Everything is hardwired and on a 1G network. The Roon Core and NAS are plugged into the same managed switch.
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
McIntosh C50 fed directly via USB from the Core/Output
Description Of Issue
I get random audio dropouts every 5-20 minutes playing back 24/192 flac files from the NAS. I have disabled all performance impacting features of Windows that I can think of (power saving, search indexer, fluid rendering, firewall, etc.). The preamp and PC are running the latest drivers. The native Realtek audio driver is disabled and Roon is playing direct through the McIntosh ASIO driver. I have also turned off roon audio analysis and don’t use DSP. Any suggestions?
First, try increasing the buffer size in the McIntosh ASIO settings.
Second, I would change the USB cable being used to connected the McIntosh to your computer. As data rate increases, the length of the USB cable will become more of a factor. How long is your cable?
If this doesn’t work, I would try switching to the McIntosh WASAPI output to see if things are better using this this driver. I would be interested to see if you see improvements when toggling the following settings with the WASAPI zone:
A. Exclusive Mode
B. Event Driven Mode (under "show advanced)
Increasing the buffer to max on the driver looks to alleviate the problem for the most part. I get a rare pop but so far seems to be far better than before.
I tried the WASAPI driver too and behaves the same way. The ASIO driver sounds better so am going to stick with that.
My USB cable is very short. I have tried a few and makes no difference.