Hi Tim, thanks for the prompt reply..
1) Found it ! and adjusted volume warning to disabled.
2) a> overclocking did improve things but 'popping' still happens. Most noticeable on female vocal on Ancient FM.
b>Yes, already disabled.
c> On eth as no wifi coverage here in my workshop
Strange as it may seem the interference is not present when using the 3.5mm output.
Points to a usb/eth conflict as it is present on 3 usb dacs and using various lan connections .
I am hoping the i2s dac I am waiting for will cure it..
I have tried different powered usb hubs and alternative ways of powering the Pi (currently using an old Commodore 64 psu) without any joy.
Other sources play fine, usb drives and sticks no problems. Only on radio does it happen...
Another question ...whichever device I use for the web gui (low resource laptop or high spec desktop) rockets one core to near 100% usage when on the playback page .
If I navigate away to any of the settings pages or to another tab in Firefox then cpu use returns to normal.
This is on all sources.
here is another ad free station.. Persian Radio
h t t p://213.73.255.244:10700
Cheers.
Bob.
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the station link
Its been added to the stock list for 1.6. I'm listening to Iranian Sonati music (Persian traditional) right now. Incredible rythmic lute playing on some of these compositions. Regarding the bolded items in your post I have a few thoughts/questions:
Bold #1: "Strange as it may seem the interference is not present when using the 3.5mm output."
As you point out, this suggests the well known usb/eth shared bus capacity issue in the Pi B design. I thought this was addressed in the USB driver a while back but maybe its not a universal fix for all USB DAC's...
For reference purposes I'm experiencing glitch-free playback using JDS Labs ODAC (USB), Edimax EW-7811Un WiFi adapter and this HP 5V 2A power supply for the Pi's.
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Bold #2: "Other sources play fine, usb drives and sticks no problems. Only on radio does it happen..."
Since Song files on usb stick/drive would not be using eth, but radio would use eth this implies Bold #1. Do u also use NAS source which would use eth and also have issue?
Bold #3: "rockets one core to near 100% usage when on the playback page"
Very odd. In my environment on OSX Yos Safari and Win 7 IE11 I see 1-2% cpu util on the Playback panel when playing Radio Station or Song File (from USB or NAS source). No performance issues on iPhone 5C/iPod 5 devices either.
The time knob, a jquery/javascript component, would be the only UI element that is doing any work on the Playback panel so perhaps the high cpu utilization u are seeing has something to do with the particular version of Firefox that u are using and its implementation of Javascript --or-- it could be the version of JQuery Countdown and JQuery Knob used in the WebUI that does not play well with Firefox.
Regards,
TC
I have tried 3 Dacs from different manufacturers. Would be odd that it behaved like this for all three.
Seems much more device based (not OS I hasten to add as it does this on Rune, Volumio, and Tcmods. Two are debian based and one Arch based.)
Is there a firmware upgrade for the Pi that is independent of the OS ?? Does Tcmods have the latest firmware incorporated ?
No I don't have a NAS configured but will experiment.
Quite possible...(using several Linux OS') Just tried Iceweasel, Midori and Chromium on Antix and did not have the cpu problem.
I will test these browsers with Ubuntu and see if it is Firefox at fault.
My old Ppc G4 Powerbook also runs fine using Safari.
Thanks for the suggestions !
Radio= h t t p://countryradio2.no-ip.org:8000
What can I say...I have a sub-collection of Lp records filed as 'Vinyl Disasters" This station might have a home with them too
It goes under the name of 'Gore Country Radio' and whilst that might sound like something straight out of Pulp Fiction, Gore is actually a place...
Things to see and do in Gore, New Zealand
New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards - Official Website - Gore - Southland
Please do not include this in the 1.6 release...
unless you would stoop so low as to include Dr Dementos Delights...Demented Radio - Music to tickle your funny bone!
Note the language warning on their page...
Cheers,
Bob
I have tried 3 Dacs from different manufacturers. Would be odd that it behaved like this for all three.
Seems much more device based (not OS I hasten to add as it does this on Rune, Volumio, and Tcmods. Two are debian based and one Arch based.)
Is there a firmware upgrade for the Pi that is independent of the OS ?? Does Tcmods have the latest firmware incorporated ?
No I don't have a NAS configured but will experiment.
