Roon only plays on Creative E5 DAC with exclusive mode on

Support
1

Hey @support ,

So my setup is pretty basic, I have a Windows 10 PC with a Creative Sound Blaster E5 DAC attached via USB, and headphones attached to that. I’m running Roon version 1.3 (build 242) stable (64bit), and the music I’m trying to play is a local FLAC file on an internal ssd.

In Roon I can see the E5 DAC with both a WASAPI and ASIO device entry, and both work correctly if they are set to exclusive mode. If I turn exclusive mode off on the WASAPI device, then the music controls quickly appear on the bottom of Roon, then disappear and nothing plays. Poking around in the logs, I can see the following:

    07/27 00:04:05 Trace: [zone] [Sound Blaster E5] Loading
    07/27 00:04:05 Trace: [zone] [Sound Blaster E5] Suspend
    07/27 00:04:05 Trace: [zoneplayer/raat] Endpoint Sound Blaster E5 Initial State: Idle
    07/27 00:04:05 Info: [transport] created zone Sound Blaster E5
    07/27 00:04:05 Info: [transport]     with endpoint Sound Blaster E5 (23:1:c0f03d97-7f49-a89c-b92f-5ceaf54afbb5) [IsAvailable=True]
    07/27 00:04:05 Trace: [zone] [Sound Blaster E5] Loaded Queue=0 Tracks Swim=Inactive AutoSwim=True Loop=Disabled Shuffle=False
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [zone] [Sound Blaster E5] Playing 1 Items
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [zone] [Sound Blaster E5] Selecting Source
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [zone] [Sound Blaster E5] Playing TransportItem
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [musicpowerstate] music is playing, preventing idle sleep
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: [zoneplayer/base] Playing: C:\Users\Chad\Music\Kyau & Albert\Matching Stories\Kyau & Albert Memory Lane(Album Rework).flac
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: [zoneplayer/base]     Open Result (Playing):Result[Status=Success]
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: [zoneplayer/base] Starting playback
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [zoneplayer/raat] StartStream Sooloos.Broker.Transport.RaatZonePlayer+Endpoint: StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=16, samplerate=44100, isdts=False) => StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=16, samplerate=44100, isdts=False) streamid=69087275
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: SETUP FORMAT StreamFormat(channels=2, bitspersample=16, samplerate=44100, isdts=False)
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [transport/raatclient] [Sound Blaster E5] SENT [6]{"request":"setup","format":{"sample_type":"pcm","sample_rate":44100,"bits_per_sample":16,"channels":2,"sample_subtype":"none"}}
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [prebuffer] ready 149940/441000 (34%) @ 0/433 sec
    07/27 00:04:08 Trace: [transport/raatclient] [Sound Blaster E5] GOT [6] {"status":"UnexpectedError","message":"RAAT__OUTPUT_PLUGIN_STATUS_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED"}
    07/27 00:04:08 Warn: [zoneplayer/raat] failed to setup any endpoints..giving up
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream] All streams were disposed
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: sleep 0ms after flush
    07/27 00:04:08 Warn: Track Stopped Due to Error
    07/27 00:04:08 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream -> endpoint] All streams were disposed
    07/27 00:04:13 Info: [stats] 1226mb Virtual, 253mb Physical, 49mb Managed, 1416 Handles, 65 Threads

If I turn on exclusive mode, then everything seems to work. Any ideas what might be going on, or what I might need to change?

2

If you really need exclusive mode off right now - you could try updating to build 247 (released today) … however seems it has the opposite issue for some setups.

There’s a development ticket in, so I’d expect build 248 to be out as soon as the Roon developers have resolved the issue.

5

Hi again @anon62039374,

I’m told that the build 247 issue is limited to just OSX, as your are on Windows I recommend updating to it and see if it helps.

1 Like
6

Hey @Carl,

I tried updating to build 247, but I am running into the same issue. :frowning:

7

It was worth a shot, let’s tag @support to follow up with you.

8

Hi @anon62039374 ----- Thank you for the report and sharing your feedback with us. Both are appreciated! Sorry to hear of the troubles. ’

Moving forward, may I kindly ask you to please provide a screenshot of the “advanced tab” found under “speaker properties” for the E5 DAC in Windows. This information can be found by clicking the “speaker Icon” at the bottom of the screen, selecting “playback” devices, right clicking the E5, selecting “properties”, and then going to the “advanced” tab. Example below.

-Eric

9

Hey @Eric,

Sure, here are the advanced properties.

Thanks!

10

Hey @Eric

Just wanted to following up on this and see if you guys need any more information, or have any ideas or suggestions I could try to fix the problem?

Thanks!

11

Hello @anon62039374,

Apologies for delay here, @Eric is on vacation that’s why this wasn’t picked up earlier.

  • Can you try to turn off ‘Enable audio enhancements’ option and see if this helps ?

  • Also, are you using manufacturers Windows driver for this device ?

Thanks for patience,
Vova

12

Hey @vova

I tried turning off the audio enhancements and it didn’t seem to make a difference. And yes, I am using the latest Windows driver and firmware updates from Creative.

Thanks!

13

Hey @anon62039374,

Thanks for the answers. One more point to clarify, do you have any difficulties playing via System output ?

14

Hey @vova,

I can play music via System Output if I set it as my default playback device in windows (instead of the E5 DAC), and then plug in some headphones to one of the audio jacks on the PC.

The Creative DAC is attached via USB, so maybe having the onboard audio drivers and the Creative drivers both installed is causing a problem? Every other application that plays audio seems to work correctly though. I could try uninstalling the onboard drivers and disabled the audio device in the Windows device manager, if you think that might help (I don’t really use the onboard audio anyways).

Thanks!

15

Thanks for your patience here @anon62039374. We’d like to have a look at your logs (for both Roon and RAATServer).

Can you follow the instructions here and let us know how we can access them? Thanks!

16

Hey @mike,

I zipped up the logs from Roon and RAATServer and you can find them on OneDrive here: {removed}

Thanks for taking a look!

edit: Removing the link.

17

Hi, @anon62039374, confirming that we received your logs, thanks for cooperation! We’ll let you how it’s going soon. Thanks!

Ivan

18

Hey @Ivan,

Thanks for letting me know. I’m going to remove the link for now and stop sharing that file. Let me know if you need any more information from me, or have any suggestions I could try.

Thanks!

19

Hi, @anon62039374, thanks for your patience! We looked at your logs, and for the further troubleshooting I suggest to do the following:

  1. You should try turning on DSP and see if 24/32 bit content can be played.
  2. That situation also can be related to a fact that there’s an issue with your DAC’s driver, so maybe you should upgrade it, or try to install other versions of this driver and see if things get better.

Thanks!

Ivan

20

Hey @Ivan,

Thanks for the tips. I tried turning on DSP and playing a couple of other audio files with no luck. I tried a 24bit FLAC file and, just for the heck of it, a DSD64 file. In both cases I ran into the same problem.

I’ll see if I can get a different version of the driver from Creative, but I am currently using the most recent release they have (which is also the only version available for download on their site). I’ll put in a support ticket with them and see if they can provide any more information as well.

Thanks!

21

Hey, @anon62039374, just wondering if there are any updates about your issue’s state?

Thanks!

Ivan

1 Like
22

Hey @Ivan,

Unfortunately no. Creative only offers a single version of their driver software online, and I haven’t been able to get a different version to try. For now, I’ve decided to cancel my Roon trial and I’ll end up using some other software instead. Thanks for your time and effort, but we can probably close or lock this thread.

Thanks!