Using an SSL 12 audio interface. Connection is usb-C.
Number of Tracks in Library
30,000 tracks
Description of Issue
SSL 12 is in CoreAudio Exclusive mode, fixed volume. No DSP. In SSL 360 software the signal is in direct monitor mode, so no changes to levels. This gives occasional digital clipping.
Using the Tidal app with comparable settings (exclusive mode, no volume changes) there is no clipping on the same tracks.
Cutting 1 dB in Roon resolves this. But I don’t understand why Roon is clipping when Tidal does not.
Hmm, not sure, but, my guess would be because Tidal is sending the SSL 12 flac and the SSL is doing conversion to PCM, while, Roon processes it into PCM first and then sends that to the SSL.
What if you don’t run it through the SSL 360 software? I use a Focusrite interface and Roon plays fine when connected directly via USB and then to my monitors. I helped another user last year with a similar distortion issue on his Focusrite interface and he also bypassed the control software and all his problems went away.
I definitely can try that. That said, the reason I was playing Roon was to compare levels to my own recordings to get a sense for volumes. Not your typical use case. Then I noticed Roon was clipping while Tidal doesn’t. A 1 dB drop in Roon playback volume sorted it out.
But it does beg the question of where the digital overs are introduced. If it is the FLAC to PCM conversion, that’s interesting. It makes me wonder if FLAC is doing something with brick-wall limited audio that introduces additional distortion when it is converted back to PCM.
In a sense, I trust Roon to get this right. If it says something is lossless, then I’m disappointed that it is introducing clipping (albeit very minor since 1 dB reduction sorts it out) in the conversion process.
Alternatively, Roon could be getting it right and something is going wrong further downstream.