I’m experiencing some issues while playing tracks at 192Khz/24bit via Roon and using the MELCO Switch S100. The track starts but after few seconds stops and move to the next one. If the next has the same resolution the same problem happens… When I play the same track via other APPs like the native Wattson Audio or LUMIN one I don’t have any issue .. Which could be the problem ? This is quite annoying in particular when I have DEMO sessions or events …
Describe your network setup
Swisscom router, UNIFI first expander, EE8 first switch and then MELCO S100 switch
Sounds like a typical network issue on first glance. Roon is more demanding on the network than other apps and it’s quite typical that such issues that don’t occur with other apps are triggered by Roon.
How is the connection from router to Unifi expander to first switch, is this all wired?
Replace the cables one by one on each hop, sometimes a damaged cable limits throughput.
Try a direct connection from router to Roon Server and endpoints, leaving out the Unifi and the two switches. If this works, add the other devices back in one by one and test in each configuration.
100Mbps is good enough for one stream of 768kS/s 32bit stereo PCM or one stream of 192kS/s 32bit 5.1 surround sound assuming no compression (lossless or lossy) is involved. The actual PCM data rate of the 768kS/s 32 bit stereo stream in 48.152Mbps which suggests that it may be possible to carry two such streams on a 100Mbps link - however, TCP/IP overheads and the overheads in the streaming protocol itself make this unworkable.
Consequently, 100Mbps to an audio endpoint may be perfectly OK. My ARCAM ST60 only has a 100Mbps ethernet port anyway. However, I would not like to connect a Roon Server to a network with a 100Mbps connection.
As has been suggested above, I would try to pare the network configuration down to the bare minimum. PC/Mac if you have one separate to the Soon Server (for UI), Roon Server and endpoint all connected directly to the router using standard ethernet cables - not ‘audiophile network cables’. It doesn’t matter how it sounds to you with the switches and any fancy cables removed from the system. This is a test for reliability - not audio quality.
If the system is stable, add one item at a time until the system starts to fail - if that results in the fault recurring, then you have identified the cause of the issue. When adding switches, you automatically add another cable as well, so if the fault occurs, try replacing the newly added cable with a different cable in order to elliminate potential cable issues before concuding that the switch is faulty (or at least not working sufficiently well). Also try using different ports of a switch - sometimes individual ports can fail.
Yes indeed, I tried without MELCO (so using Innuos or EE8 or Reiki Audio) and I don’t have any issue anymore … why MELCO S100 is causing this problem is quite strange and annoying
Other Melco users seem to have a similar issue depending on whether the 100Mbps or 1Gbps ports are used. The Melco is an unusual “audiophile” design in having both. Which port did you have roon connected to? Melco’s own recommendation for a roon server is one of the 1Gbps ports.
Thanks for writing in! Welcome to the community as well, we’re excited to have you here!
From the looks of your thread so far, you’re getting assistance from some of the best here on the Roon community! We don’t have any additional steps to troubleshoot outside of what has been suggested to you already. Let us know your findings regarding the Melco switch and proper network speeds.
