About the clock lock problem of DCS network bridge

I use the DCS network bridge as the master clock to send the WC.bnc to the clock signal to my DAC. The DAC has also been set to receive the WC clock signal and shows that it is locked, but the status bar of Mosaic always shows that it is not locked. When the NBR receives When the WC signal to the DAC, Mosaic will show that it is locked. I changed two 75 ohm clock lines to try to solve it, but it still didn’t work, and it still showed that it was not locked. What is causing this, please help, thank you

What is your DAC?

Hello Pete Rogers, my DAC is Merging Hapi. When Hapi is used as the master clock to output the WC signal to NBR, the Mosaic status bar is displayed as locked.

Thanks. The most obvious thing that would cause your issue is the data rate of the file that is being processed. Are you playing hi-res files and if so at what resolution? But that may cause no lock period whereas I understand that there is a lock in fact.

The other aspect is whether it is just a question of the Mosaic display per se. It seems that your Hapi has a display that lets you see the wordclock input and if it is locked. We can’t rely on whether or not you hear music as presumably the Hapi may automatically revert to its internal clock if there is no lock to an external one. As your opening question indicates that there is , in fact, a lock displayed by Hapi so I am wondering ( I have no way of establishing this ) if for some reason Mosaic just doesn’t recognise the Hapi DAC in this configuration it not being a dCS product for which the Mosaic display software was written ? If so then I would simply rely upon the DAC’s display in preference. There are a number of glitches with the current Mosaic version and perhaps this is one that has not been heard of before as I would imagine that the number of users of Network Bridge to Merging Hapi using the NB as wordclock source is limited (e.g. just you?).

One point is that with my Vivaldi setup Mosaic does not display any icon for “lock” per se. It only shows the synch options. Can you provide a screenshot?

Thank you for your reply. When NBR is used as the clock source WC output, it shows that it is not locked at any frequency, but the green icon displayed on the HAPI side should be locked, and the red icon cannot be locked. The locked state of Mosaic, the locked state will be in working state only when receiving an external clock source, I don’t know if my guess is correct

This is correct, the Wordclock rate shown in Mosaic is for the Network Bridge’s Wordclock Inputs - it won’t show anything if, as in your case, there is no external clock connected to the Network Bridge.

Provided the DAC has ben correctly set to receive Wordclock and shows this is working (which from your initial post looks true) then this system looks like it is working correctly.

Thanks for the reply, it seems that my guess is correct. I am a new user of the network bridge. I don’t know if my firmware is the latest version. Should the firmware upgrade also be performed in Mosaic? In addition, I used a desktop PC with windows 10 system to build Minimserver UPNP. I think this kind of transmission sound is better than USB input. Do you think so? Is it necessary to change the desktop PC to a high-end NAS (melco S100), will the sound be better? Thanks again

The following picture shows the frequency setting of NBR as the main clock source. I don’t know whether it is correct or not, and whether my firmware version is the latest.

You should be using Mosaic v.1.1.1 on both your Network Bridge and on your device (e.g. phone or tablet) running Mosaic. This requires two updates. The first is for the dCS device in question ( i.e. Network Board) so check the Mosaic display of the versions for app and Network Board by opening “Support” in the Mosaic app. then “Versions”. If necessary click the blue " Check for Updates" box. If there is one available this can then be installed. However before you attempt the installation power cycle the Bridge by switching off and on again via the rear power switch with a few minutes gap between the two.

Then go to either Apple App Store or Google Play Store and download the latest dCS Mosaic app.

This information is really for your future use when the next update comes along. Your screenshot shows that you are currently up to date for Mosaic and the main board.

Yes ethernet connection is superior to USB. Many of us have found that using a Melco music library as NAS provides better sound than via an IT type NAS. That is my experience but a Melco is not cheap and the cost v. performance aspect needs to be taken account of. I think that a big advantage is that connection from a Melco to the dCS Network Board ( whatever dCS product that is housed in ) can be direct and not via a network switch. I am sure that some of the IT crowd here will say that it can’t make any difference but a few of us beg to differ from our experience. If I were you I would try to get a demonstration of a Melco as NAS to satisfy yourself before making any commitment to purchase. If you don’t think it is worth it then fine though I expect that you will :slightly_smiling_face:.

Thank you Pete, you are a good and helpful person. Using Melco NAS can be directly connected to the network bridge without the need for an additional network switch. Then at this time, the controller that controls the NBR, how should the mobile phone or tablet control the NBR to play? Nice to meet you Pete, are you also a network bridge user?

Thank you for the kind comments.

