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[LawshrinkMD]

I have been playing with my Pi, and I noticed that playing from memory (decoded or partial) was causing the machine to stop and rebuffer, but turning it off seems to play fine.  I would think it would be the opposite, that memory playback would be more reliable than turning it off, but it seems to be playing fine now.

I also noticed some issues that if I was playing hires it would work fine, but then switching to 16/44 content it wouldn't play, even if my receiver would show that 44.1 content was coming through, so weird.  A reset seems to help.  Or selecting the song under the actual program, and not from JRemote.

I am running a Pi 3B through Hifiberry DIGI+ Pro via coax into a Rotel RSX-1560.  It is connected by ethernet to my house NAS, which is a Netgear 214.

I was running headless, and I turned it back to GUI mode, and I've been monitoring what's been going on through VNC or remote desktop.  It seems to be working ok for now, I will report back.  Any ideas on why the memory playback was needing to rebuffer?  I just got through the song that was stuttering.

The last issue is that sometimes on VNC it doesn't come up in full 1080p under the window, and it is difficult to move the windows around, I need to get it set back to full resolution.

Thanks for any ideas!

[bob]

I have been playing with my Pi, and I noticed that playing from memory (decoded or partial) was causing the machine to stop and rebuffer, but turning it off seems to play fine.  I would think it would be the opposite, that memory playback would be more reliable than turning it off, but it seems to be playing fine now.

I also noticed some issues that if I was playing hires it would work fine, but then switching to 16/44 content it wouldn't play, even if my receiver would show that 44.1 content was coming through, so weird.  A reset seems to help.  Or selecting the song under the actual program, and not from JRemote.

I am running a Pi 3B through Hifiberry DIGI+ Pro via coax into a Rotel RSX-1560.  It is connected by ethernet to my house NAS, which is a Netgear 214.

I was running headless, and I turned it back to GUI mode, and I've been monitoring what's been going on through VNC or remote desktop.  It seems to be working ok for now, I will report back.  Any ideas on why the memory playback was needing to rebuffer?  I just got through the song that was stuttering.

The last issue is that sometimes on VNC it doesn't come up in full 1080p under the window, and it is difficult to move the windows around, I need to get it set back to full resolution.

Thanks for any ideas!

There isn't enough memory on the Pi to Play from Memory. That probably should be disabled on the ARM MC builds.

Not sure about the VNC, doing the full 1080 screen does also require some system memory (not a lot).
If you have a PC can you try remote desktop and see if you get the same issue??

[LawshrinkMD]

I figured out the screen resolution under VNC.  If I run it headless, it comes up in 1080p resolution, and then a control tab brings out the Media Center window and it all works fine.  One problem solved!

I am having some other odd problems.  I noticed that at one point music was playing, but the sound was tinny and odd, as if all the bass was missing or if I blew a speaker (which I have not!).  If I hit stop and start this would usually go away, but this had never happened before.  When I was testing under Raspbian and a regular Media Center installation, I had problems with 16 bit not playing properly through the DIGI+ Pro and the DSD stopping playback to rebuffer, but I forget whether it was still happening even after turning off memory playback.  (all of this refers to the DIGI+Pro output)

Memory from playback worked ok on PCM.  It was also ok upstairs for both PCM and DSD>PCM on my other DAC, so I'm wondering if that is an issue?  But since coax is a one way transmission, I'm not sure why it would be any different, since the Pi doesn't "know" which DAC it is connected to, just that it is outputting through the DIGI+Pro???

I wonder if it is an issue with the DAC in my receiver?  I would have to remove it and test upstairs with my other stereo setup and the PS Audio Nuwave DSD DAC.  That one seemed flawless yesterday over coax, however, and I was using it for several hours with DSD to PCM as well as PCM content, not sure if I did 16/44.  So I'm not sure if it is a DAC issue with my receiver or not.

Makes me wish I bought the DAC + Pro instead of the DIGI+Pro    I will keep testing!

[bob]

I figured out the screen resolution under VNC.  If I run it headless, it comes up in 1080p resolution, and then a control tab brings out the Media Center window and it all works fine.  One problem solved!

