Audio is not playing in shared mode on Creative SB X3

Support
1

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

Windows 10

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Pfsense router + Unifi AP and switch

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Creative Sound Blaster X3 USB
Sennheiser GSP 670 USB headset

Description Of Issue

The Sound Blaster X3 doesn’t not work in shared mode.

The SB X3 is set to Direct 5.1 Speakers output connected to z906 5.1 system.
When SB X3 is set to 2.0 (Stereo) everything works. Setting layout to 5.1 doesn’t resolve the issue.
The SB X3 is set to 24Bit 192Khz

Shared mode does work in Foobar WASAP(Shared)

04/15 18:30:29 Info: [SB X3 Speakers] [zoneplayer] Starting playback
04/15 18:30:29 Trace: [SB X3 Speakers] [zoneplayer/raat] StartStream Sooloos.Broker.Transport.RaatZonePlayer+Endpoint: StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=16, samplerate=44100, isdts=False) => StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=24, samplerate=48000, isdts=False) streamid=638777125
04/15 18:30:29 Trace: [Sound Blaster X3] [raatclient] SENT [17]{"request":"setup","format":{"sample_type":"pcm","sample_rate":48000,"bits_per_sample":24,"channels":2,"sample_subtype":"none"}}
04/15 18:30:29 Info: [zone SB X3 Speakers] OnPlayFeedback Playing
04/15 18:30:29 Trace: [SB X3 Speakers] [HighQuality, 16/44 FLAC => 24/48] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 0:00] Reise, Reise - Rammstein / Wolf Kerschek / Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
04/15 18:30:29 Trace: [prebuffer] ready 149940/441000 (34%) @ 0/251 sec
04/15 18:30:29 Trace: [Sound Blaster X3] [raatclient] GOT [17] {"status":"UnexpectedError","message":"RAAT__OUTPUT_PLUGIN_STATUS_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED"}
04/15 18:30:29 Warn: [SB X3 Speakers] [zoneplayer/raat] failed to setup any endpoints..giving up

Same error happens for Sennheiser GSP 670 headset.
They only support 48Khz 16Bit no other configuration
For the headset exclusive mode doesn’t work as well

04/15 18:06:27 Info: [PC Headphones] [zoneplayer] Starting playback
04/15 18:06:27 Trace: [PC Headphones] [zoneplayer/raat] StartStream Sooloos.Broker.Transport.RaatZonePlayer+Endpoint: StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=16, samplerate=44100, isdts=False) => StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=16, samplerate=48000, isdts=False) streamid=993856273
04/15 18:06:27 Trace: [GSA 70 Main Audio] [raatclient] SENT [59]{"request":"setup","format":{"sample_type":"pcm","sample_rate":48000,"bits_per_sample":16,"channels":2,"sample_subtype":"none"}}
04/15 18:06:27 Info: [zone PC Headphones] OnPlayFeedback Playing
04/15 18:06:27 Trace: [PC Headphones] [Inactive] [PLAYING @ 0:00] Ohne Dich - Rammstein / Wolf Kerschek / Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
04/15 18:06:27 Trace: [GSA 70 Main Audio] [raatclient] GOT [59] {"message":"RAAT__OUTPUT_PLUGIN_STATUS_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED","status":"UnexpectedError"}
04/15 18:06:27 Warn: [PC Headphones] [zoneplayer/raat] failed to setup any endpoints..giving up
3

Hello @InhexSTER,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your report. I have requested that our hardware team review your case, once that’s been complete, myself or another support staff member will reach out.

4

The sparse documentation from Creative Labs doesn’t mention 5.1 for inputs (only 2.0 and 7.1). Have you tried to setup Roon to use 7.1 instead and does it work?

5

Just tried setting both SB X3 to 7.1 and Roon to 7.1 + send stereo as 7.1 and that works.
My speaker setup is 5.1 and when setting Roon to 5.1 and send stereo as 5.1 that doesn’t work.
Windows itself in speaker config shows 3 options: Stereo, 5.1, 7.1

Also leaving speakers at 5.1 and setting roon to 7.1 does not work.

The other problem is that SB X3 can switch between headphones and speakers outputs (a single windows device is used) so speaker layout changes.

GSP 670 headset is actually 7.1 only. So setting 7.1 in roon and forcing 7.1 output works.

It seems that if I use Foobar with WASAPI(Shared) mode it can handle any speaker layout no configuration required. I think it would be great for roon to be able to do that as well.

Here is a link for the component
https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapis

From the log of Foobar when using 5.1

WASAPI shared configuration: 192000 Hz, 6 channels (FL FR FC LFE BL BR), 32 bps (float). Buffer size 4224 frames.

2 Likes
6

Hello @InhexSTER,

Glad to hear you’re mostly up and running, I’ve passed this information on to the QA team for further investigation.

-John