MacMini –> Audirvana 3.5 –> Sonarworks –> UpnP –> Golds (DOS2) = BLISS!

[struts]

Hi @Pwalder,

Nope, never had that.  Just tested from my late 2015 iMac (Catalina 10.15.2) running Audirvana 3.5.29 and regardless what I play (tested Kind of Blue 24/96 and Come Away With Me 24/192) it plays perfectly from the first note.  I am not using Audrivana Remote but I don't see why that should make any difference (can you reproduce without the Remote?).

The only setting I can see with any obvious relevance here is "Max. memory allocated for tracks pre-load" under Low level playback options, which in my case is set to 5120 MB, but as best I can recall I have never changed this.

Thanks (again!). It stutters when playing back directly from the iMac to the Phantoms as well as the remote. I have now tried varying the Low level play back option (now set at 15Mb) and also the System optimiser  which prioritizes Audirvana but sadly this doesn't seem to have changed things. As you know due to your help I got the system working a couple of days ago and the sound quality was great. However when I came back to use it the next day I couldn't get any sound out of it at all....in fact in turned out that no apps on the iMac were generating sound  and I had to contact Apple who assisted in remaking the audio preferences files and managed to get sound back to the iMac. When I then played through Audirvana there was initially no sound. This was with the Audirvana Network setting to Wifi which is what was set when it was working. By chance I switched to a Network setting of Ethernet and hey presto I got sound out of one Phantom. This was strange as the Phantoms are not directly wired to ethernet although the now legacy (because of DOS 2) Dialogue is wired to ethernet and this is plugged into the same socket board as the Phantoms ....so I assume the signals are somehow getting through (sorry I am not very technical)?As I was only getting sound through one Phantom I  went though the http: Devialet Configuration pages to reset network name and passwords of the Phantoms but this didn't work. After multiple Phantom unplugged resets I managed to get a working pair albeit with the stuttering. So the current situation is I get the stuttering, usually at at the start but sometimes extending into the track, I am using Tidal and Qobuz free trials on Masters and Studio, Audirvana has been optimised (I think) and is using a Network Ethernet setting even though the Phantoms are not wired. When not stuttering the sound is fabulous!! Ive sought advice from the Audirvana community forum but not sure there are too many Phantom owners there.

Update: I now have a solution. I created a new dedicated network. I then restricted streams to 24 bit 96khz In Audirvana and this seems to do the trick. If tracks sampled at 192Khz are played then the skipping returns but 96 is more than adequate for 66 year old ears! Fingers crossed for some stability now.

"Curiouser and curiouser!" Cried struts (he was so much surprised, that for the moment he quite forgot how to speak good English).  

@Pwalder, This latest info only serves to confirm my suspicion that you have some networking issues (and maybe some issues on your iMac, maybe now solved).  If you have the appetite to dig deeper here, please describe your network in more detail and I may be able to make some suggestions.

1.  What network equipment do you have?  All-in-one modem/switch/access point?  Model/vintage?  Please describe the topology if simple or draw it if not.  Please describe how far away anything connected over wireless is from the access point and how much, if anything (e.g. walls, etc), is in the way.
2.  How is your iMac connected to your network?  Ethernet wifi? both?  If wifi, how good is the wifi signal strength seen from your Mac (do you have the tools/knowledge to measure it?)
3.  You say your Phantoms are not connected via Ethernet (correct?) but your Dialog is (correct?)
4.  How good is the wifi signal seen from your Phantoms (do you have the tools/knowledge to measure it?)
5.  How are your Phantoms connecting to your Dialog? (in the app click on the cogwheel, each speaker and then Network Interfaces)

Few things to bear in mind:
- The network settings in Audirvana refer to the host (i.e. iMac) connection to the network alone, nothing else.  Audirvana has no idea how anything else is connected.
- You can send audio to your Phantom "system" (i.e. to the Dialog if you have one, to your Left Phantom if you are on DOS 2 and no Dialog) via Ethernet, Wifi or Bluetooth.  In descending order of stability/preference
- Your Phantom "system" can communicate internally via Ethernet, Wifi and PLC. In descending order of stability/preference.
- If you can wire your Phantoms to the switch with Ethernet that is the 'safest' i.e. most robust method
- Good wifi (strong signal, generally line-of-sight and within a few meters) is second best as long as your wifi spectrum is not overcrowded (apartment building) or polluted (lots of other stuff like cordless phones, bluetooth etc on the 2.4 GHz frequency band).  2.4 GHz wifi generally has better range (and goes through walls better) whereas 5 GHz wifi is generally less crowded.  
- PLC is generally most problematic unless you can connect the whole Phantom "system" to the same power strip (which you seem to have done).

As you can see, there are lots of variables here.