Rotel USB pops and clicks

Audio Gear Talk
1

@support
Hi there,
Happy Roon user here.
My set-up:

  • NAS with flac, DSD
  • Roon 1.3 build 262, stable (64bit), Linux, Intel NUC I3,
  • NUC connected by USB to a pre-amp Rotel RC 1590 (USB 2.0, DSD capable)

Issue:
Using Rotel RC 1590 USB input: each time I play a file I can hear two audible pops/clicks just before the track starts.
Issue occurs with all formats; flac (44.1 and hi-res) and DSD
When I swich to networked endpoint (Hifiberry), connected on the same pre-amp digital (Coax)…no pops.

Any suggestions/solutions?
Thanx in advance!

Pieter

2

If you use the usb into the raspberry pi (not sure what RPi build you are using) if it can see the dac there does that help?

3

Pops and clicks causes are different. ‘Pop’ is normally associated playing back DSD when the source send a ‘PCM silence’ and the DAC somehow process this as DSD data, resulted in a nasty pop. Click is normally happens when sampling rate change or changing from PCM to DSD or vice-versa. It can also can be hardware dependent due to muting circuitry. Clicks are normally harmless but not for nasty pops.

4

This is a very common reason for artifacts around the start of playback. Not all DACs mute themselves properly during transitions.

Sometimes adding a “Resync Delay” in Roon’s device settings helps–this causes Roon to pump a little bit of extra silence through the system when starting playback, which sometimes is enough to hide whatever is going wrong with the hardware.

I don’t think anyone here has experience with Rotel hardware firsthand, so hard to know what is/isn’t normal. Maybe someone else in the community does and can comment on that product specifically.

5

Thanx,
Using Ropieee on a Pi 2 now, that solved the USB identification issue😁
The pop/click issue remains though, with or without Ropieee in the USB chain (NUC > Ropieee > Rotel RC 1590)
Any thoughts?
Pieter

6

Sounds like maybe it’s the Linux driver capability in either the NUC or RPi then…if you try Roon Bridge on say a windows laptop does that work with an ASIO driver?

7

@everybody: thanx for your replies/suggestions etc, much appreciated

@Wizardofoz: with Ropieee identification thingy is solved, but pops keep coming through
@Musicear: You’re right, no clicks but pops (occurs each time I change sample rate/change from PCM to DSD)
@Brian: Thanx, tried ‘resync delay’ and adjusting max sample rate etc: no effect, issue persists.
@wizardofoz: I’ll try my win 10 laptop tomorrow and let you know.
This issue might also be related to the RC 1590.
Using the same setup on a Lyngdorf TDAI 2170 and a Rotel RA 1570: no probs.
I’ll pm Rotel tomorrow. lets see what they’ll say…

8

Pieter,
I have a new RC 1590 that has the same issue. NAS to MacMini as core. DAC pops when sampling rate changes. Any feedback from Rotel? Solve the issue?

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