Issues you may encounter
Limits of streamers, servers and networks that we and our beta testers ran into, and where the fix has to come from.
Some of what looks like a fault in Serento is a limit of the streamer, the server or the network it is talking to. This page collects the ones we hit while building the app and the ones our beta testers reported, what causes each, and who is able to fix it.
The general items come first, because they apply to most systems. The ones named after a specific product come last, and are there because we could reproduce them.
A short noise when the format changes
Most streamers make a brief digital noise when the sample rate changes, or when one DSD file gives way to the next as you press Next and Previous. It is the streamer's firmware reacting to the format switch.
Serento cannot cause this and cannot prevent it. It never touches the audio data, it only tells the streamer what to play and where to fetch it, so the bytes reaching your DAC are the bytes on your server. What Serento does to your audio goes through that in detail.
It affects roughly 80% of the streamers on the market. Some handle the transition in firmware and stay silent, and even on the ones that do it, it is occasional rather than every time.
UPnP and OpenHome are not the same thing
More than 80% of the streamers on the market speak only UPnP AV. OpenHome is supported by very few. We recommend OpenHome wherever you have the choice, and the difference is not cosmetic:
- On UPnP, Serento holds the queue. The app feeds the streamer one track at a time, so it has to stay reachable for playback to continue.
- On OpenHome, the streamer holds its own queue. Playback carries on if your phone leaves the network, and the streamer manages the hand-off between tracks itself.
We are asking manufacturers to implement OpenHome on their devices. If this matters to you, ask them too: a request from a customer carries more weight than one from us.
Radio metadata on FLAC streams
Some online stations do send track metadata alongside their FLAC stream. Many streamers cannot read metadata from a FLAC stream at all, so the track title stays empty or never changes while the station plays. This is an omission in the streamer's firmware, not in the station or in Serento.
Native DSD, DoP, or neither
Not every streamer supports native DSD, and not every streamer supports DSD over PCM either. DSD: DoP versus native explains which one your device gets and why.
If yours supports neither, the way through is MinimStreamer, an add-on for MinimServer. It transcodes files into a format the streamer can accept, and it needs configuring rather than just installing. The instructions are on the MinimServer site.
Your server decides what Serento can show
Serento can only display what the UPnP server exposes. Some servers are very limited, and no app can work around it:
- They do not list every file. Tracks the server skips are tracks Serento never learns about.
- Album art comes back tiny. 150 or 300 pixels is common, which is far too small for a phone screen, let alone an iPad.
- They do not expose every collection. Where artists are not published as their own list, artists are lost.
- Performance is generally poor, which shows up as slow browsing and slow first sync.
We recommend MinimServer, which can be used free or with a licence. It is the most capable and the fastest server we have tested, and the settings Serento expects from it are listed in the MinimServer settings Serento expects.
Keep the streamer and the server on one subnet
We recommend that the streamer, the server and your phone sit on the same subnet, without VLANs or guest network separation between them. Discovery relies on multicast, which routers do not forward across subnet boundaries, so a split network is the most common reason a device that is plainly powered on never appears.
Rockna WaveDream Net
Seeking inside a DSD file is not supported. Dragging the position slider during DSD playback locks the streamer up completely. It does not recover on its own: the unit has to be powered down by disconnecting the mains lead at the back and connecting it again.
Rockna have confirmed to us that a firmware update for the WaveDream Net is on the way and that it addresses the problems described here. No date has been given. We are publishing this with their permission.
Esoteric
Esoteric streamers do not play FLAC radio streams over UPnP or OpenHome. Stations delivered in other formats are unaffected.
Still stuck
Write to us with your server, your streamer and what you expected to happen. If you can, send the diagnostic log from Settings, it usually answers the question faster than a description can.