Quite possible...(using several Linux OS') Just tried Iceweasel, Midori and Chromium on Antix and did not have the cpu problem.
I will test these browsers with Ubuntu and see if it is Firefox at fault.
My old Ppc G4 Powerbook also runs fine using Safari.
Thanks for the suggestions !
Radio= h t t p://countryradio2.no-ip.org:8000
What can I say...I have a sub-collection of Lp records filed as 'Vinyl Disasters" This station might have a home with them too
It goes under the name of 'Gore Country Radio' and whilst that might sound like something straight out of Pulp Fiction, Gore is actually a place...
Things to see and do in Gore, New Zealand
New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards - Official Website - Gore - Southland
Please do not include this in the 1.6 release...
Demented Radio - Music to tickle your funny bone!
Note the language warning on their page...
Cheers,
Bob
Hi Bob,
lol dr demento. I'll leave this particular station as a self-add only option...haha
The radio list definitely needs more stations from the Country genre, there is only one currently which is AddictedToRadio - Classic Country. I'm listening to Gore/Invercargill (classic country) and Dunedin (modern country) and the playlists are excellent but the streams are only 24k mono...yikes!
Now regarding your questions:
(1) Is there a firmware upgrade for the Pi that is independent of the OS ??
Yes. The firmware is just a file in the distro image that is loaded into the Pi at the beginning of the startup sequence. The firmware load does not permanently update the Pi. It runs in volatile memory and like the OS itself exists only as long as the Pi is powered up. You could have a different firmware version on each of several SD card images.
(2) Does Tcmods have the latest firmware incorporated ?
Probably not. This is because the firmware version is whatever was latest at the time the distro was baked. The distro underneath TCMODS is a variant of the Volumio 1.4 distro (2014) and there may be newer firmware releases available. I will check on this
Here are a couple more things to try that may resolve the audio glitch issue:
(a) Add the settings below to /boot/cmdline.txt then reboot.
dwc_otg.fiq_enable=1 dwc_otg.fiq_fsm_enable=1 dwc_otg.fiq_fsm_mask=0x3
Reference: Raspberry Pi • View topic - Call for beta testers: FIQ_FSM USB driver rewrite
(b) Contact me at the "Contact Tim Curtis" link on tcmods.org and I'll send you a download link to a test distro that I am working on that I may use in 1.6 or later releases of TCMODS.
Regards,
TC
Hi Tim, Thanks for the continued help
I tried the /boot/cmdline.txt modifications with a small improvement noted.
Then I tried adjusting the buffer values up and up and up... and at 51200 and 30% fill it was much improved but still not clean enough to listen enjoyably.
So I put the Volumio sd card back and with standard 2048 buffer there is no popping, stutter or other interference. Everything else remained the same the only change was in the distro.
Looking through the volumio menus the difference I found is that volumio has set up a static connection whereas Tcmods sets Auto DHCP.
So I copied the Volumio settings to the Tcmods install and rebooted....and can no longer access Tcmods... Will reload Tcmods.
I also noted that the high cpu usage is not present on the playback page with Tcmods but is with Volumio !!
Contacting you via Tcmods and keen to try the test file.
Thanks Bob
I tried the /boot/cmdline.txt modifications with a small improvement noted.
Then I tried adjusting the buffer values up and up and up... and at 51200 and 30% fill it was much improved but still not clean enough to listen enjoyably.
So I put the Volumio sd card back and with standard 2048 buffer there is no popping, stutter or other interference. Everything else remained the same the only change was in the distro.
Looking through the volumio menus the difference I found is that volumio has set up a static connection whereas Tcmods sets Auto DHCP.
So I copied the Volumio settings to the Tcmods install and rebooted....and can no longer access Tcmods...
Will reload Tcmods.I also noted that the high cpu usage is not present on the playback page with Tcmods but is with Volumio !!
Contacting you via Tcmods and keen to try the test file.
Thanks Bob
Yes. I jumped the gun there... Rune and Volumio spike the cpu usage and continue at near 100% whilst on the playback page.
Tcmods spikes the cpu (probably my low resource laptop accessing the page.. ) then settles to almost nil.
I would be happy to have Tcmods spike 100% too if that solved the popping and stuttering as I can navigate away from the page to reduce the cpu overhead...
