had posted that you have the DAC plugged into a high speed USB port on top of the PC.  Try using a USB port that is in the back of the PC to see if the issue goes away.  Sometimes these USB ports are connected via a passive hub.  Hubs for a DAC are bad news.

Note that the resampling suggestion will not give you bit perfect playback that it seems you are interested in.  See if you have the latest available USB drivers and firmware updates for your DAC too.