The only viable alternative to me is JRiver, I will PM you rather than review it here
Oh, sorry to have missed that. Still fairly in-line with the behaviour 
.
If Roon wants to extend its customerbase with ‘youngsters’ younger than 35 years, they better get their act together on wireless.
Young people do everything wireless . Just yesterday my eldest son and daughter-in-law declined interest in a hifi installation that I used in my office. Too many boxes and need cabling. No way!
Dirk
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IP addressing conflict can cause this, from personal experience. Something else was trying to just same address as the LUMIN. Now all in static ranges and back to flawless. I’d agree with most on this post, issue is network, unlikely to be Roon.
This. Don’t be surprised if this is the cause of your problems.
It would be foolish to ditch Roon when clearly there are thousands of Roon users that get it to work flawlessly. I run mine on a bog standard i7 NUC with 16GB of RAM over a network of at least a 100m length and a portfolio of 35,000 albums, TIDAL and Qobuz with no problems whatsoever. The problem is not with Roon but lies elsewhere in your setup.
Everybody is advising you correctly , wi fi is a bit of an issue
Have you checked out all the normal WiFi interference culprits, eg microwave ovens, wireless telephone stations, baby alarms , there is no end of stuff on the internet
I am no expert on mesh systems, but on conventional wireless 2.4 I see all sorts of interference and I live in a detached house. I see the 18:00 effect as my neighbors come home, less so at the moment
What was the effect of the unsightly cable for Ethernet?
I gave up on wireless and went Ethernet even before Roon , Wireless is just too variable
What is your content , try an evening of 44/16 Flac if that wobbles you have a network issue
Another thought is Anti Virus , if your storage drive is “included” you may be scanning the file every time it’s read?
I have a working drive covered by AV but my storage drives excluded. I use bog std Win 10 Defender
I check al, is well on the working drive then copy to the main library drive
Would have to agree here. Roon is not a demanding app. The only time I have problems with Roon is with a single wi-fi point. Everywhere else has played flawlessly.
Just out of curiosity, do you still have this problem after:
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using one wired-only end point, and
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using one wired-only music file collection, and
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with absolutely no other software running (no ad blockers, no anti virus, no VPN, no other networks, no firewalls), and
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with nothing whatsoever running that eats up CPU cycles, attempts to switch graphics circuitry without asking first, searches for other networks automatically and periodically, accepts notifications or pushed network access without asking, attempts to block unwanted access or uninvited interruptions, and
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with the wi-fi shut off completely (except as necessary to reach the core, but not to reach the music files), and
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without thermal protection taking priority and stopping and start various processes (does the hardware have a fan, and does the fan start up every so often)
In short, can you get the system to function without interruptions or CPU cycle busting or sudden demands on RAM?
If you do all this, can you get into something like “exclusive mode” in the Roon settings?
If you have tried all of this and more and the system still declines to work, go to the local hardware store, get an 8 pound hammer, take all of the related Roon hardware outside in the yard, notify the local police of your intentions, invite the neighborhood kids and dogs to the party, take a swig of strong drink, give your audiophile SO a comfortable and prominent seat of honor, and HAVE AT IT!
Best of luck from Vermont.
Gene
Just get some decent hardware to play your music on and Roon is faultless, in my experience. My core is running on a 11 year old iMac (running Windows 10) and my CDs are ripped to an Innuos Zen Mini, also used as a Roon endpoint. I also use a Bluesound Node 2i, an old Apple TV and various Sonos devices as endpoints. Chromecasts and an Amazon Fire TV (for Roon TV displays) - never got it to work with Apple TVs. All endpoints, the Zen Mini and the Core PC have ethernet connections (via switches) back to my router, with the exception of the Sonos devices. I have never experienced 1 single stutter during playback with this setup. Loving it!
I too have made a noteworthy outlay in time and expense during a three year foray into Roon.
Dedicated core, control apps and audio outputs.
My wife also does not share the interest in fiddling with these items to play some music.
Like yourself, we have a Synology (DS 918+) but have been using Plex (Lifetime) more and more to serve up our music (now with Plexamp player), video and cell phone photos.
We spend some of the winter in Panama and found ourselves using Spotify, Plex and Internet Radio to celebrate New Years Eve 2020.
Better access to all our files on the network NAS that is always on anyways.
When at home in Canada, we also find ourselves using Sirius XM.
Time to cull the services, so Tidal ( no more Jay Z bunk) and Roon are on the chopping block.
Roon is the country gentleman’s audio, the casual indulgence listener can be challenged.
Roon’s goals of supreme usability and super high-quality sound serve the critical listener.
I have compromised eyesight, control pads were a no go, I had to use a 54 inch plasma to see all the info.
In all fairness, Plex was problematic to set up after major updates, support was forum based as well, a very poor solution if you are not tech savvy.
If you have a good sound sound system, Roon isn’t going to make it better, perhaps you might find artists not otherwise considered.
I don’t relish the idea of more music apps but they seem inescapable as we move forward.
Back to the second system, an Auralic streamer, Bel Canto dac, Sansui AU 20000 with Yamaha NS 1000 monitors, it will all sound just fine minus Roon+Tidal.
I will throw my $0.02 in here and say wireless networking is -always- the problem if I get a studder or skip of a song to the next one with the dreaded “… loading slowly…” message.
Speaking in general, if I am streaming Redbook songs be that in lossless FLAC or mp3, G network speed is usually sufficient … important as long as the connection strength is over at least 50%. If I stream music purchased from HDTracks I almost always need to be on my N network. And as that doesnt travel as far, so the possibility of that being a ‘weak’ connection is higher.
Enter a Repeater. I have a very rectangular house, and quite wide. I used to have my wifi ap at one end (it is now in the center of the house). A repeater was a must to get a strong signal to the other end. Even then, strength of the signal was very weak in my garage. Just the other day when I was swapping snow tires for the summer tires, the music was constantly skipping to the next song. I found if I moved the repeater from my back wall of the house to the front wall at the same end of the house, moving it about 20 feet closer to the location of the tablet in the garage with the same number of walls for the signal to pass thru, that raised the wifi connection strength to my fire HD tablet by about 33% (which then retransmitted to a bluetooth speaker). After that, not one single skip of a song again.
This example has been repeated in various different cases and ways countless times in both my house and apartment. After years of my experience with Roon, any streaming problems for me are -always- due to the wifi radio frequency (implying bandwidth) and strength.
Dears,
Indeed many thanks for all the very good suggestions and kind words.
Please accept assurances is not a slag-off Roon / stomp off in a huff / pout. Roon is perfect/faultless in all things and any failures entirely mine. Nor indeed was it a back-door ask to the community to help solve what is obviously my problem.
Having made a reasonable attempt and over-spent time and spousal-patience self-troubleshooting over last weeks I decided to pack it in and go looking for a solution that may work better with modest equipment and apparent tech troubleshooting skills. And as this community experiments and likely came from a solution before, it is a logical ask. Amazed at the great feedback and apparent evident benefit that even when all works is good to keep dual systems as one gives out now and again …
Do not entirely fault myself for naivety in thought it might have worked, with a dedicated-single-use-stripped down gaming machine (no firewall/AV/Browser/everything uninstalled not M’Soft/Roon required) Win10, i7, 16G ram and SSD HD’s of 256G-os and 1T-library with beefy video card, a Wifi mesh that is not down-market that gives solid coverage in a small house, and with commercial-grade internet (even thought we do zero streaming) and two dedicated HifiberryDAC’s to make a single Zone … btw: no-one suggested cutting off from the internet and running as a solo internal wired network to reduce any chance of outside influences (and bridging), this also did not improve problem. Roon set up a dream, and when it worked, was a joy. As even when Cat6 ethernet wired had the issue, perhaps it includes the Unifi hub, even in wired mode, and should drop a g’bit fiber switch in. Maybe need Pi4’s instead of 3’s. maybe static IP addressing. maybe… maybe … thing i like about my wife, she listens patiently to me describe what i try and do, then only occasionally, after a long time, gives me the ‘look of death’ …
Have some excellent suggestions and indeed a great deal of thanks for the ideas and open discussion of second-place and fall-back options. Much to be learned here and parsed through and it will get processed. Likely next steps are fallback to LMS for a while, and after ego rebuilds itself dig into Audirvana or Plex (thanks for tech-heavy warning!) or JRiver. Really appreciate the details here as these were not on my radar as places to go look. And all caveats and fair warnings received!
Maybe once we decide to replace the wifi base-station, and if ego has really rebuilt itself, will look at rebuilding Roon from scratch (database moves/restores can be finicky barstids) and asking tech-support. And yes, asking in a professional network and systems guru look into it may be well worth it as indeed it seems beyond a modestly skilled and motivated lay-person to resolve when it decides to go sideways.
Thanks again for the assist and please be assured of best wishes and gratitude to Roon community.
If you don’t need/want streaming, JRiver is likely your best bet. It has it’s own minor issues (and an awful gui) but it is probably the best for managing and playing a local library. (I have tried them all.)
