I’ve updated today to macOS 26.1 (25B77) Release Candidate , and the issue “Failed to initialize audio device” when switching sample rates still persists.
System / Setup:
MacBook Air M4, macOS 26.1 (25B77) RC
FiiO K11, firmware v1.25, direct USB-C connection (no hub)
Roon (Core + Output on the same Mac), CoreAudio / USB
Symptoms (unchanged):
Playback stops with “Failed to initialize audio device” whenever the sample rate changes (44.1 ↔ 96 ↔ 192 kHz).
In Audio MIDI Setup, the K11 briefly shows “0 in / 0 out.”
Unplugging / re-plugging the DAC restores playback immediately.
Qobuz switches sample rates perfectly with the same device → hardware and CoreAudio communication are fine.
Already tested (no improvement):
Running Roon under Rosetta (full test, direct playback from that instance)
Multiple USB cables (0.5 – 2 m) and different Mac ports, no hubs
Switching UAC 1.0 ↔ 2.0 on the K11 (with power cycle)
Roon settings: Exclusive & Integer ON, DSP Volume OFF, Resync Delay 500 – 10000 ms
Workaround (stable but not bit-perfect):
Set a fixed sample rate in Roon DSP, e.g. upsample everything to 192 kHz → playback remains stable, no re-initialization errors.
Conclusion:
Even on macOS 26.1 (25B77) RC, the behaviour remains unchanged.
It appears to affect Class-Compliant USB Audio 2.0 devices in exclusive mode , not any specific brand.
Would appreciate any feedback whether Roon or Apple are planning adjustments to the exclusive-mode handshake / timing in a future update.
Thanks for the report in. Great news. I will need to test tonight, but, I’ve posted very strongly about this particular issue in both the EA and Support threads, so, I did want to be a fair person and say thank you to the Roon team for addressing this.
I updated to Early Access build 1584 and tested it for an entire afternoon. I repeatedly switched between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz tracks multiple times, and Roon was able to transition smoothly and play without any issues.
Thank you to the Roon team for your hard work — I can finally enjoy my music properly again! I’m really looking forward to seeing this fix included in the official release soon.
There is another fix attempt in the new Early Access build, and people have confirmed that it fixed the issue for them. So the fix should probably be moved to production soon-ish, or you can switch to Early Access for the time being
Tested the latest Early Access build with Zen DAC v3, Topping E70 Velvet connected to Mac MINI M4, MacOS 26.1 - no more problems so far. Tested PCM → DSD and back tested all possible PCM stuff I have from 44.1 → 192khz and DXD 352khz too - so far so good!
The latest Early Access did solve some problems. But 192khz files seem still to be a problem. My macmini is not able to reach my dac. “Unexpected error communicating with audio device.”
Good to know, thank you. I haven’t yet installed the EA.
Roon Support: What say you… is the 192kHz sample rate problem a known issue with the EA version? If so, will it be resolved with the Production version?
Facing same problem:
Macbook book pro, Roon no longer recognizes the sound card when changing sampling rate.macOS Tahoe operating system 26.1 audiophilleo as audio card at last release.
Is the tiket still open?
Grazie Giovanni.