I am running all Apple devices on my network and they’re all brand new. They’re all running the latest MacOS/iOS/iPad OS. Roon is updated on all devices. They’re all on the same network and there are no network issues that I’m aware of, any peer to peer firewalls have been disabled. Yet every SINGLE time I try to use my iPhone to play something from my Roon Server (the MacBook Pro) it’s a game of restart, stop, restart, connect, try to find the Roon Server, restart, pray to the god of music, restart, wait five minutes and then maybe it will work, until it crashes. Is there something I’m missing here? I literally work IT Adjacent for a living and I cannot for the life of me figure out why Roon cannot run reliably. Any suggestions welcome.
Is your Macbook Pro Roon server connected by ethernet? It does sound like a network issue of some sort. Are all devices on latest production Roon versions and not early access versions?
It is on a very solid WiFi network. Everything is on current production Roon versions. Nothing else on the network has these sorts of issues. It seems like something related to Roon in iOS 18 and Sequoia by the behavior but hard to be sure……this wasn’t nearly as bad pre-update.
Try connecting your Roon Server to your router via ethernet to rule out Wifi issues with Roon. Roon always recommends the Roon Server device (previously known as Roon Core) be hardwired via ethernet since Roon Server is very demanding/hard in Wifi networks (Roon controllers and endpoints aren’t nearly as demanding).
Real software bugs aside, we shouldn‘t forget that, due to Roon‘s RAAT design philosophy to run with rather small buffers to enhance tight synchronization of multiple endpoints, WiFi often doesn‘t cut it because of latencies introduced by missing full duplex operation.
Try disabling “Private WiFi address” on your mobile devices?
That is unfortunately very impractical due to my home network setup. And again, Roon is the only software having these issues.
@marin_Weigel Wouldn’t a MESH wifi 6e implementation designed to get around latency eliminate that issue?
@DDPS not enabled
@Saturn94 Not practical due to my network router location and I’m not running cable across the house. Also, as Roon is my only problem child I’m not going to go to that level of effort unless I buy a dedicated Roon box.
I just figured connecting via ethernet temporarily may help you isolate the nature of the problem.
I don‘t know, haven’t tried.
Fair enough, I appreciate the effort at any rate. The more I play with it the more I’m suspecting an iOS 18 and Roon interaction that’s not…um…ideal? I don’t know if the problem is on Apple’s side or Roon’s side. Could be either, could be both. I did a bunch of network testing today and there’s no issue that should cause what’s happening via WIFI specifically. It’s getting better about the initial connection to the endpoints now (miraculously after I posted this thread actually) but there are still dropouts.
I would consider using an Ethernet connection. As said above, it would certainly be worth trying it out to eliminate network latency issues.
If your MacBook serves as a Roon Server, I would also recommend purchasing a small, dedicated unit (but, that is something you can think about later as an option).
Roon consistently recommends connecting to the Roon Server via Ethernet. If you decide to purchase a Nuc but find that it doesn’t meet your expectations, you can always resell it. The NUC’s hold their money well, so a purchasing a second hand unit might be favourable in this instance. Take some time to read reviews and watch videos to gain a better understanding of their features and capabilities.
Alternatively, you can contact Roon and request that they enable diagnostics on your account. This will allow them to identify the issue and provide a solution.
Personally, I, along with many others, would not rely solely on WiFi on a host machine.
Hope you get the issue sorted!
** As a side note, I tested iOS18 (beta to release) on all my Apple devices (I runa a NUC for roon) and not once did I have any issues with connecting, playing, or buffering. This includes; iPhones, iPads, Macbook Pro’s…
I actually have a NUC for other purposes on the main house switch but I’m not sure I want to repurpose it…also the process for setting up Roon on it looks a tad convoluted. Do they actually perform better than the dedicated Roon servers you can buy from Roon?
I have a solid WiFi speed at home. All connected devices have at least 700 mbit speed with their connections.
4K movie streaming, downloading, listening to Music etc. No problems. Only Roon was still troublesome. Skipping tracks at random. Music freezing etc.
Ever since I’ve connected my Roon Server to Ethernet. I didn’t have a single dropout or skip since. Both with my old 2014 Mac Mini running on Linux. Or my current M1 MacBook Pro running on MacOS Sequoia.
I’d seriously recommend to get your Roon Server connected to Ethernet.
