Error: Failed to Initialize the Audio Device

Thanks for the updated info @Andy211!

I’m having trouble enabling diagnostics on your account. When you have a minute, would you mind using the directions found here and send over a set of logs to our File Uploader?

Thanks again for your patience. :pray:

And thank you for your patience. I appreciate it! The logs have been uploaded.

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Hey @Andy211,

We’re still not able to pin down what might be going on with the handshake between Roon and the McIntosh, but may have a temporary workaround for now.

Head into your DSP settings > Sample Rate Conversion > and switch For compatibility only to Max PCM Rate

With that, have you tested out a new USB cable? That would be good to cancel out as well.

Lastly, could you share a screenshot of your System audio midi settings with the McIntosh pulled up?
Something like this:

Hi Benjamin. Thank you for not giving up! I will try a new USB cable. I ordered more memory for the mac mini just in case. When it arrives, I’ll let you know if it had any effect. Also, I went to Sample Rate Conversion. I had it disabled. I enabled it and turned it on For Compatibility only to Max PCM Rate. After I did that, I tried to play a track and I received the usuall error message. Once I resoved the error message, I then played the track, I heard alot of static with the track. I decided to disable it again. I also took the screenshot you requested. If you need something different please let me know. Once again, thank you.

Hello Benjamin, I reached out to McIntosh and included a link to this post. I thought it might be a good idea in case they had any ideas. Thanks, Andy

I have the same problem with Chord Qutest.
The problem appeared after updating macOS to Ventura.

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Hello Nikolay, Thanks for you post! That’s interesting. Now that you mention it, I waited a while to update to Ventura. I can’t say for sure that is when it started, but the timing is close.

Hey @Andy211,

You’ve sent over a screenshot of your Mac audio system page instead of the Audio Midi Setup app. It’s a dedicated app on your MacOS that you can find in the Applications folder by opening Utility → Audio Midi Setup .

If the McIntosh is plugged in via USB, then it will have a driver listed in this app. This app controls the MacOS “system mixer,” and can impose sample rates on USB devices Apple is managing.

I apologize Benjamin, thanks for the nudge! I found the location and below are two screen shots. I upgraded the ram to 64gb. Roon is more responsive (its wasn’t bad previously), but it didn’t impact the error message. I have not run out and for a new usb cable yet, and haven’t heard from McIntosh. Also another user, Nikolay added to this post to state that he has a similiar problem since upgrading to Ventura. I upgraded late to Ventura, but cant say definitively, if the problem started then. It’s pretty close though. Thanks again, Andy


Hey @Andy211,

Thanks so much for your patience while we continue to investigate this issue. As a next step, let’s reset the terminal Core Audio:

Using terminal to reset Core Audio on the Mac. Go to Applications → Utilities → Terminal . Type in “sudo killall coreaudiod” and press Enter . This should reset your Core Audio daemon.

Let me know if the above helps. :pray:

If the issue continues, can you go into Tidal or Qobuz and play the same playlist as in Roon, and see if the same issue occurs when playing the same songs?

We’re also investigating a potential link to Mac Ventura itself, can you confirm that you are now running the latest version of Ventura, 13.2.1?

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Benjamin! I think you nailed it. I am on 13.2.1. After I typed in your command to the terminal I’ve been unable to produce the error message. I tried my library, live radio and qobuz. It all seems good. I’m going to use Roon over the weekend and I’ll report back to make sure we’re good to go. Again, thank you for not giving up, your patience and expertise is very much appreciated! I’ll post again in a few days to confirm. I never did hear back from McIntosh. Thanks, Andy

Hi Benjamin, Friday night, all seemed well. I was willing to declare it fixed. Today however the failed to initialize errors return. I don’t know why it seemed great Friday, but not today. I did download some music from my library to ARC onto my iPhone on Saturday. I have no idea if that has anything to do with it, but I thought I’d mention it.

Just out of curiousity, I ran your script in the terminal again. It seems to reset the system where I can switch from song to song, regardless if it’s in the library, Qobuz or radio. At the same time as was testing the system, I downloaded some tracks from my library to ARC. There wasn’t an immediate impact, but after about 20 minutes or so, the failed to initalize message comes back. The script you provided, I think does by me some time before the messages reappear. Maybe we’re getting closer?

I have been seeing this consistently too on a 2019 MacBook Pro, latest OS. (But happily Roon is not crashing on me today which was yesterday’s existence.)

I find that if pause Roon (playing back from my Nucleus+ to my USB connected DAC in exclusive mode), then when I resume playing of the same exact track that worked moments ago (so same data, same rate, etc), Roon fails to initiative the device. Then it loses all local audio devices (I can chose the HDMI of the Nucleus+). A few seconds later, the devices come back.

I think this has to do with handing control back over to coreaudio. That might be similar to changing bit depth and frequency too. Depends a bit how Roon asks coreaudio to handle that and if other applications are trying to grab the audio device in the meantime.

While not the best for sound quality, I am going to try a day of turning off device exclusive mode and see what happens.

I also find this happens with local or streaming files, so it’s not about that aspect.

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I have the same problem with a MacMini as Core and Audioquest Dragonfly Red.
I would not want to swear to it, but I think the error occurs when I have previously opened the browser (Safari).
Again: Ventura 13.2.1 operating system.

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Hello Laird and Oliver,

Thanks for your replies. Oddly today, for no reason that I can tell, I’m not getting any error messages. I tried pausing and playing on the same track, and that had no effect. I also tried opening and closing the browser. That had no effect either. But again today seems to be a good day for Roon, I’m not sure why.

Thanks, Andy

I have the same problem intermittently with Audioquest Dragonfly Red attached to my Mac Mini M1, Ventura 13.2.1, and Roon Core on a separate Mac Mini. It looks to be the USB audio exclusive setting, if I disconnect and reconnect the dragonfly red it fixes it. Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks, Andy.

After a few days of running with exclusive turned off, I am not having any issues. I cannot say if this is the solution or something else has impacted it. But so far, stable. My next experiment is to ensure the Mac is sending its audio out a different way than the DAC at all times and effectively leaving the Pre Box USB device for just Roon. Will report back this anecdotal data.

Ran the command, problem persists

Hi Laird, I was using Roon just fine Tuesday. I shut the mac mini down as we had bad weather and thought we may loose power on Tuesday night. I tried Roon again on Wednesday and the problem started showing up again. What’s odd is that it’s unpredictable. I have no idea of restarting the mini had anything to do with the problem. We had a Roon update yesterday, I was hoping that it was some kind of fix. It didn’t help. I’d be curious to hear if the issue comes back for you.