Roon fails again

5 posts were split to a new topic: Roon is slow at starting playback

3 posts were split to a new topic: Roon stops after a few songs

If you actually want some help solving the issue, you need to describe your system and the connections between components in detail. Otherwise all we can do is nod our heads and agree that you’re not having a good experience.

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Roon stops after a few songs

So, Wi-fi networking problems.

Well, one of the themes of this thread is to open a ticket with Support. They have a systematic way of testing things piece-by-piece. From what I can see, it might not be as fast as a good lucky guess, but the process is designed to eventually give a solution to all problems. But the start requires ‘filling out the paperwork’ in the support sticky so Support can sink their teeth into it and develop the strategy appropriate for the user’s system.
I guess another way to view this is that either the enduser has a problem in their system that can be fixed through support, or Roon software has a flaw that would be uncovered in the course of going through the process. If the former, the enduser benefits. If the flaw is in Roon, many users may benefit from a software fix.
Paul and Ryan have issues that they should not have to live with. The occasional slow search everyone had with 1.6 was system-wide. But these particular issues don’t sound like something that all users face. Networking is often the issue, but sometimes its other crazy stuff.

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I’ve had exactly this problem with Qobuz. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve switched to Volumio.

Couldn’t agree more. I suffered Tidal drop outs & also local file dropouts, slow searches (before 1.6) and they were guaranteed to happen when visitors were present. This problem persisted for months. I had invested UK£275 on a “good” Netgear modem/router and so my problems had to be an “issue with Roon.”

After much time investigating with no success I decided to purchase a Mesh network system & on installation my problems disappeared.

I wouldn’t suggest that this exonerates Roon from the problem equation but I certainly learned not to fully trust the networking equipment. If I have any problems now I start with rebooting Roon Core, Network etc. before I investigate anything else. This approach usually resolves the issue without the need to seek support.

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I wish Apple would completely revamp Airplay.

It was a remarkable feature when it released but I wish they could implement something like Google Cast where the endpoint/streamer/output device would stream directly from the content server and NOT through the mobile device.

Hi @ryan_stratton/@Paula_Dickerson,

I have split your posts into it’s own support threads so that we can take a look at this issue closer. If anyone else in this thread is experiencing issues, the best way for us to take a look at the issue and address it would be by opening up a thread in #support and providing the setup details.

Could be a library indexing or backup issue. You might try and disable auto backup.

I’ll probably have to dodge some bullets for this, but I’m running a DIY Roon ROCK/Core that’s far away from the recommended spec hardware (AMD Ryzen 2200g, 8GB RAM) feeding devices like Raspberry/hifiberry units and a Naim Uniti Atom, and I get none of the stability issues that seem to crop up.

All I can add is that everything is hardwired (apart from controllers phone/tablet), and the only slight search sluggishness I’ve experienced is when I’ve added Tidal/Qobuz accounts (on trials as my library of 2000+ albums is enough for me!) maybe due to the Internet connection adding latency, or if I swap out my ASUS router for something like those awful things supplied by BT/SKY etc.

Outside of Roon, I’ve seen some major problems with streaming systems (Airplay, Googlecast and more) when users are relying on WiFi for combined audio streaming and app control.

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Reading about a new “router /modem” to solve a ROON-network problem confuses me a bit. Installing a new mesh-WLan sounds something speziell.

It is widely know that ROON requires quite a bit of hardware-power to run smooth. This includes a fast and reliable network (T+A who produces my streaming client does not accept High-Res via WLan because of perfomance issues).

I am running a network 1 Gigabit (even the internet-Connection via Fiber is 1 Giga) all over my house. NAS (85’000 tracks mostly flac) and the dedicated ROON-server hardware, an I5-7xxxx using M2-SATA as disks ist connecte via Giga-LAN through a switch. Music-files are sent to the client via LAB-cable and a second switch. The music-files/CDs or whatever are created and tagged using a separate device in my home-office, connect by 2 Giga-bit connections to server an backup-server.
There is Nothing which might be called slow or what so ever. BTW The connections IPad to ROON-Server is via WiFi, of course. But this is fast because it is optimased to serve alle Rooms (incl. garden)
If someone Encounters performance Problems with roon, check the hardware and network.

