I finally got round to connecting the Mac to the router via Ethernet cable today, and ran three different test spells.
First spell was from 11.30 GMT until 13.05 GMT, and the playlist was made up of tracks solely from my iTunes library, as advised. All tracks played as expected, with none of the issues I had previously discussed in evidence.
Second spell was from 13.05 GMT until 14.35 GMT, and here I selected a playlist of Qobuz tracks I had saved in Roon and played it on shuffle. Once again no problem issues.
Third spell was from 16.45 GMT until 17.55 GMT, and here I selected one track from the previous playlist so that Roon Radio could create a playlist based on it. Roon Radio did not provide a track to play after the one I had chosen, which I found surprising as it is a piece of straightforward electronica (Super Suna Odyssey by Sunareht from the album Sagas in Qobuz). I selected another track from the previous playlist and Roon Radio kicked in OK, but I selected the Sunareht track again at 17.09 and once again Roon Radio did not provide a similar track to follow on with. Does this just happen sometimes? Apart from this issue there were no playback problems during this third spell.
Obviously the playback issues I had originally brought to your attention did not occur when the Ethernet connection was in place, which could mean that these issues are related to WiFi connectivity, or perhaps I experienced a period where the buffering and the track time bar were working fine, as they more often than not do over the WiFi connection.
As I previously mentioned I have had to return the Mac to its usual place upstairs, as I canāt have it permanently connected via Ethernet, itās just not an option. Iāll continue to monitor the situation with the WiFi connection and if the problem returns Iāll make a note of the time and inform you. In the meantime any advice you could offer would be gratefully received.
Had another experience of Roon Radio paralysis this evening. Selected the track This Is Nothing by Reid Anderson, Dave King & Craig Taborn to play at approx 20.15, then when it had finished it just stopped. Roon Radio had selected another track to follow, but it did not start to play this track automatically, and I had to start it manually. Thereafter Roon Radio selected and played tracks as you would expect. Mac was once again upstairs, but this is an issue which has happened on both Ethernet and WiFi setups. Any thoughts?
I tried starting Roon Radio off of this track on my end and Iām not seeing any follow-up Roon Radio listings either. This means that the track might not have enough associated data in our radio directory to start radio off of it.
For this track, I was able to get Roon Radio to start on it.
It sounds like playback stalled for this track, I can confirm that the diagnostics for this attempt have reached our servers and I have requested that the tech team take a look at them.
Just to confirm, when the 20:15 issue occurred, the Core was on Ethernet or had you already moved it back to WiFi?
Thanks for confirming @Alan_Meldrum, I have added that info to the ticket.
It doesnāt seem like this behavior reproduced on Ethernet in that case, just the Roon Radio failing to start on a track which didnāt have enough related info, so the primary issue might indeed be a WiFi related one.
Iāll let you know if there any new info contained in logs after analysis is complete but you may want to take another look at the behavior on Ethernet.
I guess Iāll just have to accept that there may be occasional micro-interruptions/sluggish responses due to the vagaries of the WiFi network but, as I pointed out in message 15 above, it is disappointing that none of the other apps I use on my desktop or any of my devices for streaming purposes demonstrate similar behaviour even though they are operating on the same network. I could accept occasional dips in performance if I was using a free app, but Roon cost me a lot of money. The other apps seem to play nice with my setup, and it is frustrating that Roon, from time to time, does not.
I got the analysis back from the logs and it appears you were playing to āSystem Outputā at the 20:15 timestamp you noted, not to your Linn zone.
Since this issue occurred on āSystem Outputā, that further suggests that the network is implicated here.
I realize that other apps work as expected, but they donāt use the Core + Endpoint architecture that Roon does, and for Roon to work properly, a solid network is a must.
I would suggest looking into getting a consumer-grade router to replace the Virgin Media router you currently have as that would very likely improve overall stability of your setup. You can read over some recommendations in the following thread: