· 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?
· DSD
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)?
· Connected directly to my RoonServer machine
Does the device show up at all in Roon Settings -> Audio?
· The Zone is listed under the wrong protocol
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?
· The last time I tried playing a DSD64 music file was 7am US Pacific Time
What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?
· PS Audio DirectStream MK2 DAC
Describe the issue
My Nucleus One is connected to a PS Audio DirectStream MK2 DAC via USB cable. When I try to play a DSD music file with the Roon setting of DSD over PCM v1.0 (DoP), the music stutters with pops and crackles. If I choose the “Convert to PCM” setting all DSD music files play perfectly. I don’t recall having this issue with my previous Roon Nucleus which was version Rev B connected to the same DAC. I’ve tried factory resetting the DAC and have reinstalled the Roon operating system on the Nucleus One. Maybe the Nucleus One is defective or just doesn’t have enough processing power to play DSD64 or 128 music files with the DSD over PCM v1.0 (DoP) setting. Thank you for your help on this.
Describe your network setup
The nucleus is connected directly to my Ethernet router
Welcome back to the forum and thanks for reaching out with your report! Have you by any chance tried to use a different USB cable to connect the PS Audio? Additionally, can you please confirm, if you try to connect the PS Audio to another PC and have Roon send the DSD stream through that, do you still notice the issue occur?
I’ll give this a try yet my PC isn’t close to the PS Audio DAC. I’ll try another USB cable. In practice should the Nucleus One be able to process DSD music files without any issues to a USB DAC such as the PS Audio DAC?
Yes, the Nucleus One should be able to process DSD music files without issues when connected to a PS Audio DAC. If native DSD isn’t working, Roon may automatically send it as DoP, which still maintains full DSD quality.
I wanted to check in with you here since I noticed you reached out via our RMA email support.
I activated diagnostics for your Nucleus, and what this does is upload a set of logs to our servers for review. Looking over this log set, I can see the behavior you describe, but PCM appears to be playing as expected, which tells me that the issue isn’t likely with the USB port itself on the Nucleus.
Additionally, I did notice that you were able to play DSD128 content to a different zone without any issue from the Nucleus, so this shows DSD in general should work and be processed ok. This would mean we have narrowed it down to DoP playback on the PS Audio specifically.
Have you been able to confirm the same behavior when using the Roon app to play DoP content from another PC (Windows, MacOS, or Linux) and did that work as expected? You can leave the Nucleus as the active Server, then it would still do the processing, or temporarily host the Roon Server on the other PC, you can switch authorized devices as often as you’d like.
Please let us know your results here when you can, and someone from the support team will get back to you, thanks!
