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AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning


rickca
Message added by austinpop

Summary of useful findings and recommendations

 

This section will be a living repository of useful info from this thread. It's very similar to a wiki and will be maintained by a small group of thread moderators.

 

Before you get started please refer to the Audio-Linux website to ensure you have the latest info and the proper versions of the OS. Audio-Linux.com  

 

**** Updated for AL 1.30 menu 118 or later.

 

  "First Run" setup for headless.  

 

Setup your NUC with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the NUC BIOS settings.  From the menu note the IP address of the machine to SSH into.  From a MAC the macOS terminal program supports SSH:

324537708_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_02_19PM.thumb.png.739dc7f9cdb05e04da806c7c66877332.png

 

Then it is simpler to cut and paste into the terminal session. After entering the password for the audiolinuxuser you will be presented with the AL headless menu:

 

1518375894_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_04_18PM.thumb.png.a7b2867a163f8f014e56e52ff69f94b4.png

 

Option 8 takes you to the command line for the following basic setup.  You will need to be the Root user for this setup and the su command first:

 

su

 

Fix the time zone:  (this is my timezone - look in directory /usr/share/zoneinfo)

 

timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago
 

Setup and Start NTP daemon (to keep the system time in sync)

 

*** the config file is now properly filled in.

 

Now Start the daemon

 

timedatectl set-ntp true

 

 

NOTE: Sometimes the system takes a little while to get synced up.
 

Set hostname  (this provides a unique name for the machine on your network.  Replace <NAME> with your chosen name)

 

hostnamectl set-hostname <NAME> 
 

Once the above items are set up your machine is ready to be configured for say a Roon bridge/endpoint. That is done using the AL menu.  To return to the menu do the following commands.

 

exit

menu

 

----------------------------------

 

For most of us, the following basic settings are key.

From the configuration menu:

6. START and enable Roonbridge

15. SET Realtime Priority to extreme

16. ENABLE ramroot (reboot after)

 

Return to the main menu and reboot the NUC using 

 

11 Reboot

 

------------------

Roon Server setup is a bit more complex and we will cover it completely a bit later.  The key is where you are booting from and where the Roon database is stored.  In general; say a 32gb OPTANE "SSD".

 

  • You have to partition the SSD into a boot drive and a storage drive.  
  • The transfer the USB stick install to the boot partition.  
  • Reboot from the boot partition.  
  • Do the basic setup. Timezone and name
  • Transfer the Roon Database to the storage drive
  • Start the Roon Server
  • .....

 

----------------- 

The machine will reboot and from the display attached to the NUC you can watch it boot up and load into RAM.  Once the AudioLinux menu is showing the endpoint should be available in Roon.    This completes the basic startup sequence.  The system is ready to start testing.    

 

 

Recommended Posts

20/03/2019 Audiolinux headless release 1.1.1 with fix for new upmpdcli package and updated working pstate-frequency package. 
20/03/2019 Menu updated to version 106 with fix for new upmpdcli package (UPnP for MPD) with fix for new upmpdcli package
19/03/2019 Audiolinux headless version 1.1 is out, Kernel updated to l4.19.25-rt16-9-rt-bfq, menu updated to version 105
19/03/2019 New kernel 4.19.25-rt16
18/03/2019 Last Audiolinux menu 105 with new Network option. Now you can choose:     1 DHCP automatic IP Address 2 STATIC IP Address 3 RESTORE previous 4 RESTORE original
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7 hours ago, sypderman88 said:

 

Hi,

 

 I am also running NUC7PJYH AL headless with external LMS  server but with 8GB ram using squezelite (not R2 version). My DAC supports DOP for DSD64 (tested on the same NUC using daphile working fine ) but I could not get DSD to work in DOP mode for AL. Can you share what is the setting for your squeezelite config file in linux ?  Thanks

 

squeezelite conf

"-D -r 44100-768000 -b 800000:200000  -e alac -o front: CARD=Blu2, DEV=0"

 

With the patience and help from Piero; I managed to get Squeezelite to play DSD256 via DoP on my DAC.

