Audiolinux Server configurations, Software, Hardware, and Listening Impressions

[flkin]

10 hours ago, lmitche said:

Late last week a blind test of Euphony Stylus, Euphony Stylus Endpoint, and Audiolinux RoonBridge was performed. There was one listener, a very experienced audiophile, who is someone with zero understanding of the digital world. As such, he has no bias or interest any software solution. Nevertheless during the test no indication of the current test configuration was shared. Indeed the names of the software being tested were never shared.

 

All tests were performed on a NUC7I7DNBE endpoint connected via 5ghz wifi to a I7-6700k server running RoonServer or serving files via Samba for Euphony Stylus.  Audiolinux and Euphony were configured in the "best" way possible based on my experience.

 

Bottom line, the Audiolinux/Roonbridge config was the best sounding of the three configurations.

 

The Euphony Stylus SQ was declared darker and lacking presence and liveliness. This despite having the entire track buffered in RAM before playback start.

 

The Euphony Stylus Endpoint sounded better, but transients seem to lack control and dynamic passages can sound harsh and distorted at the peaks.

 

Audiolinux/Roonbridge was the most balanced presentation with the best tonal qualities, and most natural presentation.

 

There are many variables at work here, and of course others may have a different experience.

 

Thanks for working on this Larry. Your findings are exactly the same as mine in my recent tests of AL and Euphony/Stylus with my Pink Faun 2.16x streamer. What are your preferred menu AL settings today?

[flkin]

9 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

I suggest this:

echo 1000 > /proc/sys/vm/stat_interval
echo 0 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/numa
#echo 3 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/cpumask
echo -1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sched_rt_runtime_us
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog
echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs

 

Do these settings apply to AMD CPU systems, Intel CPU systems or both? 

Did you intend to remove the # from the 3rd line or is it intentionally left there?

 

Thanks Piero! 

[flkin]

What I meant to ask was - should the script be:

 

#echo 3 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/cpumask

or 

echo 3 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/cpumask

 

Thanks.

[flkin]

23 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

I would try all...:

 

echo 1000 > /proc/sys/vm/stat_interval
echo 0 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/numa
echo 1 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/cpumask
echo -1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sched_rt_runtime_us
echo 0 >/sys/devices/system/machinecheck/machinecheck3/check_interval
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog

echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
 

The line echo 1 > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/cpumask should be used only in your case (general purpose cpu equivalent to CPU0)

 

If I Enabled Only One core for music in my 8 core CPU (random but say core 3 only), would the offset for

 

echo x > /sys/bus/workqueue/devices/writeback/cpumask

 

be x = 247?

 

ie.  In the web link you posted above to calculate the offset, we should be selecting the NOT FOR MUSIC cores? So for Enabled Only One core 3, we select 1,2,4,5,6,7,8 for the calculation?

 

Since the cores are random each time a power cycle occurs, does that mean we have to edit this offset and enter the proper number again should the random core switch?

[flkin]

Got it, thanks. Entering the incorrect mask number affects the sound quite a bit!

[flkin]

On 8/13/2019 at 10:47 PM, hifi25nl said:

Menu update 124 with new options in expert menu:

9 "ENABLE/DISABLE realtime manual assignment"

(this will disable manual priority assignment standard or extreme but not general priority as managed by realtime kernel)

10 "Change ucode to AMD/Intel" --> Ryzen users should activate AMD option!

WiFi script hotfix now will remove previous attempts configuration (wpa_supplicant).

Roon database transfer script will move the full directory /var/roon not only the database (otherwise in ram mode you should save playlists each time etc.)

 

 

Dont understand 9. How do we use this?

 

“Roon database transfer script will move the full directory /var/roon not only the database (otherwise in ram mode you should save playlists each time etc.)” so do we still need to save system when changes are made in while in Ramroot?

 

[flkin]

Went smoothly for me. No issues. Sounds different.. not sure if I like it yet.

[flkin]

Yes, with the new menu/system/kernel the sound is promising. I haven't had time to completed fine tuning yet but what I hear so far is a step forward. 😁 

 

For me, the new menu option under Expert "ENABLE/DISABLE realtime manual assignment" was the key to the new level of sound. It needs to be on. What on questioning Piero what it was, it opened up a few new fine tune adjustments that make quite a difference (for me at least).

 

Basically it controls the priority of IRQs and audio applications in two files rtirq.conf and rtapp.conf respectively. Both found under the /etc folder or sub-folder. 

 

Details of the adjustments are here: https://www.audio-linux.com/html/realtime.html.

 

I will be discussing my experiments with these 2 files in more detail and my findings/concludions for my Pink Faun 2.16x in the PF thread.

[flkin]

49 minutes ago, Bricki said:

I have tried the manual priority disabled on my Celeron NUC7 with isolated cores and I think it sounds better with it disabled...

 

Ah, if I what you are saying refers to the realtime manual assignment new AL feature, seems like it may be different for different systems - we can at least conclude there is a difference and so worth trying out!

[flkin]

1 hour ago, flkin said:

Yes, with the new menu/system/kernel the sound is promising. I haven't had time to completed fine tuning yet but what I hear so far is a step forward. 😁 

 

For me, the new menu option under Expert "ENABLE/DISABLE realtime manual assignment" was the key to the new level of sound. It needs to be on. What on questioning Piero what it was, it opened up a few new fine tune adjustments that make quite a difference (for me at least).

 

Basically it controls the priority of IRQs and audio applications in two files rtirq.conf and rtapp.conf respectively. Both found under the /etc folder or sub-folder. 

 

Details of the adjustments are here: https://www.audio-linux.com/html/realtime.html.

 

I will be discussing my experiments with these 2 files in more detail and my findings/concludions for my Pink Faun 2.16x in the PF thread.

 

Here are the findings:

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/43629-pink-faun-216/?do=findComment&comment=984416

 

[flkin]

Hi Piero what you are charging is very reasonable, thank you for all your support and hard work to date! 

 

What new improvements can we look forward to? Hopefully some of the AMD compatibility issues are resolved.