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Topic: Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion (Read 13944 times) previous topic - next topic
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Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #25 –
Stupid question, but have you tried streaming from some other device?  That link above says they have an iPhone/Android app, maybe try that see if its just a problem with your PC.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #26 –
Quote from: saratoga on
The peaks on those sin waves are compressed.  No idea if its bad analog or some kind of DSP.   

...


Wondering if OP set the system audio format to follow the settings found in RMAA (to avoid SRC) and also disable all audio enhancements?

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #27 –
Line in > Enhancements

screenshot click HERE

Line in > Advanced > Default format - 2 channel, 16 bit, 44100 Hz

screenshot click HERE

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #28 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Stupid question, but have you tried streaming from some other device?  That link above says they have an iPhone/Android app, maybe try that see if its just a problem with your PC.


I just did, check results HERE

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #29 –
The channels on test_rp-n14.wav are inverted (though that fact alone doesn't explain the horrible measurements).

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #30 –
Quote from: skamp on
The channels on test_rp-n14.wav are inverted.


Yes I have noted that, but couldn't figure the reason way? All recordings where made using same 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #31 –
Quote from: papucar on
Yes I have noted that, but couldn't figure the reason way?


At this point I'm willing to accept that you may have stumbled upon one of the absolute worst audio devices currently available.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #32 –
Quote from: skamp on
At this point I'm willing to accept that you may have stumbled upon one of the absolute worst audio devices currently available.


It's possible that I am doing something as this is the first time I am using RMAA and Audacity. That said I was never too obsessed with audio fidelity*, but my first reaction to this device was: What the #$@&%*!    



*I grew up listening to punk demo tapes.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #33 –
Could you clarify the way you are connecting this?  I have difficulties to understand the whole setup, seeing the product description and the screen captures of RMAA that you showed.

The product page describes it as a wireless repeater, that also has airplay-like features.

Since we are interested in the audio side of the product, how does the audio reach the device? I should remark that I don't know first-hand what airplay is, but I do know and use DLNA on my TV, mobile and laptop. Is it correct to say that airplay acts similar to an "upnp controller"? As such, is it playing (and decoding if needed) the audio by itself or it simply receives a stream?  I am quite confused since you show the digital out on that RMAA capture.

Also, I guess that the audio is sent back to the computer with a 3.5mm jack connecting directly the laptop and that headphone connector. Are the playback and recording volumes setup adequately?

At last, if you had to use the test signal wav directly on another player and generated it with RMAA, could you verify the .wav file itself?  I remember seeing on another thread (that i can't find now) that somehow, the wav was generated with bad audio.
You also said that the android test had to be done with mp3. You mean that the player does not support wav, or that trying to play a wav was unsuccessful?


On the other hand, seeing the small device, and knowing that it has two WIFI antennas inside that not only send, but also receive signals, it is not unfeasible that the device receives interferences.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #34 –
Quote from: [JAZ] on

Could you clarify the way you are connecting this?  I have difficulties to understand the whole setup, seeing the product description and the screen captures of RMAA that you showed.

The product page describes it as a wireless repeater, that also has airplay-like features.

Since we are interested in the audio side of the product, how does the audio reach the device? I should remark that I don't know first-hand what airplay is, but I do know and use DLNA on my TV, mobile and laptop. Is it correct to say that airplay acts similar to an "upnp controller"? As such, is it playing (and decoding if needed) the audio by itself or it simply receives a stream?  I am quite confused since you show the digital out on that RMAA capture.


I don't know how Airplay or Airfoil function. I used Foobar2000/Airfoil/Airplay as I was unable to get Foobar2000/DLNA working. Ironically, I picked this device instead of Airport Express just because I thought it has capability to act as DLNA renderer.

test_rp-n14.wav sample:
source: Foobar2000 to Airfoil to RP-N14 to MBO Line in (3.5mm to 3.5mm cable to connecting RP-N14 and MBO Line in)
recorded: using Audacity
and than loaded in: RMAA Analyze WAV

Quote
Also, I guess that the audio is sent back to the computer with a 3.5mm jack connecting directly the laptop and that headphone connector. Are the playback and recording volumes setup adequately?


I'm not sure whether I have set levels correctly as I have zero experience doing this. Both Playback level and Line in recording level where set to 0.0 db while recording test_rp-n14.wav sample. Playback level in AiPlayer was also set to max while recording test_android.wav sample.

Quote
At last, if you had to use the test signal wav directly on another player and generated it with RMAA, could you verify the .wav file itself?  I remember seeing on another thread (that i can't find now) that somehow, the wav was generated with bad audio.
You also said that the android test had to be done with mp3. You mean that the player does not support wav, or that trying to play a wav was unsuccessful?


AiPlayer supports .wav but attempt to play it on RP-N14 was unsuccessful.

.wav and .mp3 test signals HERE

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #35 –
I was able to do some testing and alternate ways of trying this, to see if we can pinpoint more clearly to the device as being faulty or to something else.

I downloaded the trial version of airfoil (works for 10 minutes, then it needs to be closed and opened again), and also, installed airfoil speakers in my android phone.  This way, i could sort of simulate your device.

Configured the soundcard line in for the corresponding frequency, opened airfoil, and setup it to use the android phone as a speaker. Also i setup it to run RMAA.  I setup RMAA for directsound on output, and mme line in on input, 16bit 44Khz, mostly like you have. volume to max on android phone and 3.5mm cable from phone to laptop.

I played the signal and recorded it in audacity. To do so, I used the "playback only" button. This way, it is possible to control the gains properly, since it plays the calibration signal first.
Then in audacity, cut the silence at the beginning (leave around 100 milliseconds previous to the sound start), save to wav and load this in RMAA, with the analyze wav button.

The "playback and record" mode cannot be used, because there is too much latency (added by airfoil), and RMAA cannot sync.  I tried at 96Khz and it worked, but the results were completely wrong (like +16.9, -13.11 frequency response, 100 IDM , and so on), so probably it didn't sync correctly either.

So if you can try it this way, to see if it improves that gets recorded, it would be nice.

At last, inspecting the wavs that you uploaded, seems that they have been resampled with a bad resampler. I wonder if maybe the RP-N14 can only play 48Khz and resamples everything to it.. So try the same test, but at 48Khz to see what happens.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #36 –
Quote from: [JAZ] on

I was able to do some testing and alternate ways of trying this, to see if we can pinpoint more clearly to the device as being faulty or to something else.

I downloaded the trial version of airfoil (works for 10 minutes, then it needs to be closed and opened again), and also, installed airfoil speakers in my android phone.  This way, i could sort of simulate your device.

Configured the soundcard line in for the corresponding frequency, opened airfoil, and setup it to use the android phone as a speaker. Also i setup it to run RMAA.  I setup RMAA for directsound on output, and mme line in on input, 16bit 44Khz, mostly like you have. volume to max on android phone and 3.5mm cable from phone to laptop.

I played the signal and recorded it in audacity. To do so, I used the "playback only" button. This way, it is possible to control the gains properly, since it plays the calibration signal first.
Then in audacity, cut the silence at the beginning (leave around 100 milliseconds previous to the sound start), save to wav and load this in RMAA, with the analyze wav button.


So if you can try it this way, to see if it improves that gets recorded, it would be nice.


I'll give it a tray and report back.

Quote
At last, inspecting the wavs that you uploaded, seems that they have been resampled with a bad resampler. I wonder if maybe the RP-N14 can only play 48Khz and resamples everything to it.. So try the same test, but at 48Khz to see what happens.


I think Airplay is 16-bit/44.1 kHz only (using ALAC).

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #37 –
Quote from: papucar on
It's possible that I am doing something as this is the first time I am using RMAA and Audacity. That said I was never too obsessed with audio fidelity*, but my first reaction to this device was: What the #$@&%*!


Ok, then it looks like the simplest way to get to the bottom of this would just be to make a 30 second recording of any well know song played through that system, and upload it here for people to listen.

