Description Of Issue
I get the “An audio file is loading slowly…” message very often when I try to play something on my MacBook, Roon then skips to the next file. Streaming Webradio also breaks up with the usual message “…Might be unavailable, etc.”.
This behavior is not consistent, so sometimes it works, while in about 80% of the cases audio breaks up (sometimes after a few seconds, sometimes after some more seconds). I usually just give up and either use JRiver or TuneIn (when trying to stream to an iPad). When I bought Roon, my intention was to use only Roon across my devices, however Roon is the only software that gives me “wifi headaches”. I am now in the situation, that Roon only works (95% reliably) on a wired endpoint. When I want to listen on my MacBook, I need to use JRiver, when I want to listen on my iPhone or iPad I need to use JRiver or TuneIn as these work 100% reliable all the time (vs. 20% with Roon).
I went through the KB, played around with some settings in my router (deactivated IPv6 but it did not help). Not sure what I can do in order to get a good experience.
A few weeks ago I thought my issue was fixed (Audio break ups over WiFi) but apparently it is not.
Any help is appreciated.
What hardware is your core running on you don’t say is it upto the recommended spec? Have you checked you signal path to see if the processing speed is ok as if the servers choking it may well show up there.
Is this for local music, streaming services or both? Roon is more active over a network than other software but with your core being wireless it should be fine. I have abut 5 wireless endpoints in my house and all work solidly with Roon no playback issues at all even at hires. Is jriver running from the same pc as the Roon core I assume it is. Perhaps it buffers more and this is helping playback? Either way I would say that perhaps look to see if the server is under any heavy load and check your WiFi setup is performing optimally.
Thanks.
It’s a current Xeon with 16GB RAM. System and Roon Core are installed on an NVME SSD.
This is for local music and streaming (web radio, not Tidal or Qobuz as I do not use those).
Yes, Jriver runs from this exact same server.
Again, everything works nice over Wifi but not Roon, so I am out of options on how to check if my Wifi is “performing optimally”. This is from the core server:
What resolutions are you streaming ?
Happens on all resolutions (local files 44.16 up to DSD64 and web radio streams in mp3 I think) The higher you go the more chance of drop out
Agree. Are you using 2.4 or 5 ghz
Switched to 5Ghz only, does not seem to be very helpful.
What are your walls like
I am sitting about 4-5m away from my Router, still dropouts, surely this can’t be the reason of me not “seeing” the router?
EDIT: Just now after restarting a stream for 3 times, it plays for longer than 5mins… Neighbors
Only 2. Baby alarm
None Microwave
None Mobile phone base stations
None (neighbor might have one)
Some ‘skype’ experience on Wifi that maybe can help for Roon too.
Network experts, feel free to comment and correct where necessarry.
During this corona times we are skyping with the grand children everyday from the laptop of my wife.
This is taking place in our living room, that has not the best Wifi signal strength.
During our Skype sessions I noted that the Wifi signal strengh was going up and down at regular intervals, somewhere bewteen 15-20 seconds (just an estimation).
As this was extremely imacting the quality of the skype session, I tried to come up with a fix.
As the wifi adapter in the Lenovo laptop(s) is only supporting 2,4 Ghz (shame on you Lenovo to not put that in your product specifcations), I disabled the 5Ghz band completely in the router.
Checking the wifi channels, I also put the wifi channel on 1, iso 6 and/or 13.
Now, wifi signal strength is far more stavle , the periodic going up and down is completely gone, and skype quality remains more or less constant.
So, even if your Wifi signal strength is strong, maybe scanning other channels/bandwidths is impacting signal quality.
Maybe worth to investigate.
2.4 is more congested the 5 but generally performs better, 5 has more channels but attenuated more as you are more distant
Dirk may have a point, I had the 6pm blues, I am retired so OK all day come 6pm chaos as lots of neighbors start using, current lockdown stuff could equate
Maybe firewall if using Windows. Ensure windows security is allowing all of Roons components through. Windows firewall has known to cause some problems with some users. Try turning it off and see if that helps.
