Playback halts in the middle of a playlist with Sonos

[Bob_Bressler]

Roon Core Machine

Nucleus+
1.8 (build 882)

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Netgear gigabit switch

Connected Audio Devices

Windows 10
several Sonos Connects (1 w/W4S mod)
several Sonos Ports (2 w/W4S mod)
2 Sonos Amps

Number of Tracks in Library

4827 tracks

Description of Issue

I use iTunes to manage my CD collection. The music is all stored on a NAS. I copy the iTunes Music Library.xml file to the NAS folder so that Roon can import all the playlists. That part all works fine. If I play one of these playlists to my main PC, it works correctly. But, if I play one of the playlists to a Sonos device (like a Port), it will sometimes stop in the middle of the playlist. The Roon queue still shows as playing (with the up and down bars to the left of the album artwork). But it is not moving through the file. Never the same song. If I go forward to the next track and then back, it will start playing that track correctly.

A Qobuz playlist works fine to a Sonos end point. Using the Sonos app (instead of Roon), that same playlist works just fine. It is just trying to play a playlist of tunes from the NAS folder to a Sonos endpoint, that exhibits this problem. Is this a known problem? Maybe a ‘feature’ in the implementation of the Sonos protocol? Does it work with Qobuz because the latency is longer than files retrieved from the NAS (Gigabit Ethernet)?

[jamie]

Hi @Bob_Bressler

Thank you for getting in touch with us about your problem. We apologize for the delay in getting back to you. We’d be happy to help with this!

Can you tell us a bit more about how your Sonos devices are connected to your network?
Are the netgear switches in the data path of those devices?

Are you attempting to group multiple Sonos devices together when this happens?

Was this working for you previously? Did anything else in your system change other than installing the Roon update?

Once we have more details we’ll be back in touch as soon as we can.

[Bob_Bressler]

Jamie, thanks for picking this up. This is not new to the current release, it has been a problem for a while. In fact, I have other friends who have noticed Roon/Sonos issues in their own systems. To answer your questions:

1. All the Sonos boxes (Connects and Ports) are wired Ethernet, either directly to the main Gig switch or through at most 1 downstream gig switch.
2. This happens when playing to just one Sonos box, in the same room as the NAS. It also happens to a groped set of Sonos boxes.

As I think I mentioned, everything works correctly when using the Sonos controller, but I would rather use Roon.

I’ve feared that there is something not quite right in the Sonos API or in your driver code for talking to them.

\bob