Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)
Roon 1.7 Build 667 on macOS 10.14.6; ‘Late 2014’ iMac (specs here) with 32 GB RAM; 375+ GB free space on my all-SSD hard drive available.
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
No local network except Airport, which I don’t use for Roon or audio. All my FLAC files kept locally/internally in ~/Music on my boot volume’s HD.
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
I direct Roon’s output (using the latest version of Rogue Amoeba’s Sound Source) to one of:
- the iMac’s built in (headphone) output, using its own sound card
- the iMac’s built in USB bus via a ‘repeater’ USB cable to my Parasound Halo P6/A23 stereo system
- via short USB to a Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD DAC via balanced XLR cables to my Parasound Halo P6/A23 stereo system
- Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones via a Dragonfly Cobolt DAC to my Parasound Halo P6/A23 stereo system
The Problem
Still in the trial period - and loving Roon 99% of the time.
Except for one major flaw for which no amount of Googling or searching here seems to find a solution. It’s kind of a ‘show-stopper’.
For any file at any time I experience - say once every 30 minutes, sometimes more often, sometimes less - total distortion of the sound. Not louder, just fuzzy, indistinct and very ‘wrong’. It just comes - usually once a track has been playing for a couple of minutes:
- Stuttering
- instant fading/returning of sound with a ‘hiss’
- as though the ‘signal’ were being dropped - but this is all local source, not streaming, so not a network issue
- Dropout
- It seems from the corrupted sound (which I cannot record in Audio Hijack, strangely enough!) as though the track is skipping. But it isn’t. The playback head continues as normal.
I’m sure my description is a poor one of a phenomenon which most of you will know immediately and have an immediate solution so… I am new here
Sometimes I can remedy this by replaying - sometimes it’s necessary to replay from the track’s start.
I’ve read other posters here in threads which are now closed get success from changing buffer settings. My Audio > Advanced Setting lacks those.
Frankly, if I can’t fix this, my music is effectively unlistenable-to and I cannot subscribe to Roon - which I really want to do because it’s far superior to anything else of its kind, IMHO.
Help, please…
TIA!