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[bamyasi]

All in the title. DSD ISO or .dsf files play fine, but try to play a PCM .flac and the time shows it  playing, but no sound. I suspect an issue with a playback daemon or something, but that's over my head.

[bamyasi]

Well, I gave it a break and came back to try and figure out what's going on. I checked and I have everything configured like I did by the end of this thread:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=100716.0

So, at one point PCM was working great, and DSD was only playing as PCM. Now, all I can play in JRiver is DSD. Again, PCM looks like it's playing, but no sound. Whether I set the Output Encoding to "DSD" or "None" makes no difference regarding PCM files. With DSD I can still choose to upsample to 2x if I wish. Other software is playing PCM the same as always.

[blgentry]

Whether I set the Output Encoding to "DSD" or "None" makes no difference regarding PCM files. With DSD I can still choose to upsample to 2x if I wish.

As far as I know, the only way to resample to DSD is with Output Encoding.  If Output Encoding is turned on, PCM should be converted to DSD.  But you have NO sound with PCM files?  Hmm...

I hate to recommend such a silly thing but.. Power Cycle the DAC.  If that doesn't help, reboot the Linux box.

Brian.

[bamyasi]

Not silly at all. I already rebooted the box a couple times, tried the DAC to no avail. PCM has no sound in JRiver ONLY, it plays in KODI and audacious as always (and as always, hi res files are downsampled).

[bamyasi]

I found the problem!!
 
After some experimenting (I found that hi-res PCM played fine in VLC and DeadBeef) I noticed the volume slider in the GUI. I don't think it used to be active, in fact I hadn't noticed it! I was adjusting volume exclusively on my amp. In any case, it somehow came online, but only with PCM file playback. With DSD files it still was offline .

Anyway, under "Volume" I switched to "Volume mode: Disabled Volume" and all is as it was.

[blgentry]

Volume is another one of those things in MC that can be confusing.

If you're bitstreaming audio, Volume isn't used:  Because it's bitstreamed!  No alterations allowed.

For regular audio, that passes through the DSP engine, there are several choices.  Including disabled, as you have found.  I personally like to use "Internal Volume", as that bypasses the system mixer, yet it allows me to change the volume as I see fit.  ...and it does it with 64 bit quality, so I don't have to worry about losing any sound quality until I go below something like -40 dB. 

Of course none of this can help you if you turn the volume all the way down!! 

Glad you figured it out.  Enjoy.

Brian.

[bamyasi]

Thanks!!

I'm a long term audiophile, but my experience (and preference) has been largely analogue. This stuff is quite a bit like getting your first DSLR for me. Prior to last month I hadn't experienced DSD.

edit:
"I personally like to use "Internal Volume", as that bypasses the system mixer, yet it allows me to change the volume as I see fit.  ...and it does it with 64 bit quality, so I don't have to worry about losing any sound quality until I go below something like -40 dB."

Great tip!!
Ken