Installed Roon server latest
installed Roon 1.2 latest
updated microRendu to 2.2
my system
router is Arris from Time Warner Cable
cat6 cable to a Synology NAS box which has the music files
cat6 cable to microRendu
microRemdu to Chord DAVE DAC with USB
Running Roon Server
Running Roon on Windows 10
most tracks. 44.1 up to DSD256 starts slowly and with a second or two of distortion
DSD64 to DSD256 tracks have dropouts during play.
paul
What is the hardware running the Roon Server?
$640 to experience dropouts…and this isn’t the first time it’s been reported. 
Apple Macbook Pro mid 2014
2.8G Intel Core i7
16GB RAM
2GB Nvidia GT 750M
Running Parallels Desktop 11 (latest)
Windows 10 (latest) on it.
All music files on Synology 412+ box on Samsung 2TB SSD
I’ve had good luck with mine. Using mostly with HQPlayer in NAA mode (PCM).
I just completed the microRendu 2.2 firmware upgrade. Working fine in Roon Ready mode.
evand,
no dropouts or distortion with tracks using HQPlayer?
does it sound as good as Roon?
how much is the software?
MacBook Pro running Windows through parallels, a bundled router, HQPlayer upsampling, a chord Dave, Roon, and a microrendu running HQPlayer NAA mode.
Why so obvious the microrendu’s at fault? Seems like there’s a good few possibilities here.
I’ve been using the MicroRendu for a few months and I’ve never had a dropout.
We all know what causes dropouts, and our team has taken time to document the most common causes in some detail. From my perspective, dropouts are almost always related to networking issues or an underpowered Core machine. Whatever you think of the MicroRendu, I’m not aware of any reason to suggest they’re more prone to dropouts than any other RAAT device.
@paul_chiu – can you run a few tests to see if you can find a configuration that doesn’t experience dropouts? For example, try copying some files to the Mac’s internal drive, to take the NAS out of the equation. Or, connect the DAC directly to the Mac running the Core, to see if things work better without network playback involved.
Getting a sense of what works will tell us a lot more about the underlying causes, and I definitely recommend reading the article I linked above as well.
I do wonder if your time here might be more productive, if not spent ridiculing the buying decisions of others…especially regarding equipment that you’ve obviously never taken the time to evaluate
As Mike states, Dropouts can be for many reasons…but to jump to “blaming” the MicroRendu is disingenuous at best
RAN these cases…
DACs were Hugo, Dave and Nagra DAC
running DLNA and JRiver Media Center on MAC + 11.10.5 had no starting distortion but droppouts with DSD files. 44.1 fine.
I have HQPlayer linked to Roon. I think it sounds very good. My music is comprised of flac files which I’ve ripped via JRiver MC and DVD Audio Extractor. I only have a PCM DAC, so I can’t opine on DSD functionality. I do not upsample above 96k, and generally use the TPDF dither with regular poly-sinc filtering. Does it sound better? Sometimes?
On some recordings I like microRendu Roon Ready, and now my Roon Ready capable Bryston BDP-1. Roon Ready and HQPlayer NAA are going to sound good on most recordings. Most DLNA stuff sounds great through the microRendu too. With HQPlayer you can tinker with the filters, as well as the dither which may produce a more favorable sound, depending on your tastes. On the back side of my DAC I add a little tube buffer distortion to boot.
The. HQPlayer software is $145 USD, but Signalyst offers a thirty day trial period. The trial is a bit quirky on a MAC or Linux since you have restart the program each time after 30 minutes of use.
Close to 100% certainty that dropout issue is either network or server hardware/software related. The mR has no issues playing pack DSD 256 and 512. It’s basically just acting as a buffer or pass thru in these cases. The heavy lifting, conversion etc is all being done before the stream gets to the mR in most situations, including the one described here.
People don’t know they have these issues till they start trying to convert on the fly to multi-X DSD and stream it.
Yep, up-converting to DSD 512 is very processor intensive and can begin to expose network issues that just streaming 44.1 will not. For me, the biggest issue of the mR is whether it is worth the up cost compared to a good Pi solution.
A couple of other ideas:
do all of your DACs work properly with a Linux based source (mR)? That could be an issue.
is it a DoP vs not DoP issue?
try less intensive (-2s) filtering/upsampling HQP
increase buffer time in HQP
if I remember correctly, the Hugo and Dave can receive extremely high PCM sample rates. Try upsampling to max sample rates and see if you have issues in DXD type PCM rates.
You haven’t said what processor and RAM you have on the computer(s) doing the upsampling.
Generally, Jussi recommends an i7 3.4 Ghz processor (at least) for DSD upsampling, especially 2 or 4X DSD.
Is it worth the cost?
Can’t tell you that. I think it sounds good, better than other solutions I’ve tried, including my (similar) SOtM SMS-100.
I like the mR also for the form factor (very small, it sits behind my DAC, takes up almost no room and isn’t noticeable) and for it’s suite of software that’s built in. It just works. No fiddling.
You could also try the SonicOrbiter, which has the same software and functionality-but isn’t “maxed out audiophile”, or the new SOtM SMS-200, which is similar, but costs somewhat less.
What system are you using playing DSD256 to DSD512 without issues with MR?
Thanks
I am not as my Dac can’t handle it. Others are using an Intel i7 6700k or server chip of equal power.
I have at least that in terms of CPU.
I guess the router part has issues.
This is the difficult part as the router is from my Cable Provider Time Warner.
I agree, it’s really too bad that he’s so negative with almost every post and making fun of others enjoyment.
You should send an email to Sonore and ask for help. They are pretty good at helping customers optimize use of their products.