HDTracks playback problem

Problem started about two weeks ago. I select album purchased and downloaded from HDTracks. When I click play album, Roon plays 3 to 4 seconds of two to four tracks before playing a track completely. Also noted that time spectrum shown at bottom of screen is not in sync with track being played.

I am running Roon version 1.5, build 339 64 bit on custom made pc running Windows 10 Pro (64 bit). Library consists of approximately 1K albums or 13K tracks. All HDTrack downloads are Flac files ranging from 16 bit, 44khz to 24 bit, 192khz. Library also includes favorite Tidal albums.

PC connected via ethernet to router and router connected Bluesound Node 2 via ethernet. Node 2 connected to Parasound Halo Integrated Amp via optical out and analog out.

Problem does not occur if I play HDTracks download through Node 2 using Bluesound OS Controller. Recently also discovered that if I stop playback, clear queue, and start playback again, Roon does not skip tracks. It plays normally.

Any suggestions to resolve this problem would be much appreciated. @support

Thanks for sharing your report with us, @John_Hancock!

What kind of router are you using? Is there any other networking hardware in use?

Can you confirm that this is only occurring with this one album? No others?

Does this behavior occur for all endpoints? If you play to System Output of the Core machine do you still see this issue?

Can you share a screenshot of the signal path when playing this album?

Thanks,
Dylan

Hello Dylan,

Router is Linksys WRT1900AC. Only other networking hardware is Brother printer, but that is connected wirelessly. Problem is occurring with a number of albums that I have purchased and downloaded from HDTracks. Problem does not occur with Tidal albums or albums that I ripped. The only endpoint that I have is the Bluesound Node 2. Problem does not occur with I play to the System Output on the Core pc.

Thanks,

John

You have my sincere apologies for the delay here, @John_Hancock!

I was hoping that you would be able to give a little more insight into how the Bluesound Node 2 is connected here. Additionally, can you share a screenshot of Device Setup for this endpoint?

Thanks,
Dylan

Dylan,

I did not know until now that you needed that info. I thought that I had sent the Node 2 connection in my original message and that you wanted a screen shot of the signal path when playing an album with the problem, which I did. The Node 2 is connected to my router via ethernet cable. The Node 2 is connected to my Parasound Halo integrated amp via the RCA outputs and the Toslink output. Below are 2 screen shots of the Device Setup.

Thanks,

John

Thanks for the info here, @John_Hancock!

Can you try increasing the Resync Delay option and see if there is any change here?

If that yields no change, I think the next step here is to enable some diagnostics on your account so our technical staff can get some more insight into what’s going on here.

However, before I enable this feature, I’d like to ask for your help ensuring we gather the right information.

First, can you please reproduce the issue once more and note the time at which the error occurs. Then respond here with that time, and I’ll make sure we review the diagnostics related to that timestamp.

Thanks,
Dylan

Hi Dylan,

This morning I got some time to try your suggestion from last weekend. I increased Resync Delay from 0 ms to 500ms, 1,500 ms, and finally 10,000 ms. I tried older downloaded albums that I purchased from HD Tracks in each case. None of the increased times, including the highest, resolved the playback issue. This occurred between 9:25 am EDST and 9:35 am EDST. I trust that this time window with be sufficient for the Roon team to review the diagnostics.

Thanks,

John

Hey @John_Hancock,

Thanks! Now that I have the timestamps, diagnostics have been enabled on your account. The next time your Core is active a diagnostics report will automatically be generated and uploaded directly to our servers

Once that’s been received, I’ll be sure to update this thread and pass the diagnostics over to the team for further analysis.

-Dylan

Thanks Dylan

Hey @John_Hancock,

I wanted to reach out because I’ve been keeping an eye on our servers, waiting for the aforementioned diagnostics report.

For some reason it is not reaching our servers, even after I tried re-enabling diagnostics on your account. I also ran a quick test and I was able to submit a similar report from my setup here, so something else is going on.

So we can move forward, I was hoping for now you could use the directions found here and send us over a set of logs using a shared Dropbox link.

Hi Dylan,

You will need to be patient with me. I’m busy at work this week and probably will not get to send the logs until next week.

Thanks,

John

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Hi Dylan,

Above is the link to my logs file. I tried to use Roon this morning with another HD Tracks album and got the same results. I hope this link works.

Thanks,

John

Thanks @John_Hancock!

I’ll be sure to pass the files above over to the team for review. I’ll let you know when I’ve received their feedback.

-Dylan

Hi @John_Hancock,

I spoke with the team about their investigation into the logs you sent over and I wanted to follow up with you on next steps here.

Based on their findings in the logs, it appears that there are some networking difficulties at play here that are causing this behavior that you’re seeing. When playing these files that require greater bandwidth than the others to a networked endpoint, that is when this behavior is occurring.

Just to verify, the Bluesound Node2 and the Core machine are connected directly to the primary router, correct? There are no other networking devices like switches or powerline adapters involved here?

Hi Dylan,

The Core machine and Bluesound Note 2 are both connected directly to the primary router. There are no switches or powerline adapters. Don’t forget if I play to computer’s speakers, the problem does not occur.

Thanks,

John

Hello @John_Hancock,

Yes, when playing to a local zone this appears to be playing fine, but when playing to the Bluesound Node 2 over the network we experience these difficulties, which also points to networking difficulties at play here.

Can you share a screenshot of the signal path when playing this content to the Bluesound?

Hi Dylan. Please see above.

John

Hello @John_Hancock,

If you go into device setup for this endpoint and set the max sample rate to a lower amount and play back this content does the same behavior occur?

@John_Hancock do you happen to have anything connected to the optical in port of the node 2? If so then their is a known problem with the node 2 that it constantly reads the input from the optical and uses too much resources and this effects hd file playback it in some cases all files. I have this issue and Bluesound confirmed it’s an issue with their firmware. Unplug the optical and see if it helps, it did for me. Obviously ignore this if your not using optical at all.

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Nothing is connected to the opt in, but thanks for the suggestion.