I’m running version 1.022 with the My Volumio cloud access addition. (but the problem was also happening before changing over to that “flavor” of 1.022)
I have a 503HTA Tube DAC.
I have a Pi2 using a wifi dongle.
Network settings show the Pi is connected to wifi with a strong signal and 72Mbps.
My wifi speeds are testing at 117Mbps from another device.
When I try to play back Spotify, various web radio apps, and YouTube the music stutters periodically. Sometimes every few seconds, sometimes for brief moments, sometimes farther apart, sometimes for longer.
Music plays back fine from local storage (USB drive) and from my network storage.
The same streaming audio services work fine from other devices.
I have put the VolumioPi on other networks and get the same behavior.
I have about 5 VolumioPis with various DACs and (some Pi3, one PiZero, one Pi1) and all have also recently stopped listing My Playlists from the Spotify app. I can still search for tracks and play them or browse Featured Playlists, What’s New, or Genres & Moods. However, no playlists are displayed when I go to My Playlists. This behavior is the same across multiple Pis and different Spotify accounts. This issue may not be related to the stuttering and may have started prior to that. It also seems to have been happening on the previous Volumio version I was running. That issue was tolerable, but the stuttering isn’t.
I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the various streaming service pluggins.
I have tried changing the buffer and cache settings.
I don’t have upsampling enabled.
I don’t have a mixer enabled.
I have tried starting totally from scratch on the Pi with a fresh download of the Volumio image.
Suggestions?
Lots of different questions and info here 
Have you tried a bare installation of Volumio on a single device with no plugins, and then checked web radio works fine with no stuttering. Then introduce each piece back one at a time eg. spotify first and check everything is ok. In this way you will rule out problems with your network and plugins.
I didn’t understand exactly what you had done here.
Have you seen this thread?
I’ll try a clean install and layering on plugins bit by bit testing each step of the way.
My point when listing my other devices running Volumio was that initially I thought this was a Spotify pluggin issue that began a few months ago where it isn’t displaying My Playlists. That issue is manifesting across all my installs and devices. The stutter issue probably isn’t related since it shows up across multiple pluggins, but I have only noticed it on one device.
Thank you
Before taking the time to do a total clean install, I just removed all my pluggins except Spotify and rebooted. The stuttering is gone. Maybe it was a memory issue (too many pluggins) or some plugin interaction. I am still having the problem of My Playlists not displaying in Spotify, but that seems to be a totally different issue that I’ll need to do a separate post on.
thank you
Unlikely to be the number of plugins, rather that one is misbehaving. The Spotify playlist problem is explained, I think, in that link to a thread in my last post.
Edit: here.
Thanks so much for the link, I’ll walk through that.
And, I was wrong, the stutter is still there with just the one plugin installed. I guess I didn’t listen long enough before jumping to the conclusion. It’s improved (less frequent and not as long), but still bothersome. I’ll try clean install with only the one plugin next.
I did a total clean install, added the one Spotify plugin, and walked through the steps to get Spotify working more fully. Spotify still stutters. I’ve done the same process on a Raspberry Pi 1 and a Zero and they work fine. Same clean installs all done today. The only differences in them beyond the Pi models is DAC. the Pi 1 uses the built-in analog output, the Zero is using a PhatDAC, and the 2 that I’m having trouble with is using the hybrid tube DAC by Pi2Design. It works fine on every other source besides Spotify. Any new suggestions?
Swap the tube DAC out to another RPi? Have you ever had it working correctly?
Yes, the Tube DAC has worked properly on about three different Pis.
Here’s where I am today. Even though my wifi speed was reading at 73Mb/s in Volumio, I wondered if wifi signal was an issue. The wifi adapter and my router are only about 10 feet apart (but with a floor/ceiling in between). I tried various buffer settings and they seemed to help some.
I thought I’d try connecting with 5Ghz network instead of the 2.4Ghz, but needed a different wifi adapter. I know the data coming in off that would be more than the USB bus could handle, but figured overkill could maybe still improve things. I tried several different USB wifi adapters with external antennae and could never find one that could connect to my 5Ghz network and worked natively with Volumio. I finally just got a basic wifi USB adapter with external adapter. Volumio is showing my connection speed at 21.7Mb/s… less than a third of what the other adapter was showing. Yet all my skipping is gone. It’s working perfectly. So for some reason, local music, music on my server, and music from radio streams were all working fine, but for some reason, the connection wasn’t right for streaming Spotify. This new adapter, even though it appears to be slower according to Volumio, is working great.
Thanks for all the help troubleshooting. I’m glad to be back in business.