He also helped me fix the instability of Squeezlite playing Apple Lossless files.

 

Regards,

 

Geoff

PH SR7 > MacMini+Uptone MMK Mod > Audirvana 3.2 > re-clocked D-LInk switch/LPS1.1 > sMS-200Ultra/LPS1.2 > tX-USBUltra/PH SR7 > Chord BluDave > Focal Utopia(Norne Silver) or Voxativ 9.87/ Stereo REL G1 Mk II

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1 hour ago, hifi25nl said:

If you have a version before 1.1.1, you should reinstall manually pstate-frequency (because of a bug in a previous version)

yaourt -S pstate-frequency

and reboot

 

Select MPD DAC is working fine here and also LMS. For specific problems of subscribers please contact me.

 

I remember that the menu is not designed for using numbers really, to select an option you should use arrow keys and Enter.

 

Piero, many thanks for the updates. The pstate-frequency module is working perfectly here. This is very much appreciated!

 

Larry

 

Pareto Audio aka nuckleheadaudio

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3 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

You couldn't set processor/ performance settings they defaulted to max speed and turbo on, Its fixed in the latest patch.

 

3 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

If you have a version before 1.1.1, you should reinstall manually pstate-frequency (because of a bug in a previous version)

yaourt -S pstate-frequency

and reboot

 

Select MPD DAC is working fine here and also LMS. For specific problems of subscribers please contact me.

 

I remember that the menu is not designed for using numbers really, to select an option you should use arrow keys and Enter.

 

 

Thanks for the fix. I appear to have managed to avoid it, unless... Was this bug only occurring when used in conjunction with isolated cores? I have yet to use that feature, so perhaps that's why I did not see it.

 

I routinely twist maximum allowable torquage double-check frequency any time I reboot, to ensure my governor settings are still active.

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28 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

 

Thanks for the fix. I appear to have managed to avoid it, unless... Was this bug only occurring when used in conjunction with isolated cores? I have yet to use that feature, so perhaps that's why I did not see it.

 

I routinely twist maximum allowable torquage double-check frequency any time I reboot, to ensure my governor settings are still active.

 

 

No the fix has nothing to do with Audiolinux configuration, it was only a little bug in the previous version of pstate-frequency

AudioLinux --> https://www.audio-linux.com

developer of AudioLinux realtime OS

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1 minute ago, austinpop said:

Hey folks, 

 

I just wanted to give kudos to @hifi25nl for his responsiveness to ideas and suggestions for improvement.

 

Earlier this week I tried to setup a new server using the "Copy/backup to... another drive" and "Transfer Roon database to another drive" options. It didn't quite do what I want. I suggested to Piero that what we really wanted was to clone the boot USB stick to the target drive (in my case, Optane SSD), but use the extra space for a 3rd partition on the target for "data," specifically the Roon DB. I also sent him some script suggestions.

 

Well here it is barely days later, and he's delivered it already in menu version 107! 

 

If you're thinking of setting up a new system with Roon server, booting off an Optane (or other) SSD, and putting the Roon DB on this drive in a separate partition, please test 107. You should be able to do all of this now from within the menu without having to drop into the command line.

 

That is GRRRREATTTTTT!

 

I need to go back and re-do my from 0 to ..... setup stuff.  There are so few steps now to get started.  Hi FIVE to @hifi25nl!

 

 

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8 hours ago, austinpop said:

Hey folks, 

 

I just wanted to give kudos to @hifi25nl for his responsiveness to ideas and suggestions for improvement.

 

Earlier this week I tried to setup a new server using the "Copy/backup to... another drive" and "Transfer Roon database to another drive" options. It didn't quite do what I want. I suggested to Piero that what we really wanted was to clone the boot USB stick to the target drive (in my case, Optane SSD), but use the extra space for a 3rd partition on the target for "data," specifically the Roon DB. I also sent him some script suggestions.

