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robkyf · (This post was last modified: 08-05-2024, 10:45 AM by robkyf.)

Inspired by a post on another forum, I tried moOde V9.0.4 for a Pi Zero 2 W outputting over micro-USB > USB-B to the ESS9018 Sabre32 DAC in an Audiolab 8200 CD player. The result was a huge improvement in sound quality over my previous solution of using the line output in an old iBasso DX50 DAP to feed the same DAC.

Enthused by this success, I tried moOde V9.0.4 for a Pi 5 outputting over USB-A > USB-B to the same DAC. But with this setup, the audio (mostly 16 or 24/44.1 FLAC) is glitching every 10-20 seconds. I’ve tried both basic and mid-range audio USB-A to USB-B cables but the problem is present with both.

I can’t figure out why the Pi Zero solution works perfectly but the Pi 5 one doesn’t. In both cases, the music files are stored on the SD card, the volume type is Fixed (0dB), and nothing else apart from the official power supply is attached to the Pi Zero or the Pi 5.

Any suggestions on what I’m doing wrong?

**Tim Curtis** · 07-13-2024, 01:46 PM

Reboot and then post the contents of the startup log.

The log can be viewed via the SSH command moodeutl -l or downloaded via the Logs section in System Config, or via Menu, System info from any of the Config screens. The startup log will be at the end of System info output.

robkyf

(07-13-2024, 01:46 PM)Tim Curtis Wrote: Reboot and then post the contents of the startup log.

The log can be viewed via the SSH command moodeutl -l or downloaded via the Logs section in System Config, or via Menu, System info from any of the Config screens. The startup log will be at the end of System info output.

Thanks Tim.

The Startup Log looks like this:

Code:
20240713 155721 worker: -- Start moOde 9 series

20240713 155721 worker: --

20240713 155721 worker: Successfully daemonized

20240713 155721 worker: Wait for Linux startup

20240713 155727 worker: Linux startup complete

20240713 155727 worker: Boot config is ok

20240713 155727 worker: Session loaded

20240713 155727 worker: Package locks applied

20240713 155728 worker: File check complete

20240713 155728 worker: Debug logging off

20240713 155728 worker: --

20240713 155728 worker: -- System

20240713 155728 worker: --

20240713 155728 worker: Host name:     moode

20240713 155728 worker: RPi model:     Pi-5B 1.0 4GB

20240713 155728 worker: moOde release: 9.0.4 2024-07-06

20240713 155728 worker: RaspiOS:       12.6 Bookworm 64-bit

20240713 155728 worker: Linux Kernel:  6.6.31 64-bit

20240713 155728 worker: MPD version:   0.23.14

20240713 155728 worker: User id:       rob

20240713 155728 worker: Home folder:   /home/rob

20240713 155728 worker: Time zone:     Europe/London

20240713 155728 worker: Kbd layout:    gb

20240713 155728 worker: HDMI ports(s): on

20240713 155728 worker: Sys LED0:      on

20240713 155728 worker: Sys LED1:      on

20240713 155728 worker: Reduce power:  off

20240713 155728 worker: CPU governor:  ondemand

20240713 155728 worker: Integ audio:   vc4-kms-v3d

20240713 155728 worker: --

20240713 155728 worker: -- Network

20240713 155728 worker: --

20240713 155728 worker: Eth0

20240713 155728 worker: Ethernet: adapter exists

20240713 155728 worker: Ethernet: timeout off

20240713 155728 worker: Ethernet: address not assigned

20240713 155728 worker: Wlan0

20240713 155728 worker: Wireless: adapter exists

20240713 155728 worker: Wireless: country DE

20240713 155728 worker: Wireless: SSID    RobNetwork

20240713 155728 worker: Wireless: other   None

20240713 155728 worker: Wireless: timeout up to 90 secs

20240713 155728 worker: Wireless: connect to RobNetwork

20240713 155729 worker: Wireless: method  dhcp

20240713 155729 worker: Wireless: address 192.XXX.X.XX

20240713 155729 worker: Wireless: netmask 255.XXX.XXX.X

20240713 155729 worker: Wireless: gateway 192.XXX.X.X

20240713 155729 worker: Wireless: pri DNS 192.XXX.X.X

20240713 155729 worker: Wireless: domain  none found

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- File sharing

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: SMB file sharing:  on

20240713 155729 worker: NFS file sharing:  off

20240713 155729 worker: DLNA file sharing: off

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- Special configs

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: Plexamp:          not installed

