Streaming from Tidal starts with noise and then is fine

[jaapaap]

Locally streamed files seem fine, when playing Tidal files on my AudioIQ there is no noise at the beginning of the song.

Seems like a buffering issue for Meridian hardware.

Anyone else experiencing the same?

[jaapaap]

I guess I’m the only one!

[jaapaap]

Keep having this problem. @support, any ideas?

[dylan (Dylan Caudill)]

Hi @jaapaap,

Can you share a screenshot of the signal path when playing TIDAL content to the Meridian zone?

Does this happen with all TIDAL content or just some?

[jaapaap]

[jaapaap]

[jaapaap]

Both CD and MQA. I’ve got an MS200 and a 218 too that have the same problem.

[jaapaap]

To me it would seem like there is some buffering issue. I don’t have the same problem with local media. And it’s only at the beginning of the song.

[noris]

Hi @jaapaap,

What kind of Core are you using here, a PC or a dedicated device such as ROCK/Nucleus? What is the network setup like? What is the model/manufacturer of all your networking gear?

I would try to simplify things a bit, if you connect the Core and one of the Meridian zones via Ethernet to the router directly (bypassing any switches/range extenders), does the same behavior still occur ?

[jaapaap]

I’m using a Nucleus+ currently and Rock before that. I had the same problem with the Rock setup.

I’m using a Cisco Nexus 3172TQ switch. My Nucleus+ and end points are directly connected to this switch.

I’ll try your proposal to directly connect to my Verizon Fios Quantum Gateway router directly. I will disconnect my Cisco switch completely when doing this experiment.

Note that the noisy behaviour only shows with my Meridian end points, my IQaudIO Pi-DigiAmp+ plays smoothly.

Is there a difference in the amount of pre-buffering that’s done for these devices?

[noris]

Hi @jaapaap,

Is there a difference in the amount of pre-buffering that’s done for these devices?

Yes, Meridian streaming uses it’s own set of protocols, so it would be different than your other zones.

I will disconnect my Cisco switch completely when doing this experiment.

Bypassing the switch will be a good test, yes. Do let me know how it goes.

Thanks!

[jaapaap]

Bypassing the switch completely worked and the playing from Tidal is smooth now!

So it looks like my switch could be causing the problem. Is there any document with recommended L2/L3 switch settings for Roon? E.g. should IGMP snooping be enabled (I have it disabled)?

[jaapaap]

Perhaps this is a Meridian/Sooloos question rather.

[ged_hickman1]

Managed switches seem to be a pain with roon.
The advice seems to be to toggle igmp on or off to get it to a known state.
Here’s a long thread with lots of explanation if you are looking for some quiet reading

Is Multicast / IGMP needed?

This is a confusing thread. Got some time so I’ll try to summarize some networking terminology to help. Roon requires that all devices are on the “same network”. What that really means is the same “broadcast domain”. In networking we define different layers with regard to what part of the components is responsible for making things work. The first 3 layers are: Physical Data Link Network Physical - This is your ethernet switches, cabling, network interfaces, etc. Everything you can touch. Da…

[jaapaap]

@ged_hickman1: thanks. Yes, I remember reading the IGMP topic some time ago, that’s why I turned it off on my side to ‘mimic’ an unmanaged switch.

But I’m sure there are many more settings that could cause some buffering issues, so am just curious if there’s some list of what not to set on a managed switch to avoid what I’m experiencing.

[ged_hickman1]

From the Knowledge Base. A lot of people end up buying a cheap unmanaged switch for the core/remote connections.

Managed Switches

Managed switches can be very robust, but they are often designed for professional installation, so in many cases the out-of-box configuration is not right. If your switch has a “flow control” setting, please make sure that it is enabled. Also, make sure that the switch is not performing any sort of throttling that might impact communication between cores, storage, remotes, and/or audio endpoints. Finally, ensure that the switch is configured to pass multicast and broadcast traffic. If in doubt about any of this, try temporarily replacing your managed switch with a “dumb” switch to see if things improve

[noris]

Hi @jaapaap,

Thanks for the update here and for letting us know that bypassing the managed switch resolved the issue. As @ged_hickman1 noted in the Knowledge Base guide, you may want to try enabling the “flow control” setting on the switch, or replace the managed switch with a gigabit unmanaged one. Unmanaged switches are fairly cheap now-a-days so if flow control doesn’t help replacing it would be my suggestion here. Thanks!