Does the issue happen with local library music, streaming service music, or both?
· *Only local library *music is affected.
Where is your local content stored?
· On the same machine where RoonServer is running, internal drive
Please try playing content of a lower sample rate (44.1kHz or 48kHz), does this work as expected?
· No, lower sample rates are still affected
What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?
· Sonos five 2020 on MacBook Pro 2019
Describe the issue
Since mid-October of last year, Roon has been experiencing persistent and significant issues for me.
First, Roon ARC has been unreliable since that time. Even when my computer is powered on and Roon is open and functioning locally, ARC’s connection is extremely inconsistent. As a result, I have effectively stopped using ARC altogether. Nothing about my setup has changed since April 2024, when I last moved. The system was stable and problem-free up until October, which makes this regression especially concerning.
Second, playback within Roon itself has become highly unreliable over the same period. Frequently, I will press play and nothing happens. In nearly every case, restarting my computer is the only way to restore functionality; simply quitting and reopening the Roon app is insufficient. These failures now occur almost daily. At this point, Roon has been malfunctioning more often than it has worked, which is extremely frustrating.
It is also important to note that I do not use Roon with TIDAL or Qobuz. My library consists entirely of local files, so these issues are not related to third-party streaming services. I primarily use it on my 2019 MacBook Pro. I use it with a Sonos Five Speaker and also a Sonos Arc.
I am open to suggestions from the community, but I also need direct contact from Roon support. These issues have crossed the threshold from inconvenience to unacceptable, and I am no longer getting reasonable value for what I am paying.
Thanks for writing in and for sharing your report - it’s good to see you on the community again!
For your Arc issues - when you get into an issue state, could you please head to your Roon Settings > Roon Arc, and see if there’s an error code? If so, please share that error code here.
Or, do you still see a purple check mark with a successful connection?
Next, for your playback issues on your Mac, we were able to review a fresh diagnostic report from your Roon Server, and saw the following errors leading to a stoppage in playback:
Trace: [System Output] [zoneplayer/raat] too many dropouts. stopping stream
Warn: [zone System Output] Track Stopped Due to Slow Media
Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer] All streams were disposed
Can you provide a bit more information around your network setup? If you temporarily set up a direct ethernet connection from your Roon Server machine directly to your primary router, do you still run into issues?
When doing this, make sure you have your wifi temporarily disabled on the Mac, and ensure it’s running via ethernet. We’ll be on standby for your reply and results, thank you!
Since your Roon Server is running exclusively over Wi-Fi, and the diagnostics show repeated errors like:
“too many dropouts. stopping stream”
“Track Stopped Due to Slow Media”
the next essential step is to rule out Wi-Fi instability as the root cause.
Could you please try the following test when you have a chance:
Connect your MacBook Pro directly to your router using an Ethernet cable
Temporarily disable Wi-Fi on the Mac to ensure traffic goes only over Ethernet
Test playback of your local library and general responsiveness
This is an important diagnostic step — even strong Wi-Fi connections can introduce intermittent latency or packet loss that affects RAAT and ARC, especially with local file playback.
Once you’ve tested this, let us know whether the behavior changes. From there, we can advise on the next steps.
