Diretta Thread

I first heard about Diretta from @lithiumnk about 2yrs back and every time I wanted to try it, something came in the way. Lately, I have been seeing chatter between @lithiumnk , @famish99 , @driftingbunnies , and a few others about it and I am curious to understand how this works. I thought I’d create a thread on the topic so that others might be able to benefit from it as well. I’ll start with 2 basic questions and we can take from there.

1. In brief and in layman terms, what is Diretta?

2. What are the hardware and software required to use Diretta?

 

There's still a lot about it I don't understand due to lack of much documentation, but here goes my attempts to answer these questions.

Diretta is a network audio protocol much like NAA or RAAT and less similar to DLNA/UPNP or Airplay since it's more closed in its ecosystem.

Diretta's theory of operation is that irregular CPU and network usage of other network protocols causes spikes in power consumption that manifest as noise downstream see https://www.diretta.link/ and https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...enson_EtherREGEN_white_paper.pdf?v=1583429386. Diretta works by sending smaller samples more regularly to keep the current draw and network utilization more consistent.

I would say subjectively it comes off more like a power supply upgrade than a lower jitter upgrade, the blackground is better; it sounds more incisive without being aggressive compared to say RAAT.

For requirements I'll break it up into what is needed for Host (what provides the audio) and the Target (what's connected to your DAC/DDC).

I'll start with Target because the answer is simpler; it is currently only supported on Linux (x86 or ARM) and must be connected via USB. Having said that, I would highly recommend buying an appliance that has the target installed already or buying AudioLinux/GentooPlayer because the installation process isn't straightforward (this also applies to the host as well).

Host can be Linux (x86 or ARM) or Windows x86. The Linux host driver supports ALSA natively, but has some limitations with certain programs I've used so far (namely shairport-sync doesn't play super nice with it). Windows driver only supports ASIO, which means you'll have to use an WDM to ASIO bridge to make it work for applications that don't use ASIO.

They recommend at least 2 cores for host and target, but I have found more beef definitely helps because its short buffer nature doesn't necessarily use much compute, it does interrupt often.

 

Sorry but I wish the name was better. I thought it read "Diarrhea Thread."

 

Quoting Dante out of context in attempt to understand this: “che la via diritta era smaritta”…I found myself lost in the [diretta] path

 

I'm always curious about these types of things and I run a Ubuntu machine for my Roon server and HQP Desktop going via NAA to a number of Linux endpoints, so I could try Diretta out, but would it make any sense to send HQP upsampled content to endpoints by Diretta as opposed to NAA?

 

2: How i use diretta: 2 raspberry pi. Both with software Gentooplayer. One rpi4 as host, one rpi3b with pi2aes (spdif) as target. The rpi are directly connected. So no router between them. In this configuration no usb out is needed.
Gentooplayer you can use a week for free. Diretta you can also use for free, but not with high resolution.

 

@famish99 , thanks man. Let's see if I got this right.

Target Device:
The Target device needs to be a Linux based computer (x86 or ARM), preferably 2 cores or higher
The Target device will output USB and will be connected to the DDC or the DAC
The input to the Target is via LAN
An example of a Diretta pre-installed device would be this Diretta installed network bridge from Afterdark?
Alternatively, a Pi based device like the Pi2AES/Allo Digione Sig/Holo Red can be used by installing AudioLinux or Gentoo Player softwares that have the ability to act as the Diretta target?

Host Device:
The Host device needs to be a Linux based computer (x86 or ARM) or Windows (x86), preferably 2 cores or higher
The Host device will be connected to the Target via LAN
The Host driver for Linux supports Asla but does not work with all programs
The Host driver for Windows supports ASIO only. WDM or ASIO bridge has to be used for applications that do ASIO
Is a Linux/Windows machine running Roon and outputting using Direatta via LAN an example of what a Host might look like?

 

@AukePauke , oh cool. So you output from your Audio Device via the network to the Host Gentoo Player, which then connects to the Target Gentoo Player via a LAN cable?

