Why is computer audio so frustrating? JRiver not working at all - argh

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Big Red Machine

Posting on the Jriver site asking for help is damn near a waste of time.  So many problems cropping up and your problem is just another grain of sand.

I was able to play music on and off but JR kept freezing.  If you hit skip, pause, even stop, then tried to hit play it just froze up.  Restart JR and then it starts giving errors about your poor choice of resolution choices or whatever.  Now I cannot get any music to play.  I have tried toggling everything I can find and nuttin.

And I still don't understand this DoP thing.  Can JRiver actually play DSD files "natively"?  Do I have to upsample lower resolution files when bitstreaming?  Should I use asynch instead?  The settings seem so random and quirky.  My health report on my MS-2 server is very, very low, in the 600 range while others with powerful computers are in the 4000 range.  Is that my problem? 

Can I purchase a computer that is more powerful and ready to go like my MS-2 was supposed to be?  Are there music servers that are plug and play?  Why does Windows 8 suck when it comes to navigating?  Were they heavy drug users when they set that up?

And when it comes to stewed prunes, when is one not enough and two, too many?


ted_b

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Pete, we'll get you going, don;t worry.

What is an MS-2?

DoP is indeed native DSD bitstreaming, just using the DACs standard drivers and taking advantage of 24/176k PCM to pack DSD inside it for the ride. 

And NO...do not upsample anything if your music server is on the lightweight side (I have plenty of cpu power and still don't upsample.)

Ping me and we can get together for a teamviewer session if you want.

You've watched my videos, right?  You've used the correct driver and set bitstream to DSD?

*Scotty*

BRM, you should probably pm HAL and get his take on your jRiver problem. I know that jRiver is seems happier with more power.
Scotty

AKLegal

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I was able to play music on and off but JR kept freezing.  If you hit skip, pause, even stop, then tried to hit play it just froze up.  Restart JR and then it starts giving errors about your poor choice of resolution choices or whatever.  Now I cannot get any music to play.  I have tried toggling everything I can find and nuttin.


This is a driver issue.  What DAC are you using? What mode of playback are you using (Wasapi, Kernel Streaming, ASIO)? What mode of playback does your DAC manufacturer recommend?  The error you mentioned is usually remedied by selecting another more stable playback mode.  If no playback modes work then your DAC manufacturer needs to ensure whether the driver is designed to work with your operating system.

Your issues have little to do with the power of your machine which really only affects how fast J-River runs.  I will say that if you are doing DSD stuff on the fly you really ought to upgrade to maybe a I5 based machine or higher. 

I have run several iterations of J-River on the Windows 8 music server I built 1.5 years ago.  It stays on 24/7 and I usually only ever have to mess with it except when I need to update software and load new music.  My server is basically the CAPS Zuma with a I5 processor instead of a I7.  I have used several different usb to spidf products without much issue other than getting the most stable playback mode selected.

ted_b

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My bad!!  I just looked at Pete's system page and now realize the MS-2 he talks about isn't Wyred's MS-2 (a couple stupid posts from me about Linux were wayy off target, so I deleted them... sorry) but HAL's MS-2.  So....his JRiver is Windows 8 (yuck, but oh well..I find WS2012 much better) so he has full-function JRIver.  I now feel MUCH better about solving his JRIver issues with a quick teamviewer session.  His Chord DAC (likely one I own) has good Windows 8 drivers so maybe he has the wrong one chosen (as you mentioned AKLegal)?  We'll see. Or maybe he's using the Lampi DAC (Pete changes Dacs more than me  :) ).

Big Red Machine

Just got back from picking out the paint color for my new speakers.

Chord recommends the Kernel Bitstreaming set-up.  After that I am kinda lost on what is right or wrong.  I've had music playing after it took 4 days to analyze the audio.

I did watch the two Ted videos and even made a DSD Audio "folder" and even pushed that up to the Ipad per Ted's instructions.  Before I sold the Lampizator I occasionally had freezing and I thought it was the dac.  What do I know.

Since I got the Chord I have had very little music flowing.  I thought the Ipad interface was causing a communications confusion with the MS-2.  but when I run the music purely from the JR software with a mouse it still freezes.  I do not see where changing from FLAC to DSD is causing this but heck if I know again.

The "best" running stretch I have had is with:

Audio device: kernel streaming driver versus the asynch driver (downloaded from the Chord CD),
Device settings at 24 bit

DSP to upsampling the 44, 48, 88 to 192 and the rest unchanged
Channels to 2 chanel stereo no mixing
No other boxes checked except for Output formatting

Bitstreaming to DSD
Prebuffering to 6 seconds
2 second silence
two boxes left unchecked: memory and disable display


And now with a DSF file I have played before the Playback Problem says could not be started on the output Kernel Streaming using the DoP 5.6MHz 2ch.