20240713 155729 worker: RoonBridge:       not installed

20240713 155729 worker: Allo Piano 2.1:   not detected

20240713 155729 worker: Allo Boss 2:      not detected, OLED script ok

20240713 155729 worker: IQaudIO AMP*:     not detected

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- ALSA debug

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: Cards:  0:Series          1:vc4hdmi0        2:vc4hdmi1        3:empty           

20240713 155729 worker:         4:empty           5:empty           6:empty           7:empty           

20240713 155729 worker: Mixers: 0:(PCM)           1:none            2:none            3:none            

20240713 155729 worker:         4:none            5:none            6:none            7:none            

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- Audio configuration

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: Audio device:  0:Audiolab 8200 Series

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA card:     has not been reassigned

20240713 155729 worker: MPD config:    update not needed

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA output:   USB

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA mode:     Default (plughw)

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA mixer     PCM

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA volume:   96% (0.00dB)

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA maxvol:   100%

20240713 155729 worker: ALSA loopback: off

20240713 155729 worker: MPD mixer      Fixed (0dB)

20240713 155729 worker: Audio formats: S24_3LE

20240713 155729 worker: CamillaDSP:    off

20240713 155729 worker: CDSP volume:   0dB

20240713 155729 worker: CDSP volrange: 60dB

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- MPD startup

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: MPD service:        started

20240713 155729 worker: MPD port 6600:      accepting connections

20240713 155729 worker: MPD ALSA Default:   on

20240713 155729 worker: MPD ALSA Bluetooth: off

20240713 155729 worker: MPD HTTP Server:    off

20240713 155729 worker: MPD volume:         0

20240713 155729 worker: Saved MPD vol:      -1

20240713 155729 worker: Saved SRC vol:      0

20240713 155729 worker: MPD crossfade:      off

20240713 155729 worker: MPD ignore CUE:     no

20240713 155729 worker: MPD CDSP volsync:   off

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- Music sources

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: USB drives:     no drives found

20240713 155729 worker: NAS sources:    no music sources defined

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- Feature availability

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: Input select:    available, Source: MPD, Output: Audiolab 8200 Series

20240713 155729 worker: Bluetooth:       available, PIN: None, ALSA/CDSP maxvol: 100%/0dB, ALSA outmode: Standard

20240713 155729 worker: AirPlay:         available

20240713 155729 worker: Spotify Connect: available

20240713 155729 worker: Squeezelite:     available

20240713 155729 worker: UPnP client:     available

20240713 155729 worker: Plexamp:         not installed

20240713 155729 worker: RoonBridge:      not installed

20240713 155729 worker: Multiroom:       available

20240713 155729 worker: GPIO buttons:    available

20240713 155729 worker: HTTPS mode:      available

20240713 155729 worker: Stream recorder: n/a

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155729 worker: -- Peripherals

