Moode Audio Player for Raspberry Pi

Airplay distorted sound

Hi,

I tried the new Airplay function. The player shows up as Airplay device and I can play to it, but when I play a FLAC file to it, the sound is heavily distorted, seems to play with the wrong sample rate (source is 44.1k/16).

Tried an old iPhone with IOS 7.1.2 and the latest version of iTunes on a Win7 PC. Same distorted sound. Tried several songs to make sure it's not source related.

Tried PI B and new PI 2 with same result.

Sound device is USB UAC2 device (XMOS based). Moode player plays local and NAS files perfectly, only Airplay seems affected.

What can I try next to troubleshoot?
 
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Hi,

I tried the new Airplay function. The player shows up as Airplay device and I can play to it, but when I play a FLAC file to it, the sound is heavily distorted, seems to play with the wrong sample rate (source is 44.1k/16).

Tried an old iPhone with IOS 7.1.2 and the latest version of iTunes on a Win7 PC. Same distorted sound. Tried several songs to make sure it's not source related.

Tried PI B and new PI 2 with same result.

Sound device is USB UAC2 device (XMOS based). Moode player plays local and NAS files perfectly, only Airplay seems affected.

What can I try next to troubleshoot?

Hi,

Couple of questions:

(1) Is it only flac format that produces distorted sound?
(2) What software are u using to play flac over Airplay?

Regards,
Tim
 
Sorry, was not really awake when I wrote my message. :)
Audio format is Apple Lossless of course.

Hi,

No prob :)

The symptoms suggest an issue in the Airplay receiver module (shairport-sync) since the files play ok when played from NAS or locally.

Please zip up a few of the ALAC files and send me a download link. I don't own an XMOS UAC2 based DAC but I would like to test them on what I have, then I'll send a note to shairport-sync Github and see if Mike Brady might have some insights.

Couple of questions:

(1) What make/model DAC do you have?
(2) are u using the following USB(UAC2) audio fix?
Fix: Add dwc_otg.fiq_fsm_mask=0x3 to the beginning of line in /boot/cmdline.txt

Regards,
Tim
 
Hi Tim,

quick one: would it be possible that once an artist is chosen in the library panel its corresponding genre is also highlighted?

Hi,

Yes, automatically filtering by the Genre the Artist belongs to is possible but a feature like this would most likely need to be a configurable setting.

I'll add this to the to-do list for Moode 3 project :)

Regards,
Tim
 
Hi,

Please zip up a few of the ALAC files and send me a download link. I don't own an XMOS UAC2 based DAC but I would like to test them on what I have, then I'll send a note to shairport-sync Github and see if Mike Brady might have some insights.

Couple of questions:

(1) What make/model DAC do you have?
(2) are u using the following USB(UAC2) audio fix?
Fix: Add dwc_otg.fiq_fsm_mask=0x3 to the beginning of line in /boot/cmdline.txt

Regards,
Tim

Thanks for the quick reply.

More testing done now. Seems this issue is related to the USB audio format.

The DAC that fails is a special version of the CY-5100dsd with a XMOS USB part. The XMOS is forcing 32bit audio transfer and that might be part of the problem with Airplay, although it works fine with local file playback. When I use a CM6632A based USB (shipping version of the CY-5100dsd MK-II, 24bit max), then Airplay works fine.

I do use the audio fix with both USB options, seems all UAC2 needs this to avoid missing bits.

Do you still need the files?
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

More testing done now. Seems this issue is related to the USB audio format.

The DAC that fails is a special version of the CY-5100dsd with a XMOS USB part. The XMOS is forcing 32bit audio transfer and that might be part of the problem with Airplay, although it works fine with local file playback. When I use a CM6632A based USB (shipping version of the CY-5100dsd MK-II, 24bit max), then Airplay works fine.

I do use the audio fix with both USB options, seems all UAC2 needs this to avoid missing bits.

Do you still need the files?

Hi,

No need for files. Hopefully when USB(UAC2) gets fixed in Linux these issues will go away :)

Regards,
Tim
 
Hi,

No need for files. Hopefully when USB(UAC2) gets fixed in Linux these issues will go away :)

Regards,
Tim

Not sure this is caused by the USB driver as local MPD file playback works. Is it possible the audio device is asking the Airplay module to send an audio format the Airplay module cannot support, but this error is not handled correctly?