 

Target device: Can output usb or usual digital outputs like coax/ aes/ i2s/ toslink eg. Pi2aes/Ustars/ ambre/ Ian Canada or pi4 HAT based boards. Both gentooplayer & audiolinux support diretta target functionality. I prefer former.
Target input can be either fibre or Ethernet. Former is preferred directly from the server/host. After dark has pre installed diretta target licence.The firmware mentioned on AD page is quite old. I don’t know if the firmware on host & AD target box can be updated.
I’ve noticed refinement in SQ with firmware updates.
I’ll always prefer Linux based host & target over windows solution due to better SQ & ease of use. I don’t use AM & YT for streaming. Offline library/ tidal/QOBUZ streaming via roon/HQP is priority. I also like playing my offline library directly via gentooplayer web interface where it loads the tracks in RAM ( ddr5 ) & communicates with HQP embedded minimising the number of hops/ levels & latency. The loaded tracks can be controlled via HQP app on my iPhone/iPad.
I don’t like Roon/ Diretta combo without HQP. I prefer other Linux players instead.

Host device : Again I prefer fibre based connection to target. Ideal scenario is 2 fibre slots; one connected to internet & other to target.
Gentooplayer (GP) server has diretta alsa & it works with almost all programs available on GP including Spotify, mconnect, minimiserver , LMS, HQP, MPD, aplayer etc

Edit: gentooplayer server host supports multi diretta target detection. For eg. one hard wired with server & other either hard wired via home network or via network extender in another room. Both sounded better than NAA with/ without upsampling. Hardwired recommended for HQP upsampling.

 

That is possible, but i have lms, squeezelite and diretta host installed on my rpi4(host) all possible with gentooplayer

With direct connection between the two rpi, it is preferred that the host have a usb ethernet dongle connected with the router. WiFi is also possible buth than gentooplayer (host) can't be optimised with all the different kernels.

 

Sharing some links from diretta’s French forum thread.
Diretta measurements for pcm & DSD using HQP
http://forum-hifi.fr/thread-19836-post-700002.html#pid700002

NAA vs diretta

http://forum-hifi.fr/thread-19836-post-699057.html#pid699057

@Failed Engineer Diretta is not supported on ubuntu/ fedora. You need either Gentoopalyer or audiolinux & a diretta target (rpi4) to complete the chain.

 

Surprised @lithiumnk didn't quote this when he posted his response to NAA vs Diretta, but he does use Diretta for HQP upsampled content.

Which version of Ubuntu do you run? I found the ALSA host rather annoying to install on 20.04 LTS, but was much easier on 22.04 LTS. I have yet to have either version run shairport-sync smoothly though since I have to run it in mmap disabled mode, but if all you're doing is Roon/HQP, it should work great.

 

Thanks … edited now

 

Thanks for the thread, really appreciate it. Might be the best (English language) explainer of Diretta on the web now, lol - was really opaque otherwise. Unsure if I have the time/energy to set up a new tweak-y transport-y stream-y upstream solution after years of mucking around with PCIe cards/hubs/switches and arcane Windows OS stuff, but if I ever get the time or inclination this thread will be super helpful. That someone has actually measured Diretta instead of just subjective SQ impressions is unusual in the realm of this kind of thing.

 

I'm not a huge fan of living on the bleeding edge kind of stuff and had a nice simpler, more flexible frontend before, but I would say that the sonic benefits have been worth all the fuss. I'd say the fact that it's been measured goes to show that they had a good hypothesis and both objective and subjective evidence to back up the improvements.

 

The orange pi + tripplite FMC seems to be a better deal by ordering the prebuilt.

Famish, could you describe the difference between RAAT and Diretta?
Roon always sounded oversampled to me, any impressions are greatly appreciated.

 

I want to try Diretta, but am kind of bummed that I would need to have two copies of the Gentooplayer license (1 for the host and 1 for the target).

 

If you want to try you can get a trial licence for a week for Gentooplayer. Diretta is also free for 44.1

You probably get a licence in a day or two

 

You need one copy of gentooplayer. Diretta Asio windows driver is free of cost. I'm running win 11 pro> VB audio Asio bridge> diretta Asio > rpi4 gentooplayer diretta endpoint. I can stream YouTube, Spotify , tidal etc without any issues. Youtube playback is the most rewarding due to its immense library size, unique content & finally it sounds really good.

 

I installed Diretta ASIO on my Windows 11 machine this weekend and got it working with my RPI with gentooplayer as the Diretta endpoint. Doing an A/B test using a trial version of roon, diretta brings about more timbre in the instruments and clarity. There really was a difference between using it versus not.

I also used it with Audirvana and it sounded awesome. My problem is that my Windows machine is my gaming rig, and I don't want to have it running all day. I still need to do some more a/b tests with Audirvana to see if Audirvana is worth it. I also need to decide between costs, if I need to get an NUC or buy another RPI and gentooplayer license; this stuff adds up