Music stops randomly when zones are grouped [Solved - OSX Hardware Issue]

I have Synology server running Roon and I play music through my MacBook Pro and an Auralic Altair, both of which are ethernet cable connected to the server. When I group them, often the music just stops without any apparent trigger. It has been true ever since I have had this running. It stopped me grouping them but I decided to try again… Still happening. It’s not a resource issue.
Can you help? @support
Thanks,

Richard

Hi @Richard_Presser,

Thanks for contacting us regarding this issue, I have a few follow-up questions:

  • How exactly does the music stop? Does it stop in the middle of the track or towards the end?
  • Does this issue happen with both streaming and local library content or just one and not the other?
  • What does the Signal Path show when the stop occurs?
  • For the MacBook Pro zone, is this the Mac’s “System Output” or is there something else connected?

Thanks,
Noris

HI Noris,
Thank you for your questions.
The music stops on both outputs and it stops in the middle of a track. Sometimes I have to start it several times to get it working again. Then it might be fine for some time. I see no pattern to it. Always the worst kind of problem… FYI I’m an Engineering PhD with a (mostly forgotten) background of building my own hifi gear.
I only play local music from the Synology server.
The Signal Path looks just like I have stopped it manually. It looks perfectly normal, except it has stopped at the same point as the music.
The MBP is playing through the headphone jack, which has an external Logitech speaker system connected to it. It shows on Roon as the System Output, which I have simply called MBP. I never use any of the other sound options on the MacBook Pro.
Thanks,

Richard

Just now, when I started Roon playing, the MBP started to play, then stopped and the DAC was somewhat behind it, then it, too, stopped. This happened twice. I then took it back to the beginning of the track and it’s playing fine.

Hi @Richard_Presser,

Thanks for letting me know that info. I am wondering if there is something strange due to the Macbook -> Synology connection. Do you by any chance have open vSwitch turned on as this user did (Lost my KEF LS 50 wireless connection [Solved - Synology had "Enable Open Vswitch" turned on])?

If you check this option and it is not enabled, can you please ask you to reproduce this issue, note the exact local time (e.g. 1:29PM) and manually send the logs from your Synology using this button? I will private message you upload instructions shortly.

Thanks,
Noris

No Open Vswitch. I’ll gather logging later today my time (Aussie Eastern Time)

My Roon panel on Synology does not show any logging. See:

Hello @Richard_Presser,

I noticed that your Roon is a bit out of date, can you please try updating it to the newest version?
I would also suggest creating a Backup of your Roon database before updating it.

Thanks,
Noris

Bizarre. It has been on auto-update and I have watched it update when the desktop has updated. I have downloaded and installed the latest version. It’s now showing 2018-03-07, but still no logging option showing.

Hello @Richard_Presser,

Thanks for updating the Roon Server. With the update in place I am now able to active diagnostics mode for your Synology (I wasn’t able to do so before) and what this action does is automatically upload a set of logs to our servers for analysis.

Can I please ask you to reproduce this issue once more and then note the exact local time (e.g. 11:36PM) that you observe the issue occur at and let me know?

Thanks,
Noris

It stopped just near the end of a track at about 6:10pm local time.

Again at 6:55pm

Stopped at 19:12

Stopped at 21:41

And again at 21:43

As an aside, the more zones you have the more stress you put on the processor/system. You never specified which Synology you have, the processor (minimum suggested spec is an i3), amount of RAM, and is the Roon database on an SSD?

DS918+ Plenty of grunt and only the two zones. INTEL Celeron J3455. Nothing else running on the server. It’s idling. And, yes, the database is on an SSD. So, this is not a Synology performance issue.
I have some music at DSD256 and it plays fine (needs a cable connection, but that was fixed long ago). These failures can occur with converted CDs and remastered old material.

Hello @Richard_Presser,

Thanks for providing those timestamps. I took a look over them and it appears that something is going wrong with syncing on your Macbook Pro. I would like to try to generate a fresh RAATServer instance to see if it will help with the issue.

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 beforehand:

  • Make a Backup of your database
  • Exit out of Roon
  • Navigate to your Roon’s Database Location: https://kb.roonlabs.com/Database_Location
  • Find the folder that says “RAATServer”
  • Rename the “RAATServer” folder to “RAATServer_old”
  • Restart the Roon App to generate a new RAATServer folder
  • Verify if the same issue occurs

Thanks,
Noris

Done. Thanks.
I’ll keep you posted.

Noris, I have a sense this may have resolved it. In the past, when I stopped and started the music, there would often be a slight offset between the two systems starting and stopping. They now seem to be absolutely sharply together. Hopefully…
Thanks,
Richard