 

Well here it is barely days later, and he's delivered it already in menu version 107! 

 

If you're thinking of setting up a new system with Roon server, booting off an Optane (or other) SSD, and putting the Roon DB on this drive in a separate partition, please test 107. You should be able to do all of this now from within the menu without having to drop into the command line.

 

 

Curious to why you're using Optane and not loading into RAM from the USB stick.

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1 hour ago, bobfa said:

We all seem to conclude that we have heard no difference if the Roon Database is on Optane so that makes Roon Server and the owner a lot happier.

 

 

Who else concluded this? Just curious. 

 

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

 

2 reasons: a) the Roon DB can be quite big and may not fit in RAM, and b) this way any library updates are persistent, without needing to ram save.

 

16GB of RAM for the Core and there should be no DB issues. Save to RAM is super easy with Piero's one click menu item. 

 

I played around with Optane as a drive and as memory for months but found it a little more edgy than without. Since it's behind the switch and not in the endpoint it will have less impact. I'm of the mind that anything requiring power is going to add noise. The only question is how much. 

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9 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

Who else concluded this? Just curious. 

 

 

16GB of RAM for the Core and there should be no DB issues. Save to RAM is super easy with Piero's one click menu item. 

 

I played around with Optane as a drive and as memory for months but found it a little more edgy than without. Since it's behind the switch and not in the endpoint it will have less impact. I'm of the mind that anything requiring power is going to add noise. The only question is how much. 

 

I’ve tried it both ways on the server, and concluded for myself the trade off is worth it.

 

You may disagree, which is fine.

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2 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

I’ve tried it both ways on the server, and concluded for myself the trade off is worth it.

 

You may disagree, which is fine.

 

Yes there are many ways to skin the audio cat. No reason for everyone to agree on it all. 

 

On another note I think the 400w HDPlex supply is an improvement from going through their converter, even with the SR7. A very slight improvement, but one none the less. Thanks for the recommendation. 

 

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16 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

Yes there are many ways to skin the audio cat. No reason for everyone to agree on it all. 

 

On another note I think the 400w HDPlex supply is an improvement from going through their converter, even with the SR7. A very slight improvement, but one none the less. Thanks for the recommendation. 

 

 

You're welcome. That was always the question, wasn't it. Does a decent (but not Paul Hynes quality) LPSU like the HDPlex 400W, with independent rails for each ATX voltage and the CPU, sound better than a single SR-7 rail followed by a DC-ATX converter. Your finding is really valuable, as you seem to have concluded that good as the SR-7 is, it is undone by the limitations of the DC-ATX converter. Of course the ideal would be a very high quality multi-rail ATX LPSU, which is where the Sean Jacobs of the world come in. This is why the ZENith's cost so much.

 

Regarding Optane SSD on the server, here's how to think about it. If the premise is that any media (USB stick, Optane SSD, etc) add noise, then the cleanest path is to place the Roon DB on the root partition, boot off a USB stick in ramroot and remove the stick. Of course, now your database is transient. You can't run the ramsave timer because there's no media to save to. The only way to persist changes is to manually insert the stick and do a ramsave. I've tried this path, and even though I'm a meticulous person, have forgotten to do this step before rebooting for whatever reason. Poof - changes lost.

 

OK, so let's add the Optane SSD. Well, now the noise penalty, such as it is, is ever-present. So is there an advantage to having the Roon DB in the root partition, so it gets loaded into ramroot? Not that I could hear. And the downsides are - it takes longer to boot, it requires more RAM (without the DB, I can easily run with 8GB RAM), which consumes more power. By moving the DB to a separate partition which is mounted, all database I/O is persistent to that partition, not transient to the ramroot RAM disk.

 

On the endpoint, no question: no media sounds best. Boot off a USB stick and remove after boot. Since there's no real "state" to persist with Roon Bridge of Squeezelite, this works great.

