Having some trouble … I’m running Roon Version 1.5 (build 363) stable (64bit) on Windows 10 Pro. Ryzen 7 2700X with 16GB of RAM, with Roon installed on a 500GB NVMe SSD (same drive as the OS). All of my music is stored on a Synology NAS with storage in Roon routed as network locations(e.g. \192.168.x.x\music), not Windows-mapped drives (e.g. M:\music). I have about 67,000 tracks.
My listening is split somewhat evenly between a local DAC (SMSL Sanskrit via ASIO) and Chromecast Audios. I often listen using a Chromecast Audio group, which includes four units. I have noticed Roon losing the group on a few occasions; the music will stop playing, and Roon control will ask for a zone. I have to go back into settings and re-enable the group. Once in a while music will drop on one or more CCAs mid-song, for maybe a second or two, then resume.
I’m also having some trouble with Roon Core closing itself on my PC. Not sure if this is related to the Chromecast Audios or not. A few times it has closed while playing music (after a couple of hours, maybe), but more often it will just shut down while idle. I have to go back to my desktop PC to start it up again.
For reference, before I tried Roon I was using Subsonic and could painlessly direct stream to all Chromecasts in the house, so I’m thinking it’s not my network or CCA group configuration, but I could be wrong.
Thanks for contacting support regarding this issue, I’d be happy to assist here. I have a few questions starting off:
Can you please let me know if your Chromecasts are using an Ethernet adapter or are they over WiFi?
How is your Core connected to the network, using Ethernet or WiFi?
Are all of the Chromecasts firmware up to date?
Do you notice anything specific regarding the sample rate or bit-depth media playing then the playback issue occurs?
How are the CCA connected, via Optical or 3.5mm? If you are connecting via Optical you might want to give this thread a read (Chromecast Audio dropouts)
What devices are the CCA connected to?
Does 44.1/16 or 48/16 content play as expected and this issue only happens with 96kHz content?
Please let me know your answers to the above when possible.
The Chromecasts are all connected over WiFi, Ubiquiti Unifi APs, I believe they are all on 11ac but they do occasionally roam to 11ng. My core is connected over Ethernet, same switch as my NAS and the APs. Firmware is all up to date. I haven’t noticed anything specific regarding bitrates, hadn’t thought to look. I have specifically noticed drop-outs on the CCAs using optical, yes (3 of the 4 use optical). One optical to the SMSL Sanskrit DAC, one to a Denon AVR-X1400H, the third to a Grace Digital CastDock.
I can try specifically testing those bitrates to see. I’ll also peruse that thread you linked, thanks!
I guess my biggest grumble though is when the core shuts down while nothing is playing, sort of randomly. Any thoughts on this, or likely related to the CCAs?
Apologies it’s a little unclear, is the core on the desktop PC or on a separate PC.
Is the app closing closing completely? Have you had a look in Task Manager to see if all the services have closed?
@ged_hickman1 Sorry, yes, the core is on the Windows 10 desktop PC. It’s at my desk so I also run a control instance there as well, while working. It completely shuts down the control program and the core, nothing in task manager, and my tablet and phone cannot find the core. I have to start it again from the desktop.
Thanks for letting me know that info. Yes, I would take a look at the bit-depth/sample rate to see if that has any correlation to the dropouts.
As for the Core shutting down when there is nothing playing, I have gone ahead and enabled diagnostics mode for your account and what this action will do is next time your Core is active, a set of logs will automatically be generated and uploaded to our servers for analysis. I kindly ask for you to note the exact local time in your country (ex. 12:06PM) that this issue and the Chromecast dropout issue occurs next time.
After letting me know this timestamps, I can check the diagnostics received and loop in the QA team if needed. Please let me know when possible.