Roon will not play a 512 DSD file

[David_Evans1 (David Evans)]

I have downloaded a 512 DSD file and Roon will not play the file.

I have DAC that plays 512 without problems and has even more ability to play larger DSD files.

When I play the DSD file, Roon plays the first 5 seconds of the file and then I get a “network error” message and Roon stops playing the file.

Why is this happening?

I am using as my roon core a Silent Angle Rhein, and have had no difficulty in playing DSD files before.

I am using the DSD over PCM function and not converting PCM.

Any advice would be useful.

David

[john (John Iburg)]

Hello @David_Evans1,

Where is the file stored? What device is your DAC connected to?

“Network error” suggests one of two things:

A) Your Roon Core cannot buffer the file fast enough. This could be the case if your file is stored on a NAS.

B) The device your DAC is connected to cannot buffer the stream from the Roon Core fast enough.

-John

[David_Evans1 (David Evans)]

The file is stored on my Mac. My Mac is connected to my Roon via the Silent Angel and then on to my DAC that handles DSD files all the way up to 22.4 Ghz (1 Bit) files. I have no trouble listening to many other DSD files.

I hear the first few seconds of the files in 512 DSD but then get the error “Audio file is loading slowly”

I looked in my settings, and apparently I cannot select DSD playback up to 512. I am not sure why Roon will not let me select this resolution. Also, Roon will not let me select “exclusive mode” either.

Can you provide some insight here?

Thanks,

David

[john (John Iburg)]

@David_Evans1

apparently I cannot select DSD playback up to 512

Does your DAC support native DSD playback on Linux? If Roon reports that it’s limited to DSD256, I’d wager that it does not and that it’s using DoP for DSD playback.

@David_Evans1

Also, Roon will not let me select “exclusive mode” either.

Playback on Linux is always using “exclusive mode”. Because of this it does not show the “exclusive mode” switch.

I would try putting the DSD512 file on an external hard drive and then connecting it directly to your Core.

-John

[David_Evans1 (David Evans)]

John,

I really appreciate your thoughts and help on this matter.

Here are the specs for my SACD/DAC:

Spec

Supported discs	SACD, CD (CD-R, CD-RW, MQA-CD)
Supported sampling
frequencies	USB input (PCM) : 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192 kHz, 352.8 kHz, 384 kHz,

705.6 kHz, 768 kHz (16, 24, 32-bit)
USB input (DSD) : 2.8 MHz, 5.6 MHz, 11.2 MHz, 22.4 MHz (1-bit)
Coaxial / Optical input : 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192 kHz (16, 20, 24-bit)|
|Analog output
voltage / impedance|Unbalanced : 2.4 V / 300 Ω, Balanced : 2.4 V / 600 Ω
For SACD / DSD : 1.3 V|
|Frequency response|CD : 5 Hz to 20 kHz (+0, -1.0 dB)
SACD : 5 Hz to 38 kHz (+0, -3.0 dB)
USB : 5 Hz to 47 kHz (+0, -3.0 dB)|
|Total harmonic distortion|CD : 0.0018 %, SACD : 0.001 %, USB : 0.0015 %|
|S/N ratio (IHF-A)|CD : 125 dB, SACD : 121 dB, USB : 125 dB|
|D/A converter|ROHM BD34301EKV (monaural mode) x 2|
|Power supply|230 V～(50 Hz) / 115 V～ (60 Hz)|
|Power consumption|48W|
|Dimensions|440(W) x 154(H) x 418(D) mm
front side knob of 2 mm and rear side terminal of 13 mm included in depth|
|Net weight|22.4 kg|
|Accessories|Remote control (RD-29), Power cable|

I have lesser DSD files that work fine, but I think Roon is struggling with the 512 files, where is shouldn’t.

Your suggestion of putting the file on an external drive…the file is on my iMacs hard drive. The hard drive is connected to the Silent Angel which is connected to my DAC, so i think I am already accomplishing this.

[mitr (Kal Rubinson)]

@David_Evans1

Silent Angle Rhein

“DSD Support：
Please noted that DAC supports DSD with “DSD Native” is required for you to play DSD music up to DSD256 smoothly. If your DAC supports DSD with “DoP” (DSD over PCM) mode, then the Z1 only support DSD music up to DSD64 (which means DSD128 or DSD256 is not supported in DoP mode).”

[David_Snyder]

Bummer. I’m using VitOS (software from Silent Angle) on an RPi4, and it seems handle to native DSD512 just fine. Perhaps the limitation on the Z1 is related to hardware?

Edit: Wait…sounds like the issue is a missing native DSD driver in the Linux kernel for the particular DAC. Unfortunately, support for native DSD is not 100% consistent or guaranteed on Linux-based network to USB bridges.

[David_Evans1 (David Evans)]

Thanks David for your input. Strange thing is that the file will play the first few seconds of the file and my DAC shows it is in the right resolution. It looks like it is either an issue with the size of the file that Roon’s processing time is too slow or the processing time of my Silent Angel is too slow.

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

You are using Luxman D-10X.

I do not think public Linux distributions recognize or support native DSD operation of it.

Therefore native DSD512 won’t work in your setup. DSD512 DoP is not supported either.

Your Roon Core CPU is also below Roon CPU minimum requirement.

You can ask your Roon Core manufacturer to see if they are willing to patch the Linux kernel for you.

In case there are Luxman D-10X / D-03X users using Lumin streamers, please contact me for a beta firmware that supports native DSD for these models. I’ve made the change many months ago but still have not got a confirmation about it.

[Ixtayul_Martinez (Ixtayul)]

I was having the same problem and got the same error message. I have my core on a sonictransporter. It has an I7 chip. when I switched the core to my new Mac laptop with several cores it played the files flawlessly. If when you play the files with the core where it is and click on the signal path indicator just to the left of back button you can see a processing speed just above source. If it is hovering around 1.0 x or .9 x then your core cpu is not keeping up.
When I switched to my laptop the processing speed was up to 6x. Hope this helps