Realtek soundcard stuttering

Support
1

Hi @eric I just wanted to let you know I’m no longer getting the issue where a track completely skips but I am getting frequent stutter issue with my Realtek DAC (onboard computer) when playing MQA. Looking at the log it seems to correlate to this event:

05/19 18:53:47 Trace: [Maestro Realtek] [Lossless 22.8x, 24/48 MQA TIDAL FLAC => 24/96] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 0:01/3:16] Tryin' Times - Donny Hathaway
05/19 18:53:51 Info: 
--[ SignalPath ]---------------------------------------------
SignalPath Quality = Lossless
Elements:
    Source Format=Flac 48000/24/2  Quality=Lossless MQA 192000
    MQA Subtype=authentication LightState=off OriginalSampleRate=48000 OutputSampleRate= OutputBitsPerSample=
    MQA Subtype=roon_core_decoder LightState= OriginalSampleRate= OutputSampleRate=96000 OutputBitsPerSample=24
    Raat Device=Realtek ASIO
    Output OutputType=Local_Asio Quality=Lossless SubType= Model=Realtek ASIO
------------------------------------------------------------
05/19 18:53:52 Trace: [Maestro Realtek] [Lossless 22.9x, 24/48 MQA TIDAL FLAC => 24/96] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 0:07/3:16] Tryin' Times - Donny Hathaway
05/19 18:53:52 Info: 
--[ SignalPath ]---------------------------------------------
SignalPath Quality = Lossless
Elements:
    Source Format=Flac 48000/24/2  Quality=Lossless MQA 192000
    MQA Subtype=authentication LightState=authored OriginalSampleRate=192000 OutputSampleRate= OutputBitsPerSample=
    MQA Subtype=roon_core_decoder LightState= OriginalSampleRate= OutputSampleRate=96000 OutputBitsPerSample=24
    Raat Device=Realtek ASIO
    Output OutputType=Local_Asio Quality=Lossless SubType= Model=Realtek ASIO
------------------------------------------------------------
05/19 18:53:53 Info: [stats] 6148mb Virtual, 788mb Physical, 248mb Managed, 4947 Handles, 88 Threads
05/19 18:53:55 Trace: [streamingmediafile] finished caching http://ab-pr-ak.audio.tidal.com/61a86792fc2be7c1f97bc632e267a341_39.flac
05/19 18:53:57 Trace: [Maestro Realtek] [Lossless 23.0x, 24/48 MQA TIDAL FLAC => 24/96] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 0:12/3:16]

Notice how the “OriginalSampleRate” changes to 48000 then back to 192000 midstream playback. This doesn’t seem to happen with my external DAC (Oppo HA-2SE) only with the Roon core’s onboard DAC (Realtek).

This isn’t a network issue as I’m playing directly from the Roon core PC.

EDIT: I am now having the same problem with my external DAC (Oppo HA-2SE).

3

Hello @erich6,

I’m sorry to see that you’re having troubles playing content to your local zone. Let’s try and get this fixed.

In the “Device Setup” page for the Realtek zone, open the “Show Advanced” dropdown and set the “Enable MQA Core Decoder” option to disabled. Report back if you see a change in behavior!

-John

4

Hello @john, when I disable the MQA Core Decoder option I do not get the stutter issue I described above.

5

Also, I don’t get the issue with the Tidal app decoding MQA as “MASTER.”

Another data point (not sure if it might be related), I cannot play any base 88 kHz sample rate music with the Realtek ASIO driver in Roon (works ok in Tidal app). When I try playing 88 kHz in Roon with Realtek I see Roon trying to play the file but no sound comes through and after a few seconds it skips to the next track.

6

Hello @erich6,

Do you have “Use Exclusive Mode” enabled in your Tidal settings?

-John

7

Yes I use exclusive mode with Tidal. I switched Roon to the Realtek WASAPI driver and it at least lets me play the 44 kHz MQA albums but it doesn’t seem to decode it. Maybe Tidal is using WASAPI and not ASIO…

At any rate, I get the same skipping issue with WASAPI when streaming MQA and decoding with Roon… Again, it is correlated to the events in the log that appear to switch between the encapsulated MQA stream and the decoded stream sampling frequencies.

8

I want to amend my original post. Tonight I’m having the same problem with my USB DAC (Oppo HA-2SE) so it appears it isn’t isolated to the Realtek DAC.

9

Hello @erich6,

What you are seeing in the Roon logs regarding the switching of the “original sample rate” is the expected behavior for playing MQA content. The MQA Core decoder is only activated when it starts decoding the audio stream, causing the latency between the original un-decoded FLAC file stream reporting it’s sample rate and the MQA Core Decoder kicking in and performing the first unfold.

As to why you are seeing this behavior, I would be interested in checking your RAATServer logs around the same time that you hear these audible artifacts. Pasting a short snippet of the activity from the log around that time should be sufficient, if you’re unsure what to look for you’re welcome to upload the log to dropbox or pastebin and I’ll pass them along to the tech team to analyze.

You can also try increasing the “Resync Delay” option in the Device Setup page for both zones and seeing if this improves the behavior when switching sample rates.

-John