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JRiver does work. The software requires quite a bit of learning, but it does do what its designed to do, and does it well.
Honestly I would turn off QoS on your network and test things again. Absolutely no benefit on a consumer-grade setup. Causes far more problems than it could ever hope to solve.
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thx @anon55914447, CG, KS etc; please do not see my efforts with Roon as static, and any non-responce to your kind troubleshooting offers not as pique, but as is off-topic (BlackJack was kind enough to cross-post my troubleshooting report). Title of post is the point I was addressing, and did not wish to ‘push’ idea i was back-door click-baiting passive-aggresiving the community to solve my problem …
… as an FYI-Only-Please-and-not-to-continue-troubleshooting-here: QOS was turned on only after weeks of problems (endless flipping bits of configuration, and also, no, my network is not in bridge mode) and head-scratching as a hail-mary why not? and indeed, had no discernible effect, and turned back off. all reports of network load are minimal and all devices report themselves underutilized. experienced problem when all other devices were kicked off network, experienced problem @ same frequency when all heads (pi’s, laptops, androids, iphones) were blasting music and partner was downloading eight massive media files <ahem, we do not stream, but living in a small geography where ‘content is not available in your jurisdiction’ is all we ever here from media platforms, well, have come to love the content streaming community>. The fact it ran at all under this load was amazing, seriously, when Roon works it is impressive! even on on my consumer grade equipment. and the equipment did not seem to complain, it handled it rather well (according to its limited self-reporting). Mesh-points have been moved. IP addresses set and reset unset. end-point OS’s installed, stripped, re-installed. Core units replaced. Libraries moved and re-scanned, moved and re-scanned again. yes it is not in bridge mode. etc.
Indeed perhaps are some takeaways here, Gene added a most excellent summary rundown, several others provided some points that were either ‘yes, did that’ and a few more that were a “Doh!” (yes, static IP addressing, of course if Roon prefers this and it de-stresses network dependencies, twice ‘Doh!’, totally simple and an easy cleanup, i missed that one). So, maybe I missed it in the FAQ/Manual/Support pages…
- After RTFM (yes, Roon provides quite adequate early-stage troubleshooting on their web site and it was was read and followed
- After looking on community and support pages for your specific problem (yes, this was done also, is basic and polite de minimus)
- Then: Here are some common/advanced troubleshooting/configurations you can try
to optimize your setup (if it already exists, my apologies in my searches I did not turn it up), when it does not, there are some things to be aware of and try … this list is long and a bit chaotic and could be curated, too much time trying random as opposed to a curated troubleshooting sequence would have been better for my psyche and household adoption …
if were feeling better would try to list them all … but biggest one seems to be “roon is heavy, make it easy for roon” static IP’s, gigabit wired switches at core (not on wifi as network core), beefy internet connections (side question: also required if not streaming, does the DNS hammering of my ISP happen even if am working off local library? I have a beefy connection, heavy downloads motivate, but ping latency is not the best, drives a bit like a semi-tractor rig, sluggish, but moves a beast)… likely a configurable network, i’ve a semi-decent Unifi setup (switches, firewalls, wifi access points we use when teaching networking in our tech academy, is in a lab across border, will grab it back and perhaps try again (and get our advanced networking instructor to work on my home system, yes, i used to be technical, before i became management, the last time I typed ‘en’ into IOS it was version 11.3 and IOS meant Cisco and not Apple). Yes, as embarrassing as it is, I can grab my network guru to fine tune and optimise my home system network. we’ve not allowed cross-border yet and will not go through spend for duplicate equipment at the moment. I am using a re-purposed machine, but did not re-install the OS from fresh and Windows rot is a thing. so indeed, put a stop to Roon effort and pivot to another solution.
So yes, when, if, i come back to Roon it would be with a scorched-earth approach … everything installed from new, everything maxed out. I keep my home environment rather simple as the hardcore tech stuff happens outside. So looking at this effort, i choose not to go here for the time being, is not unreasonable to do this, but also give myself the liberty not to …
Did you read my PM ?
JRiver will suit for library management and by using MConnect you can have a remote that sees JRiver and streaming services, Tidal and Qobuz
It’s a neat interface , the menus are managed from JRiver DLNA Server ,
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Most of the issues that people blame Roon has to do with poor networking. If you don’t have the cabling installed try to use PLC network and ensure you have at least CAT 5E connectors and a gigabit switch.
I’ve Roon for years and 10/100 is not suited.
Best