iFi iDAC2 and DietPi

Ok will try tomorrow. iDAC2 v5.2 (latest and greatest).

@Tech_Whisky_Lab does Moode have advantages that you can see with Native DSD256 playback?

They use a custom kernelā€¦ I do not have PoPs or cracks and the only difference in our setups without getting in to details, is our OS.

5.2? I thought they are up to 5.0.

At any rateā€¦ Is it version a or b?

Fernando,

Would you be willing to give me the kernel configuration? Then I can do a diff.

zcat /proc/config.gz

Thanks,

good ol modeprobe :stuck_out_tongue:

https://pastebin.com/iU4C8Pf2

and

root@schiitmoode:~# cat /boot/config.txt
disable_splash=1
hdmi_drive=2
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtparam=i2s=on
dtparam=audio=on
root@schiitmoode:~#

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5.2 and neither A nor B

Their website has been down this past week so they emailed me the latest firmware files but you can see the attached using Google Cached anyway.

v5.2 was released in May 2016.

Should I roll back to your old version then?

Will try Moode later today

Well this has me scratching my head.

No issues at all with Moode with Native DSD256.

Running the same RoonBridge build on the same hardware and same network connection.

There is something different happening under the hood.

If you could try RoPieee @Tech_Whisky_Lab that would be helpful too.

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For completeness I tested this just now (the stable release with no touchscreen code/support). Itā€™s the older looking Ropieee settings screen but it pulled the latest 4.9.40-2 kernel.

And I still get small pops :sob:

I just put DietPi back on and the pops are still there too on quiet parts of tracks (like the Damien Rice track I mentioned where small pops canā€™t hide). My earlier thought that they had disappeared with my DietPi tweaks is not accurate sadly although it did improve when I disabled the power saving savings.

So far only Moode running RoonBrige is noticeably the most pop free (only 2 small pops in that 21 minute track. Those pops are not part of the track because a simple rewind and replay at the same part shows this). These pops are also quieter than DietPi but still canā€™t be ignored during quiet passages

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@dabassgoesboomboom I will try ropieee once I get a chanceā€¦ Busy weekend! :stuck_out_tongue: Family u knowā€¦
I use moodeaudio on all my piā€™s with roonbridge. I will take one for testing this afternoon.

Note: I will check my iFi versions tonight an let u know what I am running. Dont roll anything back yet. :slight_smile:

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@dabassgoesboomboom I got around testing and WOWā€¦ So many pops I couldnā€™t bare itā€¦ :frowning:

How is your test going?

@Tech_Whisky_Lab

Testing done with DietPi, Ropieee and Moode and my conclusion is that the shared bus of the RPi3 is the issue with native DSD256.

Even though Moode is the best, the pops are still there but softer and I wouldnā€™t be surprised if you canā€™t hear them because even I wouldnā€™t hear them with 95% of my own music. But they are still there with Moode even. You just need to find the right music to hear the pops but once I know they are there, itā€™s game over for me, the fun is taken out of listening for me.

I went and got an Odroid C2 to test my theory - the ethernet is wired directly to the SoC - no shared bus with USB. And voila, not a single pop since the weekend and thatā€™s running DietPi kernel 3.9 ! Not only are there no pops at all but the sound quality is even better - again only with kernel 3.9 but luckily the iDAC2 works without issues with native DSD256.

I really wish someone could update the Odroid C2 to kernel 4.9.41. Itā€™s much better suited for these high sample rates than the Rpi3 @Dan_Knight

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AH! Nice find!
Ok I am going to try one too!

Thanks for your update.

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Officially, Odroid are only developing the 4.x kernel in-house, with the XU4 range:
http://com.odroid.com/sigong/blog/blog_list.php?bid=183

The Odroid community have been testing/working on 4.x kernel for C2, although, iā€™ve not had a chance to test it yet:
https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=22717
http://linux-meson.com/doku.php#mainline_support_matrix

Donā€™t get it. As I said before, Rpi/DietPi with DSD256 into an iFI DAC no problem for me, but then I have iFi USB2 and iFI USB3 devices. Maybe these devices actually do something. As you saying that this is still a problem for you?

As I said, I wouldnā€™t be surprised if you canā€™t hear the pops because I wouldnā€™t either with 95% of my own music. So I donā€™t mean to offend anyone because Iā€™d be offending myself too.

These are not the loud pops normally associated with DSD at the beginning of tracks. These are soft pops at quiet moments.
With Moode I would only notice a couple pops on quiet songs. But thatā€™s a couple too many.

Fernando now knows what Iā€™m talking about too, although Moode is significantly better but not perfect - and thatā€™s a hardware limitation, no fault of Moode, DietPi, RoPieee.

Thanks Dan.

Iā€™m going to get greedy and ask, is it on your roadmap to test?

Or not really planned? :sob:

Hmmm, maybe there is something to mR and SMS-200, et. al. after all.

@Tech_Whisky_Lab, donā€™t you have an mR or SMS-200, or something similar. Also, you are having these problems with an iFi USB manipulating device?

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I actually donā€™t own one. I only know what he is talking about because I here concerto/classical music on my my Pi3 without my USB3 and I could here the pops using ropiee. I was trying to imitate his setup. Funny though that with moode and with my iFi USB3, I cant hear themā€¦ Still I am not convinced that is a Pi issue cause my others setup without USB3/USB2 dont have this issue.

/face palm

@dabassgoesboomboom -

RPi 3/DietPi -> iFi Micro USB2 -> double headed USB cable -> iPurifier -> iDAC2

As it turns out I donā€™t have many DSD256 files, I usually upsample to that. I did try a DSD256 album. The first movement of Tchaikovskyā€™s 6th is very quiet. Playing it, my system is stone silent.

If you want, send me a copy of a file that plays pops and crackles and Iā€™ll try it on my system. Dunno if you can do this thru a PM or not.

If do you do send a file, no music about vegamite sandwiches.:slightly_smiling_face:

Hehe but thatā€™s half of my collection! Actually I donā€™t own any DSD256 music. Everything gets up-sampled in Roon.