Rune and Volumio spike the cpu usage and continue at near 100% whilst on the playback page.Tcmods spikes the cpu (probably my low resource laptop accessing the page..
) then settles to almost nil.I would be happy to have Tcmods spike 100% too if that solved the popping and stuttering as I can navigate away from the page to reduce the cpu overhead...
Last edited:
Running 'top' in both the 1.5 and the testing 1.6 Tcmods shows cpu usage under 10% for MPD as the highest use service.
Total cpu usage for 1.5 at around 20% and 1.6 at 23%.
No change observed during glitches on radio streams in 1.5 and as there are no glitches in 1.6 no change can be observed..
Looks like mpd is not the problem and the new kernel in the 1.6 version has fixed the problems.
I am thinking it has been a device hiccough and the newer kernel has better driver/support for my device. ?
Total cpu usage for 1.5 at around 20% and 1.6 at 23%.
No change observed during glitches on radio streams in 1.5 and as there are no glitches in 1.6
no change can be observed..Looks like mpd is not the problem and the new kernel in the 1.6 version has fixed the problems.
I am thinking it has been a device hiccough and the newer kernel has better driver/support for my device. ?
That new kernel/mpd fix has prompted me to try some devices that previously would not work..
A Logitech wireless audio sender that used to send a 1/2 second burst of sound then mute for 3 seconds and repeat now plays without any problems at all.
I guess with the release of the new Quad-core Pi there will be 2 versions to build for..Arm-v6 and Arm-v7.
The Arm-v7 seems imminent..
Look forward to the tcmods version.. (My Pi2B should arrive in the next couple of days so I am happy to test.. )
https://volumio.org/forum/raspberry-model-t2541.html
A Logitech wireless audio sender that used to send a 1/2 second burst of sound then mute for 3 seconds and repeat now plays without any problems at all.
I guess with the release of the new Quad-core Pi there will be 2 versions to build for..Arm-v6 and Arm-v7.
The Arm-v7 seems imminent..
Look forward to the tcmods version.. (My Pi2B should arrive in the next couple of days so I am happy to test..
)https://volumio.org/forum/raspberry-model-t2541.html
That new kernel/mpd fix has prompted me to try some devices that previously would not work..
A Logitech wireless audio sender that used to send a 1/2 second burst of sound then mute for 3 seconds and repeat now plays without any problems at all.
I guess with the release of the new Quad-core Pi there will be 2 versions to build for..Arm-v6 and Arm-v7.
The Arm-v7 seems imminent..
Look forward to the tcmods version.. (My Pi2B should arrive in the next couple of days so I am happy to test..
https://volumio.org/forum/raspberry-model-t2541.html
Interesting to watch the continued evolution of the Raspberry Pi
Hi,
Here's a brief update on some features I'm working on that may make it into release 1.6 which is planned for sometime in February. Screenshots attached.
(1) SOX RESAMPLER seems to be working ok with standard conversion recipes (below). but needs more testing. The big advantage of using SoX over SRC is that SoX is much more efficient and uses significantly less cpu. This is goodness for feeding up-sampled audio to those NOS DAC's
Here are the standard conversion recipes.
- SoX Medium Quality: 95% bandwidth, 100dB noise rejection, linear phase
- SoX High Quality: 95% bandwidth, 120dB noise rejection, linear phase
- SoX Very High Quality: 95% bandwidth, 175dB noise rejection, linear phase
There are some additional recipes including SOXR_LSR0Q, SOXR_LSR1Q, SOXR_LSR2Q, that are designed to emulate SRC/libsamplerate Best/Medium/Fastest but are not yet offered in MPD. Maybe they will appear in a future version!
(2) NEW RADIO STATIONS! continuing to add your great quality, listener-supported and commercial-free station suggestions to the stock list
- Folk Radio UK
- Iranian Radio - Persian Traditional Sonati
- NTS Live London - Don't Assume
- KUVO 89.3 FM Denver
- KUVO HD2 - Jazz with Bob Parlocha
- KUVO HD3 - The Other Side of KUVO
(3) NAME CHANGE FIELDS on the System Config page. Player, Browser Title, Airplay, UPNP, DLNA names, etc.
(4) PRESETS for Song/Radio Station accessible from the Playback panel for quickly changing whats playing without having to go through Playlist or Browse.
