Roon recently showing me "File loading Slowly", or just stops playing

[Howard_Ipp]

This is, I Know, a well documented random issue.
I have read all the info and still have no solution.
Started , “Possibly” I think since upgrading to current ROON Build.

Equipment:
Server resides on Windows 11 I9-1300F, 32MB Ram. Music Files on Samsung 8GB SSD.
Streamers are Exasound Sigma Streamer multiichannel and Bryston BDP3 2 channel/
Ether net cable wired directly to a hub, which is wired to both streamers ethernet ports. (No wireless Streaming).

I use a Parametric EQ and a Procedural EQ for bass node in room and speakers are a little bright in the midrange.

Files that cause this issue tend to be larger or more complex. Typically DSD 5/7 channels at DSD 64 or 128 . (I know that 256 and higher can cause resources to diminish and I have had the issue with some 256 and especially 512 don’t even play.)

However as I keep playing over 30 minutes or an hour, even the 2 channel 16 bit Flac files 2 channel can stick. The track still shows at the bottom of the window, but greyed out,. The small blue music icon on the left of the title of the track stops moving and is a flat blue box.
ROON server seems to build progressively to causing this error as I listen over time. (30m +)

I do not think its the ethernet at 100 Mbps. There is no Wireless Streaming.

The filters affect the Processing speed especially the Multi Channel files. Drops to around 2.8 at the lowest. The stopping of the play still occurs however when the processing speed is above 2. I have seen my system stop playing when this drops below 1, but this is not an issue.

Attempted Solution:
Rebooted the router, rebooted the Windows 11 PC.
Initially appeared to speed up the interface and seemed to fix the issue. But after 30 to 60 minutes of play this is what happens:

1. message that a file is loading slowly and streaming stops OR
2. No message but the stream stops mid file OR
   3 Will not go to the next track in the Queue after completing a previous track.

Sometimes after a minute or more of clicking around on anything, it may start playing the NEXT track in the queue. Seems to gather itself!

My thoughts are that the reboot did help but very short term. Is there an issue with the newest/er builds similar to previous memory leak problems?

Do not know what to do, and hope I can get help to try some other solutions, including uinstalling and reinstalling, but I was “nervous” to do this.

Here are some pics.

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

If you turn off all DSP does the issue go away?

[Howard_Ipp]

I may have but specifically :

I will run it tonight no DSP and see what occurs.

Rugby?

I am a huge Rugby fan.!

[Howard_Ipp]

Hi Rugby

I have turned off the DSP played 10 or more multichannel DSP and hi res wav tracks.

No dropout

I then re enabled the EQ filters.

Interesting I still have no more dropout!

Something changed. Above my pay grade for sure.

Nonetheless the Processing Speed still drops to around 5 -6 with these files.

With such a powerful Computer that I use, this seems odd.

Is it the way the ROON software is written that it uses up enormous resources from these high res very large files when applying the EQ paramaters?

These EQ 's are are critical to my “happy” listening.

Can ROON relook at this issue.

Maybe the Intel I9 and similar CPU units can be configured to be more efficient when servicing ROON and its EQ parametres.

Would a new NUC from ROON have the same issue of very low processing speed with high res DSD multichannel files?

I think this issue should be addressed to make the ROON app more useable with all it’s amazing EQ capabilities. Obviously adding another EQ would stop the system in its tracks. That is a limited option then.

At present there is a serious mismatch in my Windows 11 server when applying EQ. Not good.

There is little difference from my earlier I9 chip when playing ROON it seems even though the overall speed of the computer is extremely high now.

Any Thoughts

Howard

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

Roon is mostly a single core using program.

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Howard_Ipp

Nonetheless the Processing Speed still drops to around 5 -6 with these files.

With such a powerful Computer that I use, this seems odd.

The indicator is NOT a way to judge performance unless it drops to ~1.

Storage not working in Titan [was: Moving from Nucleus (not +) to Titan]

@Suedkiez is correct. my post from before explains the reason why the Titan shows a lower number. If that number goes to the 1.0x-1.2x area, I’d be worried… but 1.9x on that CPU means the CPU has scaled itself down a lot and is not generating a lot of heat, but is still nearly twice as powerful as it needs to be to process that stream (to do other stuff). What does that mean? Are you hearing issues or not? 1.9x would imply zero issues with playback. I just checked the device I have here,…

[Arindal]

@Howard_Ipp

Server resides on Windows 11 I9-1300F,

That’s an i9-13900F?

@Howard_Ipp

Typically DSD 5/7 channels at DSD 64 or 128 .

