I have five Bluesound devices. I’ve had them for about a month. They are connected to me bran new Orbi router via Wifi. They all show up in the BluOS app and I can stream from Tidal to them and group them however I want.
I have all my FLAC files set up in Roon - both on my NAS and locally on the same Mac as my Roon core. Problems: 1) When I open Roon it either fails to find any devices “No Audio Devices Found” or finds only some of the devices (all devices are visible when I open the BlueOS device); and 2) When it does find a device I can start play back of a FLAC file (NAS or Local) or something from Tidal, it will play for a few minutes, then skip to the next track, and then just stop playing.
I spent $500 on this and I would appreciate any help I can get to make it work.
The Roon Core is on my MacMini which is connected to via Wifi. I don’t currently have any way to connect to my router via ethernet…but I’m working on it.
Your question about the Orbi is a bit complicated: I was working with Bluesound to solve device connectivity and syncing issues (playing stuff through BlueOS). I started with my original Apple Router, went to eevo and was still having device connection and syncing issues (via BS), and then got the Orbi. Going to the Orbi solved all of the connectivity and syncing issues when streaming stuff like Tidal via the Blues App but, having solved that problem, I am now able to move on and get Roon to work properly (my original goal when I bought all of the BS gear) and have noticed this issue with devices not showing up (this morning its a different device not appearing) and syncing issues when playing FLAC files via Roon.
The Bluesound people adviced me to uncheck the IGMP Proxy option last week. It may have helped my BS connectivity issue, I am still having all of the above mentioned issues with Roon.
PS, I did an experiment just now: I used a different player (VLC), load up the same previously skipping album of FLAC files, and connect my MacMini to the closest Bluesound device via Bluetooth, and I can play the album all the way through (no skipping tracks like in Roon) and I can link all of the devices together (using the BluOS app) and they are perfectly in sync.
Yes, I definitely think testing out with an Ethernet connection would give us some great insight into what you’re experiencing here. When you’re able please give this a try and let me know how it goes!
Do you have any active antivirus or firewall on the Core machine?
If you play directly to System Output of the Core machine do you experience the same playback issues as when playing to bluesound?
I can’t make the ethernet thing happen without spending a bunch of $$ rewiring my house, so I’m gonna need your help to see if we can get Roon to work without it.
I have no active antivirus or firewall on my MacMini Core.
I used a different player (VLC), load up the same previously skipping album of FLAC files, and connect my MacMini System Output to the closest Bluesound device via Bluetooth, and I can play the album all the way through (no skipping tracks like in Roon) and I can link all of the devices together (using the BluOS app) and they are perfectly in sync. I have had it running playing FLAC files for an hour and it is completely stable. Taking Roon out of the equation seems to make it possible for play FLAC files reliably. I hope we can get Roon to work like this.
I connected my Drobo5N to my MacMini - where my Roon core is. When I try and play anything other than Tidal via Roon, it plays a track for a few seconds an then skips to the next track. The problem seen to be worse the higher the quality of the audio file…but I’m not sure.
Per your suggestion, I used the BlueOS to connect my Mac’s system sounds to the nearest Bluesound device (Bluetooth), and successfully played the same hi-res tracks via VLC.
There is something about Roon causing these FLAC files to skip from one track to the next.
I really need help with this. Roon is a $500 piece of software that I need to do what it’s advertised to do.
Does this behavior only occur if you’re playing to the Drobo5N device in Roon? If you instead use Roon to play to System Output does the same behavior occur?
Could you send a screenshot of the signal path when playing to this device?
Just to verify, you have FLAC files both on the Core machine and on your NAS — Is there any difference in behavior playing the files from the Core machine as opposed to the NAS?