Rendu Support Thread

[birdland45]

Powered both ultras off and on.

 

I DID NOT POWER cycle my W4S DAC.

 

UltraRendu shows up as player in embedded controller in LMS on ST.

 

I play a 16/44.1 file and while it is playing, I refresh the DAC diagnostics and it says

 

access: RW_INTERLEAVED
format: S32_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 44100 (44100/1)
period_size: 441
buffer_size: 1764

as expected.  W4S DAC shows 44.1k

 

I have no idea what is going on.  This whole set up is very flaky. 

 

So I decide to play a 24/96k file. DAC diagnostics shows:

 

access: RW_INTERLEAVED
format: S32_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 96000 (96000/1)
period_size: 960
buffer_size: 3840

as expected.  W4S DAC shows 96k

 

Try 192k file. Dac diagnostics shows:

 

unknown status.

 

I played the Apple Lossless version of the file by mistake.  I wanted to play the FLAC version.  Controller now will not let me change song or stop the current ALC file.

 

Restarted Squeezelite on ultraRendu.  Nothing playing on controller.

 

However, DAC diagnositcs shows 44100 file playing - not sure from where.

 

So I play the 192k flac file and DAC diagnostic now does not return anything via a refresh.  App Switcher again shows Squeezelite in UNKNOWN state.

 

 

 

 

[birdland45]

Reboot of ultraRendu causes it to disappear forever from MySonicorbiter.

[birdland45]

Powered everything off including W4S DAC.

 

Powered up W4S DAC first.

 

Powered up both ultras.

 

Squeezelite is active.  Controller on LMS (ST i5) shows ultraRendu as player.

 

DAC diagnostics shows status unknown as nothing is playing yet.  So things are again working.  After powering on the ultraDigital, W4S DAC always shows 48K which is what is shows now.

 

Play 16/44.1 flac file.

 

Refresh of DAC diagnostics still shows unknown status.  Did this several times but always unknown status.

 

W4S DAC shows DSD 256!!!!!

 

We are again stuck in the same strange state.  Why did this work the last time I tried it?

 

App Switcher shows Squeezelite is still active.  Controller on LMS still shows ultraRendu as player and playing 16/44.1 file.

 

[birdland45]

Since App switcher showed active instead of UNKNOWN, I tried rebooting the ultraRendu.  It came up with Squeezelite active and DAC diagnostics shows 44.1 file playing.  I tried to play 96k file and DAC diagnostics showed 96k file as did DAC.  When file finished playing, DAC diagnostics still showed 96000:

 

access: RW_INTERLEAVED
format: S32_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 96000 (96000/1)
period_size: 960
buffer_size: 3840

So played a 44.1k file and DAC diagnostics showed 44100 and DAC shows 44.1k

 

Tried 88.2k file and DAC diagnostics showed 88200 and DAC shows 88.2k

 

Trying 192k file different from previous one just in case.  DAC diagnostics refresh never comes back until it gives error page.

 

App Switcher shows Squeezelite in UNKNOWN state again!

[rickca]

On 12/26/2017 at 6:02 PM, rickca said:

When did this update become available?  

@vortecjr could you please answer my question?

[birdland45]

As far as I can tell the summary of my tests is:

 

- ultraRendu running Squeezelite cannot send anything higher than 24b/96kHz files to the DAC.  ultraRendu locks up.

 

-  using MPD/DLNA and JRMC serving the data from my PC, I can send any resolution file to the DAC via the ultraRendu.

 

- using the ST i5 as LMS, and the music drive on it, I cannot see any DSD files on the ST only PCM files and hence I can only send PCM files to the ultraRendu using JRMC.

 

- connecting the ultraRendu directly to my DAC (bypassing the ultraDigital) as DoP because native is not supported for my DAC (ultraRendu/W4S limitation), cannot send anything higher than 16/44.1.  UltraRendu locks up again.

 

So, I think I want to set up the ST i5 as a DLNA or equivalent server and run MPD/DLNA on the ultraRendu.  Does anyone have a pointer to instructions as to how to set up minimserver on the ST?  I tried to do it but it wants me to point it to my content directory and I have not been able to enter the correct path for it to be happy.  I was thinking of using Lumin a controller.  At least, I am thinking of doing this if DSD is supported.