One other but minor issue, seems the option to set the Airplay device name is not working (or I don't know how to use it :) After changing the name and reboot, Apple devices keep showing 'Moode Airplay' as name.
 
Not sure this is caused by the USB driver as local MPD file playback works. Is it possible the audio device is asking the Airplay module to send an audio format the Airplay module cannot support, but this error is not handled correctly?

One other but minor issue, seems the option to set the Airplay device name is not working (or I don't know how to use it :) After changing the name and reboot, Apple devices keep showing 'Moode Airplay' as name.

Hi,

It is bug causing the Airplay name change to fail. Thanks for reporting this!!!! Send me email (tim at moodeaudio dot org) and I will provide a patch procedure to get u going. Fix will be in release 2.3 :)

I agree that USB driver may not involved in the Airplay issue. I'll post to shairport-sync Github and ask Mike Brady if he has any insights on what might be going on.

Regards,
Tim
 
Hi,

I must be missing something obvious - I can't get any sound from the Pi's built in audio jack or HDMI. It worked on 2.1 but I've just installed 2.2. Cant remember if I had to change anything. It shows that it is playing, volume is up, i2s is set to none, Audio output is set to Onboard audio device (and yes the amp is set to the correct input!)

Is there something else I need to set?

Thanks
 
Hi,

I must be missing something obvious - I can't get any sound from the Pi's built in audio jack or HDMI. It worked on 2.1 but I've just installed 2.2. Cant remember if I had to change anything. It shows that it is playing, volume is up, i2s is set to none, Audio output is set to Onboard audio device (and yes the amp is set to the correct input!)

Is there something else I need to set?

Thanks

Hi,

To configure on-board audio output (Pi-2B):

(1) Set I2S audio device to "None", reboot
(2) If MPD volume control set to "Software", set ALSA volume to 100 on System config page
(3) If MPD volume control set to "Hardware" then verify that Moode knob changes are reflected in ALSA volume level as shown on System config page

NOTE: Make sure to stop play back and turn moode knob to 0 before making any changes

ALSO: if you are changing from an I2S audio device to On-board audio, then MPD volume control setting must be toggled between "Software" and "Hardware" or visa versa. This step would be (1a).

I just tested this and no issues, but if u are still having problem send email to tim at moodeaudio dot org and I'll help troubleshoot :)

Regards,
Tim Curtis
 
Last edited:
Hi,

I must be missing something obvious - I can't get any sound from the Pi's built in audio jack or HDMI. It worked on 2.1 but I've just installed 2.2. Cant remember if I had to change anything. It shows that it is playing, volume is up, i2s is set to none, Audio output is set to Onboard audio device (and yes the amp is set to the correct input!)

Is there something else I need to set?

Thanks

To add that I've just checked that it's not a hardware fault as a different image SD card plays youtube audio.
 
Hi,

To configure on-board audio output (Pi-2B):

(1) Set I2S audio device to "None", reboot
(2) If MPD volume control set to "Software", set ALSA volume to 100 on System config page
(3) If MPD volume control set to "Hardware" then verify that Moode knob changes are reflected in ALSA volume level as shown on System config page

NOTE: Make sure to stop play back and turn moode knob to 0 before making any changes

ALSO: if you are changing from an I2S audio device to On-board audio, then MPD volume control setting must be toggled between "Software" and "Hardware" or visa versa. This step would be (1a).

I just tested this and no issues, but if u are still having problem send email to tim at moodeaudio dot org and I'll help troubleshoot :)

Regards,
Tim Curtis

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the speedy response. Yep that worked, all good now.

Much appreciated,
Miles
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

More testing done now. Seems this issue is related to the USB audio format.

The DAC that fails is a special version of the CY-5100dsd with a XMOS USB part. The XMOS is forcing 32bit audio transfer and that might be part of the problem with Airplay, although it works fine with local file playback. When I use a CM6632A based USB (shipping version of the CY-5100dsd MK-II, 24bit max), then Airplay works fine.

I do use the audio fix with both USB options, seems all UAC2 needs this to avoid missing bits.

Do you still need the files?

Hi,

Please test Airplay to the XMOS DAC without the audio fix in config.txt. Just want to make sure there is not some sort of catch-22 scenario.

Regards,
Tim