So you don’t suffer from the old CCA bug that prevented stutter free 24/96 playback (via TOSLINK output).
Yes. I think I have pretty much eliminated everything at this stage as I am sure also has the OP. So what is left must be very subtle.I have even tried switching combinations of volume levelling and cross fading on/off as well as I tend to use CCA with roon radio/shuffle and that’s a difference I notice on your audio path as well. But that made no difference either.
Rather baffling that for some there is no stutter whilst for others there is. A lot of things eliminated now in this short thread. I’m probably wrong but I have a feeling it might be some obscure roon config switch which is why I am always interested how others have set up their roon.
I use volume leveling but not cross fade and also headroom management is turned on (-3 dB and show clipping indicator = yes), I just wanted to proof the 24/96 playback and thus omitted parts of the signal path in the picture. That I use EQ and that the device is set to fixed volume is shown in the picture.
IMHO the clipping indicator should be always active! A (slightly and occasionally) clipping digital signal sounds pretty much like crackling.
Thanks, this is useful.
Does anybody can comment about whether the stuttering exists also when using Audirvana? Is that a possible solution if one wants to stream from Qobuz in 24/96?
There is a 30 day free trial for Audirvana. I’ve heard a lot of good things so I tried a download myself.
I don’t think it supports casting directly, but then I don’t think roon is doing that either. It is using its proprietary RAAT server. So with a lot of players like Audirvana (foobar2000, JRiver etc.) you do much the same thing with a DLNA server instead. I use BubbleUPnP which takes a few minutes to download and install. It found my CCA straight away and you then check a few more boxes to create a Chromecast DLNA renderer. Audirvana then found the Chromecast straight away.
So I am now playing 24;96 with no stutter. Really sounds fantastic. I was shocked. I can get close with roon+HQPlayer but I still preferred Audirvana. I have no idea what could possibly be the SQ difference but on the other hand Audirvana cannot compare with roon as a library manager. Worth a whirl with a 30 day free trial as the setup is painless. Only you can decide what features are the most important to you. There doesn’t seem to be a player yet that does it all.
Thanks!
I wil give it a try: is this what I need to download and use it with Audirvana?
Yes. That’s the one. You can install it anywhere on the same network as the chromecast. I just installed it on my laptop. You then need to click on the desk-top icon that is created which brings up the server admin page. Go to media renderers where you should see your CCA, and any other chromecasts you have and also any other DLNA or OpenHome renderers on your network. Highlight your CCA in the left hand pane and then tick “Create a DLNA renderer in the right hand pane”. There are some config options but I just accepted all the defaults. Audirvana should now see a chromecast DLNA renderer in its “network” audio devices section. You can access this from the little device icon on the right hand side of the footer. There are a lot of config options, upsampling options, MQA decoder and renderer options etc. in Audirvana. I cannot remember what I did or even if I did anything at all but it started working. Enjoy.
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Brilliant, thanks. I will give it a try!
Hi Tony -
As you suggested, I have installed BubbleUPnP to create a (Chromecast) DLNA renderer in Audirvana. It works indeed, no more dropouts when streaming 24/96. Thanks!
Tony, I have same problem.
But MQA functions in this case?
I don’t have a roon solution. Some roon users report dropouts, others have no problems. I have tried everything I can think of. I still have dropouts. You can try using a player that supports DLNA like Audirvana. In general you will have to also install a DLNA server like BubbleUPnP. But there are many others.
Yes. Audirvana can be configured as either a MQA decoder or renderer. I seem to remember Audirvana was one of the first, if not the first software player to support MQA.
What are your impressions of sound quality vs. roon?
The sound quality of Audirvana > CCA > Hugo DAC is excellent. I have not done a 1-to-1 test comparison with Roon but it seems superior purely based on sound quality when streaming Qobuz in 24/96
Thank you so much for your help!
I wonder why Audirvana can fix the stuttering problem of CCA and why Google has not updated the firmware yet to fix this issue…
Most likely because the signal gets downsampled to 48khz by BubbleUPnP ?
Does your DAC have a signal indicator showing that it is retrieving a signal of 24/96 ?
Yes, it shows the sampling signal. It is not downsampled: it shows 24/96
Most likely I should have asked … “I wonder why BubbleUpnP can fix the stuttering problem of CCA and why Google has not updated the firmware yet to fix this issue…”
Simple. Bubble is produced by a dedicated individual who cares primarily about the excellence of his product and not primarily about financial results. Google’s primary concern is next quarter’s financial results. Customers’ happiness is way down on their priority list.
Sad but reality.