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 5 wireless, Sonos Move wireless, 3X Sonos One Wireless - problem doesn't seem to happen on Cambridge CXN V2 which is hard wired, but it also seems to be very sluggish sometimes.
Describe the issue
Specifically - the playback stops between tracks. I have noticed what appears to be my Roon Nucleus struggling to pull up a file. Happens on multiple file formats. Just had it happen this morning I was playing 'Armageddon Days Are Here Again' by The The - ALAC 44.1 kHz 16 bit. The playback just stopped with 'Clay' by Echo & The Bunnymen - ALAC 96 kHz 24 bit in the cue. At 6:32 am playback just stopped between New Order 'Untitled No 1' FLAC 96/24 and Robyn Hitchcock 'Chinese Water Python' AAC 44.1 / 257 kbps. This happens so frequently it's making Roon a chore rather than a pleasure.
Describe your network setup
Ubiqiti Alien Router - Roon Server connected directly to router via ethernet cable
We can see the incident in diagnostics from the RoonServer that are automatically uploaded to our servers accompanying your report. However, we need to clarify a few details:
When you say playback stops, does it resume without user intervention? Do you need to press the Play button again, or will the next track eventually start?
While you’re streaming to your Sonos endpoints with Airplay, we can see content by Echo & The Bunnymen playing until 3:47 (ten seconds remaining), after which the prebuffer fails to receive any additional content.
Whenever the prebuffer fails, we notice crossfade is also engaged. What happens if you turn off crossfade? Do the symptoms change?
No playback will not resume unless I hit the play button again.
I don’t know. I always have crossfade on, even though it’s never worked consistently well. I can try without crossfade, but I really much prefer to have it on.
Behavior is exactly the same without crossfade. It happened at 1:32 am. After the I Don’t Cares ‘Little People’ FLAC 44.1/16 bit and Owen ‘Good Friends, Bad Habits AAC 44.1/ 257 kbps. Just stalled out after clipping the I Don’t Cares track.
It stalled out again on the very next track around 1:46am. Between Owen ‘Good Friends Bad Habits AAC 44,1/257 kbps to boygenious ‘Salt In The Wound’ FLAC 96/24 bit.
And it stalled out again at 1:56 am. Going from a FLAC 96/24 to an MP3 44.1/320kbps. Three tracks in a row. Just stops. This is getting out of control.
Thank you for the timestamps! They helped us discover an interesting trace:
Trace: [zone Sonos Move (Airplay)] Sonos Move (Airplay) received transport control from Sonos Move (Move): suspend
It appears that your Sonos Move may be behind the unwanted stalls. Are you able to check the settings on the device, or, temporarily disable it from your list of devices and see if you continue to run into the same issue?
I seems to be doing the same thing. Now, to be fair, I didn’t disable the Sonos Move speakers. I just was using another pair of speakers. However, at 00:04 ‘The Video Dept.’ by The Radio Dept was playing AAC 44,1/257 kbps and then stalled out on ‘November’ by Wednesday 48/24 bit.
I have also noticed while doing the research on these that the queue takes forever to pop up (at least 20 seconds) and so does the album information when you try to call it up - takes an extraordinary long time to load ( 20 seconds at least). Not sure if these are related, but it was an observation.
I have since disabled the Sonos Move speakers and will report back.
Disabled the Sonos Move speakers and on the ver next track - stalled out at 00:44 Playing November by Wednesday 48/24 to Celia’s Dream by Slowdive AAC 44,1/257 kbps. Crossfade was on, so I turned it off.
Ok - so I’m not really able to do the first test . . . But I did the second. I opened Roon up on my phone and made it the end point - then used airplay to the Sonos Move . . . As far as I can tell, it played all night and did not stall out.
So, if there are repeated RAATserver disconnects, it sounds like it could be an IP address issue. Is that right? What I’d like to do is remove the speakers from Roon, then remove them from Sonos. Then add everything back in - perhaps with a DHCP range just for Sonos. How can I remove them from Roon - not just disable them?
Standby - breaking news!!! at 00:40 on Sunday Morning it just stalled out again, but this time - the stream was going to a CXN V2 - I also noticed a severe lag in Roon pulling up album data on my iPad. This may / or may not be related, but it was a behavior I noticed this weekend.
A RAATServer database refresh should be helpful. Steps to follow are below:
You can generate a new RAATServer instance on your device by following these instructions, but please be aware that this will reset your Roon Settings → Audio Tab to factory settings and I would advise making a backup of any custom DSP settings you have:
No. They have not. I did this several days ago, and everything seemed to be going pretty well, but then at around 23:15 on 8/30 Roon stalled out again - I was playing Razzmatazz (FLAC 44.1/16bit) by Pulp and 'She’s Electric (Demo) (AAC 44.1 / 257 mpbs) was supposed to play and it stalled.
Here’s what we’ve found examining logs during the periods you’ve indicated.
The prebuffer short reads during track transitions, particularly when playing - this is generally evidence of a bandwidth availability issue on the network.
If the buffer doesn’t catch up within about 17 seconds, then the Airplay connection between Roon and the Sonos group suspends due to inactivity.
Zooming out, there are network reachability errors with unrelated servers - RoonServer’s access to the internet is intermittent. The CXN V2 unit also loses connection to RoonServer despite an ethernet connection.
Do you have any additional network hardware or software involved in your Roon ecosystem - in particular, mesh nodes, L3 switches, second routers, or any VPNs or virtual machines?
Does your Ubiquiti router offer Quality of Service settings? Prioritize the IP address for your RoonServer machine in a new rule if so.
Thank you for the suggestions, but some of this is admittedly over my head.
I’ll do my best to answer your questions. I do not have mesh nodes. I live in a 850 sq ft flat, so I don’t have or need a mesh network. However, it is my understanding that if one of my Sonos products is hard wired, then a mesh network does exist for the Sonos products. My Sonos port is hard wired. I’m not sure what ‘L3 switches’ are - but there may be one, or a ‘second router’. The Ubiqiti router only offers 4 ports (one of which, naturally is connected, to the modem). Upon further inspection - the CXNV2 is connected to what I would call a switch - a device intended to augment the number of ports available for hardwiring. That switch was intended for gigibit networks. Nonetheless, I connected the CXNV2 directly to the router. There are no VPN’s or virtual machines.
The Ubiqiti router does offer QoS settings, but only for wireless devices, and the Nucleus is wired - directly to the router.