[vortecjr]

9 hours ago, rickca said:

@vortecjr could you please answer my question?

I don't remember the exact date. The unit is under constant update though. 

[vortecjr]

These are very strange issue. For the server side setup I want you call Andrew today so he can help you. Which W4S DAC (model number and any upgrades) do you have?

[Ami]

23 hours ago, vortecjr said:

For 1: okay

For 2: Go to Apps / Software Manager and press Update. Wait for the "Back to main Menu" link. Then go to Apps / MPD-DLNA and press Save. 

For 3: It should show up now. FYI You should use a different name for the Room so you can tell them apart. I always add OH to the end on the name. You also need to enable it so the controller sees it. 

For 4: I don't touch these.

For 5: What happens is you connect the micro to that network?      

Hi again @vortecjr,

I followed your instructions.

Update completed successfully.

The room does have a different name :-)

I can't connect it to that network, it is on the other side of the house.

However, all the Chromecasts are on the same network and they also consistently appear.

These steps did not resolve the issue.

I still get the Rendu to appear only after several reboots, and it disappears some time later.

 

Thanks for you help,

 

Ami

 

 

[birdland45]

5 hours ago, vortecjr said:

These are very strange issue. For the server side setup I want you call Andrew today so he can help you. Which W4S DAC (model number and any upgrades) do you have?

 

I have the W4S DAC-2v2SE.  I'm the one who purchased the ultraRendu/ultraDigital/SBooster package from Andrew and had the channel phasing and switched issues with the original switch settings for the W4S DAC but we troubleshot that and found the correct ones.

 

Keep in mind that if I use JRMC with the content on my PC and serve it up to the ultraRendu running MPD/DLNA, I can push any file content up to DSD256 and PCM 352kHz.  There is a problem with missing the first second or two of a track if I change between PCM and DSD or vice versa.  I am hoping that there is some setting somewhere which can fix this.

[birdland45]

3 hours ago, birdland45 said:

 

I have the W4S DAC-2v2SE.  I'm the one who purchased the ultraRendu/ultraDigital/SBooster package from Andrew and had the channel phasing and switched issues with the original switch settings for the W4S DAC but we troubleshot that and found the correct ones.

 

Keep in mind that if I use JRMC with the content on my PC and serve it up to the ultraRendu running MPD/DLNA, I can push any file content up to DSD256 and PCM 352kHz.  There is a problem with missing the first second or two of a track if I change between PCM and DSD or vice versa.  I am hoping that there is some setting somewhere which can fix this.

 

So Andrew answered an email I sent last week when I informed him that the USB thumb drive could not be used on the ST i5 for whatever reason.  However, I could use the USB hard drive which was in NTFS format.  I have since copied all of my music to a new drive formatted as exFAT.

 

Andrew informed me that for minimserver, I just had to enter /storage for the content directly and I would be all set.  So I did the following:

 

1. installed minimserver on the ST i5 and entered /storage for the content directory.

 

2. Switched to the MPD/DLNA app in the ultraRendu.

 

3. Installed Lumin on my iPhone.

 

4. Installed MinimWatch on my desktop to look at logs from the ST.  I've got to figure out how to change tags on the files from Lumin because things are being truncated such as dates, etc and there are other warning from minimserver.

 

As soon as I started Lumin on my iPhone, it showed the ST which I selected and it loaded all of my albums.  As far as I can tell, I can see all of my albums although I have not verified that completely.

 

Lumin already found the ultraRendu as a DLNA Renderer.  I tried to play all kinds of formats with no issues at all.  I played 16/44.1, 24/96, 24/192, 24/352, DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256.  They all showed the proper sample rate on my W4S DAC and music was playing as is evident on my tape deck meters.  I will turn on my stereo later once the storm we are experiencing passes us.

 

With this setup, so far I have not seen any lockups of the ultraRendu.  The Lumin controller has not had any issues.  The ST has not had any issues.

 

As far as I am concerned, Squeezelite on the ultraRendu is buggy as is evident from my previous posts.  I could not go any further than 24/96 using Squeezebox on the ST and Squeezelite on the ultraRendu.

