Problems with NDS: Crack sound between HD tracks and connections to some radios

Posted by: Michel Werner on 04 July 2015

Hi everybody,

 

I am having two problems with my NDS.

 

- The first one appeared after upgrading the firmware to version 4.3. I don't know if there is any relationship. I hear a crack sound between some tracks played in HD. That was not the case before. Is anyone having the same experience and, if yes, have you found a workaround? 

 

- The second problem concerns connections with some radios, i.e. Radio France radios. The problem is the following one when connecting everything seems quite right when connecting, the buffer is filling to 100%. But then it starts to oscillate between for example 30% and 100%. The NDS then takes up to 30s to play the radio. I don't have the same problem when playing from a Qute.

 

The system is all hard wired. The NAS is a Synology 712+. All software is up to date.

 

Any ideas are welcome.

 

Best,

 

Michel

Posted on: 04 July 2015 by Mike-B
Originally Posted by Michel Werner:

Hi everybody,

 

I am having two problems with my NDS.

 

- The first one appeared after upgrading the firmware to version 4.3. I don't know if there is any relationship. I hear a crack sound between some tracks played in HD. That was not the case before. Is anyone having the same experience and, if yes, have you found a workaround? 

 

- The second problem concerns connections with some radios, i.e. Radio France radios. The problem is the following one when connecting everything seems quite right when connecting, the buffer is filling to 100%. But then it starts to oscillate between for example 30% and 100%. The NDS then takes up to 30s to play the radio. I don't have the same problem when playing from a Qute.

 

 

There are issues with soft clicks between tracks with DSD format,  but I've not heard or read of similar with PCM  ....

.... when you say "HD"  do you mean 24 bit / 48/96/192 PCM or DSD files ??

Naim are aware of the DSD problem

 

Can't help with iRadio,  I just ficked to Radio France & its OK,  I guess this is a streaming service problem & normally outside Naim & vTuner  & will possibly fix itself.

However it's something for Naim if its OK on Qute but not on NDS    

Posted on: 04 July 2015 by Michel Werner

Hi Mike,

 

Actually, I am not sure about whether the files are DSD or PCM. All I can tell is that they are from Qobuz Studio Masters at different resolution .m4a usually in ALAC format.

 

The problem with Radio France is strange indeed since I do not have it with other radios.

 

I'll send an email to Naim.

Posted on: 05 July 2015 by Mike-B
Originally Posted by Michel Werner:

Hi Mike,

 

Actually, I am not sure about whether the files are DSD or PCM. All I can tell is that they are from Qobuz Studio Masters at different resolution .m4a usually in ALAC format.

 

The problem with Radio France is strange indeed since I do not have it with other radios.

 

I'll send an email to Naim.

It will not be DSD from Qobuz ...........

You said these were with HD, however M4A is not HD, it is a lossy format encoded with AAC & intended as a replacement for MP3

If the files are really HD (24 bit with a high sampling rate) I would guess they are ALAC as someone else posted the same problem a few weeks ago

- I've copied this post over to Naim beta firmware test section.

Posted on: 05 July 2015 by Michel Werner

Mike,

 

The files names are with a .m4a ending but the player indicates that they are indeed ALAC. They are  HD, typically 96kHz. I also have FLAC and AIFF files which do not seem to have the problem. I have the possibility to reload the files in another format. This is what I will do but it is a bit of a pain.

 

Michel

Posted on: 05 July 2015 by Mike-B

Bonjour Michel,  if I were you I would get a different format & satisfy the problem is with the ALAC (M4A)  but I would keep the problem format & check again when the next firmware revision arives

Posted on: 31 August 2015 by GaryISL

I too am getting the crack sound between tracks. Can't put my finger on all scenarios, but usually between 192 or 96 khz ALAC/AIFF/DSD tracks. Didn't happen prior to 4.3.

 

Running a QNAP, PMC Twenty.23s and SuperUniti 

Posted on: 31 August 2015 by MuttB

Encountered this problem on downloaded ALAC only. Converted the files to AIFF and the "crack" noise has gone..

 

Hope this might help others suffering the same issue.