Regards,
tcmods.org
TC
Here's a brief update on some features I'm working on that may make it into release 1.6 which is planned for sometime in February. Screenshots attached.
(1) SOX RESAMPLER seems to be working ok with standard conversion recipes (below). but needs more testing. The big advantage of using SoX over SRC is that SoX is much more efficient and uses significantly less cpu. This is goodness for feeding up-sampled audio to those NOS DAC's
Here are the standard conversion recipes.
- SoX Medium Quality: 95% bandwidth, 100dB noise rejection, linear phase
- SoX High Quality: 95% bandwidth, 120dB noise rejection, linear phase
- SoX Very High Quality: 95% bandwidth, 175dB noise rejection, linear phase
There are some additional recipes including SOXR_LSR0Q, SOXR_LSR1Q, SOXR_LSR2Q, that are designed to emulate SRC/libsamplerate Best/Medium/Fastest but are not yet offered in MPD. Maybe they will appear in a future version!
(2) NEW RADIO STATIONS! continuing to add your great quality, listener-supported and commercial-free station suggestions to the stock list
- Folk Radio UK
- Iranian Radio - Persian Traditional Sonati
- NTS Live London - Don't Assume
- KUVO 89.3 FM Denver
- KUVO HD2 - Jazz with Bob Parlocha
- KUVO HD3 - The Other Side of KUVO
(3) NAME CHANGE FIELDS on the System Config page. Player, Browser Title, Airplay, UPNP, DLNA names, etc.
(4) PRESETS for Song/Radio Station accessible from the Playback panel for quickly changing whats playing without having to go through Playlist or Browse.
Regards,
tcmods.org
TC
Attachments
Hi,
Here's a brief update on some features making their way into release 1.6 which is planned for sometime in February.
(1) SOX RESAMPLER: testing complete and fully integrated into the Player. Loving that low CPU utilization!
(2) KERNEL SELECT: testing complete, partially integrated into the Player.
The Kernel Select feature allows different Linux kernels to be installed right from the Player System Config page. Since each kernel version includes associated firmware and device drivers, if audio issues exist when running with with a particular kernel, another one can be selected that may resolve the issues Tested up through 3.18.5 (latest Raspbian).
(3) PRESETS: several designs complete
Song/Radio Station presets on the Playback panel for quickly changing whats playing without having to go through Playlist or Browse. Includes a maintenance screen for add/change/delete.
Regards,
tcmods.org
TC
Here's a brief update on some features making their way into release 1.6 which is planned for sometime in February.
(1) SOX RESAMPLER: testing complete and fully integrated into the Player. Loving that low CPU utilization!
(2) KERNEL SELECT: testing complete, partially integrated into the Player.
The Kernel Select feature allows different Linux kernels to be installed right from the Player System Config page. Since each kernel version includes associated firmware and device drivers, if audio issues exist when running with with a particular kernel, another one can be selected that may resolve the issues
Tested up through 3.18.5 (latest Raspbian).(3) PRESETS: several designs complete
Song/Radio Station presets on the Playback panel for quickly changing whats playing without having to go through Playlist or Browse. Includes a maintenance screen for add/change/delete.
Regards,
tcmods.org
TC
Hi,
TCMODS Player Release 1.6 is available for download from tcmods.org
This release includes SoX resampler, Linux Kernel Select, Raspberry Pi 2B (ARMv7l) support and support for Device Tree Overlay, a new method implemented in the Raspbian 3.18.5+ kernel for loading I2S and other device drivers.
Feature highlights:
(1) Kernel Select provides a Player integrated mechanism for switching OS kernels and associated firmware and device drivers. This provides enhanced device and platform support, and allows for new kernels to be added going forward.
(2) Device Tree Overlay provides a simplified method for loading device drivers and ultimately will allow device drivers to be loaded automatically by the OS. The link below has more information.
Raspberry Pi Documentation
(3) Also included are several great new radio stations, UI refinements and bug fixes. Refer to the attached release notes for details. Screen shots attached.
Enjoy the sound!
