Slow audio file loading and playback failures on Windows client (ref#BMXRX2)

[Eraklis_Diakou (Eraklis D)]

What best describes your playback issue?

· Music stops playing unexpectedly

What type of Zone is affected by this problem?

· *Network Zones* are affected.

Is the affected network Zone connected with Ethernet or WiFi?

· Ethernet

Does the issue affect all file formats?

· The issue affects *multiple/all* file formats.

Does the issue happen with local library music, streaming service music, or both?

· *Both streaming and local* *library* music are affected.

Do you encounter any playback errors with the "System Output" Zone?

· The System Output has the same problem as my other Zone.

Do you have a complex network setup?

· Both the device and RoonServer are connecting to a *single router*

Please try rebooting your router.

· No, I'm still having trouble

Do you have an approximate timestamp of when the issue last occurred?

· It was at about 2:30pm. Of the tracks skipped I believe Missile Launch by Hans Zimmer and Forbidden Friendship by John Powell were amongst them.

What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?

· Windows 11 PC, gigabit ethernet, Schiit magni/modi stack USB

Describe the issue

Audio file is loading slowly.
Too many playback failures, stopping playback.

The problem:
When restarting the roon client app after a few minutes roon will suddenly stop and start skipping tracks in attempt to load but eventually stops all playback due to too many failures. I mostly experience this on a local device and not on Roon ARC

Specs:
Roon server is running on a old custom gaming pc running a Ryzen 1600af, 16gb ram on Ubuntu server and connected via gigabit ethernet direct to router. The music library is connected via a NAS (TrueNAS Scale, 16c/32t 96gb ram 8TB used storage). Both are connected to a Unifi UDM SE router, the NAS has a link aggregation setup between 3 gigabit ports going into a unmanaged switch.
Client device is a Windows system running a i9-9900k 16gb ram with gigabit ethernet into the same switch as the NAS.

So far from what I can tell the issue is happening mostly on the Windows client system I have been running the same playlist on a macbook air (with not optimal WiFi connection at that) and it has been running with no stops so far. That said I'm guessing we can narrow down to the Windows pc which seems odd to me given it has the stronger network connection unless I have missed something?

Describe your network setup

Router: Unifi UDM SE, Roon Server: gigabit eth direct to router, NAS: link aggregation to unmanaged switch, Windows PC: gigabit eth unmanaged switch, Mac: WiFi (UniFi AP 6 lite/nano hd)

[noris]

Hi @Eraklis_Diakou ,

Thanks for reaching out and letting us know those details. We’ve enabled diagnostics mode for your account and we are seeing some clock sync errors, usually these kinds of errors happen when Roon can’t communicate properly with the device due to some kind of network blockage to start playback. Have you noticed the issue only happen with the Schiit zone, or does it happen with other zones such as System Output on the Windows device as well? Are there any firewalls or network filtering tools on the Windows you can try to temporarily disable to see if it helps? How often do you usually get the errors?

[Eraklis_Diakou (Eraklis D)]

Thank you for the response @noris,

This had occurred with both Schiit and System Output zones but did not when playing back to external network zones such as sonos. After investigating I found that I had forgotten about an overlay network vpn (tailscale in this case) that I had active. This wasn’t something I would expect to cause issues but there is another node on the same network that is advertising the same subnet that roon is using. Perhaps this causes weird behavior with audio transport?
I tried for a few minutes earlier today with tailscale disabled on that Windows system and so far it worked but I’ll use it a bit more to verify that it was the problem.