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[MAS-Indy]

Originally posted in the Linux MC27 section----

I am using MC27 on Linux Mint 20.1. I have a Schiit Modi Multibit DAC connected via USB 2.0. This setup was previously running under Win7-64, but I was fed up with Windows losing track of my DAC. When it did manage to see the DAC, I had no issues playing any of the files in my Media Library. Now, however, I find 2 issues running MC27 on Linux.

First, and most important, are the occasional glitches in the audio output. They are brief (probably well less than 100 msec), but very annoying when totally absorbed in the music. Question is- has any experienced this in Linux, and if so, have you solved it? I have changed USB cables and ports, with no change in the glitchiness. I am using the ALSA S/PDIF digital output option, as it seems to be the only one that provides a direct connection for the various sample rate files on my server (44.1 to 192kHz).

Second, SACD ISOs that used to play in Win7, no will only play the first track, over, and over, and over again, while "pretending" to go to the next track in the ISO file. Any suggestions, fixes?

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[JimH]

I've seen sound problems like that, playing to a receiver that didn't support what it was supposed to.  196 had slight problems, 96 didn't.

The thread in my signature, Weird Problems, might give you more ideas.

[syndromeofadown]

I was fed up with Windows losing track of my DAC

You can try updating chipset when this happens. Computers have issues with usb sometimes. Some companies are better than others at applying fixes for them. In my experience Lenovo and HP do not do a good job.

I currently use a modi dac with mint 20.1. I use a Surface go 2 with usb c (it's the only usb port).
for playback device I use:
hw:CARD=Multibit,DEV=0 [ALSA] Modi Multibit, USB Audio. Direct hardware device without any conversion
also works fine with:
[ALSA] Playback through PulseAudio server.
It actually works fine with any device I use.

Note that this is set in MC by right clicking the zone then going to playback options. The only place I have seen the SPDIF option you mention is in the Linux sound options for output devices. I don't touch these. By default mine is set to "Speakers Modi Multibit".

DSP setting I use are:

In output format I choose the following:
output encoding is set to none
sample rates up to 192,000 are set to no change, sample rates above 192,000 are set to 176,400.
channels are set to 2 channel stereo.
mixing is JRSS

Note that this is also set in MC by right clicking the zone then going to playback options.

Good luck.

[MAS-Indy]

You can try updating chipset when this happens. Computers have issues with usb sometimes. Some companies are better than others at applying fixes for them. In my experience Lenovo and HP do not do a good job.

I would heartily agree with this except for the fact that my current issues were non-issues when I was using Win7 with this same computer.

I currently use a modi dac with mint 20.1. I use a Surface go 2 with usb c (it's the only usb port).
for playback device I use:
hw:CARD=Multibit,DEV=0 [ALSA] Modi Multibit, USB Audio. Direct hardware device without any conversion
also works fine with:
[ALSA] Playback through PulseAudio server.
It actually works fine with any device I use.

Note that this is set in MC by right clicking the zone then going to playback options. The only place I have seen the SPDIF option you mention is in the Linux sound options for output devices. I don't touch these. By default mine is set to "Speakers Modi Multibit".

DSP setting I use are:Note that this is also set in MC by right clicking the zone then going to playback options.

Good luck.

For some reason, when I try to use the [hw:CARD=S2,DEV=0 [ALSA] Schiit, USB Audio. Direct hardware device without any conversion] option in MC, I receive an error message. I have also tried using the usbstream option, with a bigtime fail. I then fall back to the S/PDIF option in MC. I must admit I have not tried selecting the "Speakers Schiit" option in the Linux sound, as it seems to me that that may not be a digital output, but rather an analog one. Is that not true? It also seems to me that I do not want the PulseAudio server inserting itself between the MC digital output and my DAC, similar to letting Windows DirectSound doing the processing instead of using WASAPI. Seems that is just defeating the purpose of having an external DAC. If this is not the case, can someone explain to me the pathways/processing that is going on in Linux?

Frustrated in Indy. Just wanting the glitches to disappear.

Thanks for your help.

[MAS-Indy]

I've seen sound problems like that, playing to a receiver that didn't support what it was supposed to.  196 had slight problems, 96 didn't.

The thread in my signature, Weird Problems, might give you more ideas.

Thanks for your suggestion.
I have tediously parsed the various "Weird Problems" in that post and have tried some solutions that seemed to be promising. So far, no luck. 

