Almost permanent issue with my Rhein Z1 Plus (ref#5H76D9)

Support
1

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· None of the above quite fits

None of the above quite fits

· None of these quite match

Tell us what's going on

· Dear Roon Support,

Would you please be kind enough to help me with an almost permanent issue with my Rhein Z1 Plus.

The problem has excluded me from Roon for 8 months perhaps more than a year and it has meant my annual subscription has been rather pointless. I will say upfront that I am not technically minded, so I’ll have to describe things in my own language which will be somewhat lacking technical detail.

My equipment
• Roon Core: Innuos Rhein Z1 Plus
•
• Operating system: VitOS
• Purchased new from: Audiobarn (Hertfordshire, UK, 2024)

The issue

Roon can work perfectly for hours (sometimes a whole day), then the Roon app without any physical changes made to equipment cannot find the server/Core. I’m now locked out for days or months. I have been forced to use the Tidal app as the go to app rather than Roon.

When this happens:
• Roon on my Android phone and Windows driven PC and iPad say it cannot find the Core.
• The VitOS app also cannot connect.
• Restarting apps does not help.
• Sometimes but rarely, restarting equipment restores it temporarily, most times it does not.

There is no obvious (to me) trigger — it simply works, then it doesn’t. I would add from memory the inability to find the core is always at the start of a new session i.e. I’ve never been locked out while listening to music. Ironically I have just noticed while typing this email while also connected to Roon via my mobile phone a message telling me the core cannot be found followed by a window with ”uh oh somethings wrong”

What I know so far
• I took the unit back to the original dealer Audiobarn (One week ago) and they were extremely kind and helpful and uninstalled old Roon and reinstalled the latest Roon software (Roon Server) on the unit.
• The unit immediately worked correctly when fired up at Audiobarn. Music and information were available as one would expect.
• As soon as it was connected to my home network the server was not available on any device. I was exasperated. Why is this not working, I’ve just seen it work correctly an hour ago.
• Several hours later after I had switched off the Rhein Z1 Plus and switched it back on after some down time it worked perfectly. It provided around 24 hours of play and accessibility i.e. I came out of the Roon app and went back in several times successfully.
• Please note any technical references are only via Chat GPT research, most of which means nothing to me I simply follow instructions. As such apparently my router can see the device as connected to the network, but Roon cannot always discover it
• When Roon does find the Core, playback is flawless and stable
• The Rhein Z1 plus had previously from new been installed in a house using Virgin broadband and Virgin router. It always seemed to work. One day for no apparent reason I lost the ability to use ARC. I never managed to resolve this and sadly lost that desired functionality.
• I had reason the move the Z1 plus to a different house using this time Sky broadband and Sky’s ‘white’ router. This was when I lost almost total access to Roon. Never able to use ARC and rarely able to use Roon while in the home.
• Chat GPT has taken me on a wild journey of check this check that, switch this on switch that, I’ve switched the Z1 off for five minutes and switched it back on, I’ve removed every cable attached to it and switched it off and switched it back on. I’ve switched off the router and restarted it. ChatGPT tells me my cables and connections are working correctly because Vitos can see it. Perhaps an ever changing IP address? I’ve had the Z1 switched off for weeks and still no change.

1. What I tried first (inside the Sky router)
• I worked through Sky’s own controls step by step:
• Confirmed the Innuos was physically connected (Ethernet lights ✔)
• Confirmed the Sky router could see the device (listed as Rhein-Z1-V2 ✔)
• Turned Advanced Security OFF
• Created a Home profile
• Assigned the Innuos to that Home profile
• Restarted the Sky router
• Restarted the Innuos after the router
• I trust you can see I’m floundering here, clearly I can see I’m wasting my money presently and as somebody quite new to the party I’m clearly missing out on such a great experience having been introduced to Roon several years ago when buying high end listening equipment from Audiobarn.

Tell us about your home network

• Router is a white (not Black) Sky Max Hub. Switches and Extenders: Sky broadband Booster also known as Sky WIFI Pod / Sky WIFI max Pod. No separate Ethernet switch or managed hardware. No VPN in use. Roon core works reliably on other networks, issue only appears to be on home Sky network. The core become intermittently undiscoverable.




