· Hi, I am seeing the same short-fast / sustained-slow TIDAL download behavior described in this existing thread: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/frequent-dropouts-with-tidal-24-192-on-mac-mini-ref-bny190/324333
Roon Server: - Synology DS920+ running the Synology Roon Server package - Roon 2.71 (build 1683, production) - Server connected by wired 1 GbE; the NAS NIC shows no drops or errors
Affected endpoints: - Denon AVR-X3800H (currently in use) - WiiM Amp also shows the same problem - RAAT RTT to the Denon is approximately 0.8–1.7 ms, so the local network path appears healthy
Problem: TIDAL tracks intermittently stall and Roon logs “Track Stopped Due to Slow Media”. The media host is lgf.audio.tidal.com. Requests only seconds apart behave very differently: successful tracks download around 20–22 Mbps, while failing or prefetch connections collapse to roughly 0.5–1.6 Mbps. This affects even 16/44.1 FLAC, not only hi-res material.
Examples on September 19, 2026 (Asia/Taipei): - 16:42: actual 520–565 kbps versus a 720 kbps minimum; stream killed at 16:43:01 - 16:50: actual 1598 kbps then 587 kbps versus a 1786 kbps minimum; stream killed at 16:51:01 - A later prefetch declined 937 → 672 → 571 → 521 → 510 → 504 kbps versus a 1006 kbps minimum - Other tracks seconds apart completed at approximately 20–22 Mbps
The logs show a recent increase in Slow Media events: September 17: 4, September 18: 19, September 19: at least 8.
Already tried: - Rebooted the fiber modem/ONT, router and NAS - The public WAN IP changed after reboot, but the problem remained - General internet download speed from the NAS is about 99 Mbps - Tested multiple DNS resolvers; they returned the same Fastly address set - The NAS routes directly through the home gateway; no Tailscale exit node is in use - The issue occurs with both the Denon and WiiM endpoints
This appears to reproduce the underlying issue that Roon acknowledged and ticketed in the linked thread, but my case is more severe because 16/44.1 content can also fail. Could you please associate this report and diagnostics with the existing development ticket and review the server logs around the timestamps above?
Tell us about your home network
· Network topology: - Fiber ONT/modem → home router → gigabit LAN - Roon Server: Synology DS920+, wired 1 GbE - Affected endpoints: Denon AVR-X3800H and WiiM Amp
Local network measurements: - NAS NIC: no drops or errors - RAAT RTT to Denon: approximately 0.8–1.7 ms - General Internet download speed from NAS: approximately 99 Mbps
Routing and DNS: - Tailscale is installed, but no exit node is enabled - Route to the TIDAL CDN is directly through the home gateway - Cloudflare, Google and Quad9 DNS returned the same Fastly address set
Already tested: - Rebooted the fiber ONT/modem, router and NAS - The public WAN IP changed after reboot, but the playback issue remained
The logs confirm the observations in your report. The stalls are at the timestamps you listed, and the buffer is visibly starving ahead of each one: reads returning zero bytes, the prebuffer stuck at 34 percent, then the track stopped. The analysis was also correct that this is not confined to hi-res. Several of the affected tracks are 16/44.1 FLAC in the 370 to 600 kbps range.
Two things we found that were not in your report.
First, your TIDAL account is set to Nigeria. Every TIDAL API call from your server carries countryCode=NG, 782 of them across these logs, with no other value anywhere. How TIDAL selects a media host for an account registered in a different region is their side and not something we can read from here, but it is the clearest difference between your setup and a working one, and it would explain why general internet from the NAS runs at 99 Mbps while the media host does not. Please could you check the country on your TIDAL account and tell us what it shows?
Second, Roon Server is restarting by itself. On 19 September it started eleven times between 16:31 and 16:34, roughly every twenty seconds, with further restarts on the 18th and the 20th. Memory use at those moments is low, so the server is not running out of resources. Please could you tell us whether you noticed playback or remotes dropping around then?
