ROON continues to randomly drop connection with end point audio devices

HP Obelisk Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, Windows 10

Roon 1.8 build 918

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Infinity Router, Netgear GC510P switch

Connected Audio Devices

dCS Rossini Network DAC

Auralic Aries Streamer

Number of Tracks in Library

1000 tracks

Tidal streaming

Description of Issue

Since upgrading to latest Roon 1.8 (started around build 903) the music track playback just halts after random time. Roon loses connection to the end points, and it happens either with the Rossini DAC or Auralic Aries steamer, and then the end points will re-appear. PC Roon core is still connected to network - No loss of internet or network connectivity.

+1 here as well, happens randomly several times per day on Roon Core running on Intel iMac and either that same iMac or RoopieXL as endpoint.

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Similar over here; endpoint oppo 203 and most frequently happening when streaming live radio.

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Hello ROON support. Very frustrating there was never even an acknowledgment or reply to this issue ???

I agree with you, @James_Graves James. Unfortunately, it will be another day or two since Roon does not work on weekends.

Hey @James_Graves,

Thank you for reaching out to us with your question. My sincerest apologies for the delayed response and for your wait. We’ve made some recent changes to the support team structure and some reports have experienced a longer response time than usual.

I’m sorry to hear that you were having issues with audio dropouts on your endpoints. Since some time has passed I wanted to touch base to get your current status. If you’re still experiencing this problem and need assistance please let us know.

If possible, are you able to provide more details about your network setup? How is your core connection to your network? As well as your endpoints, how are they connected?

In regards to your Netgear switch, do you know if it is managed or unmanaged? Here is a fantastic article on our networking best practices and information on how to best utilize switches with Roon.

We’ll be watching for your reply and get back in touch as quickly as we can. Thanks! :+1:

Hey Benjamin, nice to finally hear from you on this topic - I was beginning to wonder about Roon support since it had been a long time.

Re: Your question: the answer is yes, I am still having random stop and loss of connection to end points. It is completely random, and seems to get worse the longer time I listen, and then random halt of play back due to Roon lost connection with end point.

This all started around update 1.8 update 903(this is when I notice, but perhaps the prior update is when changes were made). When roon stated with the update that there was re-write of network communication to reduce RAAT traffic. Prior to that I used the same GC510P switch with absolutely NO problems.

I also tested by removing the switch completely and just using Comcast router and it still will drop connection. Also bowered a friends very high end Telegartner M12 Gold switch, which is unmanaged. and roon still dropped connection.

So, I cannot accept the switch as being the problem. Any thoughts or what we can try?

Thanks for following up.

-Jim

Hey @James_Graves,

Thank you for giving us an update on your situation. Can you verify that both Roon.exe and RAATServer.exe have been added as exceptions to your Windows firewall?

You can use these instructions to add the exceptions and the executables themselves would be located in your Database Location /Application folder path.

I would also add these exceptions to any Antivirus or other Firewall blocking applications you may have and ensure that you connected to your network via a Private network, as well as a Public one, see this guide for more information.

How is your HP Obelisk connected to the router? Over WiFi or Ethernet? Is there any change in behavior if you temporarily connect via Ethernet if you’re currently on WiFi?

Also, does this issue occur when playing local files? Or, is it only occurring when streaming from Tidal?

Hello Benjamin,

I am only using Windows Firewall and I just checked app. exceptions: It turns out Roon.exe was set for public and private network access, but RaatServer was not selected - a surprise to me! I selected RaatServer for access and both public and private networks - is this correct?

To answer your question on HP Obellisk core: It is connected to the router via Ethernet cable.

Thanks again for your follow up and feedback. Let’s see if Window’s app. access change addresses the dropped connections. Let me know if you have any other thoughts. Thanks.

-Jim

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Hey @James_Graves, yes! You are correct here. Let me know if this has helped, I’ll be monitoring this thread for your reply :crossed_fingers:

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Hey Benjamin, I unfortunately must report that the change to Windows Firewall access did not stop the dropped connections. I am still experiencing random dropped connections from Roon Core to end points.

What should we try next?

Hey @James_Graves,

Thanks for letting me know! Are you able to test audio playback directly from the system output on your HP Obelisk? If so, I’d love to see if you run into audio dropouts when playing music straight from your core device.

If possible, would you be able to provide a timestamp or two of the next time you do experience dropouts? That way I can have our team take a deeper look into what might be happening.

Hey Benjamin, Yes I will provide timestamp when dropout happens again. What is your recommended method to capture timestamp? Is there a log, or just record the time and date?

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@James_Graves just the date and time! We’ll be able to review logs on your Core and see what might be going on around the time of the issue :+1:

If it happens a few times, feel free to send over a few different timestamps. Thanks!

Hi Benjamin,

I was able to do some listening today and here are the timestamps of the dropouts that occurred:

All on Thursday, June 30, 2022

2:06 PM EDT
3:58 PM EDT
4:04 PM EDT
4:44 PM EDT

I was at the HP Core when all these happen I was able to capture the drops as soon as they occurred.

As you can see the dropouts happen quite frequently over only a few hours of listening. Roon is not useable until this gets fixed.

Benjamin, another dropout. I have just been listening for 5 mins. This time while playing an album in my library (not a Tidal stream).

Dropout timestamp:
7/1/2022, 4:19PM EDT.

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Hey @James_Graves,

Thank you for providing timestamps! I wanted to get back to you before the long weekend and let you know we’ve enabled diagnostics on your account and have taken a look at what’s going on during the time of the dropout.

At first glance, it does appear to be network related. We’ll need to investigate further to pinpoint what exactly might be happening.

In the meantime, can you test playing audio from your system output to see if you run into similar issues? Also, I would test disabling and resetting your endpoints, then re-enable them to your core.

The team will be out on Monday for the holiday, but will be back in the office Tuesday the 5th :+1:

Hi Benjamin. Just following up with you after the long weekend. Based on your last mail I tried the following:

Playing audio from HP Core outputs: I tested this over a few hours and there were no dropouts or music playback stops. So - this problem is network/RAAT related; however, I did not have this problem in past, so something has changed.

Disable and reset the endpoints: I disabled and reset both end points. This did not seem to fix the problem, as I still had a music drop at 4:50PM, July 2nd. (And others)

Any feedback from enabling the diagnostics on my account? Ideas on what to try next?

Note: I just updated to ROON 1.8 Build 988.

Thanks for your help troubleshooting this problem!

-Jim

Just to add:

I have been listening a little while after updating to 1.8 Build 988 and just had a music dropout.
Timestamp: 8:11PM, July 6, 22

And another at 8:14PM, July 6, 2022.

Network plus RAAT Must not like Boz Scaggs :slight_smile: