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Audiolinux Server configurations, Software, Hardware, and Listening Impressions


lmitche

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On 4/3/2019 at 2:54 PM, hifi25nl said:

Yes and Yes...

 

but the asound.conf will apply to all applications, especially Roon

 

Unfortunately this will not work for me. Once I create the asound.conf file and reboot my core/endpoint won’t list my output device (Mutec MC-3+ USB) in Roon. When I remove the file it works again.

 

I do see the Mutec when I list the audio card IRQ’s, it has the closed status.

 

Any ideas?

 

edit; I’m running AL 1.0 menu 103 and created the file using the root account.

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8 minutes ago, Dutch said:

 

Unfortunately this will not work for me. Once I create the asound.conf file and reboot my core/endpoint won’t list my output device (Mutec MC-3+ USB) in Roon. When I remove the file it works again.

 

I do see the Mutec when I list the audio card IRQ’s, it has the closed status.

 

Any ideas?

 

edit; I’m running AL 1.0 menu 103 and created the file using the root account.

Did you try this without the Mutec device? I appreciate this is not what you want, but I know at least three people that removed and later sold Mutec USBs after installing NUC/AL endpoints. You may be surprised.

 

I did this same change here yesterday. The result was harsh, so as suggested I lowered real-time priority to standard and ended up with a better result than when I started.

 

Also, the latest Euphony release also contains this same asound.conf file. I've been looking at tuning differences between the two solutions. This is one.

Pareto Audio aka nuckleheadaudio

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2 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Did you try this without the Mutec device? I appreciate this is not what you want, but I know at least three people that removed and later sold Mutec USBs after installing NUC/AL endpoints. You may be surprised.

 

I did this same change here yesterday. The result was harsh, so as suggested I lowered real-time priority to standard and ended up with a better result than when I started.

 

Also, the latest Euphony release also contains this same asound.conf file. I've been looking at tuning differences between the two solutions. This is one.

 

Thanks Larry, the removal of the Mutec is something that is indeed on my list to test some day but I have changed so much recently that I’d like to establish a new baseline first. After removing the Mutec the AL NUC -> TX-USBUltra would then connect directly to my Devialet dac/amp.

 

I thought I’d do this ALSA change in between since it looked as an easy quick win. Who needs mixers anyway? ;)

 

Thanks for your efforts in chasing the differences between AL and Euphony!

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6 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

Can you check the alsa output is not muted with alsamixer option?

keyboard M is enabling/disabling output

When enabled you should see 00 on green background

 

Hi Piero, I noticed that when I have the asound.conf file in place the alsamixer option in your menu no longer starts. When I select the option it jumps back to the start of the list. I have no idea why this happens.

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2 hours ago, RickyV said:

When reading this I had an idea. Isn't it possible to split/separate/ isolate the two ram banks and use one bank for the OS and the second bank for playback.

Don't know Ricky, you can create and partition a ramdisk, but don't think you can seperate the two modules. Might be possible with that new persistent RAM but most likely it will be tied to certain hardware and controllers, pricewise it could be scary.

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15 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

Can you check the alsa output is not muted with alsamixer option?

keyboard M is enabling/disabling output

When enabled you should see 00 on green background

 

Oh no, my apologies! I think I have solved it, I checked and doublechecked the contents but decided to create the file again using putty from a normal computer (instead of my iPad) and after a reboot it now shows the Mutec end-point and starts the alsamixer option.

 

Is there a way to check though it now bypasses the Mixer?

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6 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

It should, as this is in the alsa documentation! Some users have already reported sound differences

 

 

 

OK, I’ll trust on it working then but perhaps in the mean time revert this change until I’ve established a new baseline for my system. I thought it was guaranteed to improve SQ but lmitche does indicate in his post above it might need some tuning elsewhere too (in my system I also have the isolated CPU’s option active, so there’s too many variables). I’m not ‘ready for that’ right now.

 

Thank you very much for your quick help Piero!

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3 hours ago, davide256 said:

Suggestions?

Did you install the wpa_supplicant package?

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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6 hours ago, vortecjr said:

No and no it's not when people put in silly numbers because they don't understand the ramifications of it. BTW the ramifications are that the system becomes unstable, as has been reported here numerous time, and the developer gets numerous complaints. Volumio's settings will naturally differ because Volumio is different than MPD. You said the key word though...it differs "slightly". Notice its doesn't differ grossly from recommended values. BTW Max will certainly give MPD the smarts to decide the best value for these settings rather than rely on guess work from the user. This will make things more efficient where the player can decide what is best based on sample rate and bit rate and not on some fixed value in a configuration file. 

Volumio does use, among others, MPD ans sets 

 

audio_buffer_size               "8192"
buffer_before_play               "10%"

 

instead of the MPD defaults

 

audio_buffer_size               "4096"
buffer_before_play               "10%"

 

in /etc/mpd.conf. This is a minor change that can be very useful also under plain Raspbian for certain platforms. I am fully confident that Max will come up with meaningful MPD upgrades. On the other hand, the two settings and the potential implications of changing their default values by large amounts are well documented in the official MPD documentation. Thus, if users play around with them and run into troubles is their fault. Not a reason to impair the customizability of MPD, in my view.  

 

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7 hours ago, vortecjr said:

The point of a real time kernel is to process data as it comes in without buffer delays. Besides an asynchronous DAC will pull that data from the player as it sees fit and it doesn't care about how you fill the buffer. The DAC only cares that the buffer has the data it needs, when it needs it. The affects on sound quality are well documented and its called a "dropout". Dropouts resulting from xruns are bad for sound quality:)     

No, the point of a RT kernel is to establish a predictable upper bound on latency. It is just a different way of scheduling processes which has nothing to do with buffer delays.

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13 minutes ago, davide256 said:

That step is MIA from the AL site wifi setup instructions. Help appreciated on how to get and install

I see Piero has already answered you.  You may also find this post helpful

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/54933-audiolinux-and-nuc-troubleshooting-and-tuning/?do=findComment&comment=920874

 

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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