Is the behavior the same if you temporarily host the Roon Core on your Macbook instead of the Windows Server? You can try the Core on Macbook by using these instructions:
Open Roon on the other PC you wish to try as the Core
Roon Settings → General
Disconnect
On the “Choose your Core” screen, press “Use this PC”
If asked to Unauthorize, you can go ahead and do so. You are limited to one active Roon Core at a time but you are free to switch between them as often as you’d like.
Verify if the same behavior occurs on the different PC
Thanks @noris. Here’s my initial findings streaming WDR5 radio (when wired, it’s Gigabit LAN).:
Windows 10 PC1 (core) -> LAN -> Switch -> LAN -> FritzBox 7590 -> WiFi -> MacBook (endpoint): OK
MacBook (core) -> WiFi -> FritzBox 7590 -> Gigabit -> Windows 10 PC2 (endpoint): OK
Macbook (core+endpoint): OK
Windows Server 2019 (core) -> LAN -> FritzBox 7590 -> WiFi -> MacBook (endpoint): nOK
The Windows Server 2019 PC is the one I have Roon Server installed on (and the one I use as “productive” Roon server). It is connected via LAN (1m) to the FritzBox.
Would installing Roon (not just the server package) make sense for further testing?
FYI as it might be related:
One other issue that I am facing when playing music via Roon is: Sometimes the endpoint (wired Windows 10 PC) loses the connection to the core (the Windows Server 2019 PC) and the music stops. When I during/shortly after that stop look at an iPad, the Roon app loses connection for a fragment of a second and then I need to re-specify the Zone. Hitting “Play” then continues the music exactly at the same point where it stopped.
Thanks for testing the behavior further. Since it appears to only impact the Windows Sever Core, it sounds like something is going on with the Server Core.
Yes, you could try installing Roon with the UI to see if the behavior reproduces there.
I would also check to see if there are updated drivers available for your Ethernet network card.
Hello @noris. So I installed the Roon package on the Windows server 2019 PC and deactivated the Roon server. Then I connected with my MacBook to the server via WiFi and streamed WDR5. While I had my hopes high, playback again broke up after a few seconds:
I agree that it seems to be a specific issue to the Windows Server 2019 PC. I also checked the latest drivers, but I have them installed already (I did reinstall them though). I did not make any changes to the Windows Server 2019 installation. It’s pretty much a “fresh” system (incl. recent hardware) I set up a few months ago.
BTW: When I tested, I disabled the Windows Firewall completely to make sure it’s not that.
Update:
I did run “netsh winsock reset” on the Windows Server 2019 PC, but to no avail.
As mentioned, the behavior is pretty inconsistent: currently playing WDR5 to an iPhone 6 and it seems to work fine (even when I go to the balcony). Now sitting in the living room (about 6-7m away from the router) and having the MacBook close to the iPhone and starting the stream on the MacBook it drops after a few seconds, while the iPhone continues playing…
EDIT: I just started the WDR5 stream on the iPhone and MacBook in parallel. After a few seconds the “Stream loads slowly…” message appears simultaneously on the MacBook and the iPhone. However, while the MacBook drops the stream, the message disappears on the iPhone without dropping the stream…
Since the issue only impacts Windows Server 2019, it is possible that a setting on it it triggering this behavior. We don’t perform much testing on Windows Server editions with Roon, so I’ll have to check with the technical team to see if they can confirm compatibility with this OS.
Can you please reproduce this issue once more and note the exact local time + date + track you experience this occur on your Macbook? I can then enable diagnostics mode for your Core and request the technical team take a look at them as well.
Also, you mentioned having issues with playback on Roon Bridge devices (i.e. not the Core), does the Core output devices always work as expected, if you have a DAC connected directly to it that is?
Thanks @noris.
It just happened now (16.4, about 8:31, 8:34 and 8:45 streaming WDR5). On 18:52 the stream dropped while also playing to another zone (I forgot: Berlin time).
Another drop: 17.4: 9:45.
I will move the server into close proximity to the DAC and test the behavior. Vice versa is a bit more tedious -some people call my speakers “washing machines”…
Thanks for letting me know the timestamp. I have tired to enable diagnostics mode for your Core, and what this action should do is automatically upload a log set to our servers, but this doesn’t seem to be delivering. Can I please ask that you use these instructions to manually send me a copy of the Roon logs via Dropbox / Google Drive?
