Frequent playback pauses in Sonos Airplay2 and Roon ARC Bluetooth (ref#H93VSE)

[H_Lesser]

What best describes your playback issue?

· Music stops playing unexpectedly

What type of Zone is affected by this problem?

· *Network Zones* are affected.

Is the affected network Zone connected with Ethernet or WiFi?

· WiFi

Does the issue affect all file formats?

· The issue affects *multiple/all* file formats.

Does the issue happen with local library music, streaming service music, or both?

· *Both streaming and local* *library* music are affected.

Do you encounter any playback errors with the "System Output" Zone?

· The System Output has *no problem*, it's only my other Zone.

How is the affected Zone connected to your RoonServer machine?

· Network - WiFi

Which network audio protocol is the Zone using with Roon?

· Airplay

Since this is an Airplay Zone, have you tried toggling Airplay Compatibility Mode for this Zone in the Device Setup window?

· There is no change in behavior.

Does the device show up at all in Roon Settings -> Audio?

· Yes, it shows up there, but it isn't Enabled

Does the "Enable" button unlock the Zone?

· I pressed Enable, but the Zone remains disabled

Does the device play audio from another source when using the same connection?

· The device has no problems with another audio source

Have you checked that Roon is whitelisted in any firewalls?

· I've checked the firewall and the issue remains

If the device has multiple output options, do the other options work as expected?

· Only one output type is affected while the other output type works as expected

Is the device using the latest firmware as per the manufacturer?

· Firmware is up-to-date but the issue remains

Do you have an approximate timestamp of when the issue last occurred?

· Multiple failures 18:00-19:00 on Jan 1

What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?

· Sonos One, One SL, Move v1

Describe the issue

Sonos Airplay2 almost unusAble. Frequent pauses to playback minutes apart. Previously stable. No network changes. Excellent internet/wifi speeds. Roon ROCK to Ropieee is perfect. Roon ARC Bluetooth also fails. Available to troubleshoot 1/2-1/5.

Describe your network setup

Router - Eero 6 to multiple Eeros. Ropiee hardwired. All Sonos map to 1 Eero. Failures with playing even to one zone. Some days better than others but most days unstable. 600 Mbps up/download internet.

[vadim]

Hello @H_Lesser,

Thanks for the detailed report — to move this forward, we need to narrow down where exactly the playback chain is failing.

A few clarifying questions:

1. Other zones

• Do you have any other network zones (besides Sonos AirPlay and ARC Bluetooth) that play reliably from Roon at the same time?
• You mentioned ROCK → RoPieee is stable — can you confirm that playback to that zone remains stable while Sonos/AirPlay pauses occur?

2. Bluetooth behavior

• Since Roon ARC over Bluetooth also shows similar pauses, can you confirm:
  • Does the same Bluetooth speaker play reliably from other apps (outside of Roon ARC)?
  • Are the pauses happening on different Bluetooth devices, or always the same one?

3. Other apps / sources

• When playing to the same Sonos speakers via non-Roon apps (e.g. Sonos app, AirPlay from another app), does playback remain stable?

4. Timestamps + track details

• Please provide one exact timestamp (date + local time) when the issue occurs while playing from Roon to Sonos, along with the track name that was playing at that moment.
• This will allow us to correlate your report with diagnostics.

5. Wired test (temporary)

• Is it possible to temporarily connect one Sonos speaker via Ethernet and test playback to that zone?
• Even a short wired test helps determine whether this is Wi-Fi / mesh-related behavior.

Given that:

• System Output is stable
• Issues affect AirPlay and Bluetooth (both timing-sensitive, lossy transports)

We need to determine whether the instability is coming from the wireless transport / device side versus Roon’s core audio pipeline.

Once we have the answers above (especially a timestamp), we can dig into diagnostics and be more precise.

[H_Lesser]

Here’s a sample failure playting to “Living Room Pai” about 1 min after starting this album. Playback stopped. No significant other network activity at the time Playing to one Sonos stereo pair (Sonos One) Additional info forthcoming in 2nd note – same behavior but Ropeee zone kept playing without difficulty while failure occurred.

[H_Lesser]

Good morning, again, Vadim

Here’s another failure on a separate zone that is adjacent to the primary Eero where wireless Internet speeds of 500 mbps are the rule.

[H_Lesser]

I’ve set up a wired Sonos pair and at approx 9:09 another failure of playback. Sonos shows that it’s connected directly to router and Sonos plays without pause.

[H_Lesser]

I have switched to SonosNet with one wired set of speakers. Solved the problem instantly. I was fearful that I would lose access to AirPlay, but that is still available. Though I did have long-term stability with AirPlay2 for playback of one feed simultaneously to 1-2 zones, more than that was unstable. Now, five zones play the same music, no problem.