· Hi...I use a Titan with my library (25k tracks) plus Tidal and Qobuz to serve several differing zones; a high-end Nagra "listening" system with wired speakers and a multi-zone BelCanto system with both wired speakers and four individual wireless RAAT BluSound speakers...total of 3 zones wired and four zones wireless. I had a Nucleus and had constant dropout when using the Roon Radio function to take advantage of my streaming services; the message reading "Tidal (typically Tidal rather than Qobuz)media is loading slowly. This may indicate a networking or connectivity problem". My audio tech and I assumed this was due to inadequate processing power of the Nucleus to control all the traffic related to my many zones. We were never able to resolve the issue despite rebooting all services and elements of the system, and isolating zones. When Titan was released I purchased one immediately and the problem vanished. A few weeks ago it began again. I logged in and out of my services; no luck. I reduced the zone count; no luck. My IT tech has checked the connection speed history at the house and there are no anomalies. Any ideas...frustrating. Thanks.
Tell us about your home network
· No VPN, dont know the brand of router but standard stuff. Nothing complicated here apart from my zone setup.
Hi again. Please read down from my previous topic to understand my issue. I updated all firmware on my RAAT speakers and thought the problem was resolved. It wasn’t. I have no issues when running only my wired zones, but when I add RAAT zones to my group, dropout occurs. At present I have a single RAAT speaker grouped with the wired zones and no issue…but I need to run 4-6 individual RAAT speakers ideally. Any creative way to resolve this so I can have full audio coverage in my house?? Thank you!
Previously: I use a Titan with my library (25k tracks) plus Tidal and Qobuz to serve several differing zones; a high-end Nagra “listening” system with wired speakers and a multi-zone BelCanto system with both wired speakers and four individual wireless RAAT BluSound speakers…total of 3 zones wired and four zones wireless. I had a Nucleus and had constant dropout when using the Roon Radio function to take advantage of my streaming services; the message reading “Tidal (typically Tidal rather than Qobuz)media is loading slowly. This may indicate a networking or connectivity problem”. My audio tech and I assumed this was due to inadequate processing power of the Nucleus to control all the traffic related to my many zones. We were never able to resolve the issue despite rebooting all services and elements of the system, and isolating zones. When Titan was released I purchased one immediately and the problem vanished. A few weeks ago it began again. I logged in and out of my services; no luck. I reduced the zone count; no luck. My IT tech has checked the connection speed history at the house and there are no anomalies. Any ideas…frustrating. Thanks.
Clear…but in your view, network capacity related…my IT tech sees no fluctuations or dead zones in the system…or based on some sort of reaction between the RAAT devices and the system?
Over the years there have been many reports of unreliable zones over Wi Fi.
If you can wire your zones you avoid potential problems.
If not it’s worth trying to improve your Wi Fi.
When I first started using Roon replacing my router made the Wi Fi more reliable.
Roon synced zones use small buffers and lossless audio, which is demanding even when nowhere near the WiFi limits.
Just yesterday using my sole WiFi zone it was suddenly unreliable - I realised my laptop close by was syncing a drive over WiFi. Pausing this the Roon zone started working fine as usual!
mjw
(And I'm standing in your doorway And I'm mumbling and I can't remember the last thing that ran through my head)
11
Your OP is Uncategorized. Roon won’t see this topic.
Moreover, this thread indicates you require assistance from Roon technical support.
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Respond to the prompts there to ensure that you’ve performed basic troubleshooting and to ensure Technical Support has the full details necessary to expedite Technical Support’s investigation into the case.
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Your IT tech may focus on a typical IT usage of your WiFi connection. Connection bandwidth and constant reliability may not be sufficient to use it with roon/RAAT since it demands a bit more, unfortunately.
That’s the reason why roon, in their own network setup guide, officially strongly recommend NOT to use Wi-Fi.
We have analyzed your previous reply and the diagnostic data. Since the dropouts are occurring only when using wireless devices, this strongly indicates that the issue is related to your home network’s Wi-Fi performance rather than the Roon software itself.
Problem Zones:
From the diagnostics report, we can see that the zones dropping most frequently are:
Laundry
Floor
Ceiling
The Technical Cause:
Grouping more than 3 wireless zones simultaneously creates a significant load on your network. This isn’t just about the audio bandwidth; Roon must also maintain precise synchronization between all endpoints, which requires a stable, low-latency connection that Wi-Fi often struggles to maintain under load.
Recommended Solutions:
Ethernet: If possible, connect these devices directly via Ethernet. This is the most reliable way to group multiple zones.
Mesh Network: If cabling is not an option, consider adding Mesh Wi-Fi nodes near these specific zones to boost signal strength and stability.
Please let us know if you need any further advice on optimizing your network for Roon.
Alex…thank you. I should mention that two of the zones you note as having consistent dropout are wired zones. The WiFi zones are garage, workshop and laundry. I suppose the solution is the same and I appreciate the guidance. As our home is highly minimalistic and electrical and network modifications are difficult, are there any WiFi based RAAT speakers which might yield a better result?
This is an excellent question to ask over in our Roon Software Discussion Software Category, where other users can chime in with thoughts and suggestions.
To triple confirm here, are all endpoints within the zone wired? If so, feel free to reproduce the issue using one of your wired zones and we’ll take another look.
2- Main: BelCanto to three pairs or Revox in-ceiling speakers
3- Floor: BelCanto to one pair Stenheim speakers
RAAT zones:
4- Laundry: one BlueSound wireless speaker
5- Workshop: one BlueSound wireless speaker
6- Garage: two BlueSound wireless speakers
I seem to be able to run two of the wireless speakers without dropout but not the four when all zones are grouped. Anything to be done other than using AirPlay to run the garage separately as needed?
Thanks for the timestamps! I can confirm that the issue is networked related, we can see your grouped zones failing due to too many dropouts here:
Trace: [Ceiling + Floor + Nagra HD DAC + Laundry + Workshop] [zoneplayer/raat] too many dropouts. stopping stream
Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream] All streams were disposed
Looking at the timestamps, you are streaming 24-bit / 192kHz Qobuz FLAC files.
The Bandwidth Heavy-Lift: A 24/192 stereo stream requires significant sustained throughput. When you group all zones, Roon sends that massive data packet to every single device simultaneously.
The Wireless Bottleneck: Your Bluesound speakers (Laundry, Workshop, Garage) are receiving this 24/192 data over Wi-Fi.
The Sync Penalty: In a Roon Group, every device must stay in perfect "sync." If one wireless speaker (like the Workshop Flex 2i) misses a few packets due to Wi-Fi interference, Roon tries to compensate. If it can't, the buffer empties, and you get the "Media Loading Slowly" error.
As a test, let’s see if reducing the data load stabilizes the group.
In Roon, go to Settings > Audio.
Find your Bluesound Pulse Flex 2i zones.
Click the Device Setup (gear icon) for each.
Under Max Sample Rate, set it to 96kHz or even 48kHz.
This won't affect your Nagra system, but it significantly reduces the stress on your Wi-Fi when those zones are grouped.
If that doesn’t help, check the “Standard Router” - “Standard” ISP routers often struggle with Multicast traffic (which Roon uses for discovery and sync).
If your router has a setting called IGMP Snooping, ensure it is Enabled.
One last question, please; when I choose a genre, Classical by example, and then select Start Radio, I get a Nothing Similar Found: reverting to library message. This is a recent occurrence and constant now. What is this new and annoying message about? Thanks again.
