Roon not playing to bryston BDP-2 and DAC

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

MAC OSX 10.11.6

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

ATT U-Verse wireless

Audio Devices (Specify connection type - USB/HDMI/ect.)

BDP-2 connected to BDA-3

Description Of Issue
Roon was playing from my laptop through my Bryston BDP-2 which is connected to my Bryston DAC, BDA-3. It worked well for about an hour and since then has had trouble communicating with the BDP-2. It plays for a few seconds and then gets interrupted. It gives a message “Audio file is loading slowly…This may be a hardware issue.” Playback through Room is working fine with my laptop .

Thank you for the help.

Hello @Mark_Colarusso,

Thanks for contacting us regarding this issue. You mention that your Mac OSX is connected via Wireless to the router, if you connect it via Ethernet as a temporary test, does the same behavior still occur?

How is the BDP-2 connected to the network in this setup, is it connected directly to the ATT U-verse router or are you making use of a switch/range extender/powerline adapter here? Does the same issue occur for both local and streaming (TIDAL/Qobuz) content, or just one type of media and not the other?

Thanks,
Noris

Hi Noris,

I don’t have a way of connecting to the BDP-2 via the ethernet. My laptop does not have an ethernet port. In the network, I only have the ATT U-verse router, I don’t have any other hardware. The same issue does occur for both local and streaming content. Thanks for the help.

Best,
Mark

Hi @Mark_Colarusso,

Thanks for confirming that for me. Can you please let me know if the same behavior occurs on a different zone as well? For example, does this behavior occur on the System Output zone of your laptop or is it just on the BDP-2?

Also, can you please try rebooting your Core, Endpoints and Networking gear to see if there is any change in behavior?

Thanks,
Noris

I have tried rebooting Roon and the BDP-2 but that hasn’t helped. I can try rebooting the network. One other piece of info: The problem seems also to be related to the time of day. I have had no issues in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, but problems in the morning and evening. Do you think it might be a bandwidth/network traffic issue?

Mark

Hi @Mark_Colarusso,

If this issue only occurs at certain times of the day, then yes it is possible that it is a bandwidth related problem. Does this occur for local tracks as well or only for streaming tracks? If you can let me know the exact local time in your country (e.g. 3:55PM) that this issue occurs next time I can enable diagnostics mode for your account and check to see if the buffers are not being filled in time.

Thanks,
Noris

Hi Noris,

So it’s been a bit better the last few days. I have had no trouble running it through my laptop, but haven’t done it for that long. I have noticed that when the playback to the BDP-2 stops the screen on it gives a message “WLAN0 Down”. When it comes back online it says “WLAN0 UP”. It has been doing this off and on this morning from between 9:20 am and 9:50 am central daylight time (US).
Thanks,
Mark

Hello @Mark_Colarusso,

The WLAN0 Down and WLAN0 Up messages indicate that the network interface for the BDP-2 is going down, so I would definitely look more towards the network side of things. I think there are two things that can be going wrong here:

  1. There is an issue with the BDP-2 Network Connector. You should reach out to Bryston to see if they can assist in confirming or denying this theory.

  2. The router itself is having issues maintaining a stable network connection to the BDP. We typically recommend against ISP provided routers such as the ATT-Uverse one you have and instead recommend consumer grade routers.

We have seen the fewest amount of issues with Netgear Nighthawk lines of routers. One other thing you can do here to rule out the router even more is trying to add an unamanged switch right before the Bryston.

If the switch resolves things, then it is likely the router that is the issue and you may want to replace the router as well or leave it running with the switch. I would also suggest getting the unmanaged switch and router for the above tests from a location with easy returns in case you are not satisfied with the results. Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
Noris

Hi Noris,

Thank you for the detailed response. I will play around with things and let you know how it goes. I have one more question, if you don’t mind. My Bryston DAC BDA-3 can sample up to 384 K0, but when connected to Roon via the BDP-2, it only can sample up to 192 K0. I am wondering why Roon doesn’t recognize the full sampling capabilities of the DAC.
Thank again,

Mark

This is a limitation of the BDP-2 and not Roon.

Excerpt from the BDP-2 Manual:

DESCRIPTION
The Bryston BDP-2 is a state-of-the-art digital music player that can play back most high resolution digital music formats including AIFF, FLAC & WAV files up to 24 bits @ 192 kilo samples per second (192/24) as well as standard formats and lower resolution digital music files like MP3’s.

And for the BDA-3 it’s:

grafik

2 Likes

Hi @Mark_Colarusso,

I can confirm that Blackjack’s explanation is correct according to our documentation as well. It appears to be a limit of the BDP-2 itself. Please let me know how your testing goes.

– Noris

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.