ROCK not playing sound

I have been using Roon from my Windows 10 PC for several weeks with no issues. I decided to instead use ROCK running on an Intel NUC. I followed the directions on the Roon website very carefully. My set up is Intel NUC7I7BNH with ZTC 64GB Armor 42mm M.2 NGFF 6G SSD and Crucial 8GB Kit DDR4 2133 MT/s (PC4-17000). I am running Roon Optimized Core Kit Version 1.0 (build 76) stable.

For the first couple of days, I had no problems. Roon ran just like it did on my Windows 10 PC. Then, when I tried to play a song, it would do one of two things: 1) the song would show up in the bottom middle of the UI and it would look like the song was playing, but no sound from my DAC (Chord DAVE) or 2) the song would show up in the bottom middle of the UI for a split second and then it would disappear. If I had selected an entire album to play, it would skip through each song where it would show the song in the UI for a brief split-second and then skip to the next track then show the next song in the UI for a split second, and repeat through the entire album.

The number of times that it would do this started out at a fairly low amount. Each time, I would have to reboot ROCK and then it would play as normal. But, now after about a week or so since I built the NUC/ROCK, it is behaving this way more than 80% of the time I try to play any music. I’m rebooting my ROCK almost after every album that I do get to play normally.

I’m at a bit of a loss on what to do. Any ideas?

Hi Todd,

The skipping through tracks behaviour can occur when a required codec is missing.

When this state occurs does the ROCK web UI report missing codecs ? If so, follow the instructions in the link to reinstall them.

Codec installation is the messiest part of ROCK, but unfortunately AAC and MP3 formats are still subject to patents that preclude Roon from distributing them. Individual users are able to freely download and use them.

If that doesn’t solve the issue, can you describe where your music is stored and any network involved with your music playback ?

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The web UI does not show “missing codecs”. Operating System, Roon Database & Settings, and Roon Server Software all show “OK”. My issue happens regardless of file type (16/44, 24/192) from my external hard drive. It is also skipping through all tracks when streaming from Tidal.

My files are located on a WD Purple 6TB Hard Disk Drive (5400 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache - WD60PURX). I’m using a Inateck Aluminum USB 3.0 to SATA Dual-Bay USB 3.0 Hard Drive Docking Station which is plugged directly into the NUC. My Chord DAVE DAC is connected into the NUC via a PS Audio LANRover. The NUC is direct connected into a a TP-LINK 8-port Gigabit Smart Switch that is direct connected to my Eero router.

If I can get an album to play fine, the problem occurs once I select a new album to play from. It doesn’t happen 100% of the time, but certainly above 80% of the time. To get it to work again, I’ve been able to do that by unplugging the USB cable from the NUC to my DAC and reinserting. I’ve also gotten it to play properly again by rebooting the NUC. But these solutions don’t work 100% of the time.

For instance, I can get the skipping song issue and then unplug my USB cable from the NUC, replug it back in, and it will play the song correctly. But then 10 minutes later I will select a song off a new album and the skipping song issue will occur (or it will look like it is playing, but no audio will actually play) and then if I unplug the USB cable from the NUC and replug it in, it will still not play correctly. Same thing with rebooting. Sometimes it solves the problem, sometimes it doesn’t.

I went ahead and recopied the codecs into ROCK’s data>codec folder following the instructions on the Roon website. It made not difference to the issue that I’m having.

More interesting data point. I have two Roon zones. All my issues that I’ve described have been through the main way I listen to my music - which is the Chord DAVE directly connected to my NUC running ROCK. My other zone is a Auralic Aries LE Wireless Streaming Bridge that connects into the same network wirelessly that my NUC is on. I just played multiple songs from my HDD via the Auralic Aries zone with no issue. If I play the same songs simulaneously via the zone connected to the Chord DAC those songs are all skipped as described above.

That sounds like to me that there is some unrepeatable issue in the direct connection between the NUC and the Chord Dave Dac. But, I don’t know how to solve it. Hope you have some ideas.

Lots of good information – let’s flag @support now so they can chime in.

@support I think I figured it out. I took the PS Audio LANRover out of the chain between the NUC and my Chord DAVE DAC. That seems to (at least for now) solved the problem. Not sure why the LANRover would work in the NUC/ROCK system for more than a week and then start introducing issues. But at least I think I’ve found the source of my issue.

I did use the LANRover for a month in the chain between my Windows 10 PC when I was running Roon Core from the Windows 10 platform (this is before I built the NUC/ROCK) and had no issues. Not sure what it is about the NUC/ROCK in combination with the LANRover that could be causing the issue.

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