Having an issue with random audio glitches during playback. I recently started using a dedicated 2019 Intel MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.6.1 as my Roon server. I'm experiencing occasional audio glitches during playback over USB to my DAC (it randomly hiccups in bursts of 2-4 over a 10-30 second period, maybe once per 30-60 minutes of playback). I've tried different cables/lengths/adapters/ports, and two different DACs (Chord DAVE/M-Scaler and dCS Lina). It makes no difference if I'm playing streaming content or music from my library on the hard drive. I've tried quitting all other apps so Roon is the only thing running and setting system sound to built-in to eliminate interference from other sources. In Roon settings, I've increased re-sync delay to 1 second, turned on exclusive mode, and also tried as many relevant setting changes as I can think of in device setup (including zone grouping delay, clock master priority, etc). Nothing I've tried seems to have any effect. Any and all help welcome, this is a bit bothersome and distracting. ;-) Many thanks.
Describe your network setup
Router/modem is ATT BGW320, which is about 12 ft from the MacBook (over wifi). Speedtest shows pings about 5-20 ms and up/down speeds above 350Mbps.
Diagnostics indicate that RAATServer on this Mac has intermittently crashed and restarted in the last few weeks - if this is occurring during playback, it could quite possibly cause the symptoms you’re describing. However, the last instance we can pinpoint in logs occurred nearly a week ago. We don’t see any network errors affecting audio transport or any logged transcoding/DSP issues in the last week.
Can you provide the name of a track, or an approximate timestamp, of when the last audible artifact occurred? Please also share a screenshot of the Signal Path in Roon. This should expedite our investigation.
Hi Connor. The glitching just happened about 6 times during the last two tracks from the album “Shades of Sound” by Ryan Truesdell. Screenshot of the signal path is attached.
@connor It also just happened about 1:30 into Beauty Pill’s “Rideshare” from my library, and then again at 2:50 as I typed this. The signal path is the same except that it now originates with the local ALAC file so it shouldn’t be related to internet connection.
Thanks for helping!
Thanks Alex, I did that as part of my troubleshooting before opening this request (1 is the highest priority, correct?). Also to verify, this is done in the device setup tab for the DAC, yes?
I’ll be away from my computer for a bit, but will be sure to reply as possible before the thread closes…
Certainly let us know! We’ll happily re-open your thread at any time to continue troubleshooting.
One small additional troubleshooting test - Can you please navigate to macOS System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network, and make sure Roon and Roon Server are allowed. If it is already enabled, toggle it off and on again. Then reboot your Mac, and see if the same issue persists.
I am afraid that in such a case it means that is not likely a cause of the problem.
Given the fact that same problem happens on 2 different DACs and with different USB cables I tend to think it is something to do with the Laptop Hosting Roon Server itself.
Is it possible for you to try another machine in a Server’s role ?
Certainly let us know! Even though it isn’t an issue directly related to Roon, we’re still here to help if you have additional questions along the way.
OK new problem: Roon seems to think it doesn’t have permission to access the SSD I’m using to back up (before moving back to my old iMac that had a new SSD installed).
Permissions in the OS are set to everyone can read and write (on the whole disk and all contents), so I’m not sure what’s happening to make Roon think it can’t access it.
Thanks for letting us know! We were able to review a fresh diagnostic report and saw the following error around accessing your local backup location:
Warn: [backup] failed to FindBackupDir: lsdir root: AttachedDir:/Volumes/Extreme SSD: Result[Status=Unauthorized, ErrorText=Missing required permission to access directory: /Volumes/Extreme SSD]
Debug: [broker/backups] failed to fix immediate backup location: Unauthorized
See if you can run through and confirm the steps listed in the KB below, and let me know if that helps:
Note that the article above is based around adding the location as a watched folder rather than a backup location - the process is still the same on the macOS side, you’ll just be making the edits from Roon Settings > Backup instead.
