Using K30 through Squeeze/Squeeze with USB to Accuphase DC-37 dac. I use random song mode when playing from a local SSD. When the file sampling frequency changes from song to song (library contains everything from 44/16 to 384/32 PCM and DSD 128), the beginning of the next selection is clipped by a fraction of a second. For example, going from previous 44/16 file to 96/24, (as confirmed by the sound of the dacs internal sample rate relay switching) the very beginning of the next song is slightly clipped - very noticeable . Of course, progressing between song selections at the same sample rate is no issue.
I’m thinking this might be inherent in the dac design and architecture since I had no issues with my Gustard R-26 dac using an externally clocked DDC (feeding I2S to dac).
Was hoping that someone else here might have experience with this Accuphase dac.
Is there any K30 server/player software or hardware configurations that are configurable that might help with this issue?
Go to Extra Settings under Playback Settings for Squeeze. Then choose Audio from the dropdown and scroll down and you will see Audio Startup Time. Try a higher value to see if it makes a difference.
Thanks Ken, however are you referring to AMS 5? Antipodes was not able to update my K30 to the latest software version. Under my current version (4.1 I think) there is no such setting for “Audio Startup Time”. Can you provide a screenshot of the setting as it relates to the menu options.
I won’t be able to share a screenshot until I get home later. The challenge with AMS 4 is that it made it more difficult to get to some of the Squeeze settings, but I suspect if you poke around you will find “Audio Startup Time” as the text refers to MP3 playback so that likely means this feature was added to Squeeze many years ago.
I recall that the Squeeze UI in AMS 4 did include a hyperlink for “Player Settings”. Click this and scroll to the bottom. There should be a button for extra settings. Do you see this? If so, after clicking this, there will be a drop down. Are you able to see this?
I have been on Additional Player Settings menu you are referring to many times and have seen a reference to the setting you are noting. I always ignored it since according to the description I thought it was related to MP3 files only. I’ll try it again when I get home from the cottage in another week or so.
Yeah it might be MP3 only but much of Squeeze was developed back when MP3s just became a big deal. I asked Copilot. The response:
The Audio Startup Time setting in Logitech Media Server is not limited to MP3. It can benefit any format that requires a brief buffer or decoder warm‑up, but the effect is most noticeable with compressed formats (MP3, AAC, Ogg, WMA).
Uncompressed formats (PCM/WAV/AIFF) and FLAC usually benefit less, but still can depending on your DAC and network path.
What Audio Startup Time actually does
Audio Startup Time inserts a small silent buffer before playback begins. This helps with:
• Decoder initialization • Network jitter smoothing • DAC lock‑on time (some DACs need 50–200 ms to lock to a new sample rate) • Avoiding the first “click” or truncated audio frame
Interesting that when Squeeze mentions “MP3” it means all stream formats. I also get a fraction of second of the beginning of songs truncated with my latest DAC. Unfortunately changing the setting from 0, to 0.25, to 0.5 to 0.75 made zero difference.
