SOTM SMS200 Buggy, Help Needed

[greg788]

My front end is Sonore Sonic Transporter I5, SMS-200 Ultra and Uptone Ultraregen, all going into a Exogal Comet DAC. I use strictly Roon. 

 

I generally leave everything powered on. From one day to the next I'm constantly losing the SMS-200 "zone" in Roon. 

 

And then commences an eleborate turn this off, turn that off, turn this back on, etc. game until Roon finds the SMS-200 again

 

Is there a way to make the SMS-200 quit going buggy all the time??? For example, always turn off the SMS-200 and Ultraregen?

 

I've even burned new software images onto the SMS-200 SD card to no avail. I suspect the SMS-200 doesn't like the Ultraregen, but that's too bad because the Ultraregen does provide a sonic benefit ...

 

This bugginess is driving me up the wall ...

 

[andy nicholson]

Hi Greg,

 

I have a very similar set up (sMS-200 Ultra Neo via the Uptone EtherRegen) and have been experiencing the same repeated drop-outs.
Restarting the Neo usually worked, and if not as your experience, everything else I could think of - this also usually fixed the problem.

Yesterday that stopped working. A series of sd restores (different sd cards & firmware versions) failed as well. I also swapped out the EtherRegen for another network switch. Currently, I can see every device on my home network except the Neo. 

 

I've dropped May @ SoTM an email, I'll let you know what happens.

 

[davide256]

Is it possible your router has multicast disabled? I had a problem like you describe with an Aries mini and that was the cause.

[ducatirider]

if you can give it a fixed internal ip address.  in your router DHCP Reservation.  this saved me a bunch of time.  then you can just ping the assigned ip adress and reboot or restart dlna.  for me it worked well.

[ronfint]

@greg788  Are you able to connect to your sms200 using eunhasu.local? If not, the problem is likely with your sms200. If you can, then the problem is likely the connection between your sms200 and your dac. Roon needs to see the connected dac to give you its zone. Be assured that there are many of us who are using a similar setup and are troublefree. I hope that you find the problem quickly.

[Brian H]

I am having the same problem with an sms200neo. It keeps disappearing with an IsoRegen between the sms200 and my Rega Dac. It reappears when I reboot the sms200 but isn't very convenient. Even worse, I just bought a Denafrips Ares II and I can't get Roon to recognize the sms200 at all, with or without the IsoRegen in line. I also have emails into May. Roon responded that they can't help since it works with my other Dac and Denafrips DACs aren't Roon certified. Still seems like two brands like Uptone and SOtm should be able to play well together. Denafrips seems popular around here and maybe someone has a solution. Hard to believe all of the Ares, Pontus, and Terminator units are out there but are not being used with Roon.

 

I bought a better, higher capacity micro SD card and burned the latest 4.91. It helped performance but didn't solve this problem.

[Philippe Bill]

it's a known problem without solution

[ronfint]

5 hours ago, Philippe Bill said:

it's a known problem without solution

I’m not sure exactly the problem referred to here, but if this statement is meant to be general, it is not only unhelpful, it is plainly wrong. My stereo system provides a counterexample. I have an ether regen connected directly to an sms 200 ultra, and everything runs perfectly — no reboots, no dropouts.

[roberto2]

On 7/30/2020 at 12:16 AM, Brian H said:

I am having the same problem with an sms200neo. It keeps disappearing with an IsoRegen between the sms200 and my Rega Dac. It reappears when I reboot the sms200 but isn't very convenient. Even worse, I just bought a Denafrips Ares II and I can't get Roon to recognize the sms200 at all, with or without the IsoRegen in line. I also have emails into May. Roon responded that they can't help since it works with my other Dac and Denafrips DACs aren't Roon certified. Still seems like two brands like Uptone and SOtm should be able to play well together. Denafrips seems popular around here and maybe someone has a solution. Hard to believe all of the Ares, Pontus, and Terminator units are out there but are not being used with Roon.

 

I bought a better, higher capacity micro SD card and burned the latest 4.91. It helped performance but didn't solve this problem.

 

I have Roon ROCK running on a mini PC, an EtherRegen, Sotm sms-200 Ultra and a Denafrips Terminator in usb connection and have never had issues...

[Philippe Bill]

On 7/30/2020 at 1:09 PM, ronfint said:

My stereo system provides a counterexample. I have an ether regen connected directly to an sms 200 ultra, and everything runs perfectly — no reboots, no dropouts.

 "if this statement is meant to be general, it is not only unhelpful..."