I am having some other odd problems.  I noticed that at one point music was playing, but the sound was tinny and odd, as if all the bass was missing or if I blew a speaker (which I have not!).  If I hit stop and start this would usually go away, but this had never happened before.  When I was testing under Raspbian and a regular Media Center installation, I had problems with 16 bit not playing properly through the DIGI+ Pro and the DSD stopping playback to rebuffer, but I forget whether it was still happening even after turning off memory playback.  (all of this refers to the DIGI+Pro output)

Memory from playback worked ok on PCM.  It was also ok upstairs for both PCM and DSD>PCM on my other DAC, so I'm wondering if that is an issue?  But since coax is a one way transmission, I'm not sure why it would be any different, since the Pi doesn't "know" which DAC it is connected to, just that it is outputting through the DIGI+Pro???

I wonder if it is an issue with the DAC in my receiver?  I would have to remove it and test upstairs with my other stereo setup and the PS Audio Nuwave DSD DAC.  That one seemed flawless yesterday over coax, however, and I was using it for several hours with DSD to PCM as well as PCM content, not sure if I did 16/44.  So I'm not sure if it is a DAC issue with my receiver or not.

Makes me wish I bought the DAC + Pro instead of the DIGI+Pro    I will keep testing!

Can you check to see if Output Format in DSP studio is enabled?

[LawshrinkMD]

Yes, it was, to convert everything over 192 to 176.  For some reason the 16/44 is output to the DIGI+pro as 32 bit/44.1, not sure if that is a problem?  It is weird that I had no issues at all on my newer DAC upstairs, just one quick network dropout, but that was it in a few hours.  I will check again later today.

Is there any way under Media Center output to restrict output to 24 bit?  I wonder if the older DAC on my receiver (circa 2009) doesn't really like seeing 32 bit, and that for the newer one it is not a problem.  Is there a way to output just 16/44.1 or 24/44.1 every time?  I wonder if that would solve this problem?

I was experimenting, and the choices are Auto, S32_LE, S24_3LE, S24_LE, and S16_LE  Unfortunately, I only get sound out of Auto.  Some things were playing on S32_LE, and I could get playback from S16_LE, but then it stopped, and nothing at all on the other settings.  My receiver was able to do PCM and sometimes DSP or digital pro logic to the signal (which sounded good) but at other times it wouldn't change format or made the odd, tinny noise.

This sounds like a software problem we can figure out, I hope.

Thanks!

[bob]

Yes, it was, to convert everything over 192 to 176.  For some reason the 16/44 is output to the DIGI+pro as 32 bit/44.1, not sure if that is a problem?  It is weird that I had no issues at all on my newer DAC upstairs, just one quick network dropout, but that was it in a few hours.  I will check again later today.

Is there any way under Media Center output to restrict output to 24 bit?  I wonder if the older DAC on my receiver (circa 2009) doesn't really like seeing 32 bit, and that for the newer one it is not a problem.  Is there a way to output just 16/44.1 or 24/44.1 every time?  I wonder if that would solve this problem?

Thanks!

The hifiberry DAC only supports the data in S16_LE or S32_LE format. That doesn't mean that it supports 32 bit audio, just that it expects the audio data to be in that word format.

When Auto format is set, the first attempted format that works is used for output. In your case S32_LE.
If you'd like to restrict it to using 16 bit words, you can change the output format from Auto to S16_LE.
According to alsacap your hifiberry supports 32k, 44k, 48k, 88k, 96k, 176k and 192k. You can map values outside of that to specific rates in the output format in DSP studio. The support rates should be set to "do not change" so they aren't resampled.

[LawshrinkMD]

Thanks for the info.  Clarifying this is the Hifiberry DIGI+ Pro, not their DAC.  The DAC is inside of my Rotel RSX-1560 receiver, which seems to be having issues switching between sample rates sometimes (while my other DAC has no such problems)

Any ideas on how to make this work more reliably? (besides get a new DAC)  I was hoping to not have to log into the Pi with VNC, and just access it headless over JRemote 

[bob]

Thanks for the info.  Clarifying this is the Hifiberry DIGI+ Pro, not their DAC.  The DAC is inside of my Rotel RSX-1560 receiver, which seems to be having issues switching between sample rates sometimes (while my other DAC has no such problems)

Any ideas on how to make this work more reliably? (besides get a new DAC)  I was hoping to not have to log into the Pi with VNC, and just access it headless over JRemote 

Probably force everything to a particular sample rate or a set of them if there is a well defined set that it can switch between.

[LawshrinkMD]

I will try forcing lower rates to 176 or 192 and see if that helps any.  Those rates always work fine, so who knows.