As an aside.

I contacted you a week ago but reading the lovely email reply below it appears I sent my request for help to the wrong dept. Sadly as my initial contact was with an online form I was not able as suggested in the email below to copy and paste the previous contact letter. I rather wish Rebeka had just forwarded it to you rather than writing to me even though it was such a nice letter. MMMM this form is different and perhaps this is why is was returned to me ?
So the above is a new version and yes its saved this time😊

Please feel free to make contact if you need any additional details you may need.
Kind regards,
Ian

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Hi Ian,

I want to begin by saying thank you for your kind patience while we got a chance to send you a reply; I had hoped we would have managed to do that sooner. Much sooner. I am sorry for the delay.

We’re so sorry to hear how unstable Roon has become ever since changing locations. We’re grateful you’ve let us know.

It’s worth saying from the very beginning that your email has reached the accounts & billing team. While there is a lot we can do, our team does not have the expertise or tools to troubleshoot technical issues. Instead, our technical team can expertly handle such requests.

Would you be willing to submit a new request via our technical support contact form?

Technical Support Request

Thank you in advance for your help with this,
Rebeka

P.S. Please, simply copy and paste the information shared in this email. No need to spend time rewriting everything :folded_hands:t2:



2

Hello Ian,

Thanks for reaching out and for the detailed description.

Based on the symptoms you described, the issue appears to stem from the network configuration, specifically the Sky Max Hub.

For your Roon Remote to connect to your Roon Server ( Rhein Z1), the devices must first discover each other on the local network. Roon uses the mDNS protocol for this. Essentially, the apps send a broadcast message across the network to identify themselves so they can handshake and establish a connection.

The likely culprit here is a feature called IGMP Snooping. This mechanism is designed to optimize network traffic by directing multicast messages only to specific targets rather than broadcasting them to all devices. However, implementations vary by router manufacturer, and aggressive IGMP Snooping can sometimes block the discovery packets Roon relies on.

To resolve this, you typically need to disable IGMP Snooping in your router settings. However, based on our experience with ISP-provided hardware, the Sky Max Hub may not expose this setting to the user.

We recommend the following steps:

  1. Contact Sky support and ask if it is possible to disable IGMP Snooping on your router. If they can disable it for you, that may resolve the issue immediately.
  2. If Sky support confirms this option is not manageable on the provided hub, the best solution would be to introduce a third-party router or Wi-Fi system that handles multicast traffic correctly.
Please let us know how this works out for you.
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Hi @thriveforward13,

Broadly speaking, Roon relies on a network protocol known as multicast to discover the other devices on your network (Roon Remotes and endpoints).

Once discovery has completed, Roon devices then maintain normal, point-to-point TCP connections to the RoonServer. This is an actual sustained network connection. For Roon to remain visible and responsive, both parts need to work reliably:
• multicast discovery between all network segments
• stable, uninterrupted local LAN connections afterward

What this means for your network in simple terms:

First, the Sky Max Hub and Sky Max Pods may not forward multicast traffic consistently between mesh nodes. Many ISP-managed mesh systems optimize for internet access and can suppress or proxy multicast traffic, which can cause the RoonServer to appear intermittently undiscoverable even though it’s still running normally. This is what @alex_h was describing above.

Second, the Sky mesh system may actively manage Wi-Fi clients (band steering, roaming between pods, or internal isolation). While this is helpful for general browsing, it can interrupt the long-lived local connections required by Roon.

Unfortunately, Sky hardware offers limited visibility or control over these behaviors, so there may not be an explicit “multicast” or “mesh” setting to adjust. That said, it’s still worth reviewing the Hub settings to ensure there are no options related to device isolation or advanced Wi-Fi features enabled.

Sky’s guide to accessing the Hub settings can be found here:

If the RoonServer works reliably on other networks and the issue only appears on the Sky setup, that strongly suggests a limitation in how the local network handles settings rather than a problem with the RoonServer itself.

Please let us know what you observe after checking, and we’re happy to clarify any part of this further.

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