Roon 2.0 is unbearably slow

Stuart_Dudman · February 15, 2024, 1:48pm

Roon Server Machine

Nucleus running 2.0 build 1365

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Ethernet.
Wifi is mesh to iPads.

Connected Audio Devices

Naim Muso (x3) via Ethernet. Controlled through iPads.

Number of Tracks

48,000 tracks

Description of Issue

Roon 2 is so slow. Roon before ARC was a wonderful thing.
I use music to relax and Roon is preventing this right now.

A while ago I upgraded from 1.8 to 2.0. The only problem with 1.8 was that I sometimes had to disconnect and reconnect to WiFi. This upgrade was one of life’s big mistakes.

I’m looking for hints or ideas to make it useable fast. Please, please help. Right now it’s not worth having. Having read up, then maybe I must totally reload Roon. If so, actual instructions please.
I run a Mac Mini where I can do all of the jigging around.

Basically, Bookmarks (one tag, not played in 6 months… for instance) take forever to load.
The queue is often very slow to load.
Tracks often take quite a while to start.

Looking at other people’s notes, I do have one artist with 180 albums, 2000+ tracks. Do I need to split this into multiple artists? The Fall, The Fall1, The Fall2 etc?

I am living with things like one tag never completing on a query, having to disconnect/reconnect my iPad to wifi every so often, Roon not liking changes in format in queue etc.

Can my bookmarks not update overnight or on request rather than every time I access them?

Similarly the queue created is 5000 tracks long. Can I not specify 100 tracks in a queue? I think then Roon could handle things better.

I seriously suggest a look at iTunes.

Another thought would be to have the old good Roon and a totally separate thing called ARC without all the slowing that it has caused.

[Moderated: Corrections made so that supply information is visible.
Speculation and comparisons removed, please focus on this issue.]

John_Aiello · February 15, 2024, 2:14pm

Roon runs flawlessly for me with the latest build. No issues at all. When Roon appears to slow down I reboot the server and all is restored. Have you tried rebooting?

Mike_O_Neill · February 15, 2024, 2:24pm

A few more details may help

What runs the Roon Server, spec ?
How many albums/files ?
How is server connected to router ?

I run Roon on a NUC/ROCK with no problems at all so …

Carl · February 15, 2024, 6:26pm

These are now visible in the opening post.

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 1:08pm

I reboot pretty much daily. I asked that we could schedule overnight Roon reboots.

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 1:09pm

Roon server is nucleus connected by ethernet.
48000 tracks
3301 albums.

mikeb · February 18, 2024, 1:14pm

This is not (despite being a ‘Nucleus’) a particularly powerful server these days, though others will argue that its more than adequate. Can you try using something newer and see if your lag problems resolve?

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 1:25pm

Yes, I was surprised to find out that the Nucleus is over 6 years old. Any recommendations as to what is the best Roon server (I had naively presumed it was the Nucleus). Would I be best to repurpose a Mac mini? MS Windows will never enter my house.

mikeb · February 18, 2024, 2:23pm

There are several options…

Try using your ‘remote’ - Roon (the program) now include the ‘server’ software
Buy a Mac mini, I would go for the 16GB model - search for threads saying how well this works!
Buy a NUC, I just ‘upgraded’ to a NUC13ANHI5 and couldn’t be happier!

maddib · February 18, 2024, 2:25pm

Could you please provide a screenshot of your signal pass? Which kind of file formats do you use? Is there any managed switch between your nucleus und your Naim Muso?
Where are your music files located?
If you never edited track or album meta data in roon a complete rebuild of roon music library may be an option. Ever tried that?
Issues while changing between tracks with different file/audio formats is pretty common. Here you may increase the ms in roon’s “re-snyc” option, starting from a rather high value, slowly going down until you find the right value without issue.

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 2:42pm

Here is my signal path.
No managed switch I think.
Music files are on an Innuos Nas. And I stream via Tidal and Qobuz.

I have wondered about rebuilding the database. But never having done it, I’m a bit nervous.
Detailed instructions would be great.
My mum just broke her femur and my wife appears to have damaged her rotator cuff, so time is precious.

Off to look at the re-sync option.
Thanks!

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 2:44pm

I am hereby researching best server upgrade options. I love the Nucleus as it just works. I’m guessing that once set up the Mac mini would be similar. House is Mac only, so that should be no problem.
But I think first I need to get to the bottom of things like searches never completing.

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 2:48pm

re-sync delay now set to 500 ms for each device (they were 0). I’ll see how that goes, but seems to make sense!

maddib · February 18, 2024, 2:50pm

O.k. So, before you think about a new gear, make some tests with the current one. I guess you’re not the only one who had an issue after updating from 1.8 to 2.0. You’re late
The drives in your NAS are HDD or SSDs?
I’d go only for a library rebuild in case you really have no additional meta data manually edited in roon or it’s not so important for you to lose this. Alle meta data in the files’ tags will remain.
If your NAS is rather fast and has SSDs a rebuild should be rather quick, even with these many files you have. With HDDs it will take a while.

maddib · February 18, 2024, 2:51pm

They describe it as some sort of cool-down for the endpoint to get fully prepared for a different format. 500ms is rather low. So, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t help in the first step.

Stuart_Dudman · February 18, 2024, 3:15pm

Right. I’ll see how 500ms goes. If that doesn’t work, I’ll increase it. Thanks.

Mike_O_Neill · February 19, 2024, 4:24am

Do you have an odd USB external drive hanging around , maybe try copying a set of files and attach direct to the Nucleus via USB see if that helps . NAS get a bad press in some quarters

PixelPopper · February 19, 2024, 7:15am

Resync delay is unlikely to be the cause of your problems, it is designed to allow the DAC to switch between file formats without introducing clicks & pops. If anything, it’s more like to make matters worse, that said try it as it’s easy enough to reverse.

Resync Delay

maddib · February 20, 2024, 10:08pm

While having issues with my ROCK connected by HDMI to an AVR, increasing the re-sync was the only way to stop roon from denying to start DSD track after PCM track. Increased to 6000ms. Any value lower than that didn’t work.

benjamin · February 21, 2024, 8:46pm

Hi @Stuart_Dudman

Our team was able to take a look at your Roon Server diagnostic, and are curious on a follow up test.

First, before anything else - create a fresh backup of your current database. After that, could you please test out removing your bookmarks? You can do this by heading to Bookmarks> Manage Bookmarks> Check off each bookmark and remove it.

From there, give Roon and Roon Server a restart and let me know how performance feels.

Thank you!