Ok. . Having you core on WiFi can lead to issues regardless of whether it’s a local DAC to the core or other endpoints. WiFi is not good for server based product as latency via WiFi is the biggest killer, it’s not all about network speed. WiFi access points cannot communicate both ways at the same time like wired networks can they are not full duplex, also only one WiFi device can send and receive data at the same time. Even though the switching between them appears like it’s instant it’s not. Also every body else’s WiFi in the immediate area is also trying to talk and your WiFi is constantly picking up these broadcasts. This eats into WiFi airtime this is the crux of where things start to go wrong. You may have upwards of 10+ local WiFi access points all shouting out here I am, crowding the limited airtime available. This all has an effect on Roon as it needs constant access . So if your pulling a source from say Tidal and trying to send it to your local DAC on the core it might be ok but there is no guarantee as Roon is also pulling other data as well as your music stream and communicating with other endpoints whether they are in use or not. Bandwidth and utilisation (airtime useage) go up and down all the time all day so the effectiveness of WiFi is never guaranteed. If your own music is not on the core and is on another device then you Likley to run into more trouble playing those as it has more wireless hops to get to you. Roon doesn’t have a huge buffer so any blips or delays can cause problems.
You can minimise this by doing some detective work to identify what your neighbours channels are and try to set them to different ones, much easier for 5ghz due to it has more available. Dont use auto channels under any circumstances and if you have multiple WiFi access points ensure each one is on its own channels and don’t use overlapping channels. Avoid 2ghz for Roon at all costs as its so over utilised it’s just not worth it unless your in a rural location.