Not sure why this is.  ALso have the very latest JR downloaded last night: 19.0.154

AKLegal

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Since I got the Chord I have had very little music flowing.  I thought the Ipad interface was causing a communications confusion with the MS-2.  but when I run the music purely from the JR software with a mouse it still freezes.  I do not see where changing from FLAC to DSD is causing this but heck if I know again.

I'm not sure if you are upsampling PCM to DSD but doing so is resource intensive and could possibly lead to timeouts and/or software crashes with a inadequate computer but not the error message you described earlier.  That error message is specific to driver issues.

Just got back from picking out the paint color for my new speakers.

Chord recommends the Kernel Bitstreaming set-up. 
The "best" running stretch I have had is with:

Audio device: kernel streaming driver versus the asynch driver (downloaded from the Chord CD),
Device settings at 24 bit

DSP to upsampling the 44, 48, 88 to 192 and the rest unchanged
Channels to 2 chanel stereo no mixing
No other boxes checked except for Output formatting

Bitstreaming to DSD
Prebuffering to 6 seconds
2 second silence
two boxes left unchecked: memory and disable display


What other modes have you tried and what were their results?  I would go baseline with Wasapi with automatic bitdepth.  Also check the box for "Open Device for Exclusive Access".  See what that gets you. 

Since a recent J-River 19 update, the software sometimes puts third party drivers in the "more" section when you go to select your audio device.  You may see more than one "Kernel Streaming" selection there.  Try each one if there are multiples but avoid any that might have "direct sound" in their title.

Seriously, given that its a Chord we should be able to get this issue licked.  They likely have very up to date drivers.

Big Red Machine

This site has a word doc that gives instructions but the views are different for MC19.  I do not have a DoP 1.0 (0xFA / 0x05) choice.  Is there a 3rd party driver I need to run DoP?  I don't see any plugins or such for DSD.

I have tried every combination I can think of and every driver I have and nothing but error messages.  I am about to reload the drivers.

Your suggestions AK did not work.  I have a small set of songs with DFF, wav, and FLAC to try each type with each variation and always a variant of error message that it cannot play that resolution.

ted_b

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Just got back from picking out the paint color for my new speakers.

Chord recommends the Kernel Bitstreaming set-up.  After that I am kinda lost on what is right or wrong.  I've had music playing after it took 4 days to analyze the audio.

I did watch the two Ted videos and even made a DSD Audio "folder" and even pushed that up to the Ipad per Ted's instructions.  Before I sold the Lampizator I occasionally had freezing and I thought it was the dac.  What do I know.

Since I got the Chord I have had very little music flowing.  I thought the Ipad interface was causing a communications confusion with the MS-2.  but when I run the music purely from the JR software with a mouse it still freezes.  I do not see where changing from FLAC to DSD is causing this but heck if I know again.

The "best" running stretch I have had is with:

Audio device: kernel streaming driver versus the asynch driver (downloaded from the Chord CD),
Device settings at 24 bit

DSP to upsampling the 44, 48, 88 to 192 and the rest unchanged
Channels to 2 chanel stereo no mixing
No other boxes checked except for Output formatting

Bitstreaming to DSD
Prebuffering to 6 seconds
2 second silence
two boxes left unchecked: memory and disable display


And now with a DSF file I have played before the Playback Problem says could not be started on the output Kernel Streaming using the DoP 5.6MHz 2ch.

Not sure why this is.  ALso have the very latest JR downloaded last night: 19.0.154

Pete,
There is so much here that I don;t understand.  Do not upsample or convert FLAC to DSD, do not.  And what is "4 days to analyze audio"??  You have somehow turned on an analyzer?  That;s a big problem, especially given the lightweight nature of your sever.  And somehow you have DoP set to DSD128 (5.6mhz)?  Do not do that, you don;t have the cpu for it.   
The Chord DAC should have been a 30 second setup.  And a 6TB music library is loaded in maybe 30-40 minutes tops (a one time thing), and then is monitored 24/7 for any new additions.

Seriously, I could help you if you want.   And no ..no plugins needed.  You are working way too hard.  :)  Only reload the drivers after uninstalling them!

Big Red Machine

You are misreading my words.  I have a list of tunes that I can test different types from DSD to FLAC files to see if the settings work with all types of files.  I don't know how to upsample.

I had music a minute ago and then it started freezing again.  Now bubkis and error codes again.

Why shouldn't I want DSD128?  Isn't that the benefit of having DSD is to get higher rez?  What is the rez of basic DSD then?

shawbros3

Big Red,

JRiver is awesome when it works, and for me it works most of the time.  I only have issues with playback when used in tandem with JPlay, but a restart of the program or reboot of the machine usually fixes the issue.  I rarely get a complete freeze like you are experiencing with my current server.  I had a similar machine as yours specs wise, but never had a DSD DAC to try out that functionality at that time.

