Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Roon Rock on Intel 8th gen NUC --> Sonore microRendu --> Mytek Brookln+ DAC
Description Of Issue
I have encountered connection issues with both my Roon Remote Control points since I have upgraded my routers from TP-Link to Cisco. I have a Cisco WS-C2960C-8TC-L switch which is connected by ethernet cable to my Sky Q Hub router, my Roon Rock NUC, my Sonore microRendu, my Sky Q TV box and a number of other devices including TV and Bluray player. I use 3 devices as Roon Control points - a Windows 10 PC which is connected to my network over ethernet and an iPad Air and Windows 10 laptop which connect to my network over WiFi.
The issue I have is that whenever I connect my Sky Q TV box to the Cisco Switch, I almost immediately lose connection to Roon core from Roon Remote on both my iPad and Windows laptop. As soon as I unplug the Sky Q box from the switch, connection to Roon Core is immediately restored to both my remote devices. This issue only affects my remote devices over WiFi. Connectivity to Roon Core from my ethernet connected Windows 10 PC is fine whether or not the Sky Q box is connected to the switch.
I have 2 cisco switches, and this issue occurs irrespective of which switch I use. I also have 2 consumer type switches (TP-Link) and connectivity is fine on these even when the Sky Q TV box is connected alongside the Roon NUC.
It has been suggested that the problem is possibly related to the IGMP version on Rock. Do you think that this is likely to be the case? It has also been suggested that if I could get my Roon Core (Roon Rock) to work in IVP6 then this might resolve my issue. Is this possible - I can’t find any way to do this - or do you have any other suggestions?
I should add that my Cisco switches have been factory reset and so perhaps should not be considered to be ‘managed’ switches.
It is always been suggested to use standard switches and not managed switches. Most issues have to do with getting settings set correctly on the managed switches.
I have two 2960 in my setup and have no discovery issues, but I don’t use sky. I have read that sky’s system can cause issues though on networks. One such post said it brought his entire network down with its meshing tech when it was all setup via wired something to do with spanning tree.
I should have stated in my original post that my Cisco switches have been factory reset to default settings and so probably cannot really be considered to be ‘managed’.
Thanks for the detailed description, it’s always helpful to have a good overview of the topology before recommending troubleshooting steps.
My instinct here would be that the Sky Q TV system is breaking multicast routing on the Cisco switch, and I would focus my initial efforts in troubleshooting this.
I assume the Sky Q TV is an IPTV system. IPTV relies on multicast traffic and IGMP to route data across the network. IGMP snooping is intended to prevent the multicast traffic from flooding the network. Without IGMP snooping, all multicast traffic would be sent to every device on the network.
Looking at the Cisco switch in question, I found this bug report on the Cisco website that may explain the symptoms you are seeing.
The complicated nature of multicast routing is why we recommend unmanaged switches for use with Roon. Roon requires a network with properly functioning multicast to discover endpoints, remotes, and cores on the network. Managed switches often come with default settings that are geared towards large networks that require client and VLAN isolation, working directly against our goal of easy device discoverability on your local home network.
Thanks for the reply. However, I have been informed by someone on another forum who knows a lot more about these things than I do that the Sky Q TV box does not use multicast for TV. This person has a Sky Q TV box which is working perfectly with his 2 Cisco 2960 switches and Roon core (including control from an iPad) whilst both his Roon core and the SQY Q box are attached to his Cisco switch.
The difference between our two setups is that I am using Roon Rock installed on an Intel NUC, whereas he has Roon Core installed on a Mac. This leads me to believe that the underlying issue may be potentially due to a difference between the Mac installation of Roon Core and the installation of Roon Rock which is installed on my NUC.
@hmack I imagine your not but are using using a fixed ip at all for your ROCK, just to rule out the sky box is not using the same IP address as the ROCK.
I don’t have access to my set up at the moment and I can’t remember off the top of my head. However, if that was the issue, then I would expect the problem to be present when I use my TP-Link switch, and there is no problem when I use that. I want to continue using the Cisco switch primarily because I am one ethernet port short in this particular toom when I use the TP-Link (only 5 ports).
Yeah I didn’t think it would be the issue but worth a stab. Did you notice any increase in sq with the Cisco that they all go on about on the Naim forum? I really struggled to notice any difference to the previous dumb cisco switch I had.
I can’t say that I have, although I haven’t really tried to compare the two properly from a sq perspective.
I am also going to switch from TP-Link to another Cisco switch on my main system (Linn Klimax 2nd gen), and I may try to compare the two on this more revealing system. I’m not expecting to hear a difference let alone a significant difference in sound quality, but you never know. My primary reason for changing is that I have run out of ports in both rooms and I thought I might as well have a go with the more robust (and 3 extra port) Cisco switches. I hadn’t anticipated the annoying Roon remote issue when using my WiFi control devices (iPad and Windows 10 laptop) though.
Hope it works in the main system better then. Be interesting to know if you hear anything. I do feel the whole fascination with these switches from Naim crew is hyperbole myself.
As a matter of interest, I have just today replaced the TP Link switch connecting my main system with a slightly newer version (white model) of the Cisco 2960 switch.
Following the switch change, my main system is sounding particularly good.
I guess it is possible that this is down to RF suppression of some sort or possibly due the fact that this has removed a (presumably) cheap external power supply with the standard TP-Link switch that was in place prior to this. I have to say that I didn’t notice any similar sound quality differences when I installed a Cisco switch in my second system. Alternatively it could just be that listening conditions in general are particularly good today. Who knows - but I’m very happy with the result? and in any case the move to a Cisco switch was carried out primarily to provide me with at least one additional ethernet port, and on this particular front the Cisco switch more than meets its requirement - all for a fairly inexpensive £60 from Ebay.