RMAA is excellent for spotting subtle flaws in an audio system, but this one seems to be far from subtle. So direct listening may be a simpler option in this case. If you have a good original (pref ripped straight from CD, but any good quality mp3 etc should do), and the flaw is really obvious, then just upload a recording and I'm sure someone here will be able to pick the artefact.

Note: If you've got something very well known, like a "classic" track, then just uploading 30 seconds of the recorded track should be sufficient. If however you want to record something more obscure, then please upload the recorded and original tracks. Copyright considerations allow at maximum 30 seconds uploads here, but that should be plenty.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #38 –
Music samples HERE

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #39 –
Quote from: papucar on
Music samples HERE

Yeah that definitely sounds woeful papucar. I'd say it's probably a faulty unit. If it's not straight out faulty then I think you've just found the worst sounding audio device on the market.  Take it back and tell them you want your money back as it's "not fit for the purpose sold".

I just trimmed the noise from the beginning of "Glory B" and aligned it for an abx. It really wasn't necessary as the difference was that obvious, but here are the results anyway.

Code: [Select]
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v1.2.6
2014/07/26 08:56:58

File A: E:\MyDoc\Downloads\Glory_a.flac
File B: E:\MyDoc\Converted\Glory_b.flac

08:56:58 : Test started.
08:57:12 : 01/01  50.0%
08:57:24 : 02/02  25.0%
08:57:32 : 03/03  12.5%
08:57:38 : 04/04  6.3%
08:57:46 : 05/05  3.1%
08:57:59 : 06/06  1.6%
08:58:09 : 07/07  0.8%
08:58:21 : 08/08  0.4%
08:58:28 : 09/09  0.2%
08:58:36 : 10/10  0.1%
08:58:48 : 11/11  0.0%
08:58:50 : Test finished.

 ---------- 
Total: 11/11 (0.0%)

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #40 –
I wonder which codec is internally used to stream to this device. To be honest, the samples remind me of a2dp/sbc compression artifacts. Android had a too low bitpool setting in the past, resulting in a similar sound when streaming stuff over bluetooth. Maybe a2dp is used here too and ASUS has specified a too low bitpool compatibility in their device, so that airfoil sends an overcompressed stream?

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #41 –
Just wanted to thank everyone for all the help provided. Asus refuses to acknowledge that unit is malfunctioning (as it is not audio not an "audio device" according to them). I will probably give it to someone who needs repeater.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #42 –
Quote from: papucar on
Asus refuses to acknowledge that unit is malfunctioning (as it is not audio not an "audio device" according to them). I will probably give it to someone who needs repeater.

Where did you buy it papucar? Online or from a "bricks and mortar" retailer. I'd be definitely trying to return it due to the fact that it cannot do what it claims to be able to do - audio. "Streaming Audio" is the second from the top of the list of features on their website.  If Asus's own support is now telling you "it is not an audio device" then it seems to me you have excellent grounds for asking for your money back.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #43 –
I bought it online, but it's not big deal as it was not too expensive. I just undecided now whether I should buy Airport express or get rid of the amp and by relatively cheap AVR like Denon AVR-X1000. Currently leaning towards AVR as it would solve all my connectivity issues.

Netgear makes another DLNA enabled AE alternative called WN3500RP but after Asus fiasco I am reluctant to buy untested device.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #44 –
The AVR will give you a lot more flexibility  The Denon amps can be controlled from Android/iPhone apps as well I believe. Might be worth reading up on the streaming features to see how well they work.

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #45 –
Quote from: probedb on
The AVR will give you a lot more flexibility  The Denon amps can be controlled from Android/iPhone apps as well I believe. Might be worth reading up on the streaming features to see how well they work.

I didn't think that Danon amp had WiFi capability?
 

Asus RP-N14 audio out distortion

Reply #46 –
Good catch, AVR-X1000 has Ethernet only. Newer model AVR-X1100 has WiFi. Any recommendations regarding AVR choice? Any known issues with Pioneer/Yamaha/Denon/Harman Kardon units?