Regards,
tcmods.org
TC
======================
1.6 Release 2015-02-25
======================
New features
- NEW: SoX resampler with standard conversion recipes
- NEW: Kernel Select for enhanced device and platform support
- NEW: Support for Raspberry Pi 2B platform (ARMv7l)
- NEW: I2S Device Tree Overlay support
Media
- NEW: Folk Radio UK
- NEW: NTS Live London - Don't Assume
- NEW: KUVO 89.3 FM Denver
- NEW: KUVO HD2 - Jazz with Bob Parlocha
- NEW: KUVO HD3 - The Other Side of KUVO
Updates
- UPD: Radio station update #8
- UPD: Layout on Confirm modals for Source, MPD and Network config
- UPD: Help text on "Add network mount" page
- UPD: Allow optional delay duration for ui_notify()
- UPD: Platform info added to About popup
- UPD: Processor architecture added to Audio Info popup
Bug fixes
- FIX: CIFS mount fail when password contains certain chars (ex: semi-colon)
- FIX: CIFS mount fail under certain circumstances when "noatime" option present
- FIX: Place holder mount options do not match code
- FIX: System and MPD config pages hang on ARMv7l (Pi-2B)
TCMODS Player Release 1.6 is available for download from tcmods.org
This release includes SoX resampler, Linux Kernel Select, Raspberry Pi 2B (ARMv7l) support and support for Device Tree Overlay, a new method implemented in the Raspbian 3.18.5+ kernel for loading I2S and other device drivers.
Feature highlights:
(1) Kernel Select provides a Player integrated mechanism for switching OS kernels and associated firmware and device drivers. This provides enhanced device and platform support, and allows for new kernels to be added going forward.
(2) Device Tree Overlay provides a simplified method for loading device drivers and ultimately will allow device drivers to be loaded automatically by the OS. The link below has more information.
Raspberry Pi Documentation
(3) Also included are several great new radio stations, UI refinements and bug fixes. Refer to the attached release notes for details. Screen shots attached.
Enjoy the sound!
Regards,
tcmods.org
TC
======================
1.6 Release 2015-02-25
======================
New features
- NEW: SoX resampler with standard conversion recipes
- NEW: Kernel Select for enhanced device and platform support
- NEW: Support for Raspberry Pi 2B platform (ARMv7l)
- NEW: I2S Device Tree Overlay support
Media
- NEW: Folk Radio UK
- NEW: NTS Live London - Don't Assume
- NEW: KUVO 89.3 FM Denver
- NEW: KUVO HD2 - Jazz with Bob Parlocha
- NEW: KUVO HD3 - The Other Side of KUVO
Updates
- UPD: Radio station update #8
- UPD: Layout on Confirm modals for Source, MPD and Network config
- UPD: Help text on "Add network mount" page
- UPD: Allow optional delay duration for ui_notify()
- UPD: Platform info added to About popup
- UPD: Processor architecture added to Audio Info popup
Bug fixes
- FIX: CIFS mount fail when password contains certain chars (ex: semi-colon)
- FIX: CIFS mount fail under certain circumstances when "noatime" option present
- FIX: Place holder mount options do not match code
- FIX: System and MPD config pages hang on ARMv7l (Pi-2B)
Attachments
Hi,
I've never tested those formats. I'll be happy to run some tests if I can obtain some sample files. DSD testing would be limited to "DSD to PCM on-the-fly conversion" since I don't have a DSD capable DAC. MPD manual: Direct Stream Digital (DSD)
Would you be able to put together a zip file containing some samples?
Regards,
TC
Hi,
I understand your question, but whenever possible I prefer to run my own hands-on tests before asserting whether or not something is supported in tcmods player.
So, as I stated earlier, if you would like me to take a look on this, a link to some sample files would be very helpful.
Regards,
TC
I understand your question, but whenever possible I prefer to run my own hands-on tests before asserting whether or not something is supported in tcmods player.
So, as I stated earlier, if you would like me to take a look on this, a link to some sample files would be very helpful.
Regards,
TC
Hi,
There are a lot of audio formats that I have not personally tested including cue, ape and dsd.
Generally though, if the format is supported by MPD or ffmpeg plugin or other mpd plugin then, it should "just work" in the player. If a user has a problem with a particular format not working I can investigate and see what the issue is and what it might take to fix it.
Regards,
TC
There are a lot of audio formats that I have not personally tested including cue, ape and dsd.
Generally though, if the format is supported by MPD or ffmpeg plugin or other mpd plugin then, it should "just work" in the player. If a user has a problem with a particular format not working I can investigate and see what the issue is and what it might take to fix it.
Regards,
TC
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