I started having this issue today, after updating Roon server and client to build 1470. After starting the client, the first track (usually) plays. After the first track, tracks start skipping and then playback stops after “too many failures”. Or playback just stops after the first track. Restarting the client enables playback for one track. Then skips, too many failures, stop. Or just stop after first track.
Server: build 1470 on M2 Mac Mini running MacOS 13.6
Client: build 1470 on M2 Mac Studio running MacOS 15.0.1
None of this ever happened before today’s build 1470 update.
“MACHINE A” Server: build 1470 on M2 Mac Mini running MacOS 13.6.
“MACHINE B” Client: build 1470 on M2 Mac Studio running MacOS 15.0.1
Output: System Output of “MACHINE B”
skipping and failures, as reported above.
BUT [new information]:
“MACHINE A” Server: build 1470 on M2 Mac Mini running MacOS 13.6.
“MACHINE C” Client: build 1470 on M1 Macbook Air running MacOS 14.2.1
Output: System Output of M1 Macbook Air “MACHINE C”
… plays fine
MY CONCLUSION:
The issue seems to be an interaction between the 1470 build and MacOS 15.
The issue goes away (for me – may not for the other posters here) if the MacOS 15 Client machine’s firewall is turned off.
So in my case the Roon issues appear to be a manifestation of the many and widely-reported issues associated with the MacOS firewall in Sequoia, although in some way also connected to build 1470.
This comment on Reddit provides the most useful summary of the firewall issue that I’ve seen – as well as hope that the firewall issues will be resolved by MacOS 15.1, which may not be far away:
Update – I just installed the MacOS 15.1 update on the Mac that’s running the Roon client.
For me, the update solves:
VPN issues
issues with clients for remote desktop software (Splashtop) connecting to servers (which are running on both Windows and Mac).
For me, the update does not solve the Roon issues, which remain exactly as I described above.
So:
Prior to the 1470 update, the previous build of the Roon client on MacOS 15 worked fine, connecting to the previous build of the Roon server under MacOS 14
After the 1470 update to the Roon server and client, the client on MacOS 15 (for me) has the issues that I listed above.
After the 1470 update to the Roon server and client, the 1470 client on a Mac running MacOS 14 continues to work, connecting to the same Roon server.
I therefore conclude that the issue is neither with the Roon 1470 server build in itself, nor with the Roon 1470 client build in itself, but in some interaction between Roon build 1470 and MacOS 15.
I’ve moved your responses to it’s own thread - in the future, please fill out your own support request. It’s required for our team tracking, I appreciate your cooperation here!
Sorry to hear your issues on Sequoia continue. Let’s see if refreshing RAATServer on your Mac helps:
You can generate a new RAATServer instance on your device by following these instructions, but please be aware that this will reset your Roon Settings → Audio Tab to factory settings and I would advise making a backup of any custom DSP settings you have:
OK, will do. I know for Discussions, it has usually been strongly discouraged to start new threads on a topic already being discussed. I didn’t realize that it’s different for Support Requests, but that makes sense now that it’s pointed out
The help article you referenced regarding Database Location shows the Database/ folder as being in ~/Library/Roon or ~/Library/RoonServer/. And you indicated to look for a RAATServer/ folder within that Database/ folder. However, in MacOS 13.6, as shown in the following screenshot:
There is no RAATServer/ folder in ~/Library/RoonServer/Database/ (or in ~/Library/Roon/Database/ )
Assuming ~/Library/RAATServer/ is the folder you meant – no, unfortunately, quitting Roon and Roon Server and renaming that folder to RAATServer_old and then restarting Roon does not solve the skipping-and-stopping problem (although it does create a new ~/Library/RAATServer/ folder).
But Roon also did not lose any of the DSP Settings after restarting, so I’m not sure whether this is the folder you mean.
Can you clarify which folder you meant, please? – thanks!
Regarding where the RAATServer/ folder should be: This is where Roon creates it. When, as per instructions, I changed that folder to RAATServer_old/ (which is also visible in the screenshot) and then restarted Roon, Roon recreated RAATServer/ in the ~/Library/ location.
I believe this may have been different in previous versions of MacOS, but this is where it is in MacOS 13.6. And I just checked, and it’s the same in MacOS 15.1 (which is on my client machine running Roon Remote, which is having the skipping problems).
For due diligence, have you actually enabled local network access for Roon on this Sequoia Mac in Privacy & Security → Local Network? Updating from 15.0.1 to 15.1 and disabling the Firewall aren’t necessarily the only workarounds for Sequoia’s more draconian network security features. I also recommend re-enabling the Firewall for security purposes and simply whitelisting Roon (allow incoming connections).
Diagnostic logging indicates that the Sequoia Mac client (the affected endpoint) is encountering clock sync errors with RAAT when the Server attempts to stream higher-resolution files.
This is against a backdrop of the download service failing to receive those files from Qobuz’s servers before timeout. RoonServer is struggling to download and distribute audio from your Mac RoonServer to the Sequoia Mac in real-time.
How are the two Macs connected relative to one another and to the main router in your network setup?
When you experience issues with the Sequoia Mac, please open the Audio Midi Setup tool from Applications → Utilities. Do you notice any of the available endpoints managed by Apple’s coreaudio kernel disappearing?
Please describe the topology as fully as possible. From what we can tell, bandwidth allocation between RoonServer and the client Mac is the issue here.
Please also share a screenshot of the Device Setup dialog box from the Settings → Audio page for your System Output Zone. Does this issue resolve if you downsample everything to 44.1KHz? What about if you set a lower maximum quality from Settings → Services for your streaming services? Let’s see how the network handles smaller files.
Hmm… there are no problems with playing to other endpoints (MacOS 13; iPadOS). Are you seeing RoonServer struggling to download from Qobuz when playing to them? If so, any such struggles are not manifested in the output at those endpoints.
As far as struggling to “distribute audio from RoonServer to the Sequoia client in real time” is concerned: Yes, that seems to be the issue. EDIT/UPDATE: Or, is it possible that it’s the Roon client on Sequoia that’s struggling to handle the audio data stream in real time…?
No, the endpoints remain unchanged even when the problems are happening:
As far as I can tell, Roon on Mac allows sample rates of “up to 96kHZ” and “up to 48kHz”. Changing from 96kHz to 48kHz does not eliminate the skipping issues.
No, changing Qobuz max quality to CD 44.1 kHz didn’t work:
Roon worked fine with all of the settings that you have suggested changing, on MacOS 15, prior to build 1470.
Roon still plays fine to endpoints other than MacOS 15, with all of the previous settings
As I have said several times in this thread: I keep coming back to the hypothesis that this is an interaction between build 1470 and MacOS 15. The fact that turning off the Apple Firewall in MacOS 15 eliminates these issues seems to further support this hypothesis.
Is there something that you know of that rules out the possibility that this is an interaction between build 1470 and MacOS 15? The possibility that something changed in build 1470…?
With the security updates that came with the Sequoia update, it would make sense that there’s some sort of blockage occurring, preventing the proper handshake between Roon and the CoreAudio kernel within the Mac.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything with the 1470 update that relates to this, it’s more so within the recent Mac update. Our team is still investigating further, but progress is slow.
Do you have any other firewalls or third-party security within the machine itself? I understand keeping your mac firewall disabled isn’t a long-term solution.
Yes, when I use Roon with Apple Firewall off, I run Norton firewall instead. So Roon works with Norton firewall running, but not with Apple Firewall running – weird…
Will hope for solutions with upcoming Roon versions –
