Roon server problems after transfer to a new Mac

Support
1

I have replaced my Mac Pro 2019 with an Apple Studio M4Max/64Gb/4Tb.

I have various problems since I have moved the Roon server on the new Mac .

I have a Naim NDX2 to play my music and I have a lot of connection loss es.

Many times, the roon app stops playing and cannot find any music pl ayer .

I have to restart the app and sometime reboot the co mput er.

When I boot the computer, I always have the file lock error message.

2

Hello @Marc_Lacroix ,

Can you please let us know the exact local time + date when the issue next occurs? We’ll enable logging for your account.

What does your network setup look like? Please list the model/manufacturer of the router, any switches, and additional networking gear. Is your Mac and Naim connected via Ethernet?

3

Mac Studio - linksys switch 1 - > links’s switch 2

                         linksys switch 2 - Alien router - internet

naim NDX2 → linksys switch 2

4

Roon server stop playing at 12:50

5

Hey @Marc_Lacroix,

Thanks for the timestamp, that was exactly what we needed. I pulled diagnostics from your Mac Studio and found the 12:50 event, plus a few more right behind it at 12:53 and 12:56.

Here’s what’s happening. At 12:50 your Roon Server didn’t just lose the NDX 2, it lost everything at the same moment. Qobuz went offline, our push service dropped, and the account server became unreachable, all within two seconds of each other, and then the NDX 2 connection was killed after 10 seconds of silence. That pattern tells us the problem is in the Mac’s networking, not in Roon or in the Naim.

There are two separate things going on, and I’d like to tackle them one at a time.

  1. Your Mac is presenting three different networks to Roon
Your Mac Studio currently has virtual network adapters active alongside your real Ethernet connection:
  • 192.168.144.173 your actual network (Ethernet)
  • 192.168.236.1 a virtual adapter
  • 172.16.62.1 a second virtual adapter
These usually come from virtualization software, Docker Desktop, Parallels, VMware Fusion, or UTM. Do you have any of those installed? It's very likely one of them came across with your Migration Assistant transfer, which fits the timing of when your problems started.

The issue is that Roon Server advertises itself on all three addresses. When your Roon app or your NDX 2 goes looking for the server, it can latch onto one of the virtual addresses that leads nowhere, which is exactly the “cannot find any music player” symptom you’re describing. We can also see Roon picking the virtual network for some of its audio services instead of your real one.

First, try quitting the virtualization software completely (make sure it isn’t set to launch at login), restart your Mac, and let us know. That’s the change most likely to stop the app losing your zones.

  1. Something on your network is stalling traffic every 30 seconds

Separately, we’re seeing warnings about round-trip time to your NDX 2. Normally on a wired connection this should be under 1 millisecond. Yours is under 1 ms most of the time, but then spikes to 100–500 ms in a very regular rhythm, roughly every 30 seconds. Those spikes are what’s causing playback to stop mid-track.

I checked whether the Mac itself was stalling, and it wasn’t, the Mac is healthy during those spikes. So this is happening on the wire or at the Naim end.

This is where I’d like to understand your setup a bit better. If I’m reading your diagram right:

Internet — AmpliFi Alien — Linksys switch 2 — Linksys switch 1 — Mac Studio
 |
 NDX 2

So traffic between the Mac and the Naim crosses both switches. A few questions:

  1. What are the exact model numbers of the two Linksys switches?
  2. Is there any chance of a second cable creating a loop? For example, is either switch connected to the AmpliFi and to the other switch, or are there two cables running between the switches? Most consumer switches have no protection against this, and a loop produces exactly the traffic pattern we're seeing. This is the most important one to check.
  3. Is the AmpliFi Alien on its own, or do you have mesh points as well? If either switch connects back to a mesh point over Wi-Fi rather than to the router directly, that alone would explain it.
  4. Is the NDX 2 definitely on Ethernet, with its Wi-Fi turned off in the Naim app?
  5. Is Wi-Fi turned off on the Mac Studio? It was connected to your network alongside Ethernet earlier this month, which can cause its own problems.
A quick diagnostic that would tell us a lot: temporarily plug both the Mac and the NDX 2 into the same switch, or better, both directly into the AmpliFi, and see whether playback stabilizes. That single test would narrow this down considerably.

Thank you!

6

Thank you for your feedback.

I will verify this during the next few days.

I just solve another issue with an external disk drive sleep mode.

This drive contains my music library.

7

Hi @Marc_Lacroix,

Logs specifically show the server-side buffer overrunning when you’re streaming high-resolution to the Naim NDX2.

07/19 20:07:01 Warn: [zoneplayer/raat] Error during streaming: System.Exception: serverside buffer overrun
 at Sooloos.Broker.Transport.RaatTcpAudioSource.SendFrames(IPEndPoint ep, Int32 stream_id, Int64 streamsample, Double buffersize, StreamFormat format, Double gain, Double peak, Byte[] buf, Int32 nsamples)
 at Sooloos.Broker.Transport.RaatZonePlayer.<>c__DisplayClass34_0.<_StartStream4>b__1()

The endpoint isn’t consuming data to drain the buffer as quickly as Roon Server is filling the buffer.

The simplest test here is to hardwire the NDX2 and the Roon Server machine to the same router, bypassing all the managed switches.

Alternatively, just try a different port on the Linksys switch 1 in your topology above. Is there a port that is listed 1000M or above on the switch?

8

I have replaced the linksys switch with a Unifi flex mini

9

The virtual adapters are created by VMWare Fusion. I tried to change this, but VMWare always re-create these adapters.

10

I have another issue with my new computer.

The external drive always goes in sleep mode.

I have entered the command sudo pmset -a disk sleep 0.

Unfortunatly, the drive is still going in seep mode.

My music library is on this external drive.

11

Problème solve.

I have reformated the drive in APFS format