TIDAL media is loading slowly - dropouts

[john (John Iburg)]

Hello @Adam_Casey,

Thanks for providing the logs, it makes troubleshooting much easier.

I had the tech team take a look, it appears that the “slowness” is not from Tidal’s servers to your Roon Core, but from your Roon Core to your audio driver.

04/03 15:02:23 Trace: [25 + 26] [zoneplayer/raat] Endpoint RME HDSPe MADI FX State Changed: Ready => Playing
04/03 15:02:23 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Playing"}
04/03 15:02:23 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [8] {"status":"Success","time":7912026000}
04/03 15:02:24 Debug: [prebuffer] sleeping in read -- this isn't good
04/03 15:02:24 Info: [stats] 4039mb Virtual, 2835mb Physical, 2280mb Managed, 2802 Handles, 128 Threads
04/03 15:02:27 Trace: [25 + 26] [HighQuality 68.4x, 16/44 TIDAL FLAC => 24/48] [2% buf] [PLAYING @ 0:03/4:21] Backsliding - Hannah Cameron
04/03 15:02:29 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":11503}
04/03 15:02:30 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":24000}
04/03 15:02:30 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":24000}
04/03 15:02:31 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":24000}
04/03 15:02:31 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":24000}
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":24000}
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Dropout","samples":23520}
04/03 15:02:32 Warn: [25 + 26] [zoneplayer/raat] Too many dropouts (>3s dropped out in the last 30s). Killing stream
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [25 + 26] [zoneplayer/raat] too many dropouts. stopping stream
04/03 15:02:32 Warn: Track Stopped Due to Slow Media
04/03 15:02:32 Info: [25 + 26] [zoneplayer] advance didn't change the track. returning short read
04/03 15:02:32 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream] All streams were disposed
04/03 15:02:32 Info: Alert: TIDAL: tidal_media_slow
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [25 + 26] [zoneplayer/raat] Endpoint RME HDSPe MADI FX State Changed: Playing => Prepared
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] SENT [9]{"request":"end_stream"}
04/03 15:02:32 Debug: [raat/tcpaudiosource] disconnecting
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [7] {"status":"Ended"}
04/03 15:02:32 Trace: [RME HDSPe MADI FX] [raatclient] GOT [9] {"status":"Success"}
04/03 15:02:32 Info: Alert: TIDAL: tidal_media_slow
04/03 15:02:32 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream -> endpoint] All streams were disposed

What we see here is that Roon is attempting to fill the audio buffer but the audio driver is struggling to keep up.

Would it be possible for you to attempt playback to a remote zone from your current Roon Core? And example of this would be running Roon in Roon Remote mode on a laptop and playing to the System Output zone of the laptop.

-John

[Mark_Apperly]

Hi Adam,sorry for the late reply.Since changing DNS, Tidal through Roon has not missed a beat,had it going all afternoon sorting stuff in the garage.Any luck with you?Which DNS have you tried?

[Adam_Casey]

Hi @john. Ah, of course, I send Roon to my MacBook ‘system output’ and also to an Audiocast and neither of these have any playback issues. I’m annoyed that I hadn’t thought of that, but, I listen less regularly on these devices. So, what can I do to improve my playback to my RME HDSPe MADI FX/PCIe? This sound device plays in my main treated control room with my big studio monitors (and is connected to my core system which is connected via ethernet). I’ve been playing Roon through this same audio interface for over 2 years without an issue. Why is there a problem now?

[Adam_Casey]

Hi Mark,

I changed to the Google DNS. Unfortunately, I’m still having issues, but, it looks like they’ve isolated it to a problem Roon is having with communicating with my audio interface. I’m not having any issues with playback on my wireless devices that play Roon remotely; only an issue with my core system playing back! How weird! Hoping they help me get to the bottom of it.

[Mark_Apperly]

Reading through replies really sounds like it’s a problem caused by the latest update,considering you haven’t had a problem for a couple of years.I’ll keep following your progress and best of luck,cheers,Mark

[Mark_Apperly]

Forgot to add Google DNS didn’t work for me,did you try Cloudfare?

[Adam_Casey]

John: now that I know that Roon is having trouble communicating with my audio interface I began thinking about how I could make the audio interface more accomodating to Roon and realised there is a buffer size I can adjust in the audio interface settings, and, I had it set at a very fast rate (128 samples) as I have been working with a midi setup between listening to music on Roon (I run a recording studio). I’ve now lowered it significantly (4096 sampes) and, voila, the playback issue seems to be gone! In fact, everything is just faster in Roon now, including response times when stopping and starting (they were lagging previously, whereas now, when I hit play/stop, it has an instantaneous effect to the ear). I’ll keep an eye/ear on this over the next few days, but, I think the problem has been solved. Thanks for pointing out it was a communication issue with the interface as I would never have figured out the buffer size would have such a big impact on Roon.

[Mark_Apperly]

Voila,fingers crossed!!!

[Adam_Casey]

Yes: after all that, it was something I’d changed. I don’t always work with midi in the studio, but, I’ve been working with it more extensively lately due to a few theatre commisions I’ve been working through. So, my buffer size has been set to a faster rate that usual. It’s so nice to feel Roon running efficiently again.

[noris]

Great to hear the issue is resolved with the buffer size change @Adam_Casey. Hope you have yourself a wonderful weekend and let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help!