Mosaic controls the activities of Network Bridge and is a play control. So I am a bit puzzled by your question because that is what Mosaic is for:

So, if you open Mosaic , find Network Bridge and then select UPnP on the “services” screen you should see all of your albums and tracks displayed with the controls to play, forward/back, pause etc. Likewise if you select “Radio” you should see many internet radio stations and be able to select and listen to them. It also allows access and control of various streaming services if you have a subscription to them.

If you do not see your albums after selecting UPnP then let me know. However I am in the UK and it is now getting late so I may not respond to your advice until tomorrow ( my time). I am sorry if there is that delay.

NB: I am not a Network Bridge user currently as I have a Vivaldi stack. However I was using Network Bridge until a year ago.

Thank you Pete, I have mastered the use and operation of Mosaic proficiently, and I have built Minimserver UPNP, everything goes well, the sound sounds very good, but when the network bridge is the main clock source, the frequency can only be controlled at 96KHZ, this It makes me very frustrated, because my HAPI can reach 352KHZ. If DCS can solve the problem without being limited to 96KHZ, it would be perfect. Regarding the previous topic, you mentioned that using Melco NAS can be directly connected to the network bridge through a network cable, without the need for an additional network switch. This is a good solution to improve the sound quality, but how does the network bridge connect to the network? The Mosaic controller needs a network Can control the network bridge playback, so I am a little confused. I wish you a good night’s sleep and good night.

OK just before I go to bed.

The wordclock output from Network Bridge extends only to 96KHz. However it is not really intended for general use and relates only to an SDIF-2 interface.

I think I need to explain what Network Bridge is for. It was designed to provide the ability for legacy dCS products to have the connectivity to access new formats and to play higher resolution files than they had the ability to process by downsampling. In respect of these design objectives Network Bridge has sufficient capability.

Subsequently users from outside of the dCS environment found that they could utilise Network Bridge for their purposes. However Network Bridge was never intended to provide a universal solution. So whatever limitations it has must be understood within a dCS system environment for which it was designed.

On to Melco. Melco connects to the network and to the dCS network board . This means that files stored on Melco are served to a dCS Network board without passing through a network switch. Commands from Mosaic are sent from the network via Melco to the dCS network board. Similarly internet data is also sent to the dCS network board via Melco.

I hope that this helps to clarify things.

Thanks to Pete for clarification, it is clear that DCS has benefited the majority of enthusiasts and allowed everyone to get dCS products at a cheap price. Although there is a 96KHZ limit, I have to use NBR clocks because the sound is better than DAC clocks. In the next step, I might consider replacing DAC with dCS. The marketing strategy of DCS is very good, haha, just kidding. In addition, regarding Melco’s S100 and N100, although the N100 can discard the NA S and PC, the N100’s internal hard drive is only 2TB, which seems a bit small. I read the S100 evaluation report and many people said that it has improved significantly. I think it may be A good way to improve sound quality. Do you think S100 or N100 is better?

It seems that you need to discover more about the Melco products and what is in the range and what they are for. The S100 and N100 are different types of device and are not interchangeable . S100 is a switch ( “S” for Switch), N100 (“N” for Network) is a USB network streamer/NAS. So you can buy an N100 then , if you wish, you can add the S100.

There are several Melco USB Network streamers/NAS with different storage capacities depending upon the type of drive ( HDD or SSD) and the RAID configuration chosen. I have a model from the N1 series which has 6 TB storage in RAID 0 configuration (which happens to be the best sounding for some arcane reason). NB: do not confuse RAID with backup, the latter is still needed.

Here is a link to the home website where you will find links to the products for comparison :

It’s been a long time since pete. I wonder if Melco can directly establish a connection with DCS NBR. Can Synology’s NAS also do the same?Thanks

In short ,yes and no. Melco have their own unique proprietary circuitry to do this ( I understand that it isn’t just another ethernet output). However using a general IT type server may create a “bridged” network connection which is inadvisable.

Actually Pete, they are more similar than you might first imagine :wink:

While the Melco folks like to pretend otherwise, their N1 platforms are basically a Buffalo NAS at heart. Small hardware differences aside, both Synology and the Melco N1 platforms run on Linux with its native networking stack mostly unmodified.

With ssh access into a Synology NAS, one can get it to do exactly what the Melco does with its “Direct Mode” vs. “Network Mode” etc. They’re just different configurations of the multiple Ethernet ports, with DHCP Server, and Bridge Control support in Linux.

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Thank you for your reply. Since I need a NAS that can store large-capacity hard drives to place my 4K videos, I have to buy a Synology NAS. It would be great if it can be directly connected to DCS NBR

There really is no good reason to give yourself that headache. I’ve got more than one Synology NAS, large and small. The difficulties that bridging can cause can drive you crazy. Network switches as sources of “noise” are nothing compared to the cruft that comes out of an NAS. In either case, you’ll end up adding some additional isolation for piece of mind.

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