Audiolinux Server configurations, Software, Hardware, and Listening Impressions

[AnotherSpin]

5 hours ago, Bricki said:

I installed the BFQ 5.2 kernel on my server and endpoint... the server worked fine... However the endpoint now won't start roonbridge.. I only have 4GB of RAM in the Celeron nuc so maybe this has finally become a problem.

 

Updated kernel on endpoint, works fine with HQP on server. 

[lmitche]

While off topic, I found this Intel white paper yesterday. It is easy to read and explains much about the USB experience observed here. I which I had read it when it was written in 2012.

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/io/universal-serial-bus/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.html

[ray-dude]

Interesting.  Chord DAC's are particularly sensitive to RF in the 2-2.5GHz range.  Larry, have you dug up anything equivalent for USB 2.0?  IIRC, that is a fixed clock protocol (vs spread spectrum) but it has been a LONG time since I've looked at USB at the data transport layer

[lmitche]

2 hours ago, ray-dude said:

Interesting.  Chord DAC's are particularly sensitive to RF in the 2-2.5GHz range.  Larry, have you dug up anything equivalent for USB 2.0?  IIRC, that is a fixed clock protocol (vs spread spectrum) but it has been a LONG time since I've looked at USB at the data transport layer

No, I haven't seen anything similar written about USB 2.0.

[Bricki]

On 8/6/2019 at 1:59 PM, lmitche said:

Yes indeed.

Ok I finally had a chance to try isolated cores again on my server... I now remember why I liked it so much the first time 😁👍...I can't even remember why I stopped using it... I think I had trouble getting it working again after the NUMA off kernel update or something... That was a while back... Next step will be to get my NUC endpoint working again... I've just got a fresh USB stick and I'm trying to remember all the tweaks I had working 🧐😁

[Boomboy]

@Bricki don't forget the scaling driver tweak .. I only did it a couple of weeks back . Luv it .

[lmitche]

13 minutes ago, Boomboy said:

don't forget the scaling driver tweak

What is the scaling driver tweak?

[Boomboy]

Tweak maybe the wrong word to use .. but changing from Intel_paste to acpi-cpufreq Definitely gave more seperation with the mids and highs on my system 

[lmitche]

14 minutes ago, Boomboy said:

Tweak maybe the wrong word to use .. but changing from Intel_paste to acpi-cpufreq Definitely gave more seperation with the mids and highs on my system 

Thanks, yes that one, of course. Tweak works for me!

[lmitche]

While it's a long way from conclusive, I am enjoying an experiment with an 8 core Ryzen 7 2700 machine as Roonserver on Audiolinux. This replaces the 4 core 6700k used previously. The prior machine used a Asus ROG 270g motherboard. This one is an Asus ROG B450-i motherboard. The optane boot drive is in the direct to cpu m.2 slot. Running without a GPU increases SQ.

 

SQ is at a new level, with more transparency and punch across the spectrum. Various AL tuning options have a big impact, especially isolated cores. The machine is idle 99.5% of the time during playback.

 

With AL 5 the 4 port Startech Asmedia card has stopped working. Because of this, the motherboards native USB3.1 and NUC ports are being used instead.

 

Stay tuned for more. It is early days and there is much to be learned.

[AnotherSpin]

9 minutes ago, lmitche said:

While it's a long way from conclusive, I am enjoying an experiment with an 8 core Ryzen 7 2700 machine as Roonserver on Audiolinux. This replaces the 4 core 6700k used previously. The prior machine used a Asus ROG 270g motherboard. This one is an Asus ROG B450-i motherboard. The optane boot drive is in the direct to cpu m.2 slot. Running without a GPU increases SQ.

 

SQ is at a new level, with more transparency and punch across the spectrum. Various AL tuning options have a big impact, especially isolated cores. The machine is idle 99.5% of the time during playback.

 

With AL 5 the 4 port Startech Asmedia card has stopped working. Because of this, the motherboards native USB3.1 and NUC ports are being used instead.

 

Stay tuned for more. It is early days and there is much to be learned.

 

Which exact isolation cores option you use?

[rickca]

30 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Running without a GPU increases SQ.

Didn't you have the processor graphics disabled in BIOS on the i7-6700K?

31 minutes ago, lmitche said:

With AL 5 the 4 port Startech Asmedia card has stopped working. Because of this, the motherboards native USB3.1 and NUC ports are being used instead.

What do you mean by NUC port?  Are you using the motherboard ethernet or built-in wifi?

[lmitche]

3 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Which exact isolation cores option you use?