[MAS-Indy]

I revisited the [hw:CARD=S2,DEV=0 [ALSA] Schiit USB Gen 2 Audio. Direct hardware device without any conversion] setting in the Playback options in MC, and for whatever reason it is working now (used to throw an error).

I am very pleased to report glitch free audio as a result 

Thanks for all the help and suggestions for that.

Sadly, SACD ISO playback is still not working (except for the first track). I hope the developers might chime in on this one.

[Awesome Donkey]

Sadly, SACD ISO playback is still not working (except for the first track). I hope the developers might chime in on this one.

Unfortunately none of Schiit's DACs, except the original Schitt Loki which was discontinued pretty quickly years ago, support DSD playback. So since the Schiit DACs don't support DSD (e.g. SACD ISO) playback, you'll have to convert DSD-to-PCM to be able to listen to them. To do this you'll have to first make sure DSD bitstreaming is disabled and no DSD option is used (so make sure None is used) for DSP Studio > Output Format > Output Encoding. This will allow Media Center to automatically convert DSD-to-PCM as the tracks are playing. It's worth noting that all DSD-to-PCM conversions are lossy and a lossless conversion isn't possible, so if bit-perfect playback is important to you it's something to keep in mind.

Media Center's DSD-to-PCM conversion happens on-the-fly as you're trying to playback the DSD content, so if you're experiencing glitches or stops in the music playback while this is occurring, it usually means the computer Media Center is running on isn't powerful enough to handle that conversion on-the-fly. Since you have to convert DSD-to-PCM to listen to SACD ISOs for your Schiit DAC anyways, it might be worth going through and pre-converting all your DSD (SACD) content to PCM (e.g. a format like FLAC) to save yourself some time and avoid the on-the-fly conversion.

If that doesn't work, you might want to check your SACD ISO source(s), maybe the embedded cuesheet or something is corrupted or something? It's hard to say.

[MAS-Indy]

Unfortunately none of Schiit's DACs, except the original Schitt Loki which was discontinued pretty quickly years ago, support DSD playback. So since the Schiit DACs don't support DSD (e.g. SACD ISO) playback, you'll have to convert DSD-to-PCM to be able to listen to them. To do this you'll have to first make sure DSD bitstreaming is disabled and no DSD option is used (so make sure None is used) for DSP Studio > Output Format > Output Encoding. This will allow Media Center to automatically convert DSD-to-PCM as the tracks are playing. It's worth noting that all DSD-to-PCM conversions are lossy and a lossless conversion isn't possible, so if bit-perfect playback is important to you it's something to keep in mind.

I am aware of this. I am not expecting DSD playback. Having said that, when I was running MC on Win7 (on the same machine), it had no issue playing each track in the ISO, or any track I selected. Running under Linux, MC appears to be playing the next track, or a track I select, but it will still play only the first track. Why is that? A Linux issue, or a MC interacting with Linux issue?

Media Center's DSD-to-PCM conversion happens on-the-fly as you're trying to playback the DSD content, so if you're experiencing glitches or stops in the music playback while this is occurring, it usually means the computer Media Center is running on isn't powerful enough to handle that conversion on-the-fly. Since you have to convert DSD-to-PCM to listen to SACD ISOs for your Schiit DAC anyways, it might be worth going through and pre-converting all your DSD (SACD) content to PCM (e.g. a format like FLAC) to save yourself some time and avoid the on-the-fly conversion.

If that doesn't work, you might want to check your SACD ISO source(s), maybe the embedded cuesheet or something is corrupted or something? It's hard to say.

So, the playback is not glitchy, the first track plays just fine, over and over and over again.

[Awesome Donkey]

Actually, thinking about it might be a Linux and macOS issue with ISO files. On Windows Media Center uses the system component to read ISO files, whereas on Linux and macOS there's no such thing available. For example on Windows you can playback DVD/Blu-ray ISOs, but on Linux and macOS you can't open them in Media Center, requiring users to rip their movies using MakeMKV to MKV files. So this could be another example where Linux and macOS can't properly read ISO files outside of Windows.

You can probably workaround this by extracting DSF files from your SACD ISOs using an app like iso2dsd or sacd_extract via the command line or with one of the sacd_extract GUI apps available. Then from there you can either play them as-is and let Media Center do the on-the-fly conversion (assuming the hardware can handle it) or to save time you can convert all the DSF files to FLAC if you want to avoid the on-the-fly conversion and play them that way.

[Wheaten]

Is it possible to have the mount command available in the next release for MAC ?
like:

Code: [Select]

hdiutil mount <librarypath>/sample.iso