- I get it, but it really shouldn’t be necessary on a modern WiFi network.
- I can’t without adding a dedicated Roon box right now. It’s physically impossible without running many feet of cable.
You are correct in that there were significant changes to the networking stack in iOS 18 and macOS 15 (Sequoia) to accommodate future Apple Inteligence requirements and enhance security. Unfortunately these were made late in the beta process for macOS which led to many networking issues for users (Google “macOS Sequoia networking problems” and you will see the range of issues people and university institutions are having…according to Georgetown University Apple themselves advised not to upgrade to Sequoia at this time, this statement made at the end of September is not yet rescinded).
I would try a few things;
- If you have enabled the internal macOS firewall in network settings turn it off (system settings/network, firewall) if you can (i.e if your router has an inbuilt firewall or if you are using a third party firewall such as Intego Netbarrier, Norton 360 etc then no need to have it on) The macOS firewall is a very neglected piece of code and is less than useless according to most security experts)
- Make sure you are running macOS 15.0.1 if you are using a 3rd party firewall as Apple fixed a bug that was preventing third party firewalls from registering filters correctly.
- Check to make sure on your wifi network that the private wifi network is set to fixed not rotating addresses (system settings/wifi/details tab to open the setting for your wifi).
- Sequoia suffers from a bug in the new feature “Local Network” which is a facility to allow or deny access to other devices on your network by an application. This is enabled (with your permission) when first opening Roon after installing Sequoia however after a reboot or sleep or associated internal network conflict, macOS “forgets” the setting (even though the toggle is set to “on” in system settings/privacy & security/local network) and denies access. Toggling this off and back on, for all Roon entries, normally restarts a working link to the endpoints if you are having issues with endpoints disappearing.
I suffered from all of these issues after upgrading to Sequoia, I dont use remotes so cant comment on iOS issues but there are certainly many posts about issues in iOS 18 on forums.
If all else fails if you have a fair degree of computer literacy I would downgrade to macOS sonoma 14.6.1 but this involves a wipe of your system and rebuilding from scratch so do not do it unless you are totally confident in rebuilding your system, you can get the latest versions of macOS releases from Apple’s software download servers or use a website like MrMacintosh.com which has links to the Apple download servers and instructions on doing this.
You are correct that a modern wifi system should not have issues streaming to local endpoints. I have Roon installed on a Mac I use for testing software and another audiophile player on my main system. Since first updating to a Wifi 6 system I have not had any issues with playback dropouts or other issues with either Roon on the test machine or with the player on my main machine for the last three years. Whilst of course an ethernet connection will have an even greater level of reliability and is preffered wifi has advanced significantly. (I should add that since updating to Wifi 7 and using MLO wireless link between the routers I have measured (with network monitoring tools) that I achieve a level of throughput in the same range as a 10 Gbps ethernet connection, most audio endpoints still run 10/100 Mbps network cards with only more recent equipment having 1 or greater Gbps cards in them). With any wifi system a maintenance regime and monitoring of performance is advised to ensure throughput does not decline over time.
I was having these issues. Very similar setup.
Going to roon- settings- audio.
Disabling
System Output
Macbook Air Speakers
Macbook Air under other network devices
Solved the issue
I believe there was a duplicate of sorts when I originally looked.
Perhaps look here.
Disable / Enable as necessary to fit your setup
I only left my DAC via usb enabled
I use a linux PC for Roon Server but mac endpoints. I suspect your mac and/or your music hard drive is sleeping. I had this problem with linux. To test try turning off all sleep items in Settings.
(image below)
My solution for linux, is to login to my linux server from terminal, this automatically runs a script I made to prevent the linux system from sleeping until I logout. You could create a similar script that identifies the PID of the Roon Server process and provides the PID to the caffeinate command.
@Garyy_Hush I can’t disable System Output because occasionally I use bluetooth headphones that are connected to the Mac and Roon. That would preclude me from using them.
@erik_van_bronkhorst it’s not sleeping and the drives are never off. It has a solid state drive at any rate and it’s set to never sleep in power management, it does turn off the monitor but doesn’t sleep (it’s up 24/7.)
Sure but it is a useful test: get 100 feet of cable, string it all through the house and see if it helps. If it does help, you can figure out a permanent solution.
I did that when people kept saying WiFi wasn’t as good in some respect, proved it wrong.