Mu-so Qb stop start streaming

Jota posted:

Hi,

Got this today and it streams Radio Paradise perfectly at 320kbp/s and I've just tried to stream a ripped CD from my NAS and it plays about 3 seconds then stops for 6 then plays another 3 then stops for 6 and continues in this fashion.  It's a red book CD, ripped to FLAC and transcoded on my NAS to WAV.  Is this beyond the capabilities of the Mu-so Qb?

 

One other thing, when using my UQ2, I disabled the slider volume bar on the Naim app.  I can't seem to disable it for the Mu-so. 

It will play a ripped CD with no trouble, whether it's FLAC or WAV.  Is your Muso Qb connected by wifi or Ethernet cable? If the former then that's maybe your problem and you could try moving it closer to the router and see whether that fixes the problem. If it's connected by Ethernet then I'm not sure what to suggest. I presume your UQ2 plays the same file from your NAS without problem?

Dont know about the volume control and I can't check because I'm not running the production app at the moment. But this isn't really a problem for you is it?

best

David

Hi David,

I should have stated in my post, it's connected by WiFi and I could bring it into the same room as my router/PC/NAS etc and test to see if that's the case. Will report back on that later. The volume slider thing isn't a big deal at all, I just wanted to keep it the same setup as I have with the UQ2.

I've noticed something else now, the UQ2 Radio stream keeps disconnecting after a certain period of time while the Mu-so Qb keeps playing the same stream, something that did not happen before I got the Mu-so Qb.  The UQ2 is connected via Ethernet.  Going to have some testing to do this afternoon.

thx

Al

Most likely two or three challenges on your home network:

1. WiFi is less stable than cable
2. IP address assignment
3. Internet Service Provider upload speed problem

Adam

You could try connecting the Qb with Ethernet and see whether the drop outs on iradio come at the same time. And is it dependent on which station you select? The UQ2 and Qb probably have different buffering arrangements which might mean the Qb could handle a bursty stream better than the UQ2. But I don't know and you may need to discuss your issue with Phil at Naim.

best

David

Are you using multiroom to stream iRadio to both devices, or are they both connected individually?

Sounds like the UPnP playback is at the limit of what your wireless network can sustain, which is not unusual. Best practice is to run a network cable to the Muso, but if you can't manage that there are other measures that can help if you're prepared for a bit of tweaking.

Well I brought the Mu-so into the same room as the router etc and it made no difference to the WiFi streaming and I had the same 3 seconds of playing with 6 second of silence - repeat. Connecting with an Ethernet cable and it streams ripped CD's fine so there's something rotten afoot with my WiFi!  An Ethernet cable from the lounge to the kitchen is out of the question so will need to look at other options.

[@mention:36201736949470193]  I noticed it didn't matter if I played the same radio station through both or a different one on each, the UQ2 would drop the radio station connection.  The UQ2 stayed connected to the app, just loses the radio.  To get both to play the same station I'm clicking the Mu-so icon in the app then starting the radio station there then clicking the UQ2 icon in the app and doing the same thing.  I don't see any multiroom option.

Edit, found the Mutliroom option!  Obviously hadn't noticed this new icon since adding the Mu-So.

I've found that disabling the WiFi in a Naim streamer and connecting it to an Airport Express improved things considerably. I'm guessing that it would help with a Muso too.

Is iRadio on Multiroom any better than streaming separately to the 2 units? No guarantee that it will be, but you'll be streaming a bit less data from the web.  

When we got our Qb we used wifi for about a day before succumbing to a wire. We had a bodge job with a long wire attached to the skirting for a couple of months but when the kitchen was done we ran cables properly. Once it's all set up, multi room works beautifully. Without multi room you will never get internet radio in perfect sync on two devices. And I've just checked - you cannot disable the volume slider, or unused inputs for that matter. I'd really like to be able to switch most of them off like I do on the 272, which makes the app screen nice and tidy. 

Aha!  And not the band!  I messed around with my home network, simplifying it.  I had an Apple wifi thing plus my router which has wifi and I'm not sure what route the signal was taking but removing the Apple wifi from the network and just going with my ISP's router then re-connecting everthing has it streaming my ripped CD's like a champ.  That little cube can put out some serious noise!  I'll check my UQ2 to see if the internet radio dropout has been fixed and report back.

Damn, UQ2 just dropped the radio stream and the Mu-so also stops because it was playing in multiroom.

Edit.  The Mu-so is now streaming ripped CD's via wifi in my kitchen so that's good.  Just need to get to the bottom of the UQ2 dropout.

Could be worth rebooting your router and your UQ2, if you haven't done that recently. As I mentioned before, if there are lots of errors on your iRadio stream, it is possible that the Qb and UQ2 will handle differently eg buffering. And is it all iRadio or just that station?

Best

David

Hi David.

Prior to buying and installing the Mu-so the UQ2 streamed internet radio all day long, every day, without a problem.  It's happening with all radio stations so it's not just a problem with one.  To be clear, the buffer percentage is not dropping from 100% to say, 75%, 50% and back up randomly, it just stops/disconnects completely from 100%.  It's as if there's a set limit to the data and it stops as soon as it reaches it.  I just started the stream again there and set a stopwatch so I'll see if it plays for random lengths of time or the same time each time.

To update, I let the UQ2 stream various internet radio stations was quite surprised to see it would stream for almost exactly 5 minutes at a time before cutting out.  4.56 the first time, 5.03 the second, 5.02 the third.  This is bizarre.  Gonna try streaming some internet radio on my PC and see if it happens there.

Have you switched off your Qb so as to exclude that? Ultimately if rebooting your UQ2 doesn't help and you think it is the UQ2 and not your broadband or router, then something else to try is a factory reset of the UQ2. I can think of a couple of cases where that fixed unexpected and inexplicable behaviour from a Naim streamer, especially if it's had a firmware update without being reset at some stage.

best

David

I still suspect something is amiss with the network config. 

But as David wrote - powercycling all components needs to be performed. 

I just power cycled everything for a third time and guess what? It's a charm.   It's happily playing song after song from internet radio, 14 minutes and counting, so whatever it was appears to have corrected itself.

Thanks all for the time and pointers.  It never fails to surprise how the old "turn it off and back on again" works it's magic!

That means your network switch has most likwly finally refreshed the IP addresses for your network attached components. 

All should be ok now. 

Jota posted:

Thanks all for the time and pointers.  It never fails to surprise how the old "turn it off and back on again" works it's magic!

Shh! Don't tell everyone it's a special Jedi secret!

Glad it worked anyway.

best

David

The timed dropouts you describe are exactly what you would expect it a buffer was running out, so it's odd that the buffer appeared to stay full. I wonder if another buffer somewhere on your LAN was running out to cause this behaviour. 

Hopefully this is now history and you can forget it...