Euphony OS w/Stylus player setup and issues thread

[sjj]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:20 AM, bobfa said:

I disagree with your last statement and the implications in it.  Once you have the hardware in hand it is trivial to reproduce the tests.  Please DO NOT go down the path that it implies.  If you want to learn if this stuff works then you have to try it or listen to it on another system.  I am sorry to be harsh here but I am very tired of people making assumptions or declarations about what I and others who have listened to my systems hear.  

 

I have done extensive A/B comparisons using USB/Optane/NVME/SATA SSD.  Using both AudioLiniux and Euphony in both Server and Endpoint roles.  For ME there are a few results.

 

NOTE my system was different during 1,2,3:  DAC, amp, speakers!

1. I could never hear a difference between USB and RamRoot on AudioLinux.

2. When I put either an NVME or SATA SSD in either my server or endpoint it sounded worse. 

3. When I went from USB to Optane I could not hear a difference.  The $60 price of an Optane stick is worth the hassle reduction.

 

NOTE #4  been true for all of my testing in 2019.  I continue to add it to the test matrix.

4. In my current systems testing I was not able to hear the difference between an external USB HD on an LPS and having the music files on my NAS.

...................

The change from AudioLinix (1.x days) to Euphony 3.x has been revolutionary, both in sound quality and in simplicity.  But, this summer when Euphony changed to the new way of loading the system into RAM I was able to go down to a one box solution.  I was running my Xeon server with Roon and StylusEP in a single box.  In addition the APACER industrial RAM made a noticeable improvement for me.

................... 

My story has evolved rather quickly over the last three months.  I have not had a lot of time to report on it yet.  It will not be on the Euphony thread!  Today I am operating something completely different that is even better sounding.  

 

It started here:

 

 

As for where the story ends; I am not sure even I know. What I can tell you is that playback software matters a lot more than even I thought it could.

 

Bob

 

 

 

Bob,

First thanks for all your efforts in testing different HW and SW configurations. Your efforts have lead me to trialing Euphony which has been the single biggest improvement in SQ on my system. A couple of questions regarding your post on SQ and different storage devices. 1) regarding your tests with Euphony and SSD, was the SSD internal or USB attached? and 2) in your test of the SSD was Euphony the only thing on the SSD? and your local music was located somewhere else, eg NAS...3) to notice the improvement of running from USB did you physically remove the SSD? or was it still installed but nothing loaded from it? last 4) did you hear the same issues and improvements in local music as well as streaming between SSD and USB? Just trying to quickly focus my efforts on what be best to try with my gear. Thanks again

[sjj]

For those of us running Euphony from USB thumb drives, has anyone successfully tested a way to backup the thumb drive in case it fails? I know Euphony provides a way to rebuild a corrupted system but I don’t believe this addresses what to do if your drive totally fails.

[sjj]

3 hours ago, Lukasluis said:

Check this out.

https://www.easeus.com/backup-utility/clone-usb-drive.html

Have you tried this and after the clone is complete booted successfully and used the clone with no issues? Just curious.

[sjj]

23 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

Unless I have misunderstood, but when you put the USB in Euphony has menu that says “install” pop in another usb & use install menu to create your back. I’ve done this several times & no issues. 

 

Thanks for this. Haven't gotten that far in my testing with my trial. Sounds like the solution.

[sjj]

Has anyone tried using Euphony UPnP to a allo USBridge as an endpoint running Moode with UPnP? If so what was the result?

[sjj]

54 minutes ago, mt-hifidelity said:

Yes, they're very responsive.  So far they said that it must be that the computer is not seeing the network, so I'm going to look into that a bit more...thanks guys.

Had this happen to me on my Mac mini. I unplugged it from the power, waited about 5 mins, plugged it back in and it rebooted Euphony with no issues.

[sjj]

Can anyone recommend or have a good experience with a prebuilt fanless PC for Euphony Stylus. I don’t upsample so suspect I may not need the most robust PC but maybe one with a fast base speed to minimize latency. My old Mac Mini processor only runs around 15-20%. Been looking at onlogic PC’s such as an I3-7100u. Thanks.

