Intermittent Sonos Dropouts After Switching Roon Server to Wired Connection (ref#GBXACL)

[David_Humble1 (David Humble)]

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?

· Sonos

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

· The Zone is listed under the wrong protocol

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?

· Multiple output types are affected

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?

· The play history (love that feature!) tells me this last occurred around 15:04 (GMT). Track was "I wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!" by CMAT. I can see I tried playing it three times, and got through 15%, 80% and 10% - this was me trying to restart it each time the sons dropped out.

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

· Sonos - all wireless

Describe the issue

Since switching my roon server from a wireless to a wired connection, performance has become unstable.

Roon has been solid ever since I have been using it. Now, Sonos end points are regularly dropping out and giving the “roon lost control of the audio device” error.

The only change I have made is changing the roon server to a wired network connection. I was following the general principle that wired connections are better and more stable (I was wiring some other components so decided the roon server could benefit as well).

The issue is intermittent - and it doesn’t seem to affect the raspberry pi or system output on my laptop etc. It mainly seems to be the Sonos amp in the living room.

Question is, why would changing to a wired connection cause this? Or maybe it’s unrelated?

Either way, what was working fine, now isn’t.

Describe your network setup

My setup is as follows: - Roon server is running on Mac mini (late 2014); 3 Ghz Dual-Core Intel Core i7; 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM; 256 GB SSD. - Music library is on internal 1 TB SATA disk in the Mac mini - The Mac mini is wired to a Ubiquity Edgerouter X, via a TPlink unmanaged switch; the internet connection is full fibre @ 300 MBps - The wireless network is provided by three Ubiquiti UniFi AP lite access points and is strong throughout the house; I get ~200 MBps in all rooms wirelessly - I run the Roon Remote extension on my Apple TV - Enabled endpoints (all wireless) are: - Sonos Play 1 (gen 2) - Sonos Play 3 (gen 1) - Sonos Amp (gen 2) - Sonos Connect (gen 2) - Raspberry pi & HifiBerry Amp 4pro running RoPiee

[benjamin]

Hey @David_Humble1,

Thanks for writing in! Sorry to hear about your audio issues with your Sonos devices.

A few questions for you:

@David_Humble1

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

· The Zone is listed under the wrong protocol

What protocol are you expecting, that you’re not seeing?

A quick follow up test - if you hardwire one of the issue sonos devices, and attempt playback, does the issue reproduce?

I see some additional network gear in between your Mac running Roon Server and your primary router - normally there aren’t any issues with using unmanaged switches, but for the sake of troubleshooting, could you also test out setting a direct ethernet connection from your Mac directly to your router and see if you run into the same issue?

With that, can you check to make sure you have the latest firmware installed on your Sono devices?

Does this only happen with grouped playback?

We’ll be on standby for your reply and results, thank you!

[David_Humble1 (David Humble)]

Hi.

Apologies, the ‘zone is listed under the wrong protocol’ isn’t accurate. It is listed correctly. The online multiple choice form didn’t have an answer that described my issue, so I had to select something to get the topic posted. Sorry for the confusion.

To your other questions, I’ll run those test today and let you know the outcome.

Thanks. D

[benjamin]

Hey @David_Humble1,

Thanks for the additional information! Our team isn’t around over the weekend, but we’ll be back in office first thing Monday morning and we’ll review your results if you get the chance to test before then.