Innuos MKII - USB Skipping with Roon

[Cebolla]

On 8/18/2018 at 8:47 AM, BigAlMc said:

Also it's definitely Roon related because I've never experienced it using the Zeniths LMS player but frequently get it with Roon. 

 

The Zenith's LMS player (or strictly speaking its built-in Squeezelite player) is also being used by the Roon core server via Squeezebox streaming, so it's not actually a Roon Endpoint. So perhaps it's a problem with the Roon core server's Logitech Media Server emulation.

[Cebolla]

On 8/21/2018 at 9:54 AM, FrankMA said:

 

Tried but since the Oppo is not a Roon endpoint, It is not available in Roon as a zone (unless I am missing something)

 

Neither is the Innuos Zenith a Roon Endpoint; the Roon core server is accessing the Zenith via Squeezebox streaming, not via its proprietary RAAT (Roon Advanced Audio Transport) streaming protocol (used for Roon Ready/Roon Endpoints).

 

What you actually need to test with is a Squeezebox type steamer with USB audio output.

[Cebolla]

25 minutes ago, FrankMA said:

Hello @Cebolla  I have been playing with the LMS streamer (ipeng9) and have had no skipping issues MKII>Lush>PS Directstream Jr

 

24 minutes ago, FrankMA said:

Interesting. Not sure how you would do that

 

From your responses, I believe you may have misunderstood my posts.

 

Hopefully I can clarify:

 

The Zenith's LMS player uses a built-in Squeezebox type streamer, Squeezelite, in order to play audio supplied by the Logitech Media Server. The Zenith also uses the same Squeezelite player in order to play audio supplied by the Roon core server.

 

Innuos have taken advantage of Roon's (ancillary) support of Squeezebox type devices and have not bothered to implement a 'proper' Roon Endpoint for the Zenith. The Roon core server has to emulate a Logitech Media Server in order to allow it to be used with Squeezebox type streamers (such as the Zenith's Squeezelite).

 

So for the Zenith to play audio properly from the Roon core server, you are relying on Roon emulating LMS without any problems.

[Cebolla]

Where in any of those links does it say that the Zenith is using RAAT or is a Roon Endpoint?

 

Notice the use of "Roon bridge".

[Cebolla]

Yeah, subtle use of Roon bridge, instead of Roon Bridge!

[Cebolla]

Unfortunately not, but I'd certainly be more inclined to believe the posts from the reliable members of these forums, such as

@austinpop:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/38110-innuos-zenith-se-mkii/?do=findComment&comment=836489

On 6/21/2018 at 4:14 AM, austinpop said:

Just a quick heads up to fellow Zenith SE owners. If you're like me, where you're committed to Roon, but have noticed that the internal squeezelite player sounds better, Innuos may have found a solution, where we can have our cake and eat it too.

 

Nuno had me test an experimental build on my system, where the squeezelite (internal player) daemon has been modified to work as a Roon endpoint. So basically, in Roon, you select the Squeezelite (internal) player as the target endpoint!

 

Here is what I learned from my listening experience:

1. The SQ of the squeezelite player from Roon was identical, or as good as, the normal mode of LMS/iPeng. So that is good.
2. Since Squeezelite is supposed to be able to handle up to 24/384 (as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezelite), there is a puzzling 192 limit in the Roon device setup. This still needs to be investigated. For me - I do have some DXD, and DSD128 content that I do not want to play downsampled. But it's not a showstopper. I can always switch back for these albums.
3. Playback is not totally glitch free. Occasionally - it happened to me every few minutes - the stream will abruptly stop. If I hit play again, it will resume fine. I am guessing it is some fragility in the LMS emulation in Roon, but who knows. Again, not a show stopper.
4. One clear advantage this mode (Roon->squeezelite) has over the iPeng/LMS approach is that you can stream MQA from Tidal no problem. I was able to set the Squeezebox device properties in Roon for MQA to "Decoder and Renderer," and the MQA stream passed through perfectly to the Mytek DAC. The outdated Tidal plugin in LMS only allows 16/44.1, so it messes up MQA.

Innuos still have to come up with user controls (toggles in the Server Integration UI) to enable this, but I've enthusiastically recommended to Nuno that they deliver this as soon as feasible. 

 

[Cebolla]

Hi austinpop,

 

Thanks for responding to this.

 

Ok, looks like I've put my foot in it, big time!

 

Your post that I had linked to you mentioned Innuous' plans for providing Roon core server -> Zenith's Squeezelite streamer. As that post was in June I'd assumed that it would by now have been implemented. Looks like I mistook the post to also mean that it was going to be the only mechanism by which the Zenith would be playing audio from Roon core server, given the improvement in sound quality.

 

My apologies to @FrankMA, @Em2016, @rickca & anyone who may have been mislead by my posts.