Tim is making a very important point here. Roon operates fundamentally different from several other products for streaming. All streaming to the endpoint player is done at high res, or the resolution of the source after decompression, etc. The Roon Core unfolds compressed files, does any dsp, etc. then ships the music off the to the player in a continuous stream. The endpoint player doesn’t need to do a lot of processing, and doesn’t buffer files, but the network link to the player must be good.

This configuration has some very definite and interesting benefits but I do think it also requires a good network. I have voiced my displeasure with Roon’s recommendations for network hardware since I do not think a “fast” wireless router or fast gaming router is a good suggestion. But, a good wireless router is certainly very important and more importantly the network must not have a lot of junk eating up bandwidth. If you have many devices in your home you can bury even the fastest routers unless they are serious equipment and designed properly. This makes troubleshooting very difficult and Roon’s request to open a thread where all configuration details can be explored is a very reasonable and fair approach.

Give Roon a chance, the software is amazing. You will be rewarded for sorting through the problem and Roon will help you.

Jamie

I remember Bob Stuart talking about MQA requiring people to clear their pipes (Network etc) to get the blue light shining…
This is also true for ROON, you gotta clean the pipes and have your network sorted… then it’s great.
Saying that, I have a BT hub and use basic switches (ÂŁ10.00) with Cat5e cables and it all works a treat.

Yeah but why does it work perfect for a time and then terrible another time? My network is perfect and never have an issue with anything including streaming 4K wireless so seems like when everything else is fine and works on a solid Network and one thing doesn’t you should blame the one thing not the network. Anyway what would they want you to do to change it? I’ve given up on airplay wireless via roon. I don’t even try it anymore. Maybe it will be better one day when they fix it. All the complaints and issues they get help them make it better and I hope they fix it. I’m willing to put up with the BS until then, it’s still a great program just not a smooth running one at this point.

I did have issues with old switches once, and they were old… so I bought new ones. Rock solid now. Just my experience.

Ryan, intermittant problems on wireless are very common and pretty typical of wireless networking. And all those other applications like 4k video streaming use huge buffers on the endpoints so that playback is not interrupted if some packets are delayed.

Roon does not really need a lot of bandwidth on the network since it is truly streaming the data as it is needed. But, it cannot have delays on the network or even momentary congestion. The exact technical requirements are very hard to describe correctly, and I am speculating a bit, but I am confident in saying that it is fundamentally different from 4k video streaming.

The first step is to try your Roon setup completely hard wired. Almost any hard wire, ethernet cable network is going to be much better than wireless.

Then if that works, you’re stuck trying to troubleshoot your wireless. My opinion here is probably different than most. I think it is just about useless to look at the advertised bandwidth or speed of wireless routers and that most of the problem will come from configuration of the router and network congestion on your router.

I had a problem a long time ago with the fastest routers I could buy. I found that they could only handle maybe a dozen or more devices on the network. That’s any device, any amount of data, counts. So every iPhone, Kindle, Xbox, etc. counted. The gaming routers just won’t count up enough devices. By going to a Cisco business class router, I solved most of my wireless problems.

Ideally you would have a wireless router that has QOS (Quality of Service) functionality for Roon. Some Cisco routers have this available for Spotify for example. You just check the box in the router configuration and then the router will prioritize network traffic for Spotify. I have not seen this for Roon yet, but there are other ways.

I know this is very frustrating, I have worked in IT as a Network Manager on very large installations, 1,000’s of PC’s, etc. and when I deal with my home network I feel like an idiot. Maybe, I am.

In my opinion, for what it’s worth, is that Roon is very good software, and very robust and reliable on the network, but the typical wireless network glitches will easily wreck Roon. This is not a flaw in the design of Roon at all, it is actually very light on the network, but it doesn’t like latency or packet collisions. You can have a high bandwidth network with latency and collisions working fine for many applications, but it will kill hi res music streaming.

Jamie

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This sounds like another manifestation of the known problem with poor search responsiveness when you have a Tidal account. I’ve had this for some months, and Roon Support have insisted they’re working on a fix for this.

I think looking to upgrade or change your network infrastructure is a red herring. Roon just need to sort out their poor search performance.

Yeah Roon has some issues with search that require fixing, but exonerating your network purely because a piece of software has some problems is a mistake IMO. Improve your network performance, your internet connection speed and your wifi stability and everything improves.