Ellsworth

Hello. This thread has certainly been an education. I am considering replacing my 2012 MacMini with a Euphony Summus server. Right now I am running Roon/HQP upsampling to DSD128. Output is to a Innuos Phoenix reclocker. The Summus looks like a nice one box upgrade that would be easy to implement. A couple questions to the board: 1) Are there any people out there that can comment on the Summus server? It seems most people are building their own computers to run Euphony on. 2). Has Euphony they fixed the gapless issue with HQP embedded? Thanks for any comments.

I am sure this has been discussed in many places but I can't find a specific thread. In the next 6 to 12 months, I want to take some steps to upgrade my digital front end. Options are to 1) upgrade USB and ethernet cabling or 2) upgrade my MacMini to something like a SonicTransporter I5. My understanding is that the chain after the EtherRegen is more important than the music server. That leads me to think think that upgrading cabling will bring more value than replacing the MacMini. On the other hand, with this MacMini, I can only upsample to DSD64 in HQP/Roon and it doesn't have a LPS. A new server could allow me to increase the upsampling rate and eliminate a SMPS from the chain. Are there opinions on which upgrade path offers more benefit? Thanks in advance for any comments and insights. P.S. Current setup includes 2012 MacMini with i7 processor (no LPS), Ether Regen, UltraRendu, two Uptone LPS 1.2s (one for Rendu and one for EtherRegen), Supra ethernet cable from Regen to UltraRendu, Phasure Lush (version 1) USB cable from Rendu to Holo Audio Spring DAC. Software is HQP/Roon

Thanks for your note. Given that DSD64 seems to be working with no problem, that makes sense. I had been running 256 with no issues for 6 months. I am not sure if something changed or if the CPU was running on the very edge of its capability.

Several months ago, when I was considering switching back to Audirvana Plus, I bought a thunderbolt-Ethernet adapter in an attempt to use the UltraRendu with Audirvana. This may not work with Roon/HQP or may not be practical but I am wondering if using the adapter in the scenario below would provide a better connection to the Ultrarendu.

This morning I rebooted the router and unplugged the MacMini to reset the SMC. There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that I still experienced dropouts at DSD256 and DSD128 using HQP/Roon. The good news is that upsampling to DSD64 worked with no issues. I can be happy playing DSD64 but am still wondering why the higher upsampling rates are now faltering. Again, thanks for the input. At times, I feel like a leech as I usually only post when I have problems and don’t have the knowledge to help others!

Hello. You are correct - the MOCA feed, MacMini, and an Apple TV are connected into the A ports and the UltraRendu is connected to the B side port. By the way, the EtherREGEn really brought my system to another level.

Thanks for this suggestion. I am going to give that a try this evening.

Thanks for this suggestion. It has not occurred to me to try doing that with the Mac. I will give it a shot tonight.

Below is a picture of my network setup. I previously had the MacMini connected directly to the router but was getting dropout. Moving the Mac to the first floor and connecting it to the same switch as the UltraRendu fixed the performance (until now..) I can imagine that the MOCA converter is not ideal but it works great with the AppleTV and gives the Mac a solid internet connection.

Hello. Thanks for the response. I do have the MOCA adapter in the chain as it is the only way I can get a hard-wired Ethernet connection in my music room. If I remove the MOCA adaptor, I am not sure how I would get an Ethernet connection to the Rendu. I will draw a network diagram in the morning and post it. Hopefully that will shed some more light on the situation.

Hello. I am hoping to get some help with my UltraRendu problem. I have been using Roon/HQP successfully since last Fall. This January, I started having major problems with dropouts. On the software forum, the good people at HQP suggested moving my MacMini and connecting it to the same switch that my UltraRendu is connected to. This worked very well until this past weekend. Now, I am getting dropouts approximately every 30 to 60:seconds. This is behaving in the same way that it did prior to moving the Mac and connecting it directly to the same switch as the UltraRendu. Absolutely nothing was changed in my system so I can’t understand the issue. I have rebooted at least 15 times over the last three nights. Are there any suggestions to try? Thanks in advance for any comments.

Success! The Mac is now downstairs next to the Rendu and DAC. Both the Rendu and Mac are connected directly to the switch. I was able to play two straight albums with no glitches using HQP/Roon. Many many thanks to everyone on this thread who helped me out.

Many thanks for this reply. This is information that I would never have known. It sounds like there are two configurations that may help resolve the problem. I will have to do some research on my switch and try both of these configurations over the weekend. It will be great to get this resolved. Again, thanks so much for your help.

The Mac is now hooked up directly to my DAC. I have been able to successfully integrate Roon and HQP and am upsampling to DSD256 with no issues. That leaves the UltraRendu as the culprit behind the dropouts and stuttering. My guess is that something is going on with the network and router. Unfortunately , without the UltraRendu in the chain, the sound quality suffers quite a bit. My understanding is that there is a way to use Roon/HQP/Rendu with a direct connection. That will be next on the list of things to research and try.

Thanks again for any comments. Sorry to keep bothering people on this thread with my problems....I reset the router tonight and had good success playing HQP as a stand-alone player through the Rendu. This played for 30 minutes with no problem. I thought all was well. When trying to integrate Roon, all hell broke loose. I lost connection to the Rendu and could not get Roon or HQP to recognize the Rendu. After a number of reboot cycles with the DAC, Rendu, and Mac, I had success. However when controlling HQP with Roon the dropouts started again. When looking at Roon, I get a rectangle that flashes across the middle with a blue bar on the left side. I also get a spinning wheel that prevents me from trying to navigate in Roon. I am am not sure if that is a HQP issue or if it is a Rendu issue. At this point, I don’t have the time to move the Mac and try a direct connection to the DAC. Unless, I can figure out a different fix, that will be my chore for tomorrow night.