how long will it take to fix this bug?
Having just spent 1000$ on a new mac mini m4 just so I could keep using roon, its very disappointing to see that roon networked devices are lost from one day to the next> Im using the workaround but getting tired of having to toggle non on and off AND reboot my computer just to use roon.The toggling not so bad but don’t like rebooting my computer, and often my router as well, every time I want to use roon. I never have to do this any other app, just roon. Really hoping this is fixed soon and not the roon norm.
id much rather roon worked on buggy issues with the software rather than spend time developing other features I don’t find useful such as Listen Later or View albums by Random.
Shoot that’s bad news indeed as Roon now becomes clunky to use> Talk about two steps back.
I had been perfectly happy with the previous version of Roon for yrs running great on my 2012 mac mini, which at the time I had also bought only to run Roon (unlike most people I dislike computers and have zero use for them. I own one just to use as a roon server). I was frustrated when I got the message my old mac mini would no longer run the new, and supposedly greatly improved, version of roon released a few days ago.
After asking online and reading posts on community I was assured that Roon would run fine on a new m4 mini. So feeling confident I spent 1000$ on a new roon server/m4 mac mini.Now not only does the new version of roon have these network bugs, I can’t see how this new version is one bit better than the old version in any way. Despite all the hype prior to release, I don’t see that it’s quicker or anything only that it now has become clunky and unreliable with networked devices. All my other apps Ive fiddled with, run great on the new mini, not that I have any use for them as most of that stuff I just do on my phone. Now to hear there’s not even a likely fix for it is extremely frustrating.
Like I said, just seems to be a step backwards.
This is something Ive experienced several times with roon over the years. They get the product nicely turned out and reliable, then start making so called improvements that end up making it buggy and unstable, requiring me to fiddle for hours to get it working right again. Then it’s good for a period of time and the whole “improvement” followed by bugs cycle starts again. Each so called improvement seems to be an answer to a question that none of us users asked.
My advice is give us a stable product then leave it alone. Roon was already great AND stable, why keep trying to improve it when we were all happy with it?
So my 8yr (or maybe 10 yr) history with roon is as follows:
Buy a new mac mini in 2012 just to run roon 800$
Buy a lifetime subscription to roon 700$
Spend hundreds of hours troubleshooting
Buy a new m4 mac mini as roon made my perfectly running 2012 mini no longer compatible 1000$
Spend countless more hrs working through the bugs with new roon update
Having to use a clunky work around to run roon
And finally, as Im writing this, roon has cut out for the tenth time in the last two hrs while listening to Swiss Radio Jazz.
So very disappointed. My whole experience has been “Rooned” and costly.
Ill end my complaining now as I need to go and see why roon has stopped playing again.
You have to complain to Apple about this, I think. These paranoid local security settings have existed since Sequoia and have nothing to do with the current Roon update (or any Roon update).
Yes I certainly will complain to Apple as well but it seems odd that every other device and app Ive tried with my new mini works perfectly and super fast> As of this writing, roon seems to be the only one affected. Both Tidal and Qobuz apps seem to work flawlessly. Hopefully there is a solution soon as doing the toggling on off and reboot reminds me of software from the 1990’s when the internet was dial up.
Roon is such a great thing that Ive told all my audiophile friends about and convinced the to sign up. When it’s working it’s spectacular and I can’t imagine going back to something else. However now the very first thing I experience when starting the app isn’t joy, its frustration and fiddling all before I get to play any music.
Here’s hoping for better.
Im pretty sure Apple could care less about roon or its users and its possible that those in charge have never even heard of roon unless they are audiophiles.
Whenever I start singing the praises of roon to my regular non audiophile friends, Ive never once had any of them know what roon is and have never heard of it. When I start to explain it they say “Oh like Spotify you mean?” This includes people at the Apple stores as well as people in various computer stores and repair centres. Not even once has anyone known about it. Therefore I’ll be surprized if Apple makes any allowances for roon when all other devices and apps seem to work fine.
But again, here’s hoping and fingers crossed.
Quick and Tidal aren’t running servers on your LAN, it’s not the same.
But they have heard of running servers on the LAN and complaints aren’t limited to Roon as far as I’ve seen. It’s even become difficult to use a web browser to a web server on the LAN.
Im sure there must be other things affected as well as I admit to not having any interest or knowledge of the computer world.
Just out of curiosity do things like netflix and amazon prime run servers on the LAN?
I guess places of business and schools etc that have multiple printers and such devices on a LAN must be pulling their hair out 
No, their servers are in the cloud. But stuff like Plex does, and of course there are a million reasons for people running servers on the LAN.
Or people who try to reach the Roon OS admin interface (a little web server) with their browser and find this:
It’s a mess
Something just dawned on me….Since the problem with device recognition is, as you say, an Apple Sequoia onward issue, is there a slightly older OS version that would still run the new roon update but not have the networked devices connectivity issues that I could install instead of Sequoia 15.6.1?
