[spiritcrusher]

Hey guys I've an annoying situation here and I'd dearly love if anyone could shine some light on it!
 
I've recently put a good bit of time and money into assembling a computer audio system based around a Raspberry Pi 3 (with external hard drive), a Schiit Modi Multibit, Valhalla 2 and Senn HD650s. My problem is I have consistently gotten crackles and pops through this system and have been unable to get rid of them. I've tried 3 different distros (Runeaudio+OpenElec as a dual boot on one SD card, and Volumino 2 on a different one) and all three have had the same problem.
 
I've followed several instructions on various forums about disabling the onboard wifi, updating firmwares, bootloaders etc. Anything I can find to do with audio crackles I've probably tried. I've bought at 3A power supply to ensure there's enough juice for everything. But no change. Constant popping to the point where I find it unlistenable. And it's definitely coming from the Pi as I've plugged the gear into my Windows laptop and it's completely silent. It's driving me nuts!
 
I'm considering trying a Digi+ and S/PDIF but I'm reluctant to throw any more money at this unless I know it can be sorted.
 
Anyone got any further ideas?

 

[silvrr]

Hmm, Im using a Raspberry Pi 2 and the Schiit Jot (same USB receiver as the Modi MB) and am not having any issues.  I will get a click sometimes when changing tracks alot.  
 
 
Are you getting clicks throughout the track or just at the start?  It may help to change your buffer settings.  
 
Is this with 16/44 content or higher bit rate content?

 

[spiritcrusher]

Seems to be happening with everything really. MP3s and FLACs are all I have and there's crackles on anything I play. The crackles be anywhere from in the background where you'd need to be listening for them or very distinctive and loud. Buffer before playon Runeaudio is set to 30% (the max I think) and audio buffer is 10000kb. I've also gone through all the various sound signature optimisation profiles. No avail...

 

[peepr]

I have read that usb and the ethernet on rpi do not play well together as in the usb cant keep up. I had an rpi with mimby and also had crackling, though not as bad as what you describe. I uograded to an rpi3 with digi+ and run optical to the mimby and all my issues disppeared.

I will occasionally get buzzing but thats a power issue. Happens when my heat turns on in my apartment. Have a line conditioner on the way.

 

[peepr]

Also fwiw i use picoreplayer. Never tried rune.

 

[b0bb]

Hey guys I've an annoying situation here and I'd dearly love if anyone could shine some light on it!

I've recently put a good bit of time and money into assembling a computer audio system based around a Raspberry Pi 3 (with external hard drive), a Schiit Modi Multibit, Valhalla 2 and Senn HD650s. My problem is I have consistently gotten crackles and pops through this system and ...

Is the external hard drive connected via the same group of USB ports as the DAC?
It may be eating up all the bandwidth on the USB link.

 

[silvrr]

Is the external hard drive connected via the same group of USB ports as the DAC?
It may be eating up all the bandwidth on the USB link.

I run a similar setup but with a 128GB USB drive. No issues like he is having.

OP, what is powering your HDD? If it doesn't have its own power supply consider trying a powerd hub.

 

[spiritcrusher]

HDD is powered from the Pi. And powered from a different group of ports than the Mimby. Also tried it without the LAN cable, still the same. So I guess the next options are a powered USB hub and a Digi+. Not at all confident they'll sort it...