[Brian H]

Thanks Roberto2 for the comment. Gives me confidence I can get there. I have through process of elimination (taking my mac mini and trying Shunyata, Lush, and Oyaide USB cables) directly connected the Roon Core to the Denafrips DAC. Didn't work. Inserted a USB to Spdif converter and digital cable in the chain to coax and it worked fine. Alvin just emailed me and now believes the USB receiver firmware is missing. I now have to try and flash the software onto the dac using my separate Windows 10 computer. Alvin is being helpful in trying to get my issue resolved. Just takes computers with different OS systems to fix, haha. I have never worked so hard to get a brand new piece of equipment working. The IsoRegen is working fine if I plug it directly into the USB port but loses contact with the USB to Spdif converter in the mix. Spoke with Alex (Superdad) yesterday, he is always helpful, and switched off the galvanic isolation to remedy the drop outs. So my workaround from the faulty USB port created another issue.

 

BTW, during this process I also replaced the 8g microSD card that came with the sms200 with a 32g SanDisk Extreme Plus. Made a big difference in its performance for me. The flashed image was 8.06g. Sounds like my set up is a mini version of yours. Working toward an Etherregen next.

[Solstice380]

7 hours ago, Philippe Bill said:

 "if this statement is meant to be general, it is not only unhelpful..."

 

Why are you being a wiseass?  If you have specific information, or a reliable source, please share.  Otherwise your posts are useless, and probably wrong.  Which is it?

[kelvinwsy]

Isoregen/LPS 1.2 , Etheregen, Sms-200Ultra Neo.. So sane setup as you

[kelvinwsy]

I found that isoregen when powered by Lps 2 or 1.2 can prevent the SMS 200 ultra from having a successful USB handshake with your DAC

Check your LPS settings .. output must be 6v dc!

After voltage drop inside the Isoregen the voltage of the USB handshake will be within 5v of the USB protocol!

I bought a new LPS 1.2 from Uptone and could not get a handshake with my DAC !! Then I checked and the LPS1.2 output dial was at the 5v position!!!!

Dialed it to 6v and HEY CONNECTION SUCCESS At once

[Brian H]

19 minutes ago, kelvinwsy said:

I found that isoregen when powered by Lps 2 or 1.2 can prevent the SMS 200 ultra from having a successful USB handshake with your DAC

Check your LPS settings .. output must be 6v dc!

After voltage drop inside the Isoregen the voltage of the USB handshake will be within 5v of the USB protocol!

I bought a new LPS 1.2 from Uptone and could not get a handshake with my DAC !! Then I checked and the LPS1.2 output dial was at the 5v position!!!!

Dialed it to 6v and HEY CONNECTION SUCCESS At once

Thanks for the tip. I have a LPS 1.2 and a LPS 1. Moved the 1.2 to the sms200. Maybe I need to switch their positions.

[Abyss Man]

Please check on your USB connection and cable. It should not come into contact with any power source. 

 

I had the same issue, I was advised to re-route the cables and now it’s extremely stable, with the only issue being that it goes from fixed volume to device volume once in a while on Roon. I hope it gets solved. I feel your frustration as well. 

[Glynn]

I have had the same problems. Difficult to use and set back up. I'm going to look for a device more stable. I spend more time setting it back up and rebooting (sometimes hours) than I do playing music. It does sound great when its working!😤

[Brian H]

I have had no problems once I got it up and working. I think my problem was getting it to handshake with my Denafrips DAC. Once I finally got that done, it has been smooth sailing. You might give it another try. May at SOtM was helpful getting my problem solved.

[Glynn]

Once it's working it's great but when you get it crashing it can take hours to reconnect in euhasu. That software is really slow and poor. If it was a quick reboot I wouldn't mind. My Tidal sound stopped working and it took me 3 hours to set up qobuz instead in squeeze lite. That's now working good. I've asked for help and advice but haven't had any replies and Elite audio are reluctant to help. Squeeze lite is awful to use but the squeezer app works great from play.

[Glynn]

I don't have any handshake issues using Chord Qutest but have had some advice to try using DLNA.

[stefano_mbp]

Try to contact May Park at SOtM, she answer within few hours (depending on time zone differences) and is very kind in supporting for issues

[email protected]

[Glynn]

Ok thanks I will do. The advice from Elite audio suggested I use DLNA and mconnect app but my Tidal or qobuz accounts wont save in Eunhasu and it doesn't see my hard drive.

[stefano_mbp]

Never tried to connect an usb hdd, I use MinimServer on a nas.

I tried to use Qobuz/Tidal and MConnect was working fine using MPD&Dlna configuration and login is managed by MConnect, you don’t need to use eunhasu login .... I don’t use Qobuz o Tidal anymore

[Glynn]

I was using a Zen Nas drive but sms200 kept crashing due to squeeze lite conflict. It was impossible to use. That's why I put all my music on USB HDD with a curious cable with good results. It had been stable although if you put more music on you have to manually update it in squeeze lite. Are you using a streaming app?

[stefano_mbp]

My setup is

nas with Minimserver and Bubbleupnpserver 

Sotm sms-200 Neo with MPD & DLNA activated

ipad with Lumïn app

everything work flawlessly ... 

The sms-200 is a low power streamer and in my opinion the less runs the best it performs ...