TOPIC:

or simply buy a Qobuz ready device

Somewhere I read that they are working on a release based on volumio 3.0 for the SHD.

Actually the OEM volumio version (1.125 is just a miniDSP version number) on the SHD is based on volumio 2.0. That is because of a problem with the audio driver or something related afaik.

Unfortunatly there was no date mentioned when this upgrade will be available or if they were able to get things running under volumio 3.0 at all.

Quick workaround:
connect a streamer to the USB Port of the SHD.
The SHD's overall purpose isn't it's streaming capability I would say. And other streaming services seem to work fine.

Of course it's pretty bad for their reputation that they're not able to fix the problem. But are you really sure it can't be a problem in your network with the miniDSP?

Can you describe how your miniDSP is connected to the Internet? wifi? cable to the router? Switch(es) between miniDSP and Router?

My network is fine, it is cable gbit in my house and I am using fibre channel internet here in Germany. That works without any problems on any other internet end devices in my house.

Do you also use Qobuz and you do not have these problems?

 And as already said, here it is only a bug with Qobuz. Tidal and Spotify are working fine with the old version of Volumio on the SHD.

But I do not agree with your statement, that the SHD is not mainly a streaming device. Of course it works very good as DIRAC and preamp processor, but they advertise this device as a network player and volumio streamer. So I would expect to get a working version as I really like Qobuz.

And I undertood here that some other Qobuz users have similar problems on the SHD, so I think it is more a general problem then a local problem.

Of course problems can always exist on such a complex technical device. But it is a little bit dissapointing that you do not get a fix or at least a response for this incident.

I just opened a new ticket, hoping that minidsp is taking care of this problem now.

I am streaming qobuz via a lumin U1 mini that is connected to the SHD Studio via AES.  But I could test if streaming qobuz with the SHD streamer does work here. I am located in Germany, too. If I would test it: How frequently does the track skipping occur? Does it happen more often with long tracks? Or is it completely random?

Did you try to log out and again in to qobuz to get a fresh session token (or however the session and the access is handled)? Does it make a difference if you change the streaming quality of the qobuz tracks?

@waterl00:
Congratz to the fibre connect. I live in Germany too
Lots of germans here!?

I use qobuz over logitech media player and squeezelite on the shd flawless. But that's another story. I can't use the Qobuz app for control.

I didn't want to say your network is bad. But maybe there is something network related in comibination with the SHD that forces this bug.

Which SHD do you have. The one with the white or the blue USB Port at the back?

I'm thinking it could also be a performance issue that heats up the streamer inside so it'll throttle down cpu. That would explain the random dropouts.
That would probably happen more often on the old version (white usb) bevause it has less cpu power.

just guessing.

This could be looked into if you could ssh into volumio and just use the command "top"
It would tell the cpu load.

If I have some spare time i could look into it.

greetz
marcus

I had not the time to play the full album, but I could play without any problems until track 16 of this album open.qobuz.com/album/5060421569284 This is only CD quality, so no hires. Maybe I should try a hires album like 96 KBit/s in 24 bit? You wrote that the track skipping happens nearly every second track?

I used the web frontend of volumio to start the streaming. Are you playing via this, too? Or are you using a control app like Bubble UPnP?

I have a SHD Studio neo2 (so the old version). I do not think that missing CPU power is a problem. Maybe you can try to turn off all sources that are not needed to make sure nothing interferes?  www.minidsp.com/forum/shd-series/21109-s...ngs-my-music-sources

Are you using a PowerLAN in your network? This can be problematic when streaming while other downloads work fine. (A friend had such a problem.)
 

For context I'm using a Neo3 SHD connected via ethernet cable and living in the UK. I did use to get more frequent issues with tracks skipping but thankfully it's fairly rare now, but does still happen sometimes. I've never had it as frequent as every other track though, which does make me wonder about a more specific/local issue.

@gbr, as you're testing anyway I'm curious how you find the sound compares using the SHD as a streamer vs your Lumin U1 mini?

Ultrasonic wrote:

@gbr, as you're testing anyway I'm curious how you find the sound compares using the SHD as a streamer vs your Lumin U1 mini?
 

I have a modified (2nd hand) U1 mini without internal power supply, but using a better external one that I had bought to try it with the SHD Studio originally. (A Farad Super 3 power supply). And guess what… I never did hear a difference between

• SHD Studio with original power supply
• SHD Studio with Farad Super 3
• SHD Studio with original power supply and U1 mini with Farad Super 3

What I did not test is to connect the U1 mini directly to my speakers (meroVinger audio decOrus and a DBA). I do not know if the speakers are so good or so bad that it does not matter how the source looks like. Maybe the SHD Studio offers a really good digital signal. Or it is the weak point in the chain and makes the good U1 signal less good? I do not know.

What I think makes a difference is the PSAudio P12 power conditioner that powers the whole hifi system. It makes the sound less nervous, more relaxed. 

gbr wrote:

Maybe the SHD Studio offers a really good digital signal. Or it is the weak point in the chain and makes the good U1 signal less good? I do not know.
 

Have you tried using a USB connection between the Lumin and SHD?

The way the SHD will resample incoming digital data probably means there can't be any benefit from a (potentially) lower jitter AES/EBU signal I think. The SHD's clock will still be what defines the output jitter. Lower electrical noise transfer is another way a better digital source can improve sound quality but as you're comparing to not having anything connected if using the internal streamer I'm not sure this could apply here. Unless not using the internal streamer affects electrical noise transfer to whatever digital outputs you use on you SHD Studio. 

I am also running the latest version of Volumio 1.125 on an iPad.  This problem has been going on for far too long and makes my Qubuz 
unusable.  I have no problem using Spotify at all but it sounds like crap. Sorry Qubuz but I’m moving on

Today I tried to play Kerala Dust, Violet Drive via the SHD streamer from qobuz. This album is 44.1kHz, 24 bit. And indeed track one and track two did not play until the end but skipped to the next track. So I stopped using volumio for streaming and started the album on the U1 mini. This plays fine. If it will skip, too, I will report it.

Thanks for your tests, exactly the same behaviour as I see them here.

So the error is reproducible on ohter devices-

So far my last try to open a case on minidsp support is still unanswered. This is very dissapointing.

And just to make clear: Spotify and Tidal do not have any issues on my SHD (non Studio) via volumio. It is only Qobuz.


 

I'll give the same album a try and report back...

OK, not sure if this will help anyone hopefully trying to troubleshoot but I was able to play that album from start to finish without any track ending early to skip to the next.

For context I live in the UK and was using an ethernet cable connection to a Neo3 SHD. There was no other significant network traffic at the same time (just my phone connected to the network but I wasn't actively doing anything on it). I don't have a really high performance internet service to my house: maximum download speed is about 70 Mbps, fibre to the cabinet rather than to my actual house.