20240713 155729 worker: --

20240713 155730 worker: Local display:   off

20240713 155730 worker: On-screen kbd:   off

20240713 155730 worker: HDMI 4K 60Hz:    off

20240713 155730 worker: Rotary encoder:  off

20240713 155730 worker: USB volume knob: off

20240713 155730 worker: LCD updater:     off

20240713 155730 worker: --

20240713 155730 worker: -- Miscellaneous

20240713 155730 worker: --

20240713 155730 worker: Software update:   Automatic check off

20240713 155730 worker: Auto-CoverView:    off

20240713 155730 worker: CoverView timeout: Never

20240713 155730 worker: Auto-shuffle:      off

20240713 155730 worker: Auto-play:         off

20240713 155730 worker: Web SSH server:    on

20240713 155730 worker: Maintenance task:  360 mins

20240713 155730 worker: Current view:      reset to Playback

20240713 155730 worker: Active flags:      all false

20240713 155730 worker: Reset flags:       skipped

20240713 155730 worker: Session check:     ok

20240713 155730 worker: --

20240713 155730 worker: -- Startup complete

20240713 155730 worker: --

20240713 155730 worker: Mount monitor:    started

20240713 155730 worker: Radio monitor:    off

20240713 155730 worker: Watchdog monitor: started

20240713 155730 worker: Responsiveness:   Default

20240713 155730 worker: Ready

**Tim Curtis** · 07-13-2024, 07:13 PM

I don't see anything suspicious in the log.

You might want to run the ifconfig command and see if there are any network issues for example dropped packets reported for the wlan0 interface. Also run the iwconfig command for signal strength/quality.

If those commands don't report any issues then its not obvious to me what might be happening on your end.

**TheOldPresbyope** · 07-14-2024, 12:45 AM

@robkyf

Couple of thoughts...

1) The Pi 5, like the Pi 4 models, has both USB2.0 and USB3.0 ports. You should be sure your DAC is connected to a USB2.0 port. In principle, USB3.0 ports are backward-compatible with USB2.0 devices, but there are always edge cases.

2) you could set MPD to elevated log level (m > Config > Audio > MPD settings) and enable moDe's debug logging (m > Config > System > Logs). Check their logs, /var/log/moode.log and /var/log/mpd/log for periodic ( e.g., every 10s - 20s) error messages.

As well, you can watch the Raspberry Pi OS system message stream for periodic error messages

Code:
journalctl -f

Good hunting!

Regards,
Kent

simonb · 07-14-2024, 05:38 AM

A couple of question and a suggestion:

1. Have you tried moving the flac files to a usb stick and playing from there?

2. Can you post the PCi express settings from

Code:
/boot/firmware/config.txt

please?

Mine is :

# PCI Express
#dtparam=pciex1
dtparam=pciex1_gen=3

I set mine to pciex1_gen=3 and it behaves much better. The sound quality improved.

3. Can you run the command while playing the flac files:

Code:
iostat -xt --pretty 1 5

Output will be like this:

Code:
07/14/2024 06:32:10 AM

Code:
avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle

           0.25    0.00    0.25    0.00    0.00   99.49

     r/s     rkB/s   rrqm/s  %rrqm r_await rareq-sz Device

    0.00      0.00     0.00   0.00    0.00     0.00 mmcblk0

    0.00      0.00     0.00   0.00    0.00     0.00 sda

     w/s     wkB/s   wrqm/s  %wrqm w_await wareq-sz Device

    2.00   1024.00     0.00   0.00 1677.00   512.00 mmcblk0

    0.00      0.00     0.00   0.00    0.00     0.00 sda

     d/s     dkB/s   drqm/s  %drqm d_await dareq-sz Device

    0.00      0.00     0.00   0.00    0.00     0.00 mmcblk0

    0.00      0.00     0.00   0.00    0.00     0.00 sda

f/s f_await aqu-sz %util Device
0.00 0.00 3.35 14.80 mmcblk0
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sda[/code]

robkyf · 07-14-2024, 08:52 AM

Thanks @Tim Curtis . No issues that I can see with my network:

rob@moode:~ $ ifconfig

wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.XXX.X.XX netmask 255.XXX.XXX.X broadcast 192.XXX.X.XXX
inet6 fe80::9a24:5b64:dc0a:cbe5 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether d8:3a:dd:eb:8d:1d txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 5741 bytes 1426874 (1.3 MiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 6762 bytes 7088307 (6.7 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

rob@moode:~ $ iwconfig

wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"RobNetwork"
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.2 GHz Access Point: 40:AE:30:79:62:3C
Bit Rate=433.3 Mb/s Tx-Power=31 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=62/70 Signal level=-48 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

robkyf · 07-14-2024, 09:16 AM

Thanks @TheOldPresbyope.