[vortecjr]

5 hours ago, Ami said:

Hi again @vortecjr,

I followed your instructions.

Update completed successfully.

The room does have a different name :-)

I can't connect it to that network, it is on the other side of the house.

However, all the Chromecasts are on the same network and they also consistently appear.

These steps did not resolve the issue.

I still get the Rendu to appear only after several reboots, and it disappears some time later.

 

Thanks for you help,

 

Ami

 

 

You need to connect to the other network as a test.

[vortecjr]

4 hours ago, birdland45 said:

 

I have the W4S DAC-2v2SE.  I'm the one who purchased the ultraRendu/ultraDigital/SBooster package from Andrew and had the channel phasing and switched issues with the original switch settings for the W4S DAC but we troubleshot that and found the correct ones.

 

Keep in mind that if I use JRMC with the content on my PC and serve it up to the ultraRendu running MPD/DLNA, I can push any file content up to DSD256 and PCM 352kHz.  There is a problem with missing the first second or two of a track if I change between PCM and DSD or vice versa.  I am hoping that there is some setting somewhere which can fix this.

Right sorry.

 

These are helpful for JRiver:

Rendu JRiver setup with DoP

Rendu JRiver setup with native DSD

[vortecjr]

1 hour ago, birdland45 said:

 

So Andrew answered an email I sent last week when I informed him that the USB thumb drive could not be used on the ST i5 for whatever reason.  However, I could use the USB hard drive which was in NTFS format.  I have since copied all of my music to a new drive formatted as exFAT.

 

Andrew informed me that for minimserver, I just had to enter /storage for the content directly and I would be all set.  So I did the following:

 

1. installed minimserver on the ST i5 and entered /storage for the content directory.

 

2. Switched to the MPD/DLNA app in the ultraRendu.

 

3. Installed Lumin on my iPhone.

 

4. Installed MinimWatch on my desktop to look at logs from the ST.  I've got to figure out how to change tags on the files from Lumin because things are being truncated such as dates, etc and there are other warning from minimserver.

 

As soon as I started Lumin on my iPhone, it showed the ST which I selected and it loaded all of my albums.  As far as I can tell, I can see all of my albums although I have not verified that completely.

 

Lumin already found the ultraRendu as a DLNA Renderer.  I tried to play all kinds of formats with no issues at all.  I played 16/44.1, 24/96, 24/192, 24/352, DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256.  They all showed the proper sample rate on my W4S DAC and music was playing as is evident on my tape deck meters.  I will turn on my stereo later once the storm we are experiencing passes us.

 

With this setup, so far I have not seen any lockups of the ultraRendu.  The Lumin controller has not had any issues.  The ST has not had any issues.

 

As far as I am concerned, Squeezelite on the ultraRendu is buggy as is evident from my previous posts.  I could not go any further than 24/96 using Squeezebox on the ST and Squeezelite on the ultraRendu.

Just email me and I'll try to have a look at your LMS setup. 

[birdland45]

15 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Right sorry.

 

These are helpful for JRiver:

Rendu JRiver setup with DoP

Rendu JRiver setup with native DSD

 

Oops - I did forget to change the JRMC setup when I changed to DoP.  Thanks for pointing that out.  However, I am not using that setup right now as I got minimserver on the ST and MPD/DLNA on the ultraRendu working fairly consistently.  I may go back to this setup to test something or if I run into issues with the minimserver setup though.

[rickca]

13 hours ago, vortecjr said:

The unit is under constant update though

Constant undocumented update.  

[birdland45]

3 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Just email me and I'll try to have a look at your LMS setup. 

 

So Jesus was my system looking at the uR and uD and ST.  I had switched from minimserver on ST and MPD/DLNA on uR which was working fine installed Squeezebox again on ST and enabled Squeezelite on uR.  After Jesus looked at various settings, I tried to play various formats.  All of them worked.  The only difference between yesterday and today was I replaced the NTFS hard drive connected to the ST with an exFAT formatted one.

 

Fairly sure that isn't a factor but I thought I'd mention it.

 

Jesus assumed that things were ok and didn't understand why I complained that it wasn't working.

 

I asked him what would happen if I power cycled everything.  Would it actually come back up working?  He said do it.