It appears you've used JRiver before with the Lamp so you kind of know what's going on.  You are not upsampling, are you sure, in one of your previous posts says you set the DSP to upsample some bitrates, "DSP to upsampling the 44, 48, 88 to 192 and the rest unchanged "?  That will put strain on your CPU.  Just play those non-DSD bitrates natively and the DSD natively.  There should be a DOP over PCM radio button in the "Bitstreaming..." section after selecting "Custom".

I have a feeling the freezing is due to your hardware.  When it freezes, can you still navigate other programs on the computer?  Or do you have to do a hard boot to restart the machine?

Just check to make sure you have turned off DSP entirely.  Can you play non-DSD files okay?

You get music in spurts, so this tells me your settings are working, just not for an extended period of time...

Good luck and hook up with Ted if you can...

Big Red Machine

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89063.0

this is essentially what ted and I experienced together today.  We have some ideas to try and work around.

HAL

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Pete,
Just got home from travel and a friend told me about the thread.

Hopefully the advice in the thread you linked works.  WASAPI Event driven mode works and would imagine Kernel Streaming is an issue with Windows 8.1.  Last version of JRiver I tried was MC18 with my DAC's and it worked.  I even tried DSD64 DoP with it at one point with a DIY DAC I built and it worked in native playback.

I know most folks do not want to try other things, but Foobar2000 on the MS-2 is a good way to check.  It was installed and working when I shipped it.  You would just need to select the new DAC driver and see if it reacts differently than JRiver.  It is not setup to use DoP, but it can be with other plug-ins.

Sounds like you and Ted have a path forward with JRiver, so just an idea.

 

Big Red Machine

Tried JPLay on the MS2 to no avail.

Downloaded JR to my laptop and the same failures occur, so the driver for the dac is foobared.  It freezes right up if you hit pause or stop. 

sfox7076

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I guess it is of no solace that it works fine to the Hugo on a Mac...

Big Red Machine

Tried JPLay on the MS2 to no avail.

Downloaded JR to my laptop and the same failures occur, so the driver for the dac is foobared.  It freezes right up if you hit pause or stop.

Check that response.  Ted got back with me and corrected some of settings and it seems to pause and play again fine right now.

He is totally the man. :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

It's going to cost me some bucks to purchase it but after an all day sucker on this poopy flavored lollipop I am okay with that.

ted_b

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I have been using a Hugo lately, but prior to that the Chord Qute EX (which I reveiwed, along with the HD, on Computer Audiophile).  I owe CAS a Hugo review too.  :)

Anyway...I mention this cuz I use JRIver/jplay in a dual pc setup...and I was fat, dumb and happy playing the Chord EX with kernel streaming.  Come to find out that it is a mess (the driver) when using it with JRiver....unbeknownst to me.  In using jplay the DAC doesn't interface directly with JRiver, jplay (ASIO driver) does.   So the ks driver issues with JRIver were not an issue with my setup.

So after finding this out and giving Pete the heads up I recommended he trial Jplay.  His initial report back (that it didn't work) was simply operator error (Jplay is not an intuitive setup per se).  So I teamviewed in and, viola, all is now well.   :) 

Chord is still responsible for getting us a better EX driver (Hugo driver is fine) but in the meantime Pete has an even better setup...the great combination of JRiver's player and library management (let alone the best iPad remote in the business....JRemote) and the best sounding engine...JPlay. 

Starchild

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I had similar problems with JRiver and finally found that issue was grounded in my wifi configuration.  I was able to resolve the issue with the advice I received below.

Minimally, you want to place a switch between your Oppo and your computer.  End stations are designed to be just that - end points; they are not designed to manage inter-connectivity the way switches and routers do.  While it often "works" to connect two devices in the manner you have connected them, it can cause exactly these types of problems.

Get your own high-quality WiFi router that you connect by Ethernet cable to your broadband router; this will allow you control/use your access point (you'll not use the broadband's WiFi), and you can then adjust the location for optimal performance for your home.  The WiFi supplied via your ISP's router may not be very good.
 
I fixed them problem by using a separate router that essentially set up a dedicated network for JRiver.  Look at this link for the complete thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89536.0

ted_b

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Starchild, thanks but this was neither an Oppo nor a wifi issue.  The Chord Qute series Windows driver has an issue with Jriver, but not with Jplay currently, so we worked a solution.  I have "some" influence with Chord and have an email into Matt and others regarding a better driver.

BTW, kudos to AKlegal for seeing early on that this was a driver issue.  :)