Roon " Failed To Open Audio Device" Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3

Roon Core Machine

NUC 10i7FMHN running Roon ROCK

Networking Gear & Setup Details

ASUS RTAX86U Router and TPLink switches. All Roon endpoints and Roon ROCK connected via Ethernet.

Connected Audio Devices

Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3, Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3, Bluesound NODE (N130), ARCAM ST60 Streamer, 2 x Raspberry Pi 4 with Display running RoPieeeXL and Synology DS1019+ NAS.

Number of Tracks in Library

no more than 3000 tracks stored in a Synology DS1019+ NAS + TIDAL and Qobuz services.

Description of Issue

The X-SABRE 3 is set in Roon to go to sleep/standby after 5 mins of inactivity, same way I have my mini-i Pro 3. When the X-SABRE 3 is on standby and I press play, most of the time (not always) I get the “Failed to open audio device message” Then after the message is gone and the X-SABRE 3 is fully ON, then I can start playing. This does not happens with the mini-i Pro 3. Looks like the mini-i Pro 3 wakes up faster so Roon is able to take control over it again. The X-SABRE 3 most likely is timing out as it takes longer to wake up from Standby. Not sure if this is something that has to be fixed by Roon or by Matrix Audio with a firmware update so I already sent the bug report to Matrix Audio as well. But because it happens only with Roon and not always, I wanted to see if this is something that can be fixed by Roon.

Like I mentioned before, the Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3 does not have this issue.

Hi @Enrico_Castagnetti,

Check and make sure that you’re running the latest firmware on the X-SABRE 3. It’s possible something has changed since we certified the device but we did not encounter this during testing.

Matrix has technical contacts they can reach out to at Roon if needed, so your bug report to them should suffice.

-John

Hi John, The Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3 came with a firmware then I updated to the latest (V1.01 Build 043) and I’m having this issue. Most likely the firmware you guys tested was not the latest. I’m also having issues with MQA playback. When pausing a MQA song, then replay, the song starts for about 1 sec, then stops then starts again with a fade in (Like crossfade was ON). All MQA songs start with a fade in, no matter if there is no change in sampling rate. You can see in the X-SABRE 3 screen that the sampling rate goes from PCM to nothing then to MQA and during the transition is when the stop and resume happens. Basically it lose audio during the MQA authentication. This does not happens with the mini-i Pro 3. This issue only happens with MQA songs. PCM has no issues and no fade in. This bug was also reported to Matrix Audio. I have no idea how Roon didn’t catch this MQA playback issue. If I set the X-SABRE 3 as No MQA Support, then all MQA playback issues are gone for good. Of course, the X-SABRE 3 does not show that is receiving MQA, instead shows PCM.

Hi @Enrico_Castagnetti, have you heard back from Matrix about this?

Hi @dylan , yes they got back to me and they were able to replicate the bug. It’s now part of a 8 bugs report that I discovered and they replicated all of them in their lab. Here is the bugs list:

Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3 Bugs List reported to Matrix Audio:

  1. Auto Sleep function from Roon works most of the time but not always. They said that they are going to contact Roon Labs to check this with you.

  2. TIDAL Connect have a gap between songs of 4 secs when skipping tracks. It takes 4 secs for any song to start playing. Meaning there is no gapless playback

  3. When playing Tidal Connect, once pause then play again there will be a short fade in occur.

  4. Playing MQA songs with Roon, when pausing a MQA song, then replay, the song starts for about 1 sec, then stops then starts again with a fade in. All MQA songs start with a fade in, no matter if there is no change in sampling rate.

  5. If X-SABRE 3 is on Standby and start playing a song from Roon, will get “Failed to open the Audio Device” error message on Roon. Pressing play twice makes the error message go away.

  6. When playing with Roon DSD files at 2.8 or 11.2, no matter the sampling rate, if pause the song, as soon I press play again, there is a loud POP coming out of the speakers.

