Probably the Weirdest Streaming Bug EVER

Streaming Audio
1

OK, let me start out by saying that, no, CORRELATION DOES NOT NECESSARILY IMPLY CAUSATION but, hear me out…

All my streaming woes seem to be behind me (apart from regularly having to restart the Naim app to get it to see items in my library). However, I’ve recently made a few changes: first, I swapped out the 1TB HDDs in my Synology NAS for two 2TB SSDs. Second, I had solar PV + battery installed.

One evening, I started listening to some 24-96 files through my ND5 XS, but found that they were stuttering every 7-8 seconds, then 1-2 seconds silence, rinse, repeat. Weird, given that there was no problem playing them from the 1TB HDDs. The SSDs, being much faster, should show no bottle-necking at all, should they…?

So, the next morning, I restarted the router, NAS, etc… no problem, 24-96s play as they should. Later that evening, after sunset (you can see where I’m going with this, can’t you?), I settled down for some more listening: the ‘stuttering’ problem on 24-96s had returned. Restart router / NAS, problem persists. Now, the only common factor I can see with this stuttering is the PV battery: the house was running 100% on battery power during these sessions and that’s when the stuttering occurs with 24-96s. At the moment, the house is running on a mix of PV and grid power, and 24-96s are playing no problem.

The only case I haven’t checked is the house running from a mix of grid and battery, and I may get a chance to do that tonight, because it doesn’t look as though the battery will fully charge today.

16-44s play no problem, no matter the power source. Weird, eh…?

2

Is the ND5XS wired or using wifi?

3

If it is the battery then it’s odd indeed as generally batteries are regarded as superior to direct mains power for obvious reasons.

Having said that, and as is apparent from other threads/experiences elsewhere here, network related equipment seems unusually sensitive to power supplies for all sorts of highly complex technical reasons. I have no idea how your battery spec may affect anything, but it’s just a thought.

Hopefully you’ll be able to isolate the issue and will then have a clearer idea of how to proceed.

Of course it could all be coincidence and the problem may spontaneously disappear.

4

When batteries supply power it passes through an inverter which converts the current to AC. Perhaps this is where the issue lies.

6

I was assuming that no network changes had been made alongside the PV installation, in which case changes made elsewhere would be under suspicion.
Having said that, PV installations often have network connections for control and monitoring, so possibly this has somehow upset the network.

7

Hi all – sorry for my tardiness, I wasn’t getting any notifications… anyway, the bug seems to have righted itself with no intervention from me. And, if I’m being perfectly honest, the point is moot: I simply can’t hear any difference between 16/44 and 24/96 resolutions, try as I might… time to cull all the hi-res files from my library… :scissors:

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