ALAC files skip after 3 seconds and produce "File loading slowly" error (ref#9R7FC8)

[Miller_Abel]

What best describes your playback issue?

· Music stops playing unexpectedly

What type of Zone is affected by this problem?

· *All of my Zones* are affected.

Does the issue affect all file formats?

· The issue affects *multiple/all* file formats.

Does the issue happen with local library music, streaming service music, or both?

· *Only local library *music is affected.

Where is your local content stored?

· On the same machine where RoonServer is running, internal drive

Please try playing content of a lower sample rate (44.1kHz or 48kHz), does this work as expected?

· No, lower sample rates are still affected

Do you have an approximate timestamp of when the issue last occurred?

· 4:50pm PST

What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?

· Roon Server, running on MacOS Sequoia 15.7.2 (24G325). Playing locally via headphones. Playing over LAN makes no difference.

Describe the issue

"File loading slowly" error message playing ALAC 44/16 from internal HD.

Stops after 3 seconds of playback, then skips to the next track. Nothing local plays successfully. Multiple albums tried. Roon is now unusable to me.

Describe your network setup

Not relevant. This is local playback. Error is about loading a file, not playing.

[Michael_Pickup]

Interesting… My local ALAC files have been skipping since September. I’ve been blaming my update to Tahoe. So possibly not?

P.S. My endpoint is a Wiim Pro. Power cycling it does not resolve my playback skipping with the same messages as seen by Miller_Abel.

[vadim]

Hello @Miller_Abel,

Based on your description, the behavior you’re seeing — playback starting and then stopping after ~3 seconds with a “File loading slowly” message, even when playing locally to headphones — points to a local file access / disk I/O issue, not a network-related problem.

Key details from your report:

• Only local library content is affected
• Files are stored on the internal drive
• All zones are affected, including local output
• Lower sample rates show the same behavior

This indicates that Roon is able to open the file initially, but cannot sustain read access to it, which causes playback to stop and the track to be skipped.

At the moment, we’re unable to review diagnostics from your system — it appears that the Roon Server on your Mac is currently offline.

Please make sure the Mac is powered on, Roon Server is running, then reproduce the issue once more and let us know here after that. Once the server is online, we’ll be able to pull fresh diagnostics and continue investigating with accurate data.

[Miller_Abel]

Hi Vadim, thanks for checking in.

However, your assessment is not correct. The iMac has no issue with its local hard drive. This is not a Mac hardware or software problem, it is an erroneous error message from Roon. Here’s what I did…

Restarting Roon Server, which runs on the iMac, made no difference.

There is no issue with the local disk drive and nothing in the system log suggests otherwise.

I was also able to demonstrate problems with Tidal Connect direct to the same Cambridge Audio EVO endpoint skipping tracks. That suggested the problem was with the CA.

The problems with Roon local files and with Tidal Connect were immediately abated by restarting the EVO 150, by power cycling it. The problems have not recurred.

So this was in fact an endpoint problem, misreported by Roon as a file loading slowly error, which was not the case.

I can’t reproduce the issue on demand, so I’ll just have to see if it happens again in the future.

Thanks