7.- Playing PCM (FLAC) songs with Roon get cut by about 100ms to 250ms at the beginning of the song. This only happens with some songs, not all of them and mostly with songs from Qobuz.

None of the bugs reported happens with the Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3 which I also own and it’s next to the X-SABRE 3 so it’s easy for me to discover new bugs.

Matrix Audio was able to replicate all the bugs reported above and they are already working to fix all of them. I also provided Matrix Audio with videos showing these bugs and songs playlist so they can easily replicate all the bugs discovered.

A new bug that happened this morning while listening to some music:

The X-SABRE 3 screen got frozen. The X-SABRE 3 was playing but the screen remained with the same album cover for more than 10 songs. Skipping tracks had no change on the screen but the new track was playing. Tried to put it on standby with Roon, with the remote and with the standby X-SABRE 3 front panel power/standby button but after 1 sec on standby came back ON with the same album cover. Changing inputs did not solve the issue. I had to take the power cord out and after fully reboot the X-SABRE 3 screen cleared up. I know this could happen as it’s literally a computer and computers froze from time to time but it’s worthy to check if this is due to a firmware bug or just normal computer stuff.

Let me know if you want the link to the Dropbox folder where I have the videos showing the bugs reported. I can send it to you via PM, though.

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@Dylan do you think I got a defective unit? Matrix Audio responded to me saying that they were able to replicate all the bugs but I haven’t read anyone else reporting bugs. And the unit you guys tested is not showing these issues. Not sure what to do. If keep waiting for a new firmware or ask APOS Audio for an exchange.

Hi @Enrico_Castagnetti, sorry for the late response here. As far as whether or not the unit is defective, it’s hard to say for us. Matrix would definitely be in the best place to answer that. If they’re able to reproduce and are working on solutions, it sounds like it might not be specific to your unit, so it might be best to wait until their firmware update is available. Definitely keep us in the loop on any changes!

Hi @dylan

Per APOS Audio recommendation I sent the unit back as defective and they are shipping me a X-SABRE 3 replacement tomorrow. Meanwhile, Matrix Audio contacted me today to let me know that today they released a new firmware addressing the bugs I reported to them 2 weeks ago. As soon I get the replacement unit, I will be testing the new firmware and will report back to you with my findings.

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I appreciate the update, @Enrico_Castagnetti! Definitely let us know how it goes.

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Finally after a few weeks, got today the X-SABRE 3 replacement. Immediately updated the firmware to V1.0.1 Build044 and all the bugs concerning Roon, MQA and DSD playback have been fixed. Here is my list of bugs reported to @MatrixAudio:

  1. Auto Sleep function from Roon works most of the time but not always.
    R: FIXED with Build44

  2. TIDAL Connect have a gap between songs of 4 secs when skipping tracks. It takes 4 secs for any song to start playing. Meaning there is no gapless playback
    R: NOT FIXED. Bluesound devices had this same issue for months and got fixed back in June with the latest firmware.

  3. When playing Tidal Connect, once pause then play again there will be a short fade in occur.
    R: FIXED with Build44

  4. Playing MQA, when pausing a MQA song, then replay, the song starts for about 1 sec, then stops then starts again with a fade in. All MQA songs start with a fade in, no matter if there is no change in sampling rate.
    R: FIXED with Build44

  5. If X-SABRE 3 is on Standby and start playing a song from Roon, will get “Failed to open the Audio Device” error message on Roon. Pressing play twice makes the error message go away.
    R: FIXED with Build44

  6. When playing with Roon DSD files at 2.8 or 11.2, no matter the sampling rate, if pause the song, as soon I press play again, there is a loud POP coming out of the speakers.
    R: FIXED with Build44

7.- PCM (FLAC) songs get cut by about 100ms to 250ms at the beginning of the song. This only happens with some songs, not all of them and mostly with songs from Qobuz.
R: FIXED with Build44

So basically all the bugs concerning Roon have been fixed with the new firmware :wink:

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