Re. the USB port: yes, I've tried the two USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports on the Pi 5 and all have the same glitching.

Re. the moOde system logs: I've set those as you've suggested but while I am logged in to moOde/Pi I get a Permission Denied message for both logs. Sorry, I'm probably making some obvious mistake here:

#moode login: rob
Password:
Host: moode
RPiOS: 12.6 Bookworm 64-bit | Linux: 6.6.31 64-bit
Model: Pi-5B 4GB
Audio: Audiolab 8200 Series
rob@moode:~ $ /var/log/moode.log
-bash: /var/log/moode.log: Permission denied

Re. the journal, I can access that but there doesn't seem to be any relationship between the results and the audible glitches during playback:

rob@moode:~ $ journalctl -f
Jul 14 09:50:02 moode systemd[1]: sysstat-collect.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jul 14 09:50:02 moode systemd[1]: Finished sysstat-collect.service - system activity accounting tool.
Jul 14 09:54:35 moode dbus-daemon[500]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.timedate1' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.timedate1.service' requested by ':1.201' (uid=0 pid=7675 comm="timedatectl")
Jul 14 09:54:35 moode systemd[1]: Starting systemd-timedated.service - Time & Date Service...
Jul 14 09:54:35 moode dbus-daemon[500]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.timedate1'
Jul 14 09:54:35 moode systemd[1]: Started systemd-timedated.service - Time & Date Service.
Jul 14 09:55:09 moode systemd[1]: systemd-timedated.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jul 14 10:00:02 moode systemd[1]: Starting sysstat-collect.service - system activity accounting tool...
Jul 14 10:00:02 moode systemd[1]: sysstat-collect.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jul 14 10:00:02 moode systemd[1]: Finished sysstat-collect.service - system activity accounting tool.

robkyf · 07-14-2024, 09:50 AM

Thanks @simonb.

Re. playing the music files from a USB stick: I've not tried that yet but will do so and report on whether there's any change.

Re. the PCi express headings, I may have misunderstood (sorry, complete Pi novice) but running the command you suggest returns the following only, which doesn't seem to say a lot:

rob@moode:~ $ /boot/firmware/config.txt
/boot/firmware/config.txt: line 6: [cm4]: command not found
/boot/firmware/config.txt: line 8: [pi4]: command not found
/boot/firmware/config.txt: line 9: hdmi_force_hotplug:0=1: command not found
/boot/firmware/config.txt: line 10: hdmi_force_hotplug:1=1: command not found
/boot/firmware/config.txt: line 12: [all]: command not found

Re. iostat command, most of the time the results I get when playing a FLAC file look like the same as yours, but one line did return quite different results (and seemed to coincide with an audible glitch):

07/14/2024 10:42:25 AM
avg-cpu: %user %nice %system %iowait %steal %idle
0.00 0.00 1.00 0.25 0.00 98.75

r/s rkB/s rrqm/s %rrqm r_await rareq-sz Device
3.00 384.00 0.00 0.00 4.33 128.00 mmcblk0

w/s wkB/s wrqm/s %wrqm w_await wareq-sz Device
3.00 20.00 2.00 40.00 4.00 6.67 mmcblk0

d/s dkB/s drqm/s %drqm d_await dareq-sz Device
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 mmcblk0

f/s f_await aqu-sz %util Device
2.00 1.00 0.03 2.00 mmcblk0

**Tim Curtis** · 07-14-2024, 11:51 AM

The moOde startup log can be viewed via the SSH command "moodeutl -l" or "cat /var/log/moode.log" or downloaded via the Logs section in System Config, or via Menu, System info from any of the Config screens. The startup log will be at the end of System info output.

Use the "cat" command to view files for example

Code:
cat /boot/firmware/config.txt

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