Hi, looong time issue with Roon Muse. I waited this long because all along, I thought the issue was with my Intel NUC 10. So I recently upgraded to a very powerful mini PC with and Intel I7-13620H CPU and 64GB of DDR5 RAM in an effort to have smooth upsampling. The issue that I've had all along is loud static when upsampling. It is semi-random and I have narrowed it down to when Roon receives a file, say 24/192Khz (I upsample this to 768khz) and then the next file might be 96khz or 44.1khz. The issue is almost always predicable when I place my playlist on random. If it receives and upsamples 44.1khz material to 705.6khz, it will be fine. The next track might be 192khz and then after that, it will output very loud static/distortion. Extremely loud! I have messed with adding a delay in silence between switching formats but it did not help. The only remedy is to turn off upsampling completely, which defeats the purpose. My streamer is a Lumin U2 set into exclusive Roon mode, but we can remove that from the equation. I reached out to Ayre to explain my issue and sure enough, they were able to reproduce the massive distortion output. And I seriously doubt they have a Lumin U2 streamer being fed via fiber. So, Jason said he would reach out to you all as he thinks it is an issue with how Roon is 'handing off data to the steamer'. I don't know what else to do here, so I wanted to reach out to you guys. My new mini PC is a beast, there should not be any issues with it running out of steam, etc. My network has been a project/hobby for me for over 5 years and I know it is set up beautifully now (all single mode fiber). My switches display zero errors after moving thousands of bits back and forth. Anyway, I would just like someone to look into this. Should I hit up Peter with Lumin as well? Thanks.
Describe your network setup
10G Fiber into home; Router = ASUS RT-BE88U; Switch 1 near servers is a Mikrotik CRS309; switch 2 behind A/V gear; Mikrotik CRS309 into an audiophile switch (3rd one, so this is definitely NOT the issue) NA Tempus switch and fiber into Lumin U2. Lumin hands the signal off via Wireworld Platinum USB to an Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC.
Thanks for reaching out and for sharing your report!
If they were able to reproduce the issue in-house, then there isn’t anything else you need to do at this time - we’ll be on the lookout for their email and get in touch if we don’t hear anything soon.
We’ll be in touch with any specific next steps or updates as things progress. Thanks for your ongoing patience in the meantime!
@benjamin thank you. But do keep in mind that they reached out to you in early October. That way you all aren’t waiting for another email from Ayre. Thanks for your help on this one.
For now, we do not see any messages from them to us. Probably it was some message to the personal email rather than via official channels. We will also try to reproduce the issue on our end and will keep you posted about any updates here.
Thanks Peter. That sucks but I guess it is what it is. One would think that spending $15k on a DAC would make it nearly immune to ‘stress’ but I guess not. Plus, PCM sounds best in PCM but max rez to avoid Ayre’s digital filters. And DSD as DSD512. So having to choose one or the other is a real detriment to musical enjoyment.
@wklie I forgot to mention here, and as I sent you an email earlier, I couldnt even upsample a 192khz track to 768khz. Nevermind switching frequencies. This was the first track I played. So, I still feel there is something going on here.
My QX-5 Twenty has the ESS ES9038PRO chip. This would be news to me as its all over the spec sheet that this chip supports up to 768 kHz PCM and DSD512.
The chip supporting it is a required but insufficient condition for the DAC to support it. There are also limitations caused by USB processor and overall design, some has FPGA, etc.
Thanks Peter. I do appreciate you trying to help, I honestly do… But you are incorrect. The manual you linked refers to the original USB specifications. Ayre released a USB 2 upgrade which pushed support up to 768kHz. Please refer to this link for specifications:
To bypass the internal Ayre digital filters, you must feed the Pro DAC chip the following; 705.6kHz or 768 kHz or DSD512. Anything less and it would be pointless. Yes, I have tried but for not long enough to ensure there is no static during a long listening session… I do not upsample because I believe it just sounds better. I do it to bypass Ayre’s own digital filters which absolutely soften the treble and muddy the overall sound. Is it a very slight difference? Sure but better is better.
I have similar issue with my Linn Klimax DSM/3: Whenever I up sample the stream to 384/24 via the HQ player to feed the streamer via a USB DAC, now and then the system emits very loud, frightening static noises !!!
So I gave up eventually, just not doing upsamling any more.
Yes. I most definitely have the Ayre USB2 upgrade board and positive my QX-5 supports up to 768kHz and DSD512. That’s the whole reason for starting this thread.
