Roon core on Mac OS crashing a few times per hour

Roon Core Machine

Mac OS 13.3 Ventura on a dedicated Mac Mini - no other uses and clean build.
M1 Mac Mini 2020, 8_GB RAM
No music stored on core - streaming only, Qobuz

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Core connected to network by ethernet ONLY.
Daily listening rig connected to network by ethernet ONLY - iFi Zen Stream
Using built-in switch on ASUS RT-AX86S router
Occasional endpoints are wireless - WiiM Mini, Chord Poly, iPhone

Connected Audio Devices

iFi Zen Stream - 90%
WiiM mini - occasional
Chord Poly - occasional

Number of Tracks in Library

Streaming only

Description of Issue

Today I was listening all day on Chord Mojo 2 connected by USB to iFi Zen Stream as a Roon Endpoint. Several times an hour, play would stop and Roon (controlled with Roon client on my working Mac) would report that it lost contact with the Roon Core. I would Remote Desktop into the Mac Roon Core and find a crash report dialog indicating:
“Roon quit unexpectedly. Click Reopen to open the application again. Click Report to see more…” etc. I would re-open Roon on the Core, go back to listening, and it would happen again within the hour. I rebooted the Core, I installed the pending 13.3 Apple Software Update, but the crashing continues.

Hi Eric
That could be annoying. I have just update my 2020 mini to 13.3 (2 days ago) but have no crash until now. What kind of roon do you use on your mini? Roon or Roon Server? I had roon for about 1/2 a year and when switched to Roon Server the stability was better (since you screen share in to your mini from the working Mac I assume the mini can be run headless).

Unfortunately I do not know how to read the crash report but I hope maybe other users have better ideas about this.

My experience too. I’ve been running Roon server on an M2 Mac Mini for a few days, and I’m considering giving up on it. When working it’s extremely snappy, but it crashes too often.

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Welcome, Eric. That’s the dreaded .NET ThreadPool Worker crash and this is the existing thread (and workaround) for it:

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Damn, I wish I’d seen that before dropping €600 on Mac mini.

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If I understand the workaround correctly, it doesn’t happen if you install the Roon Server.

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That’s how I understand it too, but Rock is still arguably more stable. On the plus side, the Mac only draws 5-6 watts while playing, and ARC works :+1:

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I only use the control GUI on macOS and never any issues. Core on ROCK and I love it because it literally always works without any maintenance, as I wrote in the Mac Mini vs ROCK thread :slight_smile:

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Have switched to Roon Server for now. I’ll reply back after a few hours of use.

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An update on my experience: I’ve gone back to ROCK on a 5 year old 7i5 NUC, because ROCK runs so much better on that hardware than Roon Server does on a 2023 M2 Mac mini.

With the Mac I was getting frequent “Waiting for Core” messages, and more drop outs than I’d like to admit. Very disappointing really, as the hardware is more than up to it. I had disabled automatic updates, spotlight, Siri, etc, etc as well.

So, if anyone is wondering which hardware route to take, it’s simple: buy a cheap old NUC, and install ROCK!

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My experience changing from Roon Core to Server on my dedicated Mac Mini.

So far no more crashes of Roon Server on the Mac Mini, but now I’m getting frequent Roon crashes on my Mac workstation where I control playback all day long. At least it doesn’t interrupt the music - I’m playing primarily to an iFi ZenStream Roon Endpoint. Also sending to a Chord Poly Roon endpoint, and a Sonos system and a WiiM Mini over Airplay.

I feel bad, roon server on my m1 mini with the latest Ventura never crashed. It does hang on adding albums and gets slow in starting play after 5 days or so but a roon server restart or computer restart gets things back on track. Never tried a rock to compare

With my Rock, I sometimes see a delay when adding an album but I attribute this to cloud server-side things, it always disappears again after some time without doing anything.

The Rock is only restarted if there is an update and my macOS remote never crashes (nor previously the Windows remote on Linux on Wine, neither the mobiles on iPad or Android)

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On my mini if I am in a peaceful frame of mind is a delay (as you describe). But I forget and ADHD takes over. Roon chokes when adding 5 albums per minute in 10 rows. If I do not add music only after 5 days becomes a bit sluggish. The workaround: I add using tidal app, roon updates that when syncing

The iMac Roon used as remote crashes once in a month or two.

I don’t see any pattern in the adding delay. Most importantly, it never gets more sluggish over time, neither following a pattern nor randomly. Stories like yours make me happy I chose Rock :slight_smile:

Sometimes I add a single album and there is a delay doing that (although I do nothing else on the Rock) but most of the time there is no delay when adding many. It may be related to Rock doing something in the background that I’m not aware of (like some database maintenance or whatever), but the randomness makes me think it’s just cloud responsiveness.

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Update here: My Roon Server seems to be kinda stable on Mac Mini, but my Roon app on my Mac desktop where I control playback - that crashes about 10 times a day now. I’m really starting to wonder about this not-inexpensive player.

Well, in something of a non-usable state here. Desktop app on Mac keeps crashing, so I eliminated that and started controlling through an iPad. However, it stops playing a couple times an hour, having lost connection the the core on Roon Server on Mac. The iPad app spins for a bit “looking for your Roon Core”. Then it seems to find it, but I have to initiate Play again. If a player can’t play without stopping, then it isn’t a player.

Hi @Eric_Olson1,

Thank you for sharing the details of your unfortunate experience with the team, and for your patience while we worked through the queue to reach your inquiry.

Your report of the all-in-one crash (prior to switching to RoonServer) matches the description of a known issue for which we have an urgent ticket. We’ll post here as soon as we have a timeline to resolution; switching to RoonServer, as seems to have been your experience, is the workaround at this time.

We want to verify whether the Mac you’re using as a Remote is also encountering the same issue. We’ve attempted a diagnostic pull, but the device appeared to be offline. At your convenience, please open Roon on the affected Remote and leave it online overnight, so the log report has a chance to reach our server.

Thank you again, and we’ll be in close touch.

This is NOT a workaround - the server is still crashing and restarting a few times an hour. Not a pleasant listening experience. I can not renew my subscription in this condition.

I have launched the Roon app on my working Mac that I used to control playback during the day. The server is also running now.

The Roon app on my working Mac also crashes frequently. Often the music continues to play through this. When the music stops (several times an hour) the Roon app typically doesn’t crash, but displays the “looking for Roon core”. Then in about 30 seconds it restores connection. What TYPICALLY happens is the Roon app crashes but I don’t notice because it doesn’t stop playback. Then the music stops and I realize I have to re-launch the Roon app to see what is happening, and it typically can’t find the Core for 15-30 seconds. It’s just a mess.