Intermittent Issue with Audio Device Detection on MacBook Air M1 or Lenovo T14 Gen5 AMD Windows 11 I am experiencing an issue where my MacBook Air M1 sometimes detects the local audio devices in Roon, but other times it does not. As shown in the attached screenshots:
One screenshot highlights the local Mac audio devices successfully detected (red box). Another screenshot shows when no local Mac audio devices are detected. In this case, I added the red text “Cannot find out the audio device on this Mac” to illustrate the issue. Even when the Mac fails to detect the local audio devices, the “About” section in Roon does not show any differences, which suggests the connection between the Roon Remote and Roon Server is stable.
Given that the audio devices have been successfully detected a few times, I believe my network configuration is functioning correctly. This leads me to suspect that the issue may be caused by a software bug.
Setup: Roon Server: Installed on a Mac Mini M4 (latest software version). Roon Remote: Installed on a MacBook Air M1 (latest software version). I have ensured that both the Roon Server and Roon Remote are updated to the latest software build. Additionally, I have tested the Roon Remote on a Windows 11 system and experienced the same issue where local audio devices intermittently fail to appear.
Could you please advise if this is a known issue or if there are any troubleshooting steps I can take to resolve this?
Thank you!
Describe your network setup
Router: Cisco RV340 Network Subnet: 172.28.54.0/24 Devices: - Mac Mini M4 (256GB/16GB) connected via Ethernet to the RV340 (Roon Server) - MacBook Air M1 (256GB/16GB) connected via Ethernet to the RV340 (Roon App)
Hi @Yu-Tsung_Liu,
Thanks for writing in to ask us about this issue. Are you using a VPN to access Roon? If you are do the audio devices disappearing correspond to when the VPN is active. We also noticed some IP address mismatches in our records. Did you restore a time machine backup from one mac to the other? This could cause issues like this. Please try installing a fresh instance of Roon and then restoring a Roon backup.
I’m not accessing Roon via a VPN, but rather using separate subnet networks for wired and Wi-Fi connections.
The Mac Mini is on the wired subnet, and the MacBook Air occasionally connects via Wi-Fi, which is on the Wi-Fi subnet.
Here is my network configuration:
Wired: 172.28.54.0/24
Wi-Fi: 172.28.53.0/24
I can access the Mac Mini from 172.28.53.0/24, so theoretically, the network should be functioning normally. However, it’s strange that the audio devices don’t appear.
As a workaround, I’ve been disconnecting Roon Remote on the MacBook Air from the Roon Server, then turning off the network and letting it search. After waiting for about 10 seconds, I turn the network back on. Once it discovers the Roon Server, the audio devices on the MacBook Air become visible. I suspect this might be a bug.
I don’t think this is an issue. Different subnets or VLANs only affect Discovery-Bonjour. However, Roon Remote provides an option to specify the IP address of the Roon Server, so Discovery-Bonjour isn’t necessary.
What I want to understand is that RAAT uses the TCP protocol and is aware of the source and destination IP addresses. From the “About” section, I can see that Roon Remote and Roon Server are connected.
Why, then, are audio devices not being discovered? Using my workaround, the audio devices do appear, so it cannot be said that different subnets are unsupported.
Hi @Yu-Tsung_Liu, @Geoff_Coupe is correct that Roon does not support connecting across different subnets. While it is possible to work around it as you have it is not stable as you have noticed. If you wish to keep using your workaround that is your prerogative but if you want your Roon remote to see the audio devices without having to do so then having them on the same subnet is your way forward.
