Description Of Issue
I have two audio zones/networked audio devices connected to my Roon Server. One via Ethernet, the other via USB.
Initially, i could choose zones, I.e., listen via Ethernet or USB, and have both running simultaneously. After a short while, the USB zone disappeared. To get it back I needed to reinstall the Roon Server software. Afterwards, the USB zone reappeared but skips any file I ask it to play. It allows me to press play but just skips to the end.
I then removed the Ethernet connection and rebooted the devices. After the reboot, the USB connected audio device would play files. I then reconnected the Ethernet cable and both zones workedfor a while. However, the USB device soon began to skip files again. As an FYI, it skips all files, network and local library and occurs when the PS Audio Bridge is connected directly to the router or to the second Ethernet port on the Antipodes box. Is this expected behavior?
This doesn’t seem right to me, you should be able to have both DACs connected and visible in Roon. Can you please check to see if the behavior is the same if you use another Core for Roon? E.g. if you install Roon on a PC, are you able to communicate properly with both DACs?
To be clear, it’s one DAC and two Roon Ready endpoints.
One of the endpoints is in the DAC (Ethernet), the other in the server (USB).
The DAC is managing a USB and an Ethernet input
This said, I’ll install a new server on a PC and see what happens.
I might not have done a good job. To further clarify:
The DAC is a PS Audio Directstream with the Perfectwave Bridge II card. It’s the bridge that acts as the Roon Ready renderer. This accepts an Ethernet connection, through which it gets files networked files.
The server is an Antipodes DX3. It has a Roon Ready renderer card in it that connects to the DAC via USB. Obviously, it gets its files directly from the hard drive in the server portion of the DX3.
Both the Ethernet cable and the USB cable are connected to the PS Audio DAC, The USB is going to the DAC itself, the Ethernet goes to the added Bridge II Roon Ready renderer card which then communicates to the DAC.
Basically, you are expecting to play 2 different audio streams (or the same) to the PS Audio via 2 different inputs: Ethernet and USB. And then be able to switch between two different inputs on the PS Audio.
The DirectStream DAC only accepts one input at a time and you have to tell the DirectStream which input that is. So, if you tell the DirectStream you want to use the Bridge II card as the input, all the other inputs are disabled, including USB.
It sounds like this could be the case here, I suspect that you can only use one of the inputs at a time if they are both connected to the same DAC.
Both the PS Audio and Antipodes are Roon Ready endpoints as you mentioned, would it not be possible for them to have separate Ethernet connections to your Router? Then they will show up as separate zones, unless I’m missing something here, although this might be an issue:
A screenshot of your Roon Settings -> Audio tab may also help here.