Diretta Thread

You can start with only gentooplayer on red. Only that wil already do more than 2 procent.

 

There is some slight delay, it's acceptable for video (only just) but I wouldn't recommend it for gaming. I would recommend using a separate audio flow (like using the optical off your motherboard) for that purpose and restricting Diretta for serious audio consumption.

 

If you already have Windows or can get it cheaper, it makes it worth it.

 

I did some very preliminary snooping about, and it looks like I can get a refurbished Intel i3 machine with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage preloaded with Windows for about the same price as just a Windows license alone. This would prevent me from fiddling with Boot Camp or a virtual machine on my Mac Mini. Would running Roon/Diretta from such a bare-bones, base-model Windows computer affect the sound quality? All my music files are stored on an external drive (I could connect via WiFi or USB).

 

Thanks for the information

I just ordered a Holo Red and hope the Diretta chain can replace my JPlay dual PC setup while keeping USB on the Wavedream for gaming.

 

I think those are better than some NUC's. I like those micro-PC's. You can even find some refurbished 8th gen i5's. The processing is quite minimal.

 

I got a refurbed HP micro PC from amazon for roon and dnsmasq. It came with some version of Windows so I turned it into a Debian. I have nothing windows in the house.

The price was super competitive with a new, NUC-like, micro PC from overseas. I went this route because the new, NUC-like micro PC from overseas I got last year lasted through exactly one power failure, then it fried its SSD and RAM.

The HP is also now feeding my integrated off its USB with sweet sweet tunes from roon

 

I need help understand this stuff !!!!
I'm somewhat new to streaming audio, I decided to stream all my music instead of buying outright so , Read posts on this forum and purchased the following:

1. Ethernet router
2. Holo red streamer
3. Holo Cyan II Dac - GP target
4. Roon subscription, with Roon core on qnap Nas
5. Qobuz for music service
6. A Raspberry Pi 5 - GP host

From the information I gleaned from this site, I installed and purchased a license for GentooPlayer (GP) and installed it on the Cyan. This was an unexpected improvement, so I decided to try to use Diretta also.

7. Used GP on the Cyan and set it as the target ( purchased GP license)
7a. setuo and configured according to the GP documentation , especially the after install recommendations
8. Used GP on the RasbPI 5 and set it as the host ( trial GP license) .
9. Have not purchased a Diretta license yet

Everything sounds ok but I have know ideal if Diretta is working. I tried shutting down the host (RasbPI 5) but Cyan kept playing as normal. I'd like to be sure Diretta is working and replace Roon RAAT?

I confused by everything in the Player/Audio setting section of GP. So if you tell me to set up or change something involving a player I will have no ideal what the different players are or what they mean! I thought Roon was my player (I do want to replace RAAT) .

Any help / response would be appreciated !!

 

This is going to be a challenge
First of all.
Your red is the target not the Cyan i assume.


Target:
0. Select your dac in menu 4
1. Disable all software in menu 5
2. Go to menu 6 and install Diretta Target. You don't need to buy it. If you buy it you can also play highress.
3. Your target should work now. There are a lot of tweaks you can try to improve your sound. Thats for later.

Host:
I don't use roon. So your on your own there. But the basic is the same.

1. menu 5 enable roonbridge
If not installed go to menu 12 software manager.
2. Disable all other software
3. Menu 6 install Diretta Host
4. I don't use roonbridge, but you probably have to select diretta there somewhere.
5. Menu 06. Player/Audio Setting -1. Roon optimizing


Roon:
1. Let roon find roonbridge or diretta
2. Play music.

To improve sound:
Buy a usb LAN adapter.
Connect host and target directly.
Use the usb lan adapter to connect to your Ethernet router.
If you connect this way you can't reach the target anymore. But music should be played. If you have to change settings connect target directly to router. There is a other option with network bridge on host. But that's also for later.
IP address wil change when u use a lan adapter.

With a new install of gentooplayer the usb lan adapter won't be recognized. Connect host directly to router. After that you can use the adapter again. (IP address wil change)

Go to:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55235-gentooplayer/

There is a lot of info for better sound quality.
antonellocaroli is the one that have made this piece of software. He reacts to question there if his mind is up to it.