I know that seems silly to most other users as its a step backwards with my new m4 mini, but Im not a regular computer user in that, as Ive previously stated, I use my computer only as a roon server to stream music to two roon zones/endpoints. One being a Meridian 210 streamer in my main reference system and the other a humble old airport express that runs my second music system.
I don’t know if a relatively new Mac can be downgraded to a relatively old macOS and if it then runs nicely. In any case it would have to be a complete wipe and reinstall.
Personally, I’d rather do the security dance once a month. (It shouldn’t be more often because it should at most be only after Roon and macOS updates. I’ve even seen reports that apparently it doesn’t always happen for everyone)
Unfortunately in my case once I get things going and am playing music, everything seems to work, even if I stop for a few minutes. However even though I leave my mini running all the time with roon running as well and my devices connected to the network, at some point later or sometimes if I don’t check until next day my devices have disappeared again. I then have to go through the whole toggle restart cycle again. so for me its a daily issue or sometimes twice a day whether I’m getting updates or not, Pretty much overtime I want to use roon. once I restart its typically good for the whole listening session which often goes 4-8 hrs. if the session is in the evening before bed the devices are gone again by morning, so a fairly big bother as well as constantly restarting my mini every day which Id prefer not to do.
Doesn’t sound like reverting to an older )S an option though I guess. Just thought it my be a fix for me.
oops, sorry about my crappy keyboard skills as well
I have a Mac Mini M1 currently on Tahoe 26.4.1, that stays up without losing its endpoints between major updates. I do have to do the song-and-dance with network permissions when macOS updates, and sometimes when Roon updates too. But in between, everything stays solid.
That’s interesting. What era is an m1 mini? I bought my m4 mini just a week or so ago new but I think it was billed as a 2022 and could be upgraded to latest OS if I wanted. It came with Sequoia 15.6.1.
I almost went ahead with upgrading to latestTahoe but did a quick search on how it worked with roon update and saw lots of horror stories about various issues.so thought Id hold off on Tahoe for awhile to get more info and give time for bugs to be worked out. however my experience with Sequoia and network devices certainly not positive. Your testimony the first positive one Ive seen. I take things online of course with a big grain of salt though so good to hear your positive experience as it gives me renewed confidence about possible Tahoe upgrade.
I think Ill sit tight and put up with the workaround for the moment and try to gather more info for a couple weeks. maybe other Tahoe m4 mini users will chime in.
Jeez it shouldn’t be this hard!. I assumed that in the last 13 yrs since I bought my 2012 mini that things would be much less buggy but it appears they’ve gotten worse rather than better. So much for advancing technology, but I have noticed my new mini many times quicker than the older unit. That’s not that important to me though and Id much rather have stability thanks. I guess that’s why they call it “the bleeding edge”
Ok, then I don’t think this is the same problem at all, because there are known reasons for the known problem (macOS doesn’t accept that it’s the same software after an update) and they working cause this.
I believe this must be analyzed in Support
Ok, I think that is actually a bit of good news as it suggests that it is an issue with roon and if so, working with support there may be a solution after all.
Im writing this this morning after listening to music for three hrs before calling it a night. I clicked pause and left everything connected and running as usual. Looked at roon again this morning and sure enough audio devices are gone again. Im suddenly wondering if, because it doesn’t do this if I pause music for a few minutes then continue playing, that the problem occurs due to my screen saver coming on after a period of time. I don’t know how to shut that off but I’ll look through settings on my mac and see if I can stop the screen saver from activating. Im sure that probably isn’t difficult to do even for someone like me who doesn’t have any interest in, or know anything about their computer. I think that screen saver could be the smoking gun here. I’ll report back in a while my findings.
I certainly wouldn’t care if I only had to restart things after an update. Thanks for that simple response as it jogged me into realizing it could be that screen saver and wouldn’t have thought about it otherwise. I have a feeling that’s the issue.
Agreed, in a weird roundabout way this may be a good thing. Good luck
I got the M1 in 2024, and I’ve kept it updated with the latest macOS ever since, as I do with all my other Mac hardware.
I run the M1 headless (no monitor or keyboard) and manage it remotely with Screen Sharing. For that to work smoothly, I changed various system settings from their defaults. I’m not sure all of these need to be changed, but the fact is that the server runs unattended for months, and Roon does not misbehave.
General>Sharing>Remote Management: on
General>Sharing>Remote Login: on
Lock Screen>Turn display off when inactive: never
Login Password>Automatically log in after a restart: on
Users and Groups>Automatically log in as: whatever user you run Roon under
Energy>Low Power Mode: off
Energy>Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off: on
Energy>Wake for network access: on
Energy>Start automatically after power failure: on
My suspicion is that in your setup, the M4 goes into some sleep/hibernation mode (related to screen sleep or power management) and local network access is revoked as a side effect. Note that macOS has never been really designed for server duties, the expectation is that much can be turned off for energy and security reasons when the user is not interacting with the Mac. That’s why the settings above try to keep the M1 awake no matter what.