Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)
Dell XPS 15 9570/Win 10/8th gen i7, 16gb ddr4 ram, 1tb NMVE m2 SSD/Roon 1.7 build 521
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
None. Music played from Laptop HD.
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Chord Qutest via USB
Description Of Issue
Problems started a couple months ago. static crackles and pops in music. Originally after a period of about an hour playtime led me to believe it was overheating. Plugging in laptop would “solve” issue, but connect system to mains ground leading to degredation of SQ. Eventually ruled out all hardware issues. Fresh install of windows without Dell software.
After fresh install of windows, only happens on high bitrate or HD tracks, and not all, but most.
Did “Kevin Shroff’s Modded Realtek Audio Drivers”, didn’t solve problem.
No amount of fiddling with settings on either ASIO or WASAPI corrected issue.
Eventually got it to work yesterday after 4 hours of fiddling by playing youtube music through Firefox and Qutest, (giving control to my laptop?) then pausing and playing music from Roon through Qutest.
I believe my laptop is processing or altering music, or otherwise not allowing Roon full exclusive control of the Qutest hardware. There is no warning or error, I have exclusive mode enabled, but it appears Roon thinks it has exclusive control when it doesn’t. This is the case even when I disable the normal audio hardware from BIOS boot and kill its processes (now set to not load at boot)
Additional info: Qutest appears as a “speaker” output in windows, and which audio output the laptop is set to makes no difference.