Problem playing multichannel over HDMI from ROCK

[Jesse]

I’m running ROCK on an NUC6i5SYH and attempting to send multichannel DSD files over HDMI to an Anthem MRX 520 receiver.

Stereo and multichannel PCM files work without issue. Multichannel DSD files begin playing in Roon but produce no sound at first and after a few minutes play with heavy distortion and stuttering.

The HDMI output is set to convert DSD to PCM. The files I’m attempting to play are from SACDs, ripped to ISO and converted to DSF using ISO2DSD.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem? Could the NUC be struggling to convert the files to PCM on the fly? Any advice would be appreciated!

[RBM (René)]

If your NUC is struggling, you should be able to see it in your signal path, like this:

(If Processing speed hits 1.3x or lower, you’ll encounter stuttering or similar nastiness. I like to live dangerously. ;-)).

[Jesse]

Thanks very much. I’m seeing 3x, and now the files are playing fine. I’m not sure what changed - maybe something else was taxing the processor before. I’m glad to know where to look in the future.