New Mac Mini is stutterng on playback

[wgscott]

No sound reason? It has everything to do with sound and reason!

 

Low RAM, more processing => more swapping - he could be maxing out with processing without knowing it and this could cause the stuttering.

 

(1) You have no evidence he is running out of memory. This is something that is easily measured; you don't have to do a touchy-feely subjective listening test.

 

(2) FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV all get uncompressed to exactly the SAME THING by the software during playback. Switching lossless file formats isn't going to change stuttering behavior.

 

(3) The FACT that the problem goes away when he unchecks integer mode tells you your "logic" is completely unsound.

 

However I applaud you for finally at least making a disingenuous attempt to answer his question, for the first time, on page 4 of the thread.

 

 

Obviously nothing at all. What's wrong with you?

 

I neglected to put you on my ignore list with the other irrelevant self-serving pompous uninformed trolls. Please accept my apologies. I will correct this oversight immediately.

[thebiglebowski]

The stuttering issue is related to the driver. The key to understanding the issue is understanding the drivers. Sorry if our discussion may have resulted in you learning a few things you didn't want to learn.

 

Does the asynchronous DAC use drivers? My understanding is that it just uses the HAL to talk to the DAC and integer mode bypasses any conversion.

 

Anyway can't be a driver issue as I've just installed an Audirvana trial and that works with integer mode and the same driver.

[YashN]

He doesn't need it and doesn't care.

 

Now, if integer mode was working with his previous Mini with even less RAM, I wonder if the OS version is more likely to be the culprit.

 

Perhaps also checking that network bandwidth from the NAS is working reliably would be in order.

 

For RAM/CPU and perhaps network too, I would check Utilities->Activity Monitor for each of those and post a screenshot of activities during playback here.

 

Is it possible to retry, same setup, with the old Mini?

[thebiglebowski]

Both my old late 2009 Mac Mini and early 2009 iMac are running 10.10.4 and work in integer mode ok.

 

It's only the new 10.10.4 2015 Mac Mini that doesn't work.

[YashN]

Anyway can't be a driver issue as I've just installed an Audirvana trial and that works with integer mode and the same driver.

 

All right, cool, at least now you've started following some suggestions.

 

Let me see: so now, with A+ and integer mode, you don't get any stuttering, correct?

[YashN]

(2) FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV all get uncompressed to exactly the SAME THING by the software during playback. Switching lossless file formats isn't going to change stuttering behavior.

 

You are clueless if you think realtime uncompression has no effect on SQ in many computer+DAC direct connections.

 

I'll ignore your idiocy as well.

[YashN]

Post the screenshots of Activity Monitor during the stuttering.

[Blizzard]

Does the asynchronous DAC use drivers? My understanding is that it just uses the HAL to talk to the DAC and integer mode bypasses any conversion.

 

Anyway can't be a driver issue as I've just installed an Audirvana trial and that works with integer mode and the same driver.

 

My mistake it does use a driver, but it's one thats built into OSX.

[YashN]

My mistake it does use a driver, but it's one thats built into OSX.

 

Hadn't I pointed out that fact much earlier when I said Mac users mostly do not need to bother installing any driver (when < DSD256 case, which is the case of thebiglebowski here)?

[thebiglebowski]

How can it be a performance issue when my older Mac Mini with less RAM and much older CPU plays absolutely fine in integer mode?

 

As I've already said JRMC is using 1.5% CPU when playing are you suggesting that switching on integer mode is requesting an increase of over 6500% to hit 100% utilisation and cause stuttering?

[YashN]

How can it be a performance issue when my older Mac Mini with less RAM and much older CPU plays absolutely fine in integer mode?

 

It could be anything among plenty of things, even hardware.

 

As I've already said JRMC is using 1.5% CPU when playing are you suggesting that switching on integer mode is requesting an increase of over 6500% to hit 100% utilisation and cause stuttering?

 

Who knows? Have you done the screenshots yet?

[Blizzard]

Hadn't I pointed out that fact much earlier when I said Mac users mostly do not need to bother installing any driver (when < DSD256 case, which is the case of thebiglebowski here)?

 

Yes sorry my mistake. I've mainly used my Exasound with my Macs which do use their own drivers to get around the issues with apple's driver. My Mirus sounds better with Windows ASIO so after hearing the difference I've never looked back.