 

I then powered everything off and back on again.  When I tried to play a DSD128 file, either the uR or uD locked up and the uR would not respond properly.  So I power cycled the uR and uD and things were still locked up.  Jesus finally had me plug the uR directly into the W4S DAC and all files were working again except DSD256 because the uR does not support native DSD with this DAC.

 

So I'm going to leave it like this for a bit to see if the uR ever locks up.  I am cycling automatically through all file formats.  Eventually, I will try to power cycle the uR and ST and see how they behave when they come back up without the uD.

 

NOW, keep in mind that this setup WITH the uD works fine with minimserver on ST and MPD/DLNA on the uR while still connected to the uD.  I'm not sure why Squeelize is causing what we suspect is the uD locking up.

 

Personally, I suspect an interaction between the uR and the uD and Squeezelite (maybe some setting somewhere) but of course, I'm guessing.

 

If it is true that minimserver/DLNA works with all file formats I care about WITH the uD installed, I'm not sure what Squeezebox/Squeezelite is buying me.

[birdland45]

well, just power cycled the ST and uR.  My DAC was already up and I did not touch it.

 

Tried to pay the same 352kHz file and uR is now locked up again.  uD is not in the picture so obviously not the problem.

 

And again, Squeezelite shows UNKNOWN under app switcher.  If I click on it, it goes into a RED stopped state.

 

 

[vortecjr]

1 hour ago, rickca said:

Constant undocumented update.  

Your on a need to know basis:) 

[vortecjr]

11 minutes ago, birdland45 said:

well, just power cycled the ST and uR.  My DAC was already up and I did not touch it.

 

Tried to pay the same 352kHz file and uR is now locked up again.  uD is not in the picture so obviously not the problem.

 

And again, Squeezelite shows UNKNOWN under app switcher.  If I click on it, it goes into a RED stopped state.

 

 

Its a mystery.... 

[rickca]

11 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Your on a need to know basis:) 

 

7 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Its a mystery.... 

This is exactly why undocumented changes are an issue.  It means troubleshooting is entirely a Sonore responsibility.

[vortecjr]

14 minutes ago, rickca said:

 

This is exactly why undocumented changes are an issue.  It means troubleshooting is entirely a Sonore responsibility.

I don't think so. The issue here is he has a strange problem that has not been identified. 

 

[birdland45]

1 hour ago, birdland45 said:

well, just power cycled the ST and uR.  My DAC was already up and I did not touch it.

 

Tried to pay the same 352kHz file and uR is now locked up again.  uD is not in the picture so obviously not the problem.

 

And again, Squeezelite shows UNKNOWN under app switcher.  If I click on it, it goes into a RED stopped state.

 

 

 

OK so I went back to minimserver on ST and MPD/DLNA on uR with the uD connected.  I'm playing all formats correctly to the W4S DAC.

 

I am going to let them play in playlist repeat mode for a bit and then I will shut down and power cycle ST, uR and uD and see what happens.

[Ami]

6 hours ago, vortecjr said:

You need to connect to the other network as a test.

hi @vortecjr and thanks again for your reply.

 

I used a 50' long Ethernet cable to connect the Rendu to the main system's subnet, after the cisco router, and the issue still persists.

 

Just curious: since the BubbleUPNP server is local to the Rendu, and they share the same IP, why should it matter to which subnet they are connected? Localhost communications are made via the shared local TCP stack and don't need to go out to the network.

 

Cheers,

 

Ami

[birdland45]

5 hours ago, birdland45 said:

 

OK so I went back to minimserver on ST and MPD/DLNA on uR with the uD connected.  I'm playing all formats correctly to the W4S DAC.

 

I am going to let them play in playlist repeat mode for a bit and then I will shut down and power cycle ST, uR and uD and see what happens.

 

Everything ran fine.  I decided to try to power cycle everything since that's what seems to bring out the issues.

 

I DID NOT power cycle my W4S DAC.

 

So, I power cycled the uR and uD and ST.

 

Everything came up fine.  I didn't even connect to the uR or ST via a browser.  I just waited for Lumin to find the minimserver (ST) and player (uR).  I could play all file formats.