JRiver tips and techniques: user experiences repository

[firedog]

Tagging Question

 

For those of you, like me, who have multiple versions of the same album, how to you tag them to distinguish them? For example, I have a number of copies of Sonny Rollins "Way Out West." I was thinking of tagging them with a descriptor such as "Way Out West - SACD" or "Way Out West - OJC" or "Way Out West - Vinyl Rip." Before I spend time doing this I was wondering what others have done.

 

Yeah, that's more or less what I do. Tagging - tag how YOU think about YOUR collection. That will work the best for you. I will only add that it helps a lot with a large collection if you are consistent. If you do it as you suggest above, then do it the same way for all SACDs, vinyl rips, etc. Your resulting searches will go a lot easier that way.

[firedog]

I had to uninstall and re-install JRiver on my server, playback on Mytek DSD 192 DAC.

 

Apparently some setting changed, as I now have a recurrence of a problem with DSD file playback that I thought had been left behind: some clicks and skips at the beginning of DSD tracks. This doesn't happen if I go from DSD track to DSD track, but does happen if I go from PCM>DSD. I thought a firmware udate to the Mytek had eliminated this, but apparently it is actually an issue in JRiver.

 

Is there a setting I'm forgetting that will eliminate or reduce this problem?

 

Thanks,

Danny

[firedog]

Per above post, I think I found settings that work: 250 milliseconds buffering (instead of default 100) and 24 bit in 32 bit package. The buffering is longer than I'd like, but it's the shortest alternative setting offered (JRMC 18); and it pretty much solves the problem.

[firedog]

If I try to play a playlist of mixed DSD tracks (dsf format over DoP) and PCM tracks, the playback goes into a loop at the end of the DoP track everytime the playlist has a PCM track following the DoP track.

 

I can confirm that I don't have the problem if using Foobar for playback and my DAC (Mytek); playback in either DoP or Native DSD. Both FW and USB output work fine.

 

With MC19 it occurs everytime I playback a playlist that includes a DSD track (dsf) followed by a PCM track in DoP. Both Asio and Wasapi. All types of PCM, it doesn't matter the format. Both FW and USB output. It doesn't happen if I go from DSD track to DSD track.

 

A workaround for me with MC19 is to use Native DSD. This works in USB but doesn't work in FW, which requires DoP to work with the Mytek DAC. I'd prefer to use FW, as in my setup it sounds better than USB.

 

In other words, the problem is clearly with JRMC, as Foobar doesn't exhibit this behavior.

 

Has anyone else experienced this, and how did you solve it?

 

I didn't have this problem till after an upgrade to JRMC 19, but now it also occurs with JRMC 18.

 

I brought the problem up at the JRiver forum, and one other user said he has the same issue. So far JRiver say they haven't been able to recreate the problem. But since the problem doesn't occur using Foobar for playback of DoP, the issue clearly has something to do with how JRiver handles DoP.

[firedog]

Thanks. I uninstalled 19, including removing registry settings. Went back to 18.0.202. That works.

 

Hopefully MC20 will be better in this area.

[firedog]

I have beta Windows MC20 and both WASAPI and KS are still affected by the Mytek playlist issue (going from DSD to PCM in same playlist). Mytek's ASIO is fine, as reported. My Hugo (KS) is fine, too.

 

I've now gotten 19.0.146 to work. Apparently that's the latest version that doesn't have the issue with DSD in DoP.

 

Ted, just to be clear. You also find that some versions of MC19 work with the Mytek in FW/ASIO and WASAPI/KS but that later versions don't work with WASAPI/KS?

 

It's too bad they can't fix this in MC20.

[firedog]

Windows version 19.0.163 is now posted at JRiver. This solves some of the DSD issues referred to just above. DoP now playing with Wasapi, no issues.

 

Very nice response from JRiver. It took them a couple of tries to understand what the problem was, but once they did, it was fixed in a day.

[firedog]

I have the pop when switching between tracks that are in different sample rates - but only over USB, not FW. So it apparently is either a driver or DAC issue, and not the software.

 

Matt,

 

Thanks, will post at JRiver as well. Just for readers of this thread: I set the device settings software buffering to the maximum (500 ms), as recommended by iFi. I also tried maximum hardware buffering (as well as maximum power of two). This seems to have improved, maybe eliminated, the "pop" on startup from a stopped MC player. But the pop remains, loud and annoying, whenever a track is stopped (not paused), and whenever a track ends on segue to the next track, if and only if the next track is a change in file type (from DSD to PCM or vice versa).

[firedog]

Is there a way when using the JRemote interface to get JRiver to "reload" a smartlist with new selections?

Sometimes I don't like the playlist the smartlist comes up with, and would just like it to give me a new one.

I know I can go into the actual JRiver interface and ask it to refresh the list, but I'd like to be able to get a new list w/out leaving JRemote.

 

I looked on the JRiver forum, and there doesn't seem to be a way of doing this. Seems like it should be an obvious feature to add, IMO.

[firedog]

I'm looking for feedback from other JRiver users who have tried the Volume Leveling and Adaptive Volume options in DSP Studio. When you use it are you using it during "straight" album playback or playback from playlists/Smartlists either with shuffle on or off? what are your experiences and opinions of this tool?

 

Tried it for mixed playlists - so I wouldn't need to adjust the volume constantly. Didn't like it. First, I still needed to adjust volume, just not quite as much. Second, I felt there was a slight degradation in SQ. But I didn't really try to pin it down, so that could have been imagined.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, jriver said:

For any manufacturers who may be reading, we're announcing this today:

 

NEW: Blackbox Version of JRiver Media Center

Aimed at manufacturers of audio and video hardware, a new "Blackbox" version of JRiver can now be hosted on ARM hardware and provide Media Center features such as Library Server and DLNA / UPnP, without a user interface.  All control, including setup, is done from a phone, tablet, or PC.  An Android app makes it easy to find the device on a network.  JRiver has partnered with Austrian system integration company, StreamUnlimited Engineering, to build products for manufacturers.

 

Did you ever update your android app so it looks and works properly and fills a tablet screen, instead of just looking like a phone app sitting in the middle of the screen?