Playback of ripped files misses half a second at start of each track

[Duckworp]

Roon Core Machine

Roon rock on i3 nuc with 16k ram

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Router through Cisco switch

Connected Audio Devices

Sotm streamer to Vitus SCD025 dac

Number of Tracks in Library

84,000 tracks

Description of Issue

Playback is fine through two of my DACs but through the Vitus SCD025 DAC when playing ripped files the DAC clicks between songs and misses the first half a second of the track. It does not happen when playing albums from Qobuz. I have tried swapping the streamer around and it is definitely the DAC that is casusing the problem. Is there a setting I can change to cure this?

[Geoff_Coupe]

Check out the Resync Delay setting and see if adjusting this will help.

Audio Setup Basics

Troubleshooting Audio Dropouts

[Duckworp]

Thanks for your reply Geoff. I tried this but it makes no difference. It is strange - at the end of only some tracks the DAC clicks, then plays the new track. When it does this it misses the first half a second. But it only does this on some tracks on some albums. Some albums play seamlessly with no ‘clicks’ between tracks. Some albums play some tracks with no clicks in between but others have the ‘click’. Clearly when it ‘clicks’ between songs it does something which misses the first half a second. Is there something in the ripped song file which tells Roon to play gaplessly at the end of a track or to play the next song as a separate file?

[Geoff_Coupe]

The click means that there has been a change of bit rate/resolution between one track and the next. It’s not associated with the ability of Roon to play gapless.

Look at the file info for the tracks where this is happening - you should see that there is a change between two consecutive tracks.

[Duckworp]

Thanks again for your help. The songs are from the same cd rip. Here are two songs which click between them, and so I miss the first half a second of the second track. Looks like the same file type, so I am not sure what is causing the problem. As I say it is fine on other dacs in my house.

[Duckworp]

If it is relevant there is no click after this track.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Can you look at the file info using Roon? Click the “3 dots” by the tracks and choose “View file info…”

[Duckworp]

These photos are the wrong way - click occurs between playing No Words and Picasso’s last words.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Hmm - there doesn’t seem to be any change between these tracks that would account for the clicks. Let’s see what @support have to say…

[Duckworp]

How do I get them to view the question Geoff?

[Geoff_Coupe]

Posting here, the #support category of the forum, automatically notifies the Support team of Roon Labs, and your question will have been added to their queue. However, the small team (four people) works business hours and not at weekends. The queue can also be long at times, so I’m afraid that patience is often required.

In the meantime, it’s possible that if other members of the Community who own the Vitus SCD025 DAC have some suggestion to make they can reply to your question here.

[connor]

Hi @Duckworp,

Thank you for your patience as the tech support team worked through the queue to reach your inquiry.

Diagnostics appear to indicate this is a clocking issue in your digital audio chain.

Logs from your Core indicate that a network streamer, the SOtM - sMS-200, is set as the clocking source in Roon, and between “No Words” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me),” the playback offset switches from 50ms to 420ms. I’m assuming you are playing to the Vitus DAC via this streamer? If you’re using direct output from the ROCK to the Vitus DAC, then please replicate the issue and we’ll reexamine diagnostics.

If you are in fact relying on the streamer, What happens if you try one of the following?

1. Lower the clock master priority for the streamer by navigating to Roon → Settings → Audio, clicking the gear icon for that Zone, and selecting “Show Advanced” in the Device Setup menu? See below for an example. In fact, are you able to supply us with a screenshot of the Device Setup window for either the streamer or the Vitus DAC?

2. If either the streamer or the Vitus SCD025 DAC user interface has any options related to resync delay, try adjusting those (this is sometimes offered, as in Roon, to accommodate buffer times for playback of variable sample rates and bit-depths).

We’ll keep a lookout for your response and proceed from there. Thank you!

[Duckworp]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I have not replied sooner but I have been away. Here are screen shots. I have tried playing with the roon re sync delay but it makes no difference. I tried changing the ‘clock master priority’ to 10 (lowest) but it made no difference. It clicks between the tracks when it misses the first second. If it doesn’t click between tracks it does not miss the beginning. (The third screenshot is the interface for the SOtM. The Vitus has no way of entering its system. I have not tried doing anything with the SOtM settings as I do not know what they do.

[Duckworp]

Hello, I was wondering if you have any further help @support?

[Duckworp]

Hello @support?

[Duckworp]

@Geoff_Coupe you were helpful in trying to resolve my problem Geoff. Woul you know a way to get support to come back and help resolve it for me? It causes gaps in some albums which is really problematic when an album needs gapless playback.

[Geoff_Coupe]

All I can do is to page @support again for you. They are a very small team at the moment, and hard-pressed to deal with the queue of support issues. Your request may have slipped through the cracks, so I’ve paged them again.

From the diagnostics seen by them, it definitely appears to be a clocking issue, and probably with the SOtM as the culprit. I am not familiar with this device, so I can’t comment on how to best set it up. Perhaps someone else in the Community can respond with some suggestions?

[connor]

Hi @Duckworp,

You’ve been incredibly patient thus far - our apologies for the delay again.

Diagnostics indicate that your Core isn’t properly mounting and unmounting an ex-FAT USB storage location. If this is where you’re storing your music, then there’s a corruption risk here even if it doesn’t explain playback delays.

I’d check into the USB drive you’re using for these ripped files to verify that there’s not a hardware or file format issue here. Try connecting it to a PC, for instance, and moving the files to a local folder.

This likely won’t be the source of the issue, but it’s worth investigating separately.

In the meantime, how is this Vitus connected to your setup; I’m assuming via USB to the Remote you’re using to control Roon, and that the XMOS driver is controlling it on the PC?

Do you have the problem if you use another driver?

There’s also a USB interface that Vitus offers with this product, according to the manual, that might be adding an additional system mixer in your chain. Are you using that?

Is volume bypass enabled in the Vitus SCD025?

Please share a screenshot of the following to help us zero in on the issue:

• Your Roon signal path under the conditions when you encounter the issue with this Zone.

Additionally, your log requests are failing to upload to our server. Do you have any firewalls or antivirus software, and if so, have you added Roon as an exception? In any case, are you able to use the directions found here and send over a set of logs to our File Uploader?

Thank you again, @Duckworp, and we’ll hopefully resolve the issue shortly.