Long gaps between tracks with different qualities/bitrates

Support
1

Roon Core Machine

Roon Nucleus Rev B, 16 GB RAM, Version 2.0 build 1202 production
Additional 1000GB Samsung SSD 850 (built in in Nucleus)

Networking Gear & Setup Details

FRITZ!Box 7490
2 NETGEAR Gigabit switches (unmanaged)
FRITZ! Mesh WiFi with 2 repeaters - but all my audio devices and the Nucleus are hardwired
No VPN in use

Connected Audio Devices

Main system endpoint: Wattson Audio Emerson DIGITAL, connected to my DAC via digital coax (wired ethernet connection)
Headphones endpoint: Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3 (wired ethernet connection)
Study: Sonos One SL speaker (wired ethernet connection)
Kids’ room: IKEA (= Sonos) Symfonisk speaker (wired ethernet connection)
Remotes: MacBook Pro (macOS Ventura 13.2), iPhone 12 mini, iPad 6th generation

Number of Tracks in Library

22,163 tracks (local files and Qobuz)

Description of Issue

I suffer from very long gaps between tracks in mixed playlists (tracks from different albums and with different sampling rates / bit rates). I get 5 - 20 seconds of pause between tracks, no matter if local tracks or Qobuz tracks. With all of my endpoints. The gaps are way shorter after a core reboot, then they are getting longer and longer. I experience this issue since about 7 oder 8 weeks.

I checked my internet connection, my router, my switches and deactivated volume levelling and DSP in Roon. No effect so far. My ISP will check my DSL connection next Friday, just to see if it might be a problem with that.
There are no gaps if consecutive tracks have the same quality, e.g. 88kHz/24bit or 44.1kHz/16bit.
Gapless albums play correctly (not always with the Sonos devices, but there is a different ticket for that).

I am at my wit’s end and would appreciate help from Roon support. I can live with a few seconds of pause in mixed queues, but anything beyond 5 seconds, especially more than 10 seconds, is very annoying.

2

I am almost assuredly wrong, but I had a similar situation, playback super-slow. Everything in my setup is mediocre compared to yours, but I tried removing the core and only installing the server on my ethernet-based laptop. I control it thru my Kindle using Roon Remote. Then the signal goes to a Lenovo Yoga with only the Roon Bridge installed. After doing this my playback speed as well as everything else have “normalized”. I admit I am not sure what I am missing not having the Core installed since all functions still work. I’m pretty sure this will not be much help but thought I would throw it out there. Hope you get some other fixes.

157,000 tracks in library

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3

I have sometimes that. When I used upsampling in roon it was long to very long. But on the airplay connected ethernet Yamaha it was shorter. Sometimes restarting Roon Remote works, after that I restart the server app and it is better. When restarting all (remote computer, server roon computer, switch, router) works the best. I’m might be imagining but this starts to build up so I do restart them maybe once a week.
M1 mini Roon Core, endpoints: zen stream, Yamaha rn303, Volumio on an old MacBook and volumio on an old iMac all connected to the same switch

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4

Does this happen on all of the zones @UliR or just one in particular? It may be a sign of failing m.2 drive of across all.

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5

@CrystalGipsy all zones, and only when changing from one track to another which has a different quality / bitrate. When I play 44.1/16 tracks only I get no gaps at all.

How can I check if the drive of my Nucleus is damaged?

6

No idea only support may be able to check logs to see if anything shows up.

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7

Thanks. I will try to stay patient…

8

Do you have resync delay enabled?

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image691Ă—852 69.5 KB

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9

No, I tried it, but it made no difference - it just added more delay after buffering the new track was finished.

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10

This setting should obviously be 0ms, if not engaged.
Its useful for DAC’s which have sample rate switching time.

It was worth checking. Good luck.

I have never experienced the issue you described.
Hopefully someone from Roon can check your system data.

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11

It was there some day. Before I never had the issue. Thank you for your help! I will work with @support as soon as they will contact me, I hope they can help.

12

Since the issue is happening on local and Qobuz content, I would look to your server and local network.

Things I would try:

  • Disable packet accelerator in Fritzbox… (Common issue with Roon)
  • Set Roon Rock DNS to 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4
  • Ping for Roon Rock when experiencing issues, do you see packet loss/errors/long latency
  • Replace the ethernet cable to Rock
  • For good measure reboot your Rock, router, mesh units, and remotes
  • Logging out of your Roon services, log back in
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13

I will try all of this, a few things I already tried. Thank you.
My Nucleus ping times are always excellent - no packet losses / errors / long latency issues.

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14

@grizaudio did all of the things to try. Right now the gaps are short - about 2 seconds.
I will now observe this throughout the day, usually they will get longer and longer from now on…

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15

Update: gaps are now, 3 h later, 5 - 10 seconds. Not always, but it is getting more. What is this strange story? @support will someone look into this issue?

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16

If you reboot the rock now, do load times reduce.

17

I will try that later on - on the road today.

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18

I did a quick check before work: the same playlist has only very short gaps again after a reboot of my Nucleus, 2 - 3 seconds. Before the reboot, they were around 10 seconds long in the same places.

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19

My ISP checked and measured my house connection and line today. My DSL line is fine and corresponds exactly to the specifications. So that can’t be the problem.

@support I need help with this.

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20

Do you have a different computer to try Roon on to see if the issue is the Nucleus? Might be a good way to rule out this as a hardware issue.

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