Streaming failure with digital distortion on iOS devices (ref#C3NVGA)

Support
1

What best describes your playback issue?

· Music doesn't start when I press "Play"

What type of Zone is affected by this problem?

· *All of my Zones* are affected.

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?

· I have a *mesh network* with devices connected to multiples points

Your local network might need some re-arranging to support Roon.

· None of the suggestions have helped me. I'd like to submit a support request.

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

· Within minutes ago

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

· It’s my nucleus, All devices and as I said, I can’t even play music on my iPhone or iPad

Describe the issue

Not Only am I unable to stream to any devices I can’t even roon on my iPad or iPhone. Sometimes when I play a song, I get a few seconds of digital distortion, and then it stops, skips to the next song, does the same thing and keeps repeating

Describe your network setup

I have a 1 GB Internet service connected to an eero router

2

Hi @jaredhager,

Thank you for writing in and sharing your report! Let’s see if any of the following help you:

Reboot everything in sequence:

  1. Power down your Nucleus, eero routers/nodes, and all audio devices.
  2. Restart your modem and primary eero first.
  3. Once the eero network is fully up, power on the Nucleus, then the rest of your devices.
  • Verify that your Nucleus and control devices (iPhone/iPad) are connected to the same eero network (same SSID).

If the same issue occurs, could you please take a screenshot of your Signal Path window and share it here?

It’s worth reviewing your device settings for your selected zone as well - feel free to share a screenshot of your settings.

Mesh networks (like eero) can introduce timing or multicast issues that affect Roon.

Try temporarily simplifying your network:

  • Connect your Nucleus via Ethernet directly to the primary eero node (not a satellite).
  • Power off all eero satellites temporarily.
  • Test playback from your iPad or iPhone (connected via Wi-Fi to that same primary node).
If playback starts working normally, the issue likely involves multicast traffic or Roon Core discovery across mesh nodes.

We’ll be on standby for your reply, thank you! :raising_hands:

3

Hi @jaredhager,

Can you please share a timestamp of when you last encountered digital distortion with these endpoints (iPad/iPhone speaker output)?

Please also share a screenshot of the Signal Path within Roon when you’re playing to the iPhone/iPad and have these problems.

You mentioned you’re relying on an Eero mesh network in this setup. Eero systems sometimes allocate IP addresses across a wider subnett; this allows devices to use addresses across multiple Class C blocks. While this works just fine for general networking, Roon relies on multicast device discovery and expects devices to be within a single subnetwork. The result is that Roon can’t discover endpoints on the network, or frequently drops connection to them.

To restrict Eero to a single Class C block (so that all devices share the same network range and Roon traffic flows properly):

  1. Open the Eero app.
  2. Tap the Settings tab (⚙ icon).
  3. Select Network Settings → DHCP & NAT.
  4. If Eero is in Automatic mode, switch to Manual.
  5. Under Manual IP Settings, configure the following:
    • IP Address Prefix: 192.168.4.0
    • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    • IP Range: 192.168.4.2 – 192.168.4.254
  6. Save your changes and reboot your Eero network if prompted.
This configuration limits Eero to a single subnet (192.168.4.x), ensuring that all Roon devices can discover each other and communicate without multicast boundaries or routing interference.

You can read more specific recommendations here:

Please let us know if this helps. We’ll keep an eye out for the screenshot of Signal Path and the timestamp of the last dropout - our team has diagnostics ready to inspect on the backend.

Thank you!

4

Hello
Thanks for getting back to me. I just tried all this and it didn’t work. I’m not sure what a signal path window is. Can you please elaborate? In case I wasn’t clear in my email. Not only am I unable to stream to any of the devices, I cannot even play a song on my iPad or phone. It’s not connected to eero. Its hardwired and eero is not doing any dhcp management. I included a screen recording of what it’s doing.
I

5

Hey @jaredhager,

We’re not seeing any links to a screen recording, let me know if you’re able to re-upload it!

From a fresh Roon Server diagnostic report from your Nucleus, we see that your Nucleus is processing a fair amount of tracks during playback

If you attempt playback from the system output of one of your remote devices, do you see the same issue? If so, share the specific name of the track playing and we’ll take another look.

Thank you! :folded_hands:

6

Hi @jaredhager,

This thread has not received a response from you in some time. We wanted to reach out to ensure that you’d seen @benjamin’s post above.

The screenshot we’ve requested of the Signal Path refers to the widget within Roon diagraming your digital audio chain. Here’s an article explaining where to find the Signal Path:

We need this because you’ve reported digital distortion and other audible artifacts; in some cases, this means a stage of the Signal Path (sample converstion, transcoding) is configured incorrectly or otherwise misbehaving.

We’ll keep a lookout for a response. Without any new posts from the OP, this thread will close in another day. Thank you!

7

This topic was automatically closed after 14 hours. New replies are no longer allowed.