DSD and Ayre Codex DAC

tau_seti

I'm new to Runeaudio. It seems great. I have it running on my Raspberry Pi 2. The big problem I have now is that DSD doesn't seem to work. Runeaudio sees the SACD files and plays them if DSD is disabled, but if it's enabled, the file doesn't play and I have to pull the USB connection on the DAC for Runeaudio to play any files again.

My DAC is the Ayre Codex and it is definitely DSD capable. See https://www.ayre.com/codex_specs.htm.

UPDATE:

It turns out that 24/192 files also don't seem to work.

tau_seti

Looks like Runeaudio's' dead jim.

Using a fast ADATA USB drive, I loaded Neil Young's 24/192 version of Harvest, which I've never had trouble playing on any DAC. It plays for a short time on Runeaudio, perhaps 18 seconds, before it dies.

I've uploaded a pastebin to http://pastebin.com/qSYEQBZ6

I've tried two different Raspberry Pi 2s. I'm using a iPad usb adapter capable of putting out 12W, which is way more than the Pi 2 needs. I've tried using a USB Regen between the DAC and the Pi.

I'm feeling stupid for giving $30 to Rune at this point. There is no real indication that anyone is working on the project and there's been no response to my previous post.. Next up, I'm going to try Moodeaudio since maybe that will work.

PeteB

If you are still reading this, can you please post some information about the 24/192 files that do not play? I would just like to understand better what works and what does not. Did you increase the buffer size for the higher data rate for 24/192?

So far 24/192 is playing for me (last night I happened to download a version of Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool, in 24-192 HD Flac) I did not play the whole thing, but did not notice any issues. I am posting the MediaInfo output for a sample file below.

General
Complete name                            : /media/peter/Shared/Music/Jazz/Miles Davis - Birth Of The Cool (2013) [24-192 HD FLAC]/02-Jeru.flac
Format                                   : FLAC
Format/Info                              : Free Lossless Audio Codec
File size                                : 118 MiB
Duration                                 : 3mn 13s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 5 104 Kbps
Album                                    : Birth Of The Cool
Album/Performer                          : Miles Davis
Track name                               : Jeru
Track name/Position                      : 02
Performer                                : Miles Davis
Genre                                    : Jazz
Recorded date                            : 2013
Cover                                    : Yes
Cover type                               : Cover (front)
Cover MIME                               : image/jpeg
HDTRACKS                                 : www.hdtracks.com

Audio
Format                                   : FLAC
Format/Info                              : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Duration                                 : 3mn 13s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 5 048 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 192 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Stream size                              : 116 MiB (99%)
Writing library                          : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)

tau_seti

I have overwritten Runeaudio with Moode. The problem seems to be with MPD as the same thing happened with it.

I do not believe it has anything to do with the files, but rather has something to do with MPD and higher bit rate on the Ayre Codex.

Yes, I'd increased the buffer size.

PeteB

I ran into a lot of issues like this a little over a year ago, and I was not even using 24/192 flac files, but not this time around.

How high does the bit rate need to be before it stops playing for you?

After I read your posts, I downloaded a file from the Ayre web site for a quick test, and it played just fine (from a usb flash drive).

Ayre_Katie_Mahan_Debussy_La_cathedrale_engloutie.flac, for this MediaInfo says : 4 515 Kbps

This is actually a bit lower than the Miles Davis I found online, which is: 5 104 Kbps

Both play fine from a usb flash drive, using either my USB dac, or the I2S HiFiBerry DAC+. These are both a good step or two down from the DAC you are using, so I think the problem is elsewhere, unless you have some very different version of MPD (?)

PeteB

There were some documented issues with async dacs, of which the Ayre Codex is one I believe. They were supposed to be fixed by the time I ran into this a year ago. See:

http://www.raspyfi.com/raspberry-pi-usb-audio-fix/

Can you possibly turn off that feature in your dac, and try running plain vanilla USB 2?

Also, this should tell you what is actually going from MPD and to the dac:

cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params

Not sure if the command should read card0 or card1. In my case the USB dac is card0, and the I2S dac is card1. The reason for checking is that if MPD does not recognize your dac as capable of playing the file, it will try to resample to a different bitrate, or other strange behavior. You should see something like this:

[root@runeaudio ~]# cat /proc/asound/card1/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params
access: RW_INTERLEAVED
format: S24_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 192000 (192000/1)
period_size: 16384
buffer_size: 65536

tau_seti

Hi Pete,

I have totally abandoned Rune for Moode. Tim has been phenomenal in helping me.

Some of my problems had to do with my Synology Diskstation flooding the network with NTP server requests and causing massive packet loss. Fixed that by turning it off in regional options. Some more problems involved corrupt files. Fixed those with .mpdignore files.

But problems with the Ayre continue. They would be common to Rune and Moode.

I looked into the code that you mentioned, it doesn't install on the current release of Moode so I suspect it's incorporated already. I've sent it Tim's way to see what he says. I've tried three different USB cables and an Uptone Audio USB Regen. No luck. Since the Ayre has a high-level Toslink interface, I'll try a HifiBerry Digi+. The problem there is that jitter is apparently quite high on that output. There may not be a way to win until the USB drivers are updated. I'm going to ping Charles Hansen at some point and see what he has to say. PM me if you'rle on computeraudiophile since I think he lurks around there.

PeteB

It does not make sense that the 24/192 files would not play on your dac the way you describe. There is probably a solution, we just don't know what it is.

There should not be a big issue with jitter on the DIGI+, I believe it runs in bus master mode, and is not using the Pi for clock. People often post things like that, without looking into the details, so I would not be too worried. I have a DAC+ and a DIGI+, the latter connected to a Nuforce Icon HDP via the coax. You might consider whether you want the DIGI+ with or w/o transformer, there are pros and cons either way.

tau_seti

Hi Pete,

Thanks for all your help here.

I tried to load my files onto the SD Card and good old 16/44 died after two and a half albums worth today.

Feb 29 09:15 : decoder_thread: probing plugin flac
Feb 29 09:15 : decoder: audio_format=44100:16:2, seekable=true
Feb 29 09:15 : alsa_output: Underrun on ALSA device "hw:1,0"
Feb 29 09:15 : alsa_output: "Output" [alsa] failed to play: Broken pipe
Feb 29 09:15 : output: closed plugin=alsa name="Output"
Feb 29 09:15 : output: Failed to open audio output

So I found this and that led me to this http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206602837

The USB DAC running on Wavelength USB firmware cannot use USB playback function due to a confirmed bug of Wavelength USB firmware under Linux. The known effected brands are: Ayre, Aesthetix, Berkeley Audio, Jeff Rowland and possibly others.

The only thing is, the guy who posted about the jitter on the Digi+ was one of it's developers…

PeteB

If true about the dac software, that is really a shame, especially since your dac is such a great product in other respects.

As for this:

tau_seti wrote...The only thing is, the guy who posted about the jitter on the Digi+ was one of it's developers…

All I can say is...

I have been running the output of the DIGI+ into a fairly respectable if inexpensive Nuforce Icon HDP that I dusted off for the occasion, and using the class A output with headphones it sounds quite good. The line output leaves a little to be desired, at least for a real audiophile (I am using the stock brick-type power supply, and not the analog supply that was recommended for best results)

edit:

I guess I should read computer audiophile again from time-to-time. (It got to be a bit much a year-or-so ago)...

tau_seti

Yeah, I think the developer's totally wrong. I got the Digi+, it is phenomenal into the Ayre Codex. A Mac Mini 2012 (SSD) with USB Regen and Audilvana PLus doesn't sound as good.