(25-Apr-2015, 12:06)GuillaumeB Wrote: [ -> ] (24-Apr-2015, 17:41)Rufus McDufus Wrote: [ -> ]The problem is just as common with Mac.
Just to clarify and emphasise this point please note the results of our recent survey: "A lot of Hot Air From Devialet - Survey 1"
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=939
24 Mac users get white noise.
17 Mac users don't get white noise.
20 PC users get white noise.
6 PC users do not get white noise.
I know the numbers aren't massive but they do nonetheless show that BOTH Mac and PC users are affected by this problem.
I myself got crackling sounds and dropouts using a Macbook Air in a highly optimised Cat 7 network.
Guillaume
Thanks, I know this 'statistics'. There is still the question of the cause of dropouts, crackling, noise, you name it. The cause may well be very different on both platforms and it is near impossible to make any judgements as victims don't reveal full details and a few don't even know where to look.
I get reproducible crackling sound when the CPU is doing something labour intensive that's not sound related, which has to do with FSB and CPU bandwidth. But then I am connected via a Cat7 network and not WiFi, which is noisy here because of tens of others using it nearby.
And, no, I didn't start a WinPC versus Mac discussion. I was just comparing prices of "high-end" cables and computers.
I have spent much time this weekend in my unpaid job as a Devialet beta tester, running AIR 2.1.4beta4. Some interesting results I think.
With JRiver WASAPI I could not get white noise. This morning I managed a four hour 100% clean run with 24bit material, no white noise, no drop outs, nothing. This contrasts slightly to yesterdays running of JRiver WASAPI when there were two occasions when the music stopped and AIR shut down, no white noise though, and I did get many hours of running between these "shut down" incidents.
Today I tried reinstating the PC's power saver mode, which shut the screen down after a defined period with keyboard or mouse use. Very consistent results, when the screen shuts down, the music stops, AIR shuts down, no white noise.
After a grand total of what must be about 15 hours running over he weekend white noise free, I deliberately tried what I know to be very bad PC settings for white noise, that is running iTunes 16/44.1 with the sound card GIU settings at 24/192. This resulted in white noise after about 15 minutes. With the PC's power save screensaver disabled, soundcard GUI on 16/44.1, I have been running white noise and drop out free for about one and a half hours, so far.....
I have managed to grab a few task manager processes screen shots of these events and will be reporting this all back to Devialet.
So AIR 2.1.4beta4 is clearly not a 100% robust fix, but for my particular set up, it looks like if I disable the power saver screensaver and don't use iTunes with silly GUI settings, then I should be white noise free.
(26-Apr-2015, 12:40)Confused Wrote: [ -> ]running iTunes 16/44.1 with the sound card GIU settings at 24/192.
Thanks for your effort; but ¿¿¿What would this setting discrepancy be good for except for provoking problems??? On my Mac I get crackling/noise with such deliberately wrong settings without problem.
(26-Apr-2015, 12:58)Mohmm Wrote: [ -> ] (26-Apr-2015, 12:40)Confused Wrote: [ -> ]running iTunes 16/44.1 with the sound card GIU settings at 24/192.
Thanks for your effort; but ¿¿¿What would this setting discrepancy be good for except for provoking problems??? On my Mac I get crackling/noise with such deliberately wrong settings without problem.
Nothing whatsoever! I stated in my earlier post that these are silly settings. Nothing else provoked white noise with 2.1.4beta4, I was simply trying everything I could to provide data for Devialet. I will make it clear to Devialet that the screen shot of the CPU process was a white noise event with these problematic settings. With this done, I have no intention of ever using these settings again! It's just a case of providing as much information to Devialet, as they never provide any useful feedback as to what they are finding, or what data they are looking for, (or anything else for that matter) it's difficult to know what is useful and what isn't. For sure, sending screen shots of everything working fine won't help. You make a good point though, how many folks out there are getting similar problems with AIR, but in fact a few tweaks getting the basic setting right might be all that is needed to cure?
And of course these problems shouldn't happen at all, regardless of the settings.
Oh, and good work Confused! The settings you use to induce the problem are the same as I've found, and I'm pretty sure they're close to the root of the problem.
(26-Apr-2015, 12:40)Confused Wrote: [ -> ]Very consistent results, when the screen shuts down, the music stops, AIR shuts down, no white noise.
I deliberately tried what I know to be very bad PC settings for white noise, that is running iTunes 16/44.1 with the sound card GIU settings at 24/192.
@
Confused, great work, indeed! They should name the final version of AIR in your honor: AIR-X.X.X-Confused
So, it sounds like (pun intended) where before it generated white noise, it now shuts AIR down? That's more graceful behavior.
I wonder if this shutting down also generates the "crash log" Devialet's developer mentioned on the forum page with the link to the beta-4. Have you checked
C:\Program Files (x86)\Devialet\AIR
for the presence of any such logs?
Setting GUI to 24/192, while playing 16/44, causes AIR to upsample, which is a very CPU intensive activity. That probably accounts for the increased rate of white noise with this combination.
Now I wonder if those who indicated beta-4 was still error-prone for them, don't use bit-perfect playback (which requires JRiver or Foobar2000 - most other players on Windows are not bit-perfect, even if you set "WASAPI bit perfect" in AIR), and have AIR set to something other than 16/44.1? That would impose some consistency on the current state of things.
PS. Tomorrow, I'll try my only scenario for inducing white noise, and report on that.
Apr-27 update: the scenario that used to trigger white noise on my PC (more or less consistently) did not cause any trouble with beta-4. So, for me as well, this version represents an improvement. Of course, only extended listening will tell for sure.
I'm trying the 2.1.4beta on Windows 7 64-bit now. Not good I'm afraid. First instance was crackling when the screen powered off on the PC. I've set it in Power Options to turn off the display after 1 minute as I find white noise/dropouts seem to occur when the display turns off or shortly after. This is the first time I've got crackling though.
I then left it playing music for about ten minutes but muted. Came back and unmuted it. It's dropping every half second to one second in a weird phasey kind of way. It continued constantly. Only restarted AIR solved it. Unfortunately I forgot to look at the Task Manager to see if memory/cpu usage had increased.
(30-Apr-2015, 10:55)Rufus McDufus Wrote: [ -> ]I'm trying the 2.1.4beta on Windows 7 64-bit now. Not good I'm afraid. First instance was crackling when the screen powered off on the PC. I've set it in Power Options to turn off the display after 1 minute as I find white noise/dropouts seem to occur when the display turns off or shortly after. This is the first time I've got crackling though.
I then left it playing music for about ten minutes but muted. Came back and unmuted it. It's dropping every half second to one second in a weird phasey kind of way. It continued constantly. Only restarted AIR solved it. Unfortunately I forgot to look at the Task Manager to see if memory/cpu usage had increased.
What player are you using on Windows? Do you have bit-perfect enabled in AIR? WiFi or Ethernet streaming?
just out of curiosity, has anyone every tried using ethernet air with a dual pc setup?