Thread: Pure Music 1.86 and Track Skipping

Hi All,

Before I start pestering Channel D, is anyone else having issues with Pure Music 1.86 skipping tracks during playback?

By skipping, I mean every other track in an album. It doesn't happen all of the time, but frequently enough where I am always waiting for it after each track - really annoying.

And, yes, I've read the PM FAQs and have followed their instructions (e.g. verify permissions on HDD, disabled power save functions and screen saver).

I have had this issue across multiple versions of their software and I am ready to just bail on it and go back to manually modifying sample rate, et al using the Apple Audio MIDI Setup application.

Thanks,

Ken

I've seen it only a couple of times and each of those I was not completely sure I didn't do it myself somehow.

One of those kinds of things..

I haven't spoken with their customer support, but their FAQ page conveys the same spirit that you describe; as in, '...you're holding it wrong.'

I played around with the iTunes settings and disabled the check box that allows you to use the track skip buttons in iTunes. Initially, this seems to have fixed things, but like I said earlier - this problem doesn't happen all of the time, so maybe this change is not the solution.

I am not sure I want to continue using the software - I 'believe' that I can hear a difference when enabling/disabling up-sampling on lossless tracks, but I'm not sure one is necessarily 'better' sounding than another.

I played around with this using my desktop rig using:

1. USB w/ Pure Music up-sampling everything to 96 kHz
2. USB w/ Pure Music 'native' sample rate
3. Toslink w/ Pure Music up-sampling everything to 96kHz
4. Toslink w/ Pure Music up-sampling only with power of two
(e.g. 44.1 -> 88.2, 48 -> 96, and 88.2 and 96 playback at native rate)

When I do listening tests on the above options, I almost always prefer the Toslink connection (actually, option #4 above seems to be the one I like best), but that could be a matter of volume level, isolation from machine noise or even simply placebo effect - I am not doing these tests blind with a proctor.

So, I'd settled on #4 and moved on. But the track skipping thing drives me crazy and I'm convinced it's a bug in their software.

Oh, well...

1. USB w/ Pure Music up-sampling everything to 96 kHz
2. USB w/ Pure Music 'native' sample rate
3. Toslink w/ Pure Music up-sampling everything to 96kHz
4. Toslink w/ Pure Music up-sampling only with power of two

I settled on:

2.5 Toslink w/ Pure Music NO up-sampling

Also, I went through several Toslink cables and found a pretty big difference there. Ended up with the shortest one I could find, about a foot long, and real glass, not plastic.

So if you have not explored Toslink cables yet, there may be some very inexpensive quality improvements hiding there for you as well.

That's interesting to read - I really like the sound of TOSLINK, even though it's supposed to be a nightmare for jitter from the MacBook Pro.

Another thing I've noticed is that disabling 'Upsample' seems to correlate with no track skipping. We'll see if that holds along with disabling the 'Use Skip Button for Track Sequencing' in the iTunes interaction settings.

BTW, would you share with me which glass optical cable you are using?

Thanks,

Ken

Ken,

I ended up with this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00078I3O0/ref=oh_o04_s01_i00_details

You will need a small $1 converter on one end to get into the MBP.

Some don't like the converter and instead buy this:

http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html

Nice. I ordered one of the SonicWave glass cables from Amazon. I liked the look of the other one, but their PayPal interface was fishy, so I went back to Amazon.

I like the thought of using a .5M cable, but my connector is on the back of the DAC and I want to minimize the bend radius to my seating position on the couch :-)

I am looking forward to hearing the difference... thanks for the tip!

Ken

For my system it took a dull flat dimensionless sound (which I thought was decent, but fatiguing) and made it open, deep and well rounded.

What I'm fighting with right now is consistency. Sometimes the music sounds very engaging and as described above.

Other times it sounds less engaging and flatter. Not plastic cable flat, but flatter.

I'm using a Mac Mini and not sure if it sometimes gets jittered up and other times it doesn't.

I've decided to explore DACs now and ordered a Metrum Acoustics Octave since my DAC (V-DAC II) is fairly entry level.

You know, I've read good things about the V-DAC II and you might want to consider adding the companion regulated, linear power supply before moving to a whole new model:

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/V-Series/V-PSU/v-psu.asp

I did something similar for the entry-level DAC I use and was pretty surprised by the sonic improvement (added clarity, tightness). I mean, it's subtle, but it's there.

Just my $0.02...

Ken

Good suggestion and I may indeed circle back to that. I had forgotten about that.


After I give the Metrum a chance, if I'm still itching, I may try the better PS for the VDAC.

Thanks.

My problems disappeared when I unchecked the box "Strickt Device Validation" under Audio Setup ? Device Selection.
PM 1.86 plays like a dream, never had a problem and it sounds very good....
(I´m using memory play, hog mode and native integer format.)

atletico

I've not had any problems with 1.86 so I was surprised to see the problem. Course I run in hog mode so I have unchecked strict device validation. BTW, I've had nothing but prompt and helpful customer service from Channel D.

No problems here, too. PM in hog mode and integer mode (SL). No upsampling, though. Never experienced any trackmskipping. Sound is the best of the bunch (Amarra, PM, A+, Fidelia).

Greetings
Kay

Update: OK, thanks everyone for your helpful comments.

After a lot of trail and error, I *believe* I've found the solution to arbitrary track skipping. From what I can tell, disabling (unchecking):

Preferences -> Music Server Settings -> Special -> iTunes -> 'Use Skip Button for Track Sequencing'.

For a while, I was convinced that the 'Upsample' setting (ON) was causing this, but I haven't seen this for a while using upsampling via power of two for 44.1 and 48 kHz files only.

I have also been running lately in 'Hog' mode, but I'm not sure this matters, either.

In the end, PM no longer skips every other track - for now, at least.

I will roll with these settings and report back if the problem reoccurs.

And, thanks again for the tips!

-- Ken