[YashN]

Yes sorry my mistake. I've mainly used my Exasound with my Macs which do use their own drivers to get around the issues with apple's driver. My Mirus sounds better with Windows ASIO so after hearing the difference I've never looked back.

 

Cool. I understand your point about ASIO, etc. I myself resort to an old XP + foobar2000 with relevant SACD and ASIO plugins + iFi's ASIO driver to be able to do native DSD256.

[YashN]

Now, hopefully Apple didn't introduce further USB or network bugs with 10.10.4 while they de-activated the buggy and recently introduced discoveryd, which was giving me a lot of problems with Wi-Fi often disconnecting.

 

Yosemite was maxing out CPU use rather often on my 4Mb MBP while in beta. Didn't like it at all.

[thebiglebowski]

Here you go as you can see both the CPU & RAM are getting the arse kicked out of them.

 

 

macmini1 by The Biglebowski, on Flickr

 

macmini2 by The Biglebowski, on Flickr

[YashN]

Dude, at least you're abiding half way now. What about that Networking screenshot as well?

 

And the reply to my question whether the stuttering disappears with A+ and integer mode? (A+ = Audirvana).

 

Nice black blotting skills.

[thebiglebowski]

It's a pain in the backside getting screenshots as it's headless. I can categorically say there are no networking issues as I'm running everything over a Cisco 3750 switch at 1 Gig and the NAS is a QNAP TS-453. But at the end of the day a 16/44 flac file being streamed uses a minuscule amount of bandwidth.

 

I'm also playing back files from RAM so bandwidth isn't a factor.

[Blizzard]

(1) You have no evidence he is running out of memory. This is something that is easily measured; you don't have to do a touchy-feely subjective listening test.

 

(2) FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV all get uncompressed to exactly the SAME THING by the software during playback. Switching lossless file formats isn't going to change stuttering behavior.

 

(3) The FACT that the problem goes away when he unchecks integer mode tells you your "logic" is completely unsound.

 

However I applaud you for finally at least making a disingenuous attempt to answer his question, for the first time, on page 4 of the thread.

 

 

 

 

I neglected to put you on my ignore list with the other irrelevant self-serving pompous uninformed trolls. Please accept my apologies. I will correct this oversight immediately.

 

This guy has some real issues. I think this may be a more appropriate forum for him to spend his time:

 

http://drphil.com/speak_main/

[YashN]

It's a pain in the backside getting screenshots as it's headless. I can categorically say there are no networking issues as I'm running everything over a Cisco 3750 switch at 1 Gig and the NAS is a QNAP TS-453. But at the end of the day a 16/44 flac file being streamed uses a minuscule amount of bandwidth.

 

I'm also playing back files from RAM so bandwidth isn't a factor.

 

 

Do you get stuttering with Audirvana and integer mode or not?

[YashN]

This guy has some real issues. I think this may be a more appropriate forum for him to spend his time:

 

Dr. Phil.com - Speak Your Mind

 

 

Use the ignore feature.

[kumakuma]

This guy has some real issues. I think this may be a more appropriate forum for him to spend his time:

 

Dr. Phil.com - Speak Your Mind

 

I'm pretty sure his "issues" stem from doucebag behavior on the part of one of the participants in this thread.

[Blizzard]

I'm pretty sure his "issues" stem from doucebag behavior on the part of one of the participants in this thread.

 

Well there's 2 on his ignore list now so I guess there must be 2 douchebags on this thread if his opinion matters.

[kumakuma]

Well there's 2 on his ignore list now so I guess there must be 2 douchebags on this thread if his opinion matters.

 

I'm also on his ignore list which I am very happy about because it prevents me from being tempted to respond to his rudeness.

[Blizzard]

I'm also on his ignore list which I am very happy about because it prevents me from being tempted to respond to his rudeness.

 

I'm guessing 3/4 of the members of the forum are in that list. You shouldn't lash out at someone just because he offers a sound solution to a problem that not in line with your biased opinion.

[kumakuma]

I'm guessing 3/4 of the members of the forum are in that list. You shouldn't lash out at someone just because he offers a sound solution to a problem that not in line with your biased opinion.

 

Huh? What biased opinion have I expressed?