Sound dropping out using BluSound Vault 2i

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

Windows 10/PC/1.7 Build 511 stable (64bit)

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
ASUS AC2900 WiFi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router/on WiFi

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Network BluSound Vault 2i to optical connection to external Chord Qutest Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) to Music Fidelity Integrated Amp to Stereo Speakers

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Intermittent to total audio dropout on certain tracks. Roon ceases to play track and “Nothing Playing” shown in play bar. Roon still shows connection to Network BluSound vault 2i. Restarting track results in same result.

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What are your devices and core connect via, WiFi or lan? If Wifi I would try over a lan cable. Core should be connected via lan at the very least.

My Core is on my PC which is connected to my Blusound Vault 2i by 2.4 WiFi. (I access Roon and play music files through a Wi-Fi connected tablet). Are you suggesting that I try and arrange a cable from my PC to my Router (which BTW is connected by the Vault 2i by cable). Would this prevent the drop-outs I am experiencing?
Thanks

Hi @Michael_Yeaman,

Yes, connecting via Ethernet will always be more stable than using WiFi. I would suggest trying this as a way to remove a possible bottleneck in the system.

Exactly…WiFi is not exactly a highway like a lan cable…more like a one way at a time lane

Well wizardofoz thanks for continuing to try and help me. Unfortunately, after getting my PC (which has the Roon core on it) connected to the Internet by Lan cable , I am still getting dropouts when I play back. Any other thoughts?

Michael

Hi @Michael_Yeaman,

Does this same behavior occur for other zones as well or only for the Bluesound zone? For example, does “System Output” work as expected?

Noris thanks for the quick response. Per my stats I am playing digital files only from my Blusound Vault 2i . The Blusound OS app seems to work fine with the dropouts only occurring when I try playback using Roon. I am not certain what you mean by “zone” and “does “System Output” work as expected?”

Thanks again

Michael

Hi @Michael_Yeaman,

If you go into Roon Settings -> Audio, there should be a zone named “System Output”, can you please enable this zone and select it from the Zone picker? Does the same behavior occur for this zone as well as the Vault 2i zone?

Hello. Under the Roon Setting - Audio I see that in the sub area of “This PC”, the “System Output” has been enabled and under the “roon ready” sub area, the “Home Vault 2i” has been enabled. This is the configuration that I have been using and that has produced the mentioned sound dropout errors I have been experiencing. Should I change them?

Thanks Michael

can you give more details about the PC specs as you seem to have not provided this and how the blue sound devices are connected to the network.

Also confirm if all the devices are up to date with firmware etc.

Hello. Mr. wizradofoz I am not sure what additional info you want on my setup but here goes:

Per my original post

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

Windows 10/PC/1.7 Build 511 stable (64bit). (In addition its an HP desktop, i7 core chip with 10 GB Ram)

**Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)**Since original post I have switched to an Ethernet LAN cable connection to my PC. All other components connected via Ethernet Lan cables through an ASUS Router.

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Network BluSound Vault 2i connected with optical connection cable to external Chord Qutest Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) Lan cable connected to Music Fidelity Integrated Amp to Stereo Speakers for audio output.

Please tell me what additional information you need.

Thanks

Michael

Just getting a more complete picture of the system. Assuming this has never worked what is the source of the original music files?

Thanks, yes I have never been able to run Roon without the audio dropping out after a few tracks. The original music files are ripped CDs into the Blusound Vault 2i.

Michael

Hi @Michael_Yeaman,

There are a few things I would look into next:

I assume that the media files are store on the Vault 2i? Is the behavior the same if you try to copy a few files to your Core’s Hard Drive and start playback from there instead? When you host the media files on a NAS such as the Vault, there are more hops needed to play the content (Vault -> Core -> Vault). Let’s try to make one less hop so that it’s just (Core -> Vault) and verify if this helps.

Since you have enabled “System Output”, please try selecting it as the active Zone and verify if the same behavior occurs when you play to your Windows PCs speakers (System Output does this). If we can narrow down this behavior to just affecting the Vault, we will be in a better position to address it.

Noris, thanks for working with me. Following your suggestion, I enabled just the System Output and selected it as the Active Zone and played an hour of music tracks from my PC to my Windows PC speakers. No audio drop occurred.

Ok what’s next?

Michael

Hi @Michael_Yeaman,

This would be the next step, let’s take the music file access speed out of the equation:

Noris
Per my previous message, I believe I demonstrated that music files played directly from the PC that hosts my Core played without dropping out.

What now should I try to not have the dropouts when I play music files from my Blusound Vault 2I?

Thanks
Michael

Has your PC got a SSD drive for C and Roon library file

A HHD would slow things up especially with a big library

Are you dropouts on local files or streaming?

PS. You say a LAN cable from the DAC to the amp . Sounds odd the LAN sould end at the streamer ?

Mike

Thanks for trying to help. To clarify.

  1. I have a SSD drive for my PC, which contains the Roon Core but not my main music library files.
  2. Per my previous message, when I did run a test by putting some of my music files on my PC and running Roon to stream them, I did not have any dropouts
  3. The issue is with audio dropouts occurring when I use Roon to play music files from my Blusound Vault 2i, which is located on the my Network
  4. To be clear, I have an optical cable from my Vault to my DAC which is connected to my amp then output to my speakers.

Michael