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Author Topic: DAC Pauses  (Read 6559 times)

SilverLitz

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DAC Pauses
« on: December 17, 2013, 12:20:48 pm »

I am a fairly new user of MC18/MC19, and am finding MC19 much less reliable than MC18 (and therefore I use MC18 much more often).   I used MC18 for about 2 months before installing MC19.0.32.  I found MC18 and MC19.0.32 both reliable, but upon changing to newer versions starting with MC19.0.54 (no updates between), MC19 has be unreliable, with some updates running for a day or two before crashing, but others not going an hour.  I currently have MC19.0.91 installed and it ran for about a day before crashing.

My computers is a modest Athlon duo processor, Dell 570 with 8MB RAM, and running 64-bit Win7.  My DAC is an Audio-gd NFB-28, with VIA32 USB receiver capable of 32/384K, but not DSD.  I have installed the Audio-gd drivers and am using VIA DirectKS [ASIO] as my Output Mode.  I run MC18 using Kernal Streaming (ASIO not working with MC18).  I have tried KS on MC19 and that did not change its behavior.

1) I find MC19 erroneously pauses ever so often.  It sometimes seems like this is associated with system resource issues with other processes on my PC.  I have many Chrome internet tabs open and a few Excel models open as well.  Sometimes this seems to coincide with an Excel recalc, but this does not happen with all the time, but if it happens once, it seems to reoccur with subsequent recalcs.  Note that this does NOT happen with MC18, and MC18 has a much bigger sample size of these conditions.

2) After MC19 has an erroneous pause, MC19 will often produce a background "tick" sound every several seconds.

3) Sometimes when I stop an album that is playing, MC19 will crash.  I also have strange behavior with MC18, if I pause an album and then hit play, it starts playing in hyper speed.  But MC18 does not have problems when stopping an album and then play.

4) MC19 sometimes (but not always) pauses play for a fraction of second when switch a pane view while playing an album.  This was a bigger issue in earlier versions, but not MC19.0.32.

5) MC19 frequently pauses when playing a DSD file (converted to 176K or 88K PCM), but MC18 does NOT pause.

6) Both MC18 and MC19 have problems playing DSD converted to 352K PCM, it produces high frequency noise, with the music in the background.  If I then stop the playing, the noise remains, but it takes changing the output setting and then replaying to stop the noise.  There are no problems converting DSD to 176K or 88K PCM.  My DAC supports 352K/32 and 376K/32.

7) Both MC18 and MC19 have identical problems playing native 352K PCM files as 6).

I have only fed my DAC 352K PCM or DSD files using MC, so I have NOT proven that problem does resides with MC.
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HiFiTubes

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DAC Pauses
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2013, 12:26:53 pm »

I am a fairly new user of MC18/MC19, and am finding MC19 much less reliable than MC18 (and therefore I use MC18 much more often).  

...

 
What DAC are you using? I still notice a bit of the white noise (dropout) at times with DSD or PCM2DSD. Not often though.
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SilverLitz

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DAC Pauses
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2013, 12:31:44 pm »

My DAC is an Audio-gd NFB-28, with VIA32 USB receiver capable of 32/384K & 352K, but not DSD.

My noise problems happens every time, I try to output 352K.  I have not tried 384K, but have no interest in that since it is not an integer multiple of the native file.
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JimH

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2013, 12:39:44 pm »

You might find something here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DAC_Settings
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SilverLitz

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2013, 01:23:29 pm »

You might find something here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DAC_Settings

From the above:
Media Center Windows 19
Audio Device
If your device has it's own driver installed, select it from the list. Otherwise the best option will normally be "High Definition Audio Device [WASAPI]". Find more information at Audio Output Modes.
Device settings
Open device for exclusive access: Checked
Disable event style: Unchecked (may need to enable this on some older devices if you have problems)
Maximize device volume during playback: Unchecked
Play a little silence on DoP stop: Unchecked (try enabling if you experience a 'click' sound on your DAC)
Bitdepth: Automatic
Buffering: 100ms (If you hear audio hiccups or drop-outs, increase this size)

My Settings:
Audio Output Modes: Installed my DAC's driver, DirectKS [ASIO]

Device settings: Through MC19, I did not see the recommending options, except "Buffering", which I had set on 50mS, instead of recommending 100mS, with Large H/W buffer box check.  I will change to 100mS.
 
Under Tools: "Open Driver Control Panel" does NOT open; get msg "The selected ASIO driver does not have a control panel"




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SilverLitz

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2013, 12:15:49 pm »

Any ideas on why MC19 does not work as reliable in my setup as MC18?

Changing to 100mS, did NOT help.
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JimH

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2013, 12:45:41 pm »

Disable event style: Unchecked (may need to enable this on some older devices if you have problems)
Did you try toggling that setting?

You can resample everything to something that works.  DSP Studio/Output Settings

The most likely cause is that some setting is different.
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kstuart

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2013, 03:51:37 pm »

Try contacting Audio-GD - the DAC makers generally have a better idea of settings needed, because a) being audiophiles, they often use JRiver themselves, and b) JRiver cannot possibly keep track of what every DAC needs (DACs have a surprising variety of designs).

SilverLitz

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2013, 04:02:47 pm »

Did you try toggling that setting?

You can resample everything to something that works.  DSP Studio/Output Settings

The most likely cause is that some setting is different.

No I did NOT, as that option does not show up in Tools/Options/Audio/Audio Device/Device Settings possibilities.  The only things I see are: Channel offset, Channel Swap, Volume Device, Buffering, Large H/W buffer box check, Device uses only most significant 24-bits, DSD bitstream in DoP format

Under Tools: "Open Driver Control Panel" does NOT open; get msg "The selected ASIO driver does not have a control panel"

My main issue is what causes MC19 to crash frequently, while MC18 works fine.  I suspect that my 352K issues could be DAC related, as I have the same problem with MC19 and MC18.
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SilverLitz

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2013, 04:11:20 pm »

Try contacting Audio-GD - the DAC makers generally have a better idea of settings needed, because a) being audiophiles, they often use JRiver themselves, and b) JRiver cannot possibly keep track of what every DAC needs (DACs have a surprising variety of designs).

I have not contacted Audio-gd yet.  Audio-gd is not familiar with MC (from prior conversations), and most of their experience is with Foobar.

My main issue is what causes MC19 to crash frequently, while MC18 works fine.  I suspect that my 352K issues could be DAC related, as I have the same problem with MC19 and MC18.
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SilverLitz

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2013, 04:24:31 pm »

No I did NOT, as that option does not show up in Tools/Options/Audio/Audio Device/Device Settings possibilities.  The only things I see are: Channel offset, Channel Swap, Volume Device, Buffering, Large H/W buffer box check, Device uses only most significant 24-bits, DSD bitstream in DoP format

Under Tools: "Open Driver Control Panel" does NOT open; get msg "The selected ASIO driver does not have a control panel"

My main issue is what causes MC19 to crash frequently, while MC18 works fine.  I suspect that my 352K issues could be DAC related, as I have the same problem with MC19 and MC18.

I see the Device Settings option mentioned, if I select SPDIF Interface (Audio-gd) [WASAPI].

My selections were as recommended, with only Open device for exclusive access: being Checked, and Automatic Bitdepth, and 100mS Buffering.

But since I have Audio-gd's ASIO drivers, shouldn't  ASIO be used instead.
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HiFiTubes

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Re: DAC Pauses
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2014, 04:33:27 am »

ASIO is what J. river suggests 1st.

How's it behaving as of late?
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