 

@AukePauke thank you very much for information /clarification you provided. I can now clearly hear Diretta protocol. You are so right about "this is going to be a challenge" that has alway been a requirement for me. If I can understand it then anyone can and you made this more understandable! I'm still a little confused about the USB lan adapter and how router/host/and target connect using that but don't have the adapter yet. So, I'll look for dumb-downed steps on that later . It's now working well in the limited unpaid version. Is it generally recommended/ worth paying for hi-res or I guess it personal preference.

 

Nice to hear its working for you. If you are interested in high res than the $100 is worth it. A possibility is that you let roon down sample to 44.1. Than everything will play for free.

I try to make the usb lan adapter simple:

Router - lan cable - usb lan adaper - usbport of host - lan port of host - lan cable - lan port of target

 

Thanks again, you got me point in the right direction!!

 

I was wondering about this because I have a PCI 10/100 card I am not using and was going to try to use that to connect between my host and my target and wondering if it is going to work and/or if I would need a crossover cable or not. It seems like it would work in finding the Diretta target, but not connecting to gentooplayer. So thank you. I will try this later.

 

Hi again, System with Gentoo player sounds good. I just have one issue that spoils everything. I can only play music for 30 - 40 minutes and then Roon reports that it has lost control of the audio device "No audio devices found" . Ive tried the following to try to fix this:

1. change ethernet cables and rearranged host and target to have shorter runs
2. Purchased ethernet to USB adapter - roon still looses connection for direct without adapter or with adapter
3. Im using a 100mb switch. I ordered a 1gb unmanaged switch ( hopefully comes tomorrow)
4. read different forums and tried these config things :
a. refreshed Roon data base ( by deleing the RAATserver folder) and letting Roon rebuild it
b. tried many changes to the setting in Gentooplayer - no luck
c. installed fresh copies of Gentooplayer for host and target - no luck

I'm not sure what else to do. I hoping someone has seen and fix this before. My router is 100mb I may have to replace that with 1gb also?
There is a definite sound improvement with Gentooplayer/Diretta that Im happy about but I cannot resolve the connection issue Roon is having. I do not know yet how to install a different player. I tried installing Audirvana studio but Gentooplayer fails with http 403 error .

(BTW I have roon server running a a Qnap NAS - not sure that matters)

 

I think there's a slow memory leak in Roon server, I find I get this issue of 30 min dropouts if I haven't restarted the Roon service in a few days but after a restart it works fine for the whole listening session no problem.

 

Thanks @fanish99 but just as I saw your post I was in process of posting this ... Solved ! If anyone else has issues with Roon losing connection to audio device, what seems to have worked for me is to adjust the Resync Delay in Roon's device setup to some value greater than 0ms. Its was not an issue with the Holo Red streamer or the DAC. See attached screen shot. There are many other things that can also cause this problem so your solution may be different.

I tried to paste my screen shot but not sure how to do that on this forum but resync delay is under device setting

 

HI , How do I configure Audirana?

1. I have Gentooplayer on two devices .. Diretta host (RasPI5) and target Holo Red streamer
2. Do I enable Audirana Studio on the host or target? Is this Audirana's version of the Roon core?
3. I installed Audirana studio ( and Audirana origin) on on my Mac, hoping to use it has a controller, but it cannot see anything installed vai Gentooplayer). Do I need to install or enable some other protocol in Gentoolplayer. Currently all audio except roonserver is uninstalled.
4. How to I get it to use my Cyran 2 DAC. - related to step 3?

Seems Roon is a much easier setup - maybe I should just stick with that.

Any help Appreciated

 

I figured most of it out. It took a lot of reading and ChatGPT was helpful. I think I need to optimize the setup but that will come after I have a better understanding the UPnP options, media renderers and other related player setting.

 

Hello forum,

I have a setup of RPi4 as LMS server and a full Ian Canada setup of LifePO4 powering RPi, FifoPi and DDDAC.
I intend to install GentooPlayer shortly. Since Diretta is available from GentooPlayer, can Diretta as host be installed on the same RPi that is used by my music library on the LMS machine? I understand I will need a second Ethernet connection on the RPi that serves as a host. This will then connect straight to the RPi5 target.
Will this work?

Kind regards,
Henry

 

Yes, that wil wil work. I have it the same way. On your host (rpi4) you can install LMS, squeezelite, and diretta host.

I have replaced squeezelite with Ap2renderer. It sounds a bit better in my system. But it is somewhat less stable. You have to install in lms a uPnP bridge plugin with the right settings.