High CPU Usage by RoonAppliance on M1 Mac (ref#R89YBL)

Support
1

What app are you having the slowness issue with?

· Roon

What kind of performance/speed issue are you experiencing?

· The app is using a lot of resources (CPU/RAM)

Please try to reboot your Roon Server

· No, the issue is still the same even immediately after a reboot

Please try to reboot your networking gear (Router/Switches/etc.)

· No, the issue is still the same even after a reboot

Is there any change in behavior if you try to navigate to Roon Settings -> Library and set both Background and On-Demand Audio Analysis to Throttled or Off?

· No, the issue is still the same

Does the issue happen on multiple Roon Remotes (controllers) or just one?

· I only have one Roon remote to test with

Please try to restart your Roon Remote (controller) app

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

What is the operating system of your Roon Remote (controller)?

· Mac

Reinstall Windows/MacOS Roon Remote App

· No, I am still having the issue even after reinstalling

Router Domain Name System (DNS) change

· I don't know how to do this

What is the operating system of your Roon Server host machine?

· MacOS

Timestamp of issue occurrences

· always

Describe the issue

The process RoonAppliance uses a lot of resources. It is unclear as of why it peaks to 15 % CPU on an M1 Mac several times a minute. As a result the CPU time is at 15:41.79 since yesterday which is much higher than any other process on the Mac including Jellyfin and Home Assistant on VMWare.

Since the Mac is pretty powerful I don't see a performance hit, but I think there might be something wrong.

There is no need to update in background when there is no new music. When I add new music I expect it to analyze and get metadata, but after that it should simply idle and wait for clients to connect.

While writing this message CPU time has gone up to 16:04:00...

I monitored up to 1 GB of RAM usage. Could you please check what the system is doing (like triggering library updates, writing huge logs). Can I avoid this other than quit the RoonServer when not in use?

Describe your network setup

No uPnP or DNS modification possible. I do use VPN if needed to access from outside.

2

The pattern continues even when I remove the whole library (Roon shows 0 titles). Every few seconds a peak to 15 %. All Roon apps are closed on mobile devices and on the Mac.

At this time CPU time was above 26:00:00

3

Hello @kitt

Short answer: this is not a lot of CPU, and nothing is wrong with your setup.

The number looks larger than it is. In Activity Monitor the %CPU column is a percentage of one core, not of the whole machine. Your M1 has eight of them, so a 15 percent peak is under two percent of the Mac. Taking your own figures, the CPU time you watched climb works out to roughly five percent of a single core. That is why you see no performance hit: there isn’t one to see.

On the second part of your question, an empty library does not mean Roon Server has nothing to do. Even with no music at all it keeps looking for and monitoring audio devices on your network, holds its connection to our services for your account and for streaming, stays available for remotes to connect to, and runs its own housekeeping. That work does not stop when the library is empty or when every app is closed, which is exactly what your test showed. Periodic activity of this kind is how the server is meant to behave, and we do not treat what you are seeing as high consumption.

Memory is normal too. Around 1 GB is ordinary for Roon Server.

There is no need to quit Roon Server when you are not using it, and no setting you need to change.

We did spot one thing in the diagnostics that is noisier than it needs to be, and we have passed it to our development team. It is not affecting playback and there is nothing for you to do about it.