Tidal Stream Stutter [Resolved - Bypassed Roon Core traffic through UTM]

[Gary_Switzer (Switz)]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

OS: Debian 4.9.228-1 (2020-07-05) x86_64 GNU/Linux
Core: Roon 1.7 (build 610)

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Wired Ethernet Network, D-Link DGS-1210 switch

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Bluesound Node2
Bluesound Pulse Soundbar 2i
Raspberry Pi with HiFiBerry DAC+
Raspberry Pi with Allo Boss DAC
All connected via ethernet. All using on-board DAC.

Description Of Issue

Hi Fellow Roon users and Support,

I’ve had good success with the above Roon setup for some years now. However, just recently the core has developed a stutter when playing some Tidal tracks. The best example of this is John Caffery’s “Eddie and the Cruisers” sound track. When I play track 8, “Heat of the Night” the first three seconds of the track is repeated before the track continues to play. Other Tidal tracks have similar stutters and dropouts.

The problem can be reproduced 100% of the time, at the same place on ALL endpoints.

I have no issues when playing my local library or when streaming internet radio.

It’s not the network or the Tidal source data stream. If I play the same track through Tidal’s app. it plays flawlessly. Definitely has to be a problem on the core! Core machine is dedicated to Roon and is not resource CPU, network or disk bound.

Does that track play for properly for you? Suggestions?

Thanks

[zappyroon]

Hi Gary - plays just fine for me via ROCK

[nuwriy]

Hello @Gary_Switzer, I noticed that you have the D-Link DGS-1210 switch, which is a PoE managed switch? In our networking best practices, we generally recommend against managed switches in your setup. For a test, would you be able to bypass the switch temporarily and change to using Google or Cloudflare DNS and see if you get better results?

[Gary_Switzer (Switz)]

Hi @nuwriy, I swapped the D-Link managed switch out for an unmanaged (dumb) switch. I also set DNS on the core to Google 8.8.8.8. Same results as described earlier.

There have been no hardware changes since long before this problem started. I’m certain it’s a S/W problem on the core. I have tried re-installing roon server and it’s dependencies - still no joy.

Gary

[Gary_Switzer (Switz)]

Solved my problem! I needed to bypass Roon Core traffic through my UTM (Untangle). Port 80 traffic to Tidal was being slowed just enough to cause the stutter. Strange that it was never a problem in the past, maybe a recent Untangle update mucked me up.