· I hear distortion or noise when I'm playing music
What type of Zone is affected by this problem?
· *Directly-connected Zones* are affected.
Does the issue affect all file formats?
· The issue *only affects one file *format.
Which format is giving you trouble?
· FLAC
Is your device connected directly to the Roon Server via cable or over the network, or is it chained through another device (such as a streamer, Roon Bridge, or Roon Remote)?
· It is connected through a different device (e.g Rasberry Pi)
Does the device play audio from another source when using the same connection?
· The device has no problems with another audio source
Have you checked that Roon is whitelisted in any firewalls?
· I've checked the firewall and the issue remains
If the device has multiple output options, do the other options work as expected?
· Only one output type is affected while the other output type works as expected
Is the device using the latest firmware as per the manufacturer?
· Firmware is up-to-date but the issue remains
Do you have an approximate timestamp of when the issue last occurred?
· No
What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?
· Ruark MR1 speakers connected to Xonar DX PC sound card SPDIF output
Describe the issue
No sound with 96/24 track on Windows PC speakers (Ruark MR1/SPDIF)
If I lower the max supported frequency to 48kHz in the device settings, sound is ok.
If I restore 96kHz capability but disable Exclusive mode in the device settings (which worked fine before) sound is ok but the signal path quality changes.
Problem happens with both local files and streaming services.
Playing the same track in foobar2000 without problem.
mjw
(You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline.)
3
Through S/PDIF or just on the PC?
The sound card is about 18 years old, and the S/PDIF specification then most certainly would only support 20 bits via optical/3.5 mm jack. So, I suspect the issue is bit-depth not sample rate, which is up to a maximum of 192 kHz 20 bits.
You could try changing Max bits per sample to 16 in Device setup → Show advanced.
I use this setup for years… and I listen to music on this PC with Roon for eight years. As I wrote, it worked perfectly fine before. Something may have changed or is broken in Roon.
mjw
(You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline.)
5
Okay, thanks for confirming. You say it worked before, but you say that this was with Exclusive Mode disabled. Foobar2000 will use the Windows audio stack, and OS mixer, by default.
When using the OS mixer, there is no guarantee that the higher sample rate/bit depth hasn’t been altered. This would not be shown in the signal path, which is why there is a green indicator. You would be better off bypassing the system mixer and using Exclusive Mode with a lower bit depth or sample rate.
Exclusive mode was enabled initially… It works if I disabled it.
mjw
(You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline.)
7
You haven’t confirmed if Exclusive Mode (Roon) has ever worked with 96 kHz 24 bit recordings. As I said, using the Windows OS mixer will downsample, so there is no guarantee that source values for sample rate and bit depth are delivered to the sound card. Therefore, experiences with Foobar2000 cannot be fairly or practically compared to Roon using Exclusive Mode.
Roon support will be able to confirm what the logs say for Roon using both the OS Mixer and Exclusive Mode for the same source file. It would help them if you perform the tests and note timestamps for each. It would also be useful to try a 96 kHz file with bit-depth set to 16.
I’m sure it was working in exclusive mode as it was enabled and I played everything without problem.
As a Qobuz or Tidal user, 96/24 is frequently played.
I looked into logs and nothing seems to be useful. The track plays but there is simply no sound.
It’s either a problem on the Roon side or maybe a Windows/driver problem that appears.
I tried back in foobar2000 after looking closely the output parameters. I switched to “Primary audio driver [Exclusive]” and after that no sound too with this player too !
I then did a simple test in the windows sound settings of the device.
I dug a little more in the driver section… I uninstalled all my sound card outputs in the device manager and restarted.
After setting back exclusive mode on device… sound is back.
