Nucleus+ Dropping When Upsampling to DSD512 Using Qobuz & Fios

@Rugby Yes, exactly. Do you have any suggestions on how I might improve or fix it? Overall, my experience with Roon has been excellent but the Nucleus Plus is marketed as being for those who “want the most demanding DSP options”. Processing speeds sub 1.3 aren’t consistent with that claim so I assume there’s a solution here.

Swapping out the USB didn’t make a difference, unfortunately. Processing speed is the same sub 1.3 for 1-2 minutes before the music sputters and drops off. I believe the issue I’m experiencing is occurring before the data leaves the Nucleus, not after.

Here’s a screenshot of the message from Roon when the music drops off. Says Qobuz is loading slowly and it may be due to a networking / connectivity issue. I’ve checked my Fios gigabit service and it appears to be working normally. Does anyone know of any other ways to troubleshoot this issue?

@support any ideas?

It says “This may indicate” not “this indicates”. If the Nucleus CPUs are maxed out by DSP, they may struggle to ingest the incoming Qobuz stream. What happens if you disable “Parallelize Sigma-Delta Modulator”?

@Fernando_Pereira processing speed drops to 0.6 and the music stops within 15 seconds

Ouch. This may be a bug in Nucleus+ thread management in that you clearly need to parallelize DS modulation, but there should be at least one CPU left available for non-DSP tasks.

I see only, that you can here disable native DSD processing.
On a Nucleus or Rock system, you can’t change anything inside and if you need (I need it :smile:) upsampling until DSD512 (for me also DSD256 with eight channels), then you’ve to use a more faster PC and not a small NUC based system.
My core is running on a fanless cirrus7 nimbus with a i9-12900T and 32 GB RAM, which handles really all DSPs in Roon and also some with HQPlayer.

I really feel with you and your disappointing Nucleus+ upsampling experience, but what keeps bugging and pointing me to possibly something fishy with your networking gear and/or setup is above statement - that really should not be happening.

Somebody hopefully has meaningful ideas, as to what additionally could better be set-up regarding your router…

BTW, because seemingly not being asked yet, do you experience the same problem with local and streamed content?

Over wired connections, I don’t recall experiencing any meaningful latency but perhaps there is an issue about which I am not aware. I have noticed speed issues when streaming live sports over WiFi in a room that doesn’t contain my router but the walls are made of thick concrete so not clear if it’s a proximity issue or other network related issue. That said, below is a screenshot of a Speedtest I just ran using a laptop plugged into the same Cat8 as the N+.

@Support is this sufficient for the machine to upsample to DSD512? Do you recommend an alternative method for testing speed over a longer period of time, say, equivalent to the 2-3 minutes it takes for the music to drop off when upsampling?

Hello silence my old friend…
The silence from @support is deafening.
Not a single reply or suggestion? Or that’s not how @support functions? Apologies if that’s the case.
To be sure, I’m please with my N+ overall but claims that it can upsample to DSD512 seem to be aspirational at best and possibly misleading at worst - at least on my setup which is well detailed above (perhaps I have a connectivity issue with my 1gbs but thus far haven’t identified one - see above for speedtest results).
Is there anyone out there that can share a signal path showing upsampling to DSD512 on an N+ at processing speeds >1.5?
Perhaps the lack of participation or response to this thread from @support is the answer: silent acknowledgment that what I’m seeking is not possible. Please tell me I’m wrong. And please message me privately if easier - I will keep all private conversations private.

Hi @2000W,

Thank you for your patience and we do apologize for the delay in responding. The team will be watching this thread to support more closely moving forward. I’ll respond to your questions in-line and we can proceed from there with troubleshooting.

Speedtest won’t always give an indication of the health of the network connection to Roon, as it will be maximizing the amount of data per packet and might overlook any loss among the relatively small transactions upon which Roon’s software relies. Having checked diagnostic reports from your device around the time of your original post, it does appear that your Roon was having difficulty reaching the Qobuz server, so the issue is very possibly network-related.

I notice you’re using a Fios extender in your setup, connected via coax to the router. Is the extender connected to the router directly with a cable run? If not, can you elaborate on the wiring in your setup? Are you using MoCA-compatible coax splitters?

I recommend you try recreating the situation with the Nucleus hardwired directly to the router, with the extender fully removed. T. In general, Roon discourages the use of WiFi extenders, as they introduce a cloud of potential connectivity issues and invite interference. I encourage you to take a look at our Networking Best Practices.

I’m happy to answer any questions in the meantime. The team will be standing by for your response, and we’ll support from there.

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Hi Connor,
Thanks for your quick reply. To my knowledge, the extender is connected directly to the router via a cable run. I will see if I have an Ethernet cable long enough to extend from the router to the N+ for troubleshooting purposes but as you can imagine, given the use of the cable run and extender, that wouldn’t be a long term solution. I will certainly test it and report back.

To follow up on your comment re Speedtest, if that is not a reliable way to test speed, what is?

Also, can you explain / elaborate when you say “it will be maximizing the amount of data per packet and might overlook any loss among the relatively small transactions upon which Roon’s software relies”? It seems counterintuitive that a big data pipe with high throughput wouldn’t be able to adequately deliver small packets on which Roon relies. How would one test for small packet speed vs large?

Connor,
I finally hardwired to the N+ to the router via a 75 foot cat6. Disappointed to report that processing speeds were actually worse at 0.6x. Will stop beating a dead horse here.
Overall, Roon’s product is great but you can mark this thread unanswered with no solution in perpetuity.

Sincerely,
Pleased with the product but skeptical of the aspirational performance claims

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