Roon Core Machine
Mac Mini, High Sierra
Networking Gear & Setup Details
Ubiquiti
Connected Audio Devices
USB to coax, airplay, sonos
Number of Tracks in Library
Local 8000+, but mostly Qobuz streams
Description of Issue
I have a pretty complicated installation. Lots of devices, tracks, network pathways, etc. Roon was randomly pausing a handful of times in any listening session. Without going into detail, I finally did a mess of careful testing. I’m not new to the dance, as they say.
I found that my problems of random Roon 1.8 pauses went away once I narrowed down the local network connection of my Core to only ethernet, rather than a combo of wifi and ethernet. Mind you, that connection still has a wifi bounce via a subrouter, but that’s up to the local network’s protocols.
As far as I can see, Roon 1.8 is happy. The Mac Mini needs a very very occasional reboot as even Unix can get cranky, but that’s not a big deal.
In the past, multiple connections on that Mac weren’t an issue. Roon just seemed confused, not sure which path was legitimate. Just a feeling that’s borne out in the number of decoding/encoding steps that Roon reports. Airplay dropped two steps. That indicates to me Roon was engaging the second position wifi connection.
I’ve noticed here that users with pause issues often have all kinds of device bouncing. In my mind, simplification helps.
Anyway, love the product. Might upgrade to 2.0 someday, but that needs another Mac. I’d rather buy a camera lens. 