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1 hour ago, austinpop said:

 

You're welcome. That was always the question, wasn't it. Does a decent (but not Paul Hynes quality) LPSU like the HDPlex 400W, with independent rails for each ATX voltage and the CPU, sound better than a single SR-7 rail followed by a DC-ATX converter. Your finding is really valuable, as you seem to have concluded that good as the SR-7 is, it is undone by the limitations of the DC-ATX converter. Of course the ideal would be a very high quality multi-rail ATX LPSU, which is where the Sean Jacobs of the world come in. This is why the ZENith's cost so much.

 

Regarding Optane SSD on the server, here's how to think about it. If the premise is that any media (USB stick, Optane SSD, etc) add noise, then the cleanest path is to place the Roon DB on the root partition, boot off a USB stick in ramroot and remove the stick. Of course, now your database is transient. You can't run the ramsave timer because there's no media to save to. The only way to persist changes is to manually insert the stick and do a ramsave. I've tried this path, and even though I'm a meticulous person, have forgotten to do this step before rebooting for whatever reason. Poof - changes lost.

 

OK, so let's add the Optane SSD. Well, now the noise penalty, such as it is, is ever-present. So is there an advantage to having the Roon DB in the root partition, so it gets loaded into ramroot? Not that I could hear. And the downsides are - it takes longer to boot, it requires more RAM (without the DB, I can easily run with 8GB RAM), which consumes more power. By moving the DB to a separate partition which is mounted, all database I/O is persistent to that partition, not transient to the ramroot RAM disk.

 

On the endpoint, no question: no media sounds best. Boot off a USB stick and remove after boot. Since there's no real "state" to persist with Roon Bridge of Squeezelite, this works great.

 

I rarely turn off my Core server so no concerns about boot time.  Automate Roon backups to your NAS and you can always quickly restore. I never wonder if it's degrading or influencing the sound because it's not there. 

 

The fact that you can't hear a difference and it makes it easier for you is all the reason you need. 

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Entertaining the possibility that 100mbps may sound better than gigabit; has anyone ever tried to change speed/duplex settings in AudioLinux? I’m not sure about the best way to do it, and do it in a persistent way (‘surviving’ reboots).

 

Installing ethtool makes it easy to try it on the fly but these settings are not persistent. If anyone wants to try see the commands below. You’ll lose the connection for a short while but it comes back. These also work when RAM root is enabled so a reboot reverts back to all original.

 

[switch to root]

su

 

[update packages]

pacman -Syy

 

[install ethtool]

pacman -S ethtool

 

[check current settings]

ethtool eno1

 

[check name of your ethernet interface]

ip addr sh

 

[change eno1 interface to 100mbps/full duplex]

ethtool -s eno1 speed 100 duplex full autoneg off

 

@hifi25nl, could you perhaps chime in when you have the time? Thank you in advance.

 

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A better method is probably using systemd Network device configuration:

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.link.html

There is the parameter BitsPerSecond

 

Quote

The link files are read from the files located in the system network directory /usr/lib/systemd/network, the volatile runtime network directory /run/systemd/network, and the local administration network directory /etc/systemd/network. Link files must have the extension .link; other extensions are ignored. All link files are collectively sorted and processed in lexical order, regardless of the directories in which they live. However, files with identical filenames replace each other. Files in /etc have the highest priority, files in /run take precedence over files with the same name in /usr/lib. This can be used to override a system-supplied link file with a local file if needed. As a special case, an empty file (file size 0) or symlink with the same name pointing to /dev/null disables the configuration file entirely (it is "masked").

The link file contains a [Match] section, which determines if a given link file may be applied to a given device, as well as a [Link] section specifying how the device should be configured. The first (in lexical order) of the link files that matches a given device is applied. Note that a default file 99-default.link is shipped by the system. Any user-supplied .link should hence have a lexically earlier name to be considered at all.

 

AudioLinux --> https://www.audio-linux.com

developer of AudioLinux realtime OS

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23 minutes ago, Dutch said:

Entertaining the idea that 100mbps may sound better than gigabit; has anyone ever tried to change speed/duplex settings in AudioLinux? I’m not sure about the best way to do it, and do it in a persistent way (‘surviving’ reboots).