Applying complex DSP operations on DSD128 MCH is particularly demanding in terms of single core computing power. As your i9 seems to be a model with lots of cores, naturally it might eat up a lot of the single core performance. But not too much if computing speed stays at x2 or higher.

If I recall it correctly some user has experienced issues with roon accidentally running the stream computing on an efficiency core, not a performance core. Is there any way to check which core is permantnly used by the stream and to which extent? Can you live-monitor all the cores?

[Howard_Ipp]

That is an interesting consideration.

Not sure how to check that but will investigate.

The Nucleus computer that is being presold, would that be more efficient than my configuration when playing multi channel files? And aren’t most current highend chips multi core? And could the ROON software be modified to adapt to multi core?

Curious.

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

You are connecting the Sigma to the PC via USB in your pics. What is the DAC on the other side of the Sigma?

[Howard_Ipp]

Is there any way to check which core is permantnly used by the stream and to which extent? Can you live-monitor all the cores?

I see how to do this in Task Manager. Now I can stream some Multi Channel Music and I suppose compare Something?
What do I look for when I see the 32 graphs.
2 examples without playing anything.

I’ll try this tonight.

Thanks

[Arindal]

@Howard_Ipp

What do I look for when I see the 32 graphs.
2 examples without playing anything.

32 graphs for 32 threads. Have no idea which are assigned to performance cores or efficiency cores. What did you do in the last 30 seconds before taking the first screenshot? If it was some computing-intense browsing operation in roon, e.g. compiling a composition or artist list, it is not uncommon to see 2 of the 32 threads peaking even with such a powerful CPU. Lots of operations in roon use all the power from a single thread (text searches are not among these as they utilize more threads), so does computing a complicated DSD stream.

Run two or 3 multichannel DSD128 streams with all DSP activated for a minute simultaneously and watch the core performance overview again.

[Howard_Ipp]

Compared CPU usage to different multichannel files.
The CPU allocates 2 cores Cores out of 32. All the other cores are noted as parked.
Generally uses “CPU 8/9 and 10”
Don’t believe this is an overworked CPU. Highest utilisation touches 7% when the processing speed is around 3x

Hopefully I will not experience dropout but I would have thought that the software developers would be able to pinpoint the issue based on my specs and full ethernet wired connections.

Thanks for your insight.

[Howard_Ipp]

Just a last gasp comment.
I disabled “Core Parking”
I will see if this is a solution as the info on this suggest improving audio processing by doing this.
Now all the Cores are available and unparked.

[Arindal]

@Howard_Ipp

Don’t believe this is an overworked CPU. Highest utilisation touches 7% when the processing speed is around 3x

Highest relative utilization of one of the single threads alone doing the main work, or summarized CPU use of all cores? If the former is the case, you should be on the safe side. The latter says nothing.

Keeping fingers crossed you would not experience any dropout problems again!

[Howard_Ipp]

Similar utilization when I tested earlier with parked cores.

Only one or two cores show serious activity, similar to the parked scenario.

Nonetheless a rigorous test with DSD 128 last night resulted in perfect streaming.
However as we all know Anything can change!!

Cheers

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

Repeating myself from above:

You are connecting the Sigma to the PC via USB in your pics. What is the DAC on the other side of the Sigma?

I ask because, the issue might not be the PC at all but the Sigma Streamer. Have you removed the streamer from the chain to see if there is a difference.

[Howard_Ipp]

Windows 11 ROON Server Ethernet cable directly via switch to Sigma, USB out to Exasound 68 multichannel DAC – Analogues out to processor

Windows 11 ROON Server Ethernet cable directly via switch to Bryston BDP3, USB out to BDA3 2 channel DAC – Analogues out to Processor.

The dropouts have even occurred on the 2 channel streamer, but very seldom

I really hope your insight with the Cores on the CPU is accurate. I read that sometimes with intense audio processing the cores may switch between each other which is milliseconds of delay when unparking a core that could cause the dropout (File loading Slowly – which may be a misnomer in this case). Now there is no core switching delay as they are never in a park state.

Thanks

This issue only really started with the ROON Upgrade not sure which one but the recent ones.

[daniel]

Hi @Howard_Ipp,
Thanks for writing in to let us know about this issue. Do you know how to access the Web Administration page for your Router? In the past we have seen these options help with other routers.

• Enabling IGMP Proxying
• Enabling IGMP Snooping
• Disabling Energy Efficient Ethernet
• Making sure that Multicast Router is enabled

Please let me know if any of those options help.

[Howard_Ipp]

Thank You I will use this info and check my Router (Unifi Dream machine)