The menu isn't used.

[lmitche]

3 hours ago, rickca said:

Didn't you have the processor graphics disabled in BIOS on the i7-6700K?

What do you mean by NUC port?  Are you using the motherboard ethernet or built-in wifi?

Sorry, NIC. WiFi card removed.

[Gavin1977]

4 hours ago, lmitche said:

While it's a long way from conclusive, I am enjoying an experiment with an 8 core Ryzen 7 2700 machine as Roonserver on Audiolinux. This replaces the 4 core 6700k used previously. The prior machine used a Asus ROG 270g motherboard. This one is an Asus ROG B450-i motherboard. The optane boot drive is in the direct to cpu m.2 slot. Running without a GPU increases SQ.

 

SQ is at a new level, with more transparency and punch across the spectrum. Various AL tuning options have a big impact, especially isolated cores. The machine is idle 99.5% of the time during playback.

 

With AL 5 the 4 port Startech Asmedia card has stopped working. Because of this, the motherboards native USB3.1 and NUC ports are being used instead.

 

Stay tuned for more. It is early days and there is much to be learned.

The CPU power circuitry of the ROG Strix Z270G Gaming is a powerful 10-phase (8+2) design, with the phases distributed to the four different input voltages that the modern 1151 CPUs require (Core, I/O, Graphics, and System).

 

The Asus ROG B450-i VRM is in a 6+1 phase configuration with each phase utilizing an IR3553 40A PowIRstage for the CPU VCore, and then a single 60A IR3555 for the SoC.

 

Convetional wisdom would be that the 8+2 phase design would offer an advantage in terms of power quality & ripple.  A 6 Phase system will reduce ripple by 50%.

 

I'm interested in your findings - so have there been any other changes.  Are you comparing like for like?

 

 

 

[seatrope]

Has anyone updated to the 5.2.0rt1 bfq kernel? I’ve done this twice and it kills my Ethernet port... no lights on Ethernet and I lose network connection after update. 

@hifi25nl any thoughts?

[seatrope]

Never mind. Just had to do a manual activation of the Ethernet. Strangely it was set to off. 

[seatrope]

Weird. So every time I reboot on kernel 5.2.0 I have to manually reactivate Ethernet using up link set up enp2s0. 

 

That is very strange. @hifi25nl

[luisma]

12 hours ago, lmitche said:

With AL 5 the 4 port Startech Asmedia card has stopped working

Hey Larry, why aren't you running headless 1.4.0? I'm sure you have a valid reason running the full version that's why I'm asking. I was under the impression headless with minimal footprint would "enhance" some things even more.

 

[lmitche]

7 minutes ago, luisma said:

Hey Larry, why aren't you running headless 1.4.0? I'm sure you have a valid reason running the full version that's why I'm asking. I was under the impression headless with minimal footprint would "enhance" some things even more.

 

Hey Luismaz who said I was not running headless 1.4.0?

[luisma]

8 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Convetional wisdom would be that the 8+2 phase design would offer an advantage in terms of power quality & ripple.  A 6 Phase system will reduce ripple by 50%.

Good point, conventional wisdom like you mentioned states that more phases = better voltage regulation but there is also a consensus that the component quality used for the VRM's is critical, all I'm saying is "it is not only about # of phases". Ultimately Larry should be able to tell.

Thanks for providing the phase info on both boards.

 

 

[luisma]

3 hours ago, seatrope said:

Has anyone updated to the 5.2.0rt1 bfq kernel? I’ve done this twice and it kills my Ethernet port... no lights on Ethernet and I lose network connection after update. 

@hifi25nl any thoughts?

If new install update 1st the packages, then the kernel

 

[luisma]

2 hours ago, seatrope said:

Weird. So every time I reboot on kernel 5.2.0 I have to manually reactivate Ethernet using up link set up enp2s0. 

 

That is very strange. @hifi25nl

That's happened to me as well, only on new installs. 

[luisma]

5 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Hey Luismaz who said I was not running headless 1.4.0?

 

Since you mentioned this

12 hours ago, lmitche said:

With AL 5 the 4 port Startech Asmedia

Thought you were referring to 3.5.0

wrong assumption

[AnotherSpin]

6 hours ago, seatrope said:

Weird. So every time I reboot on kernel 5.2.0 I have to manually reactivate Ethernet using up link set up enp2s0. 

 

That is very strange. @hifi25nl

 

Did you update additional packages as well? If you update kernel only, you would have a connectivity problem. I had initially with 5.2.0 before I went through updating routine again: menu, kernel, packages.