Dropout during DSD playback using DoP

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

MacOS 10.14.6 / 6core 3.2GHz i7 MacMini / Roon 1.6 (build 416)

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

Built-in wired ethernet

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

Topping D50s DAC

Description Of Issue

I’m trying to play back a 2.8MHz (DSD64) track to my Topping D50s using the DoP 1.0 setting in Roon, but get an audible drop-out for a fraction of a second in exactly the same place (3m58s) every time. The rest of the 4m18s track plays fine. I have exclusive mode and integer mode set and have tried both “Use Max Buffer size” and “Use Power-of-2 Buffer Sizes” options, without any improvement.

The whole track plays fine when I switch Roon to “Convert to PCM”.
The same track plays as native DSD with no dropouts using HQ Player on a Windows PC, using the Topping-provided ASIO drivers.

Is there anything else I can try, to get DoP playback working with no dropouts on my Mac?

Hi @Richard_Williams1,

Welcome to the forum. Can I please ask you to reproduce this behavior and let me know the exact local time + date in your country when you observe it occur? E.g. 6:02PM on 9/18/19? Does this same behavior occur with other DSD64 files? If you don’t have any others, you can grab a sample from the 2L Test Bench.

Do you mind sending the original DSD file over to me for analysis? The best way to send it would be via Dropbox / Google Drive / Send.firefox.com and once you upload it please send it as a private message (click my name on the forum -> message). Thanks!

Hi, the behaviour is reproducible 100% of the time at 3m58s into the track Beat It on the 2.8MHz DSD version of Thriller from here.
Local times for example at 00:18:15 and 00:34:51BST (UK time), but I don’t see anything in the Roon process logs in my console at those times. By the way, does your question imply my Roon Server is sending logging data back to you?
Something similar happens at the beginning of the next track Billie Jean, but otherwise the tracks seem to play OK. Two DSD64 tracks I downloaded from the 2L Test bench also play OK using DoP.

Here are some log entries from Roon_log:
09/19 00:18:10 Trace: [D50] [Lossless, DSD64 DSF => DSD64] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 3:53/4:18] Beat It - Michael Jackson
09/19 00:18:15 Trace: [D50] [Lossless, DSD64 DSF => DSD64] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 3:58/4:18] Beat It - Michael Jackson
09/19 00:18:20 Trace: [prebuffer] short read: 0 / 564480 fill=3485024
09/19 00:18:20 Trace: [D50] [Lossless, DSD64 DSF => DSD64] [94% buf] [PLAYING @ 4:03/4:18] Beat It - Michael Jackson

09/19 00:34:50 Trace: [D50] [Lossless, DSD64 DSF => DSD64] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 3:57/4:18] Beat It - Michael Jackson
09/19 00:34:53 Trace: [D50] [zoneplayer/raat] sync D50s : realtime=1268204425027 rtt=0us offset=-994232574us delta=-134us drift=352us in 30.5065s (11.551ppm, 41.584ms/hr)
09/19 00:34:55 Trace: [D50] [Lossless, DSD64 DSF => DSD64] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 4:02/4:18] Beat It - Michael Jackson

Hi @Richard_Williams1,

Thanks for letting me know that timestamp and for posting the snippet. I have enabled diagnostics mode for your account and what this action does is automatically upload a set of logs to our servers for analysis.

Looking through the snippet you posted, it looks like a buffering issue, I am not certain why it would occur in the same place each time, but since the other DSD tracks from 2L Test Bench perform as expected, this issue is likely media-specific. If you wish for us to take a look at the affected media, you can private message it to me, I’m not sure if we have this exact album version in-house.

Hi @Richard_Williams1,

I appreciate your patience while the hardware team took a look at the affected media in the lab. They have noted they are unable to reproduce this behavior with a DSD capable DAC when outputting in a similar configuration (DSD64/DoP).

I can’t say with certainty why this issue appears to affect your DAC only for this file, but since other DSD64 files in DoP play as expected, it may be an issue with the location where the file is saved. If you notice other tracks with this behavior do let me know, thanks!

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