Using ROON off-line

Roon Software Discussion
1

I have a house with very spotty Internet connection—a DSL connection at the end of a very long, dead-end road. In the evening when my neighbors get on the web, the Internet slows to a crawl and ROON starts acting up—songs sputter, or drop for several seconds. Is there a way to use ROON off-line, or is there a setup that would give me more stable music playing?

2

Is yours a wireless setup?

3

More questions:
Does it happen for local files or is it Tidal which gives you trouble? The streaming will suffer from bad internet - local files should play. Roon itself could live 30 days without internet (but of course will not identify files or fetch new metadata).

4

Unlike a cable connection, a DSL connection shares bandwidth with others within a certain locality. In this case, as you’ve observed, your neighbors. Probably a phone company subscription? Notoriously shitty.

I guess you can’t get cable.

Still, should only effect Tidal play, but not your local music files. If playback is bad with your local files then something else is wrong.

5

You have that reversed. DOCSIS is shared. DSL is a dedicated line back to the local switch.

AJ

3 Likes
6

Yep, you’re right, I reversed it. DSL sucks, not because of shared bandwidth, but because of speed vs. DOCSIS.

7

Thanks for the feedback.

  • The problem happens frequently when trying to play TIDAL, which I expected. It also happens at night when I try to play music stored on my local hardrive. I thought the latter was due to ROON having to get info on the music, but perhaps I misunderstand.
    *I am getting download speeds of 1 to 1.5 Mbps during the day, and it drops to