[sjj]

21 hours ago, di-fi said:

When changing to a track with a different bit depth the next track plays with heavy distortion

 

I am hoping that someone in this great and resourceful community (many thanks for sharing!) could give me a clue how/where to troubleshoot. With my setup (details in my profile)  I did not have any problem until end last year.  Then suddenly my (1 box) Euphony Stylus (ram root and buffer) started randomly playing distorted tracks when changing from 16 bit to 24 (and 24 to 16) from a play list or 'radio' function. Basically in my day to day listening (all my music is on a NAS) I can only play 1 album (same bit-depth either 16 or 24) or make playlists with one bit depth. When it happens I can hear the song play, but it is extremely distorted, a lot of high, no bass. Sometimes the song will play distorted and at a faster pace. 

Without blaming Euphony, this distortion began december last year after Euphony/ Željko was troubleshooting so I could have all tracks of 1 album (instead of only 2) loaded in memory. (That has been fixed since for everyone).  Another change I made in that time was the installation of the new UNISON USB card in my Yggdrasil dac.

In December Željko did some testing for the distortion. I could provoke the distortion while changing tracks, he listened to a distorted song, could not see a bug in Euphony code and concluded this must be some kind of unfortunate incompatibility between OS and my dac. He stated that only if more users have this problem (which I honestly do not wish to anyone ;-) there might be a solution.

 

I did not find any indication Unison is not explicitly supported by Linux and relies on generic USB drivers. I tried changing dac delay in Stylus settings, changing sample rates or not at all. I am  hesitant to uninstall the unison card but it could confirm where (not) to find the error. I could separate/eliminate all 24 bit files (my DAC plays 16bit wonderfully :-)) , but I do not consider that a real solution. 

Does anyone have an idea? Thanks in advance,
Paul



Sound file below (you can hear me change tracks). You do not need to listen for long, it sounds pretty awful:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aMrj1bH0Naeh5AHoFlj1_nYGuyuOCD4u?usp=sharing

 

Please note I can flawlessly play up to 196kHz - PCM. But no DSD due to Yggdrasill dac. 

I experienced similar issue with Euphony Stylus to Yggy with Unison. When I changed between Webradio and Qobuz streams I experienced a loud constant hiss distortion no music. I opened ticket but they couldn’t reproduce the issue, at the time I wasn’t sure if was caused by the Yggy so not sure they tested with one. In the end they closed the ticket. I have since moved to a different streamer and software that sounds really good to me and uses AES connection with no issues. Sorry I can’t offer you a solution but wanted you to know you’re not the only one who experienced this type of issue.

[sjj]

19 minutes ago, di-fi said:

Hi SSJ,

If you had the same issue of ''a loud constant hiss distortion'' with a combination of Yggy AND Euphony Stylus and changing for a different software solved the problem I am more tempted to try to run for example Daphile or Volumino from a USB stick and see if playing will improve. (instead of swapping the Unison USB).  I do ONLY play local files, no streaming.

 

Euphony/ Željko spent quite some time troubleshooting before giving up. I played and changed tracks and could provoke distortion, while he was checking what was going on. I think at that time we did not figure out it had to do with 16 bit vs. 24 bit. Today that's what it seems although I can not always force it to happen.

 

Thank you for sharing.

Cheers,

Paul

 

 

I also ran the same Mac Mini w Euphony/Stylus via a USB decrappifier(Schiit Eitr) to SPDIF into the Yggy and didn't experience issues.

Sure seems like something with Schiit USB and Euphony and if so have to believe others would have experienced issues; maybe others will chime in to help narrow down the issue.

In my current setup keep in mind I not only changed software but also changed to a AES connection. fyi, I'm now running a Pi2AES HAT with a Pi4 and for software I'm using Ropieee/XL with UPnP capability and Mconnect on my iPad for control. I stream local files, Webradio and Qobuz with no issues.