MacOS 10.14.6 (18G95) / MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) / Roon version 1.6
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
WIFI AC 5 ghz
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Auralic Altair G1
Description Of Issue
I have some problems with my Roon account. I got my new Auralic Altair G1 and can’t stream to it from Roon. It keeps on giving an error that it can’t stream the content. "Qobuz media is loading slowly. This may indicate a networking or connectivity problem.
Before my Auralic I had an Bluesound Node 2 and never experienced any problems with it.
Yes, both the Auralic and Core machine are connected via WiFi. It’s the Technicolor TC7210 router. There is no change if I connect through an ethernet cable.
I only have problems with Qobuz streaming, with local files it works perfectly.
Thanks for confirming the router model and that the issue occurs only with Qobuz streaming. I have a few follow-up suggestions:
What is your internet download/upload speed? Can you navigate to speedtest.net or fast.com on your MacBook and let us know what the result is?
Is your Auralic G1 up-to-date on newest firmware? Does it display version 6.2.1 which is the latest according to the Auralic site?
You mentioned that your Bluesound Node 2 did not experience these issues, do you still have this zone available and can check at the present time? If you don’t have this zone, can you try outputting to “System Output” or “Built-in Output” on your Mac and let us know if you experience the same behavior?
We have previously seen Technicolor routers cause issues with IPv6 active, as mentioned in our Networking Best Practices guide. It is suggested that Roon be added as an exception to your Technicolor’s IPv6 firewall, but if this is not possible, you may want to replace the Technicolor router with a standard consumer-grade model instead to see if it helps.
Results from Speedtest.net over WiFi: DOWNLOAD Mbps 156.68 / UPLOAD Mbps 48.96
Yes, it has the latest firmware; 6.2.1
I don’t have the Bluesound zone anymore but did try to output it through the “System-Output” and that work perfectly. So it seems that there is something going on with the Altai G1. When using Lightning DS with Qobuz it works fine.
I will look into this and try if this gives me a solution.
Thanks for confirming that everything works as expected on “System Output”, this does indicate that it could be an issue with the DAC or with the WiFi connection. The connection speed looks good, but doesn’t account for any interference that might be happening over the WiFi channels. Let’s proceed as follows.
Can you please connect both your Core and Auralic directly to the router via Ethernet and verify if the behavior still occurs? If it does, can you let me know the exact local time + date in your country of the occurrence (e.g. 12:52PM on 9/26/19)? After receiving this information, I would like to enable diagnostics on your Core and take a look to see if there are any additional clues. Thanks!
Thanks for providing that timestamp, I have gone ahead and enabled diagnostics mode for your account and what this action does is automatically upload a log set to our servers for analysis. I have been keeping an eye out, but I am not seeing any new reports, even though you mentioned you were able to recently reproduce this behavior.
Can I please ask you to manually send me the log files from your Core by using these instructions? The best way to get them over to me would be via a shared Dropbox / Google Drive / Send.firefox.com link.
Thank you for sharing those logs. I asked QA to review them and they have noted that it appears that your Auralic G1 is dropping packets during streaming. Since this appears to be device-specific, I would reach out to Auralic directly to see if they can assist further and provide them the link to this thread. Thanks!
Yes, I have and received the following answer: “Our device does not work with most ISP provided router, if you have such a kind, you need to use Ethernet connection, especially when you use Roon. Otherwise you need to get an aftermarket router.”
I already tried using an ethernet cable but without fixing the problem.
I would also suggest replacing the router in this case.
ISP-provided routers often do not perform well with Roon and high-res audio streaming as mentioned in our Networking Best Practices Guide. We have seen consumer-grade routers such as Netgear/TP-Link/Asus provide better stability.
Can you please purchase a router that meets these specifications and let me know if you still experience the issue afterwards?
Just to confirm, in the new router setup, the Auralic and Core is being connected via Ethernet? I would try verifying if streaming is stable with Ethernet connection as the first step before moving it to WiFi as generally speaking Ethernet is more stable.
Just another though here as well, you may want to try reinstalling the firmware on the G1 and fully reboot it (power off, unplug power cable, wait 30 seconds and power back on). If you take a look at these two aspects, is there any change?
Can I please ask you to let me know a new timestamp of this issue and send the logs over once more? I’d like to take a look to see if anything has changed since replacing the router or if the error messages are still similar as before. Also, if you haven’t done so yet I would suggest performing a full reboot of the Core and Network (power off, unplug power cable, wait 30 seconds, power back on).