I recently bought a new streamer (project streambox s2 ultra) and am experiencing drop outs every once in a while streaming tidal through roon. UPDATE: same issue experienced with Qobuz via Roon today (possibly even more drop outs).
I get an error message ‘tidal is responding slowly’ and roon skips to the next track. This usually happens more at the beginning of a track.
Set up is as follows:
Roon core is a dedicated laptop (Acer Swift 3) - pretty decent spec and currently connected via Ethernet to my router.
Roon end point is my streamer feeding a DAC via usb. The streamer is connected to my WiFi network as it is too far away from my router for an Ethernet connection (around 20 metres). WiFi is fast (100mbps).
I have had no issues previously using my laptop both as core and end point using the same WiFi network and distance from my router. I have also had a Bluesound node 2i in the past running WiFi from the same room with no drop outs.
20 metres is a long way from your router to get decent Wi-Fi in my experience. When you say your Wi-Fi is 100Mb/s, is that a speed test, or is that the spped of connection shown on a connected device?
Is there absolutely no way that you can run a cable? I know running cables can be a pain, but the results are always worth the effort. My furthest devices are nearly 40m apart. Only a couple of my devices are still not cabled, and those will be remedied this week.
As suggested above, it’s definitely a possibility that the WiFi connection is causing issues here. We recommend an Ethernet connection whenever possible. If possible, could you try this device with an Ethernet connection, even if just briefly as a test? It would be helpful to know if the same issue occurs in that configuration.
I had a similar issue, getting a message that Qobuz was loading slowly. Hi-resolution files were especially prone to hanging up and skipping tracks.
It was 100% a networking issue. An ethernet cable helped, but upgrading my router helped way more. I’m using raspberry pi’s as Roon bridges. One unit that would hang up and skip tracks as you describe, even with an Ethernet connection, now works fine over WiFi, even with the biggest files I’ve used on Qobuz (192 kHz).
So if the experts’ suggestions don’t work, I would consider upgrading your router. My solution was an Orbi product – WiFi 6 but not top-of-the-line. Good luck. I know how frustrating that can be.
Thanks very much for the feedback all and sorry for the late reply!
I have measured 100mbps via WiFi on my laptop but it looks like the WiFi network wasn’t stable enough. I tried to avoid it but I now run a 40m Ethernet cable across the house and since then haven’t had any dropouts. I can’t believe my ‘high speed’ WiFi couldn’t deal with roon streaming when hi definition streaming has never been an issue (admittedly a bit closer to the router).
In the meantime I also bought an intel NUC acting as roon rock which should make for a stable infrastructure now.