yes still wired. The dacs are just in use on the laptop, i tried the chord to make sure it wasnt the meridian.
I can see the wired network connection cross itself out i.e. momentarily disconnect), and then 1/2 a second later there is a music drop out from roon. Any slightly longer drop out, the music stops and I get the “an audio file loading slowly” message.
I’ve gone wireless now on the laptop to see if it’s related to the wired connection laptop -> switch -> router.
If that’s ok then it’s either the ethernet adapter in the laptop (or settings related to it), or something with the physical connection (which is laptop via wire to a wall socket, wire through the wall to another wall socket, wire from that wall socket to the switch). could be any part of that wired connection.
i’ve tried swapping the wire from the laptop to the wall socket, then uninstalling, reinstalling the realtek adapter, updating drivers etc so now bypassing that entirely. just being methodical.
at this stage i dont think it’s anything to do with the roon software.