I’m using the Cascade with the USB Pro connected to a Mini PC reading from ssd and hdd. I am hearing tics and skipping music quite often. This does not happen when streaming from Youtube, Medici.tv or Qobuz. I’ve tried with 2 different mini pc with the same result. From investigating on the internet it could be that the structure of a mini pc is not big or solid enough. I’m using JRiver 35 and tried all kind of configurations without any results. I’m thinking in buying or building a PC with enough resourses to overcome this issue. Something like:
Mitherboard: ASUS ProArt Z890-CREATOR.
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 RAM 32GB
2 ssd: WD_Black SN850X 8TB NVMe SSD
Processor: INTEL CORE Ultra 9 Processor.
usb card: JCAT USB Card XE EVO
I will highly appreciated your comments and experience
I can’t answer your question but thank you for mentioning Medici.tv! I didn’t know it existed. I’m subscribed now watching in concert by Maria Duenas playing Bruch.
I would certainly examine your JRiver setup if that is the only software causing the skips. Any re-sampling being done? I guess what I mean is that a Raspberry Pi can output a bit perfect file to a USB DAC without issues. Resampling/equalization by the playback software can cause issues in an underpowered system.
There are other music playback softwares out there that have free trials that you could explore.
All that being said, that’s a nice motherboard (I use one currently for my main PC). That system looks pretty much like my Main/Gaming PC, if you add a video card . But, you should not need this much power just for music file playback if you are not using HQ Player in the mix for resampling.
It would be a shame to pay that much and end up with the same software issue repeating.
Thank you for answering. This is the mini PC: MINISFORUM M1 Pro AI Mini PC Intel Core Ultra 9 285H (16C/16T, Up to 5.4Ghz), 64GB DDR5 2TB SSD, 99 TOPS, 2xUSB4/HDMI/DP Quad Display, 2.5G LAN, OCuLink, Dual Speaker/DMIC, WiFi 7, BT5.4, Arc 140T GPU. As you can see it is not basic. As for the JRiver, I’ve tried all kinds of setups, it is not resampling, different latencies, it is loading the full disc to memory without conversion, etc. . But you are right, I should try another playback software. Thanks again.