Protocol used by ROCK for qobuz streaming?

i am trying to determine the transmission protocol used by ROCK to stream FLAC files from qobuz.

is it TCP or UDP… or perhaps something else. more specifically, i want to know if ROCK uses an error checking / correction protocol for the packets it receives via an internet stream from qobuz.

thanks!!

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From Qobuz to your Roon Core it’s a TCP/IP stream. Roon uses proprietary RAAT to transmit audio to a network Roon Bridge. RAAT uses TCP protocol (early versions were UDP.)

The TCP receiver handles the stream; if there are dropped or corrupt packets you will hear a dropout. This is simply a failure. “Lossless” designation in the Signal Path is confirmation that playback hasn’t changed any bits.

thanks for the information and description. from it, am i correct in understanding that:

  1. over the internet, the TCP/IP stream from qobuz to roon core is fully error checked and corrected?

  2. over a LAN, the decoded audio TCP stream from roon core to the roon bridge/endpoint is error checked (presumably, for the ability designate “lossless” in the signal path), but ultimately is NOT error corrected?

thanks!!

TCP/IP’s error correction is built into the protocol. Its the same protocol used. RAAT, I think, sits on top, it does not replace it.

The Lossless designation in the Signal Path has absolutely nothing to do with network transmission errors. It means that Roon has not altered the bits it has received with additional processing, like DSP, Volume Leveling, etc etc.

This is my understanding too.

thanks! that is my understanding… any receiver of data via a process using TCP is assured correctness, whether over the internet as in the case of TPC/IP or over a LAN as in the case of RAAT.

however, i just wanted to confirm in both cases that roon fully adheres to TCP protocol in terms of correctness… or for the purposes of low latency somehow bypasses the error correction in TCP?

yes, we do

no bypassing is done.

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thank you danny!!!

this information is very helpful in configuring the end-to-end digital signal path of my system wrt/ internet streamed music.

Just out of interest. How does it help configure it?

my current signal path is:

modem <-cat7-> router <-cat7-> FMC <-fiber-> transport [running ROCK] <-usb-> DAC

currently, the modem-to-transport segment is implemented with basic, consumer-grade networking equipment. having confirmed ROCK receives a reliable, error checked and ordered stream from the internet, i am entirely comfortable continuing on with that equipment for this segment. more to the point, i feel no need to investigate further things like audiophile switches, ethernet cables, linear power supplies, dongles, etc… the quite large expense of these upgrades would yield zero benefits in terms of data integrity.

also, for future investigation: the transport-to-DAC segment utilizing a TCP stream sent by RAAT makes a DAC ethernet connection potentially preferable to a USB connection, particularly since fiber ethernet can be used for optical isolation.

Got it, thanks.

Well, you did ask!

I asked because I was interested. I work in IT and some of my more obsessed friends have “interesting” set up at home. Now everything is cloud based they have transitioned from having mini data centres to mini network centres. :slightly_smiling_face:
Still nutters just with different obsessions. Said the man on the audio forum…

The people with boutique switches don’t use them to assure data integrity. They know an ordinary SOHO switch will do that. All of the marketing stuff I have read together with the accompanying postings by vendors on forums give different reasons for choosing these devices but superior data integrity is never one of them.

Agreed.
Optical networks will apparently give you less electrical noise (EMI/RFI), but will not provide ‘better’ data transmission.
If the OP is hearing music, then coherent data transmission is assured. If he’s getting dropouts, clicks, pops etc then it means that it’s not.
The only benefit of an optical network is the elimination electrical noise. Nothing more. How much this matters to you is for you to decide, I suppose.

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Across the fibre optic link or in the RF amplifiers, laser diode and photodiode? Not to mention additional power supplies. Fibre is suitable for long distance and consolidation … but in the home?

I have to say, I’ve never tried it. And have no inclination to do so.
However, IMO the only coherent use of a fibre network is seen in the Lumin X1, where the fibre connection terminates in the player/endpoint itself. There have been good reports of what a fibre connection can do for the X1, in comparison to the standard Ethernet connection.

that was sort of the whole point of my enquiry - to satisfy myself that such boutique switches and other audiophile networking gear were not necessary in my configuration. someone who i consider knowledgeable had written elsewhere that the RAAT stream was not error checked/corrected which did not seem correct to me. hence, thought i would run it down here and get an informed answer.

in my configuration, the optical fiber terminates directly into the audio transport running ROCK – more info on my audio transport and network here if interested. night-and-day difference in the SQ versus electrical.

net-net, the elimination of all upstream electrical noise provided by optical fiber ethernet in conjunction with the data integrity provided by RAAT’s use of TCP assure me that audiophile networking gear would provide no benefit over basic consumer-grade gear… in my system and configuration.

thanks to everyone here for all the help.

Do you still consider them knowledgable? :wink: Or could they be in part correct because RAAT does no additional error checking over what the TCP stack does?

well… not as knowledgable on this subject as i am now. :wink:

discussion was specific to TCP, so no extra error checking was contemplated.