Once we know the account region, we will know whether this belongs with the streaming under-delivery work already in progress or needs looking at on its own.
Wanted to follow up on this. Have you had a chance to check the country on your TIDAL account and let us know whether it shows Nigeria, and did you notice whether playback or your remotes dropped during the Roon Server restarts we saw around the 19th? If you have seen those dropouts, that timing would help us line it up with the server activity on our side. Please reply with any updates when you are ready.
Please note, if we don’t hear back from you this thread may close automatically soon. If the thread auto-closes and you need further assistance, please submit a reopen support request via the technical support help form below and specify that the issue should be reopened. Thank you.
Thank you for following up. I would like to clarify the observations and agree on the next diagnostic step.
TIDAL account country
Yes, my TIDAL account country is Nigeria. I have used the same account for approximately 1–2 years, with stable playback before these recent problems and no recent account-country change. I understand that this history does not rule out a change in TIDAL’s service or delivery behavior.
Roon Server restarts
I intentionally rebooted the NAS and network equipment during troubleshooting, so some server starts were expected. However, I cannot confirm whether all the starts you observed were intentional, or whether the remotes disconnected during those same events. Please check whether the logs distinguish planned restarts from unexpected service failures.
Recent playback observations
TIDAL playback problems continued after the NAS and network reboot during the original investigation.
I later experienced a different Denon symptom: there was no audible playback, and tests with a local FLAC file also failed to start. The logs showed endpoint preparation timeouts.
Restarting the Denon and the ONT/router did not restore that playback. After restarting Roon Server, playback resumed and I personally confirmed audible output. The Roon build was unchanged between the failure and recovery, so I cannot conclude that a software update fixed it.
Playback improved after that, but intermittent problems have occurred again recently. I have also added KKBOX to Roon, although I do not yet have a controlled comparison with TIDAL.
Could you please help with these three points?
Account-country evidence: Do my diagnostics show a specific regional restriction or access error, or is the account country a hypothesis based on the country code? What evidence or test would distinguish a regional issue from a media-delivery problem?
Scope of the investigation: Does the original Slow Media evidence match the streaming under-delivery issue already under investigation? Could you investigate the Denon endpoint preparation failures separately, since local playback was also affected?
Next test: Please suggest the single most useful next test, including what result or diagnostic information you need. Would comparing local FLAC, KKBOX, and TIDAL on the same Denon endpoint, changing one factor at a time, help narrow down the cause?
Please keep this case open, as the problem is not yet confirmed resolved. If more detailed timing information is needed to correlate the logs, please advise how I can provide it privately.
Thank you for the detailed follow-up. We reviewed the server logs pulled today, which cover September 19 to October 5, and here are answers to your three points.
Account country and routing: your account’s region is not restricting playback. TIDAL delivers your tracks, and what varies is the download speed. What we cannot see is where TIDAL sends your traffic. The media host in the logs is always http://lgf.audio.tidal.com
, but the logs do not record which TIDAL server answers behind that name. Your account is registered in Nigeria while you listen from a different region, so if TIDAL directs your connection to a server farther from your home than before, that could be the cause. It may or may not be, and we cannot confirm it from our side.
Scope: the slowdowns come and go in blocks. On September 28 TIDAL downloads averaged about 0.75 Mbps, and every download in the 13:00 hour was below 3 Mbps. From September 29 to October 3 they averaged between 12 and 23 Mbps, with no stopped tracks after September 30, and Roon Server was not restarted or updated between September 25 and October 1. The Denon preparation failures are a separate pattern: “Failed to prepare” appeared 34 times between September 24 at 17:35 and September 25 at 08:58, and stopped after the Roon Server restart on September 25.
Next step: when a stall happens again, please reply here with the date, time and time zone, the track name and the zone it was playing in. Nothing needs to be sent privately, we can review it in this thread. If you can, please also try a local FLAC file on the same Denon right then, so we can see whether it plays normally while TIDAL stalls.