[LawshrinkMD]

Ok I changed 44 to 176 and 48 and 96 to 192.  I'm skipping back and forth between DSD SACD ISO, MP3, 16/44, and others.  It's all good, fingers crossed.

[LawshrinkMD]

And yesterday I was playing sacd ISO and getting the buffering issue again.  I don't think it is my NAS, as I have had no problems playing similar material on other machines connected, and it is wired ethernet.  I am still curious about how the DAC I am connected to may be influencing this.

I have been perusing the settings posts in the forum.  On a RPi3, what are the maximum buffer settings I can put in?  I am so frustrated, I wish everything was working 100%.  I'm starting to wonder if I should have just built a lightweight HTPC around one of the AMD AM1 CPUs.   

Any ideas?

[bob]

And yesterday I was playing sacd ISO and getting the buffering issue again.  I don't think it is my NAS, as I have had no problems playing similar material on other machines connected, and it is wired ethernet.  I am still curious about how the DAC I am connected to may be influencing this.

I have been perusing the settings posts in the forum.  On a RPi3, what are the maximum buffer settings I can put in?  I am so frustrated, I wish everything was working 100%.  I'm starting to wonder if I should have just built a lightweight HTPC around one of the AMD AM1 CPUs.   

Any ideas?

In Options->Media Network->Advanced
Do you have the option "Disable Audio Buffering to Disk" checked?
It should be checked.

[duncan4791]

Hi again. I use optical so I didn't think of this. There is a jumper behind the transformer that shorts the digi and amps grounds together. Have you tried removing the jumper and fully isolating the two units?

[LawshrinkMD]

Found and unchecked.  Listening to Steely Dan Goucho sacd ISO, let's see if it all plays.

I experimented with the sample rates again to be sure, and 44.1 and 48 only play when upped to 88 or 96, but I was able to flip back and forth using JRemote and no problems.  I will post back later after I listen to a bunch of albums to be sure.

If it's good now, we will be 100% operational.  I feel like Grand Moff Tarkin looking at the map to find Alderan for a little "test"!

Thanks to bob and everyone else for all their help bringing this project to fruition.  Time for less Linux and more music!  Now we can spread the word that an awesome streamer is possible with IdPi, RPi3, and Hifiberry.

[LawshrinkMD]

Still skipping.  I turned off the advanced buffering, no playing from memory, and I jacked up the buffer to 20 seconds.  I have also been trying larger buffers under the ALSA settings. 

What are the "max" buffer settings to try and eliminate stuttering while playing DSD to PCM 176?  This is so frustrating!!!

[JimH]

It may require more CPU power than you have.

[LawshrinkMD]

I was wondering that, but it plays for 2-3 minutes or more at a time!  I will have to disconnect it and see if I can reproduce the same problems on my more modern DAC upstairs, and if it works fine I may have to try a HAT DAC like the other Hifiberry board.  I would ask Rotel but I'm sure they'd have no clue and just blame the Pi. How awesome if they could fix their firmware on the receiver, but that's not happening!

[LawshrinkMD]

I've been playing it for hours, and DSD64 and DSD128 are now converting nicely to 24/88, and it all just works.  It bombed a few times on some longer classical tracks converting DSD to PCM 24/192, but 24/88 seems fine.  Sounds pretty much the same anyways!  I hope this helps other people trying to connect over coax to an older DAC.  Something tells me newer equipment doesn't have these teething problems, but good to know SACD ISO to PCM finally works on the RPi3.  I would appreciate some comments on some of the odder settings like Bitstreaming and SoX, which seem to have made the difference between working and not working, but I think lowering from 192 to 88 made the most difference.

My current settings are:

hw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry, DEV=0 [ALSA] with default buffers

DSP output set to 2 channels (stereo); Mixing JRSS  (since I have a few 4 channel recordings sprinkled in the collection)

no change in sampling rate up to 352, then 352>88, 384>192, 705>176, and 768>192 or above>192

Memory playback to Load decoded file into memory

Bitstreaming Yes S/PDIF (remember I am connecting to an older AV receiver 2009 vintage)

Prebuffering 20 seconds (I tried lower settings, no dice, but 20 works)

Play silence 1/2 second

Use SoX for resampling (this seemed to get rid of the buffering stoppages)

Gapless works fine

Do not play silence is unchecked

Volume mode disabled

Media Network advanced, checked "Disable audio buffer to disk (for low powered systems)


Good luck!