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What is going on here? Streamer or DAC?

I’ve got an old (2016) streamer DAC that is beginning to show some instability. I do not believe it is my signal strength—240+ mps, no problems streaming video, occurs wired or WiFi. Opinions? Here are the symptoms:

1. Maybe one track in four, starts with a skip or stutter.  If I restart the track, it starts fine. 
2. Maybe one every few weeks/months, gets stuck repeating one note sort of like a damaged record. When this happens, no control via remote or the unit itself. Have to unplug to get it to stop. Sometimes it self corrects when plugging back in, sometimes have to hard reset.

3. Maybe once every few weeks, will locate tracks on Qobuz but will not load and play them.  Works fine from NAS or internet radio. When this happens, sometimes can correct by re-acquiring WiFi, sometimes needs a hard reset. This might be associated with momentary power outages. 
 

4. maybe once in three-six months, just shuts down and restarts while playing. 
 

Comments?

 

tomaswv
yage
399 posts
 

It could also be some other streamer component going bad like a RAM module, the storage for the OS, or the CPU itself.

 

It can be hard to narrow down the culprit unless you can log into the operating system remotely, e.g. using something like ssh or PuTTY or swap out the power brick / wall wart.

tomaswv OP
207 posts
 

There’s no wall wart, but here’s what I can do  ( just thought of this). I have a second system with a newer all in one.  Ill use the new as a streamer and the old as a DAC and see what happens, then switch ‘em. 
new streamer/old DAC: problems? Then it’s the DAC

old streamer/new DAC: problems? The it’s the streamer

Problems either way? Then it’s the power supply or network

no problems either way? Anybody’s guess  

 

I’ll report back in a few days  

 

yage
399 posts
 

Sounds like a good plan.

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,378 posts
 

@soix thanks for pointing out my poor reading effort.

 

testrun
218 posts
 

Are you using Roon or native Qobuz?  I had a simular problem Roon my Roon database on my laptop which was the only wireless component in my music stream.  I went to a dedicated music server (SGC i5) feeding my streamer/DAC combo.  The Roon database (metadata) ran on the music server and the Roon application runs on my MacBook, iPad and iPhone.  All interrupts, lags, delays went away.  You might have a similar issue. The problems I was having came and went, songs would stop/start etc.  It is a buffering Internet latency issue. What type of streamer are you using?  

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