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[jacobacci]

Hi all
I am trying to play MCh tracks from an SACD ISO and I am experiencing playback interruptions and rebufferings every few seconds.

My configuration:
Synology NAS / Gigabit Ethernet / HTPC with Intel J1900 Celeron (4 Core, 2.4GHz, no Hyperthreading) / via HDMI to Onkyo PR SC5507

While playing the track processor load is around 50%, so that should not be the issue. However network throughput peaks at around 5Mbps, which of course is not enough and will inevitably lead to the rebuffering that I am seeing (I have attached the windows performance graphs).

I have played some other tracks to try and find a clue as to the cause:

MCh PCM track (24/96): Plays without rebuffering, processor load around 20% in steady state, network throughput around 200Mbps (second attachment)

MCh DSF track (DSD64): rebuffers like the ISO, processor load around 40%, network throughput peaks around 32Mbps

The cause of the increasing processor load is evident
- MCh PCM: hardly needs any processing
- MCh DSF: needs to be converted from DSF to PCM
- ISO: ISO needs to be extracted, then conversion from DSF to PCM
However processor load does not seem to be the issue.

It looks to me like the increasing processor load "starves" the motherboard's network interface, leading to the rebuffering.

I have disabled automatic updates and defender in windows and also run audiophile optimizer to disable as many services as possible.

Does anyone have an idea whether there is anything else I can do in JRiver to alleviate the network bottleneck?
Short of building a more powerful HTPC with a Kaby Lake i5?

[kr4]

I am trying to play MCh tracks from an SACD ISO and I am experiencing playback interruptions and rebufferings every few seconds.

My configuration:
Synology NAS / Gigabit Ethernet / HTPC with Intel J1900 Celeron (4 Core, 2.4GHz, no Hyperthreading) / via HDMI to Onkyo PR SC5507

While playing the track processor load is around 50%, so that should not be the issue. However network throughput peaks at around 5Mbps, which of course is not enough and will inevitably lead to the rebuffering that I am seeing (I have attached the windows performance graphs).

I have played some other tracks to try and find a clue as to the cause:

MCh PCM track (24/96): Plays without rebuffering, processor load around 20% in steady state, network throughput around 200Mbps (second attachment)

MCh DSF track (DSD64): rebuffers like the ISO, processor load around 40%, network throughput peaks around 32Mbps

The cause of the increasing processor load is evident
- MCh PCM: hardly needs any processing
- MCh DSF: needs to be converted from DSF to PCM
- ISO: ISO needs to be extracted, then conversion from DSF to PCM
However processor load does not seem to be the issue.

First, why do you convert to PCM?  Should not the Onkyo be able to handle the DSF?  (I am not sure of the vintage of that prepro.)
Second, just because you see only a 50% processor load does not mean that one or another core in the CPU is not topping out.  (I have had analogous problems with my i7 but at much higher rates and found that the processing load was not evenly distributed among the cores.)
Third, over the past few years, I have auditioned several ATom- and Celeron-based dedicated servers and everyone of them choked with with some form multichannel hi-rez/DSD operations.

Does anyone have an idea whether there is anything else I can do in JRiver to alleviate the network bottleneck?

Check load distribution on your cores.  Consider adding ProcessLasso to monitor and balance the cores.

[dtc]

First, why do you convert to PCM?  Should not the Onkyo be able to handle the DSF?

Pretty sure DSD over HDMI is not supported.

Kal - I think you once said it worked for you, but everything I read says it is not supported and others do not seem to get it to work. Are you getting DSD over HDMI to work?

[kr4]

It will depend on the video card/driver in your PC.

[dtc]

It will depend on the video card/driver in your PC.

That is not consistent with what I have read and what Hendrik has posted here. What video cards/drivers do you think support DSD over HDMI? I keep reading that it is not possible with any cards/drivers.

[jacobacci]

The Onkyo will accept DSD over HDMI (from an Oppo BD/SACD Player). However I have never found a positive report of transferring DSD from a PC through HDMI to an AVR. If someone knows how to do that, I'd be overjoyed.

Thanks for the pointer about ProcessLasso, kr4
I had never used this before.

I have attached the ProcessLasso screen that shows core loads during playback of a MCh ISO.
Processor load is consistently below 50%. None of the cores are anywhere near saturating. Yet the network throughput is still no more than 5Mbps and the rebuffering is unchanged.

[kr4]

That is not consistent with what I have read and what Hendrik has posted here. What video cards/drivers do you think support DSD over HDMI? I keep reading that it is not possible with any cards/drivers.

I cannot.  All I have at present is the nagging recollection that I did it but I cannot recall the circumstances.

[stricko]

Are you resampling at all?

i had a similar buffering problem, also with multichannel sacd iso. it was suggested that i use the SoX option under Options/Audio. Worked a treat for me.

[jacobacci]

I tried the SOX alternative, but unfortunately that did not change the behaviour.
I suspect it is some other bottleneck of the motherboard that is saturating, not the processor.
I have now ordered components for a new Kaby Lake build (i5 7400T). That should solve the issue.