Noise during playback when switching format on Marantz Link10n (ref#JQ1JUK)

Support
1

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· None of the above quite fits

None of the above quite fits

· None of these quite match

Tell us what's going on

· Sometimes noise during playback switch format Marantz Link10n

Tell us about your home network

· Asus RT-BE88U, Netgear unmanaged switch, Nuc with Roon and Marantz Link10n, both connected to Netgear switch

2

Hello @gertjanita ,

Thanks for reaching out. What kind of noise are you hearing, can you provide more details? Are you able to record the noise and send it to our uploader?
https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/collection/nqcgjac23027d90a441bda2c314de49d7958a/external

What format switch does the noise occur on, any specific pattern? You can try to resample everything to one sample rate via MUSE (Roon’s DSP Engine), while we work out the root cause.

3

Hello Noris,

With noise I mean white noise during playback from the beginning of a track and I also sometimes here crackling noises every 20 seconds or so.
This happens random. Sometimes twice a day and sometimes a few days not. I always play my own collection of flacs (cd and all high res formats) and dsf files in a random way. I think it mostly happens when switching to a high res format or dsf. Then the issue only goes away after switching to a different format. If I play another track with the same format, the noise still exists. when I go back to the track with noise during playback after switching to a different format, the noise is gone. So it is not within the flac or dsf file.
I will upload a few examples to your upload server.

Thanks and regards,

Gertjanita

4

Hello @gertjanita,

Thank you for uploading the recordings — we’ve reviewed them.

Based on what we’re hearing, the noise sounds more like electrical interference / noise artifacts rather than something originating from the audio files themselves, which aligns with your observation that switching formats clears the issue.

To help us narrow this down further, could you please confirm:

  • Do you hear this noise only on the Marantz Link10n, or does it also occur on any other endpoints in your setup?
  • If you group two endpoints together and play the same track, do you hear the noise on both devices, or only on one of them?

This will help determine whether the behavior is endpoint-specific or related to the audio stream/format switch more generally.

Thanks again for the detailed description and examples — that’s very helpful.

5

Hi,

Thanks for investigating this.

A few weeks ago I was playing music simultaneously on the Link 10n and on a pc running Roon and I only heard the noise on the Link 10n.
Please let me know if you need additional information.

Best regards

6

Hi @gertjanita,

Thanks for the additional information!

As a small side test - are you able to test out different cables, as well as ports, with the Link10n?

Even though your network looks solid, high-res PCM and DSD are sensitive to buffer timing. As a next step, let’s see if we can temporarily bypass all network gear around the 10n:

  • Connect the Link 10n directly to the Asus RT-BE88U
  • Leave the NUC on the switch
  • Test for a few listening sessions
Do you run into the same issue?

Let’s also review your device settings or the 10n in Roon. Go to Roon → Settings → Audio → Link 10n (gear icon)

Temporarily set:

  • Max Sample Rate: 192 kHz
  • DSD Playback Strategy: Convert to PCM
This is a diagnostic step. Do you experience any of the same issues?

Let’s also test out increasing the resync delay in the DAC:

  • Resync Delay: try 500 ms or 1000 ms
  • Buffer Size: Max or “Large”
This gives the DAC more time to re-lock its clock when formats change.

And lastly, can you confirm you’re running the latest firmware on the 10n? Perhaps reinstalling the latest version would be a good step as well.

We’ll be on standby for your results and reply! :raising_hands:

7

Hi Benjamin,

I tried several cables already with no luck a few weeks ago.
It’s not possible to connect the Link10n directly to the Asus router as this router is in a different location as the Link10n. The Link10n and the NUC running Roon are both directly connected to a Netgear GS108GE which has an uplink to the Asus router.

I can’t find DSD Playback Strategy or Buffer Size in the device settings of the Link10n?
I already played with Resync Delay a few weeks ago and that didn’t help.

Yes, I am running the latest (Heos) firmware (3.88.532) on the Link10n. I’m not aware of other firmware updates than the Heos firmware for the Link10n.
I will reinstall the firmware.

Thanks and regards.

8

Hi @gertjanita,

This is understandable - it would very likely be the most effective troubleshooting step to eliminate any potential for what @vadim mentioned above around any artifact or electrical interference. If it’s something you’d reconsider - very temporarily, certainly let us know.

Thank you!

9

Hi Benjamin,

I already did kind of test this because when I started using Roon, the Nuc was connected via a different unmanaged switch which wad connected to the Asus router. The Link10n was then connected to the Netgear switch which was also connected to the Asus router. To simplify everything I decided to connect both to the same Netgear switch. I also switched this switch from Tplink to Netgear. I also tried running Roon on a different computer.

Best and thanks

10

Hi @gertjanita,

And to confirm, did you also test out using a different power source / wall outlet?

Please reproduce the issue and share the specific track name, and we’ll take another look. Thank you!

11

Hi Benjamin,

In the meantime I received a message from Marantz that engineering is working on this issue.
It appears this is a problem for some other people as well.
I don’t know when a fix will be released (firmware?), so I think it’s better to wait and see if this fixes the problem.

Best,

12

@gertjanita ,

Thanks for the update! It is good to hear that Marantz engineering is already aware of this and working on a fix. This confirms our suspicion that the behavior is likely tied to the device’s internal handling of format switching.

Before we pause this investigation to wait for their firmware update, could you please clarify one detail?

Does this noise occur with sources other than Roon?

For example, if you play high-resolution tracks directly through the HEOS app (using Tidal or Amazon Music) or via a physical input, does the noise still occur when the format changes?

Knowing if this happens exclusively over the Roon (RAAT) protocol or across all inputs would be very helpful for our records.

Workaround:

In the meantime, you can use Roon’s MUSE (DSP Engine) to upsample all content to a single fixed sample rate. This should prevent the DAC from switching formats during playback.

Thanks.

13

Hi Alex,

I have noticed this also with Jriver (dlna) which I used before Roon once.
It happened not very often the past few weeks and it is completely random when it happens, so it can take a long time before the issue pops up again.

This has probably nothing to do with this issue but since the latest Roon update, it takes a lot longer to change to the next track. sometimes 15-20 seconds. I tested this with 2 different Roon install on 2 pc’s. Any idea?

Best

14

Hi @gertjanita,

Thanks for the additional information! Certainly, let us know what Marantz follows up with.

Have you rebooted your server recently? That would be a good first step, reboot your devices and router, and let me know how things perform.

Thank you!

15

Hi Benjamin,

Sure, I will.

I rebooted the server, router and Link10n but that doesn’t help. I also moved Roon to another server as a test and the results are the same.
When playing a single cd, it doesn’t happen, but when playing a random playlist or when skipping tracks manually, it can take up to 15 seconds to move to the next track.
But not every time, sometimes skipping isn’t slow.
This didn’t happen before the last Roon update.

Best