AIR works perfectly, no white noise, no dropouts or stuttering

[Confused]

It has been over a year now since AlexS posted his "Ethernet streaming and occasional white noise on Windows" thread.  (Happy birthday white noise!  Many happy returns.)

There is now a tiny bit of feedback from Devialet that they at least know what the problem is (timing issues related to Windows clocking) and that their "engineers are working very hard to resolve this issue".

The latest beta versions of AIR have been an improvement, but for many, not the robust cure that was hoped for.

I thought it might be interesting to look at this issue form a different direction.  The AIR issues do not effect all AIR users. 

What I would like to do is compile the experiences of all users that can use AIR completely trouble free.  No white noise, no dropouts, no stuttering.  What PC are you using, is it standard, modified or optimised in any way?  My thoughts are that if we could compile the experiences of a few uses using AIR without issue, it might just be possible to spot some trends or commonality between successful and trouble free set ups.  It might work?  Who knows.

Also, I see no reason why those using AIR trouble free via a Mac should not chime in.  A successful solution is a successful solution, this needn't be entirely Widows cantered, plus the information might prove useful for anyone considering a new computer or laptop and is dithering between Mac and PC options.

I guess those with highly optimised PC's and using USB need not apply here!  I have nothing whatsoever against this approach, indeed I have been thinking about this myself, it's just that we know that USB works, so this won't add much to resolving the AIR issues.  This thread is to compile the experiences of any successful and trouble free users of AIR, I know you are out there!

[Womaz]

Ah you built my hopes up there. I thought it was all solved

[hk6230]

What is the latest AIR beta version for Windows now?

[f1eng]

I used Air from the first day I received my wifi modules and fitted them into my D-Premiers.
Version 1 was Mac and iTunes only, iirc it took a while to de-bug but was eventually pretty well bug free. The sound quality was superb. There was never any white noise.
Version 2, which works completely differently and can be used on PCs and with any software which can send sound to a sound card, has had problems. I haven't used a PC since I retired, but there was a new requirement to de-bug V2 on my iMac.
I have never had white noise, though the wifi signal received by my master 800 has dropped for some reason such that I can only use AIR ethernet now. This worked fault free until I updated the OSX from OSX10.9 to OSX10.10, I got a sound like a pulse jet through the speakers soon after Air started playing music.
I restored my computer using the backup I did just before the update and have continued using Air-ETH on OSX10.9 without problem.

I have my music library, such as it is, in iTunes on an iMac. The iMac is standard, the only thing I do to pander to audophilia is to disable the automatic hourly backup.
I use Safari on the machine from time to time, and now have Spark on there too.

So, apart from the pulse jet noise I had on OSX10.10 I have never had noise using Air, and I don't imagine anybody has been using it more than a day or two longer than I have since the wifi modules were shipped to me from Devialet as soon as they became available and I fitted them straight away.
Before that I used Amarra output from the iMac by firewire to one of my Metric Halo ADC/DAC recorders which converted to AES/EBU.
Incidentally most of the problems I had had with V1 of Air stopped when I used an Amarra utility programme to clean up some of its old files, which seemed to alter the way in which the Mac dealt with sound files.

[AlexS]

"No white noise, no dropouts or stuttering"
That is, currently, the case for me: while I'm waiting for the KEF Blades 2 to arrive, I stream from my PC (JRiver) to iPad (JRemote app), and listen over the headphones... No Devialet and AIR in the music chain
Joking aside, I've never experienced either white noise or stuttering with the latest BETA version of AIR for Windows.
I use generous pre-buffering and buffering settings in JRiver.
I've disabled Windows Defender's auto-scans, and only run it occasionally manually. I've also configured Windows Defender, per JRiver's wiki dedicated to taming the anti-virus programs. (I don't have any anti-virus other than Windows Defender and Firewall - I consciously take this risk to avoid the related CPU overhead).
Needless to say, I've given up on WiFi, and use wired Ethernet.
Finally, I don't stream anything above 24/96 (after reading articles and testing my own ears, I'm convinced that 24/192 - and 24/96, for that matter - is completely useless).
That's it, and it works pretty well for me.

[hk6230]

Normally, when I played 16/44.1 bitrates music using Windows 8.1 AIR 2.1.4B4, no white noise or dropouts. Anything above this bitrates, within a couple of minutes, white noise will occur.

My D200 is wired to my wifi router and my Win8.1 tablet is wifi connected to another router in the network. In the past, as my D200 just sits next to a wifi router, using AIR-wifi to my D200, no white noises, too.

[Davyboy]

I have all my music now on iTunes and stream using Air from the AirPort Extreme and Ethernet to my 200. What I find is after an hour or more I start getting the odd drop out then not long after the white noise.
If it's just a clock issue why doesn't it become an issue at the beginning?
To eliminate the noise all that's required is to switch the 200 of and on again.
I haven't updated to 8.1.2 yet but my iMac is always updated to the latest iOS.

[PhilP]

iMAC running OS X 10.6.8
AIR 2.1.2
FW 8.1.2 + SAM
Wi-Fi Router: Netgear NGN-2200

Works perfectly streaming either using Wi-Fi or ethernet cable - no white noise, no drop-outs. I regularly stream 24/96 with no issues. Have also tried 24/192 which also worked with no issues.

The Wi-Fi router is approx 4.5 m away from my 200 (clear line of sight). Wi-Fi signal strength shows -47 to -52/+8 DBM on the Devialet's display.

[thumb5]

iMAC running OS X 10.6.8
AIR 2.1.2
FW 8.1.2 + SAM
Wi-Fi Router: Netgear NGN-2200

Works perfectly streaming either using Wi-Fi or ethernet cable - no white noise, no drop-outs.  I regularly stream 24/96 with no issues.  Have also tried 24/192 which also worked with no issues.

The Wi-Fi router is approx 4.5 m away from my 200 (clear line of sight). Wi-Fi signal strength shows -47 to -52/+8 DBM on the Devialet's display.

That's impressive/reassuring/how it is supposed to be (depending on your point of view)!

I wonder whether OS X 10.6.8 is a significant factor in that?  Unfortunately I didn't get chance to try 10.6.8 with AIR for a long enough period on my old MacBook Pro; all my recent experience with AIR has been on a new computer running 10.10.1/2 (and I do get very occasional drop-outs even on 16/44 material).

[PhilP]

I've kept my Mac at 10.6.8 because of the problems that others have reported with later versions of OS X though it's beginning to reach the stage where some s/w isn't supported e.g. Naim FW upgrades,  Aurender AMM. I note that Frank uses 10.9 with no issues.

Streaming via AIR sounds better than ever when using either 7.1.3 or 8.1.2+SAM. I'm currently running the latter (50% SAM) as I appreciate the extra bass