 

Installing ethtool makes it easy to try it on the fly but these settings are not persistent. If anyone wants to try see the commands below. You’ll lose the connection for a short while but it comes back. These also work when RAM root is enabled so a reboot reverts back to all original.

 

[switch to root]

su

 

[update packages]

pacman -Syy

 

[install ethtool]

pacman -S ethtool

 

[check current settings]

ethtool eno1

 

[check name of your ethernet interface]

ip addr sh

 

[change eno1 interface to 100mbps/full duplex]

ethtool -s eno1 speed 100 duplex full autoneg off

 

@hifi25nl, could you perhaps chime in when you have the time? Thank you in advance.

 

If you read the novel thread you will see many posts about Ethernet cards, Ethernet speed, FMCs, cable types, duplex, flow control, off loading ...  ad naseum. Generally slower and simpler is better, even 10 Mbps can sound great. The trouble with these Ethernet chains is that many power supplies are required, and the SQ is directly influenced by the quality of these supplies.

 

It is a good idea to somehow isolate the cable modem and related street noise as early as possible in the chain.

 

After spending years looking at alternatives, over here 5ghz wifi has been found to provide the best SQ and simplest to install and support.

 

Keep 2.4 GHz devices away from any audio system. It sucks the life out of SQ.

 

When the EtherRegen arrives, I will take another look at wired Ethernet.

Pareto Audio aka nuckleheadaudio

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14 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

A better method is probably using systemd Network device configuration:

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.link.html

There is the parameter BitsPerSecond

 

 

 

Thank you Piero for your quick reply! I will look into it soon, just switched off the system. Dinner time! :)

 

 

@lmitche, thanks! Yes, I know it’s been discussed much. It’s exactly the reason why I looked into this again but now for AudioLinux and to try for myself.

 

WiFi is something I will test sometime soon as well. I have already ordered and received the antennae from Aliexpress for the i7 NUC endpoint in its Akasa case.

 

Currently my setup is: 

 

Internet -> router -> switch with fiber SFP port -> (long fiber) -> TP Link MC220L -> EMO systems EN70HD -> server NIC1

 

Server NIC 2 -> NUC endpoint -> TX-USBUltra -> Mutec MC-3+USB -> Devialet 250 Pro CI

 

Both server NICs are bridged.

 

So I did my best to isolate the ‘dirty side’. My plans for the etherRegen etc I wrote in the novel thread today. :)

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I also find wifi to be quiet a bit of improvement over wired connection. Both my server and endpoint are on Airport extender and I have no ethernet cables around the audio system. For those who are still on wired connection, the GigaFoil v4 is something one should look at. One of my friend is recently installed one and was very satisfied with the result. On other forums many have added a Keces P3 LPS to the GigaFoilv4 and are very happy with the results. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi austinpop,

 

I tried you SqueezeLite buffer and alsa settings on my NUC with 8GB ram

  • OPTIONS="-n sq-NUC -o hw:CARD=Interface -b 2097152:2097152 -a 52428800:4:: -D"

and made an USB stick with 

  • OPTIONS="-n sq-NUC -o hw:CARD=Interface -b 2097152:1572864 -a 52428800:4:: -D"

for Tidal streaming and wow it sound very nice. What can I say. Thanks a lot 😀

 

Regards Monge

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6 hours ago, Monge said:

Hi austinpop,

 

I tried you SqueezeLite buffer and alsa settings on my NUC with 8GB ram

  • OPTIONS="-n sq-NUC -o hw:CARD=Interface -b 2097152:2097152 -a 52428800:4:: -D"

and made an USB stick with 

  • OPTIONS="-n sq-NUC -o hw:CARD=Interface -b 2097152:1572864 -a 52428800:4:: -D"

for Tidal streaming and wow it sound very nice. What can I say. Thanks a lot 😀

 

Regards Monge

 

Very glad you found this an improvement!

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