Tidal failing to play in Roon

Like this Tidal not working since their network issues [Solved - Changed DNS in Router]

I have exactly the same problem as the person.

It seems to be a Roon Tidal integration problem and not DNS issue as reported. The same wifi network allows me to play Tidal without issues from a computer browser but on the same wifi network Roon cannot play Tidal. If it was a DNS issue surely the problem would occur in both Roon and the computer.

This problem happens to me every few months or so and resolves itself after 2-4 weeks. During that time Tidal isn’t possible in Roon.

Can Roon tech department work on this issue and see if it can be as reliable as playback through browser?

Or at least a trick to reset any ISP locks on streaming? In the meantime I will try the cache deletion and change the router DNS (not sure if my ISP allows this or not).

Adjustment: A clue for this is that once I updated my Mac OS to Mohave, Roon starts working with Tidal again. I few minutes prior to OS update, Roon wouldn’t play Tidal.

And when Roon convolution is used, the issue seems worse, especially when streaming MQA files. No upsampling.

Hey @Leong_Kin_Foong1,

So we can better assist you, please provide a brief description of your current setup using this link as a guide.

Make sure to describe your network configuration/topology, including any networking hardware currently in use, so we can have a clear understanding of how your devices are communicating.

Definitely give those a try and let me know if there are any changes here!

Roon version - 1.5 (354)
Mac OS - Mojave 10.14
Macbook Pro Mid 2014, Processor 2.5G, i7, 16G memory used as Roon remote only.
Roon Server and Streamer - Pink Faun 2.16x, Arch Linux OS, music stored in internal SSD
Ethernet from WiFi Orbi router in room to Pink Faun Streamer

Issue as described earlier - Tidal cannot play in Roon without stopping. Usually takes 10-20s to start (if at all) and almost always hangs after 3-4s. Message saying network slow issues.

Tried deleting cache in /user/library/roon in Mac already - doesn’t help. Not sure how to delete in Arch Linux the cache.

Tried changing DNS to 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 in Orbi already - doesn’t help as yet (might take time?)

Playing Tidal in Macbook/Safari browser under the same WiFi network plays perfect and fast.

1 out of 20 attempts plays fine under Roon.

Hey @Leong_Kin_Foong1 — I appreciate the info!

Just to verify, this is the main Orbi router, correct? Not a satellite device? No switches or other networking hardware involved?

So we can better understand where this issue may be stemming from, I was hoping you’d be able to perform a test. If you temporarily use the Mac remote as your Core machine and play TIDAL content from there, does the same behavior occur?

Thanks!

Hi Dylan

No this is the satellite unit in the HiFi room. The main unit is beside the bridged modem from the ISP.

When using my Mac as the Core and playing Tidal from there the same delays occurs. The Mac is on the same Satelite Orbi. Tried both WiFi and cable and the delays still occur.

While the Mac is connected to data, playing Tidal from Safari browser is fine. Just not through Roon.

Thanks for the info, @Leong_Kin_Foong1!

Can you try connecting either the Mac or Pink Faun Core to the main Orbi router and see if the same behavior occurs?

Good idea. Tried connection from Macbook to the main Orbi unit by ethernet and Roon/Tidal still can’t play properly. Takes 20s to get a connection, another 10s for track to play and hangs after 5-6s with error message network slow.

But Tidal on same Macbook via Safari plays fine under this connection. Could it be that the browser version of Tidal is better able to handle weaker signals than Roon/Tidal?

Thanks for giving that a try, @Leong_Kin_Foong1!

So we can further troubleshoot possible networking issues, I was hoping we could try a few more things with both Core machines, as well as look into settings on the Netgear Orbi router.

Mac Core

  • Is there any active firewall or antivirus? If so, can you try disabling and see if there is any change?
  • Can you try using Google DNS and see if there is any increase in performance?

Pink Faun Core

  • Are you able to connect to files on the Pink Faun over the network? If so you should be able to use a Windows or Mac device to navigate to the Roon database folders and clear the cache the same way you did on the Mac.
  • Does connecting the Pink Faun over Ethernet yield any changes?
  • Can you try using Google DNS and see if there is any increase in performance?

Orbi Router/Network

  • In your Orbi router settings, you should see a checkbox for Disable IGMP Proxying . Can you confirm what the current status of this checkbox is? If it is checked, does unchecking it change the behavior you’re seeing at all?
  • Can you confirm what your download speeds are for your network?

Thanks!

Mac Core

  • No antivirus nor firewall (during tests)
  • Tried with Google and CloudFlare DNS already. The setting is in the Orbi router so once set, it applies to both Mac and Pink Faun

Pink Faun Core

  • Managed to delete the cache in the Pink Faun Roon using terminal commands. Doesn’t help.
  • Pink Faun always on ethernet to date. It doesn’t have WiFi
  • Tried with Google and CloudFlare DNS already.

Orbi Router settings

  • The checkbox for “Disable IGMP Proxying” was checked. I unchecked it and tried, doesn’t help.
  • Download speeds as per SpeedTest.net on my iPhone on the same network reads now: 129Mbps download and upload 29Mbps. That’s a good reading, usually not as fast ranging down to as low as 50+ only. It varies. Also this is the reading to my ISP, but perhaps not to the Tidal server.

Thanks for helping.

Thank you for giving those tests a go, @Leong_Kin_Foong1!

I think the next step here is to enable some diagnostics on your account so our technical staff can get some more insight into what’s going on here.

However, before I enable this feature, I’d like to ask for your help ensuring we gather the right information.

First, can you please reproduce the issue once more and note the time at which the error occurs. Then respond here with that time (please include which Core you were using), and I’ll make sure we review the diagnostics related to that timestamp.

Hi Dylan

On Sat afternoon, Roon starts playing with Tidal normally again. According to my ISP, they didn’t do anything. So turns out nothing wrong with my Orbi setup.

So probably it comes down to Roon being sensitive to fluctuations of streaming speed. More so than computer browsers playing Tidal which doesn’t have a problem under the same conditions. This is the key clue. What’s the difference between Roon and a browser playing Tidal?

If you still want me to send data please let me know. If it’s useful to find out why Roon has this problem, I’d be only too glad to help. I hope you folks at Roon can solve this as it occurs too often (around once per 3 months or so) and makes me want to quit using Roon/Tidal as my preferred source of music.