Mac Mini i5, 4GB memory, SSD
Roon 1.8 (756)
NAS connected via Gb wired ethernet
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
All wired Gb ethernet except Wifi to mobile device
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
iOS app on iPhone SE, wifi
Description Of Issue
When playing through the iOS app the tracks will begin dropping and skipping after a track or two. It happens both with locally-hosted music and Qobuz. Other people posting about similar issues get the finger pointed at some part of the network chain, but I don’t think that’s the issue here.
The core is connected to a NAS via Gb wired ethernet and I’ve verified transfer speeds over 300Mb/s. It is also connected to the router the same way, with a 100+ Mb/s internet connection. The Wifi is also business-grade, all endpoints wired to the central router. At any time the dropped tracks issue happens I can run a speed test on the iOS device that shows a full 100Mb/s internet connection, demonstrating that the Wifi itself must be at least as fast. I can also run the Qobuz app directly with no issues.
I do occasionally get the drop/skip behavior when playing from the same core machine directly through a DAC via USB (the main home audio path). It doesn’t happen nearly as often and seems to clear up when the core machine gets rebooted. But the iOS play issue happens consistently.
Any suggestions as to what I can try to fix this issue?
Apologies for the delay in getting back to you here.
Do you have anything attached to the iPhone or are you playing through the iPhone internal speakers?
What is the model/manufacturer of your networking gear? Is your Mac Mini connected via Ethernet or on WiFi? Do you have multiple access points the iOS device could be switching between?
If you try to reinstall the Roon iOS app, do you see the same behavior?
Thanks for the response. After running some more tests with my phone alongside other iOS devices I believe it is a combination of two things:
My phone, which is a first-generation iPhone SE from 2016 (attached to the small handset, sigh) occasionally has WiFi glitches, especially when switching from one access point to another. The glitches are short and throughput speed is still maintained at a level more than high enough for music streaming. Newer devices seem to switch more smoothly.
The Roon player software doesn’t seem to handle this well, and starts dropping the tracks. Once it starts doing this it doesn’t recover, even if connectivity quality is restored.
No other streaming music player that I use (Qobuz, SiriusXM, Spotify, etc.) have this issue even though they’re not communicating with a local server. It can clearly be managed with a more resilient software communications layer.
For the record, I’m using Linksys LAPN600 access points, and the only wireless connection on the network is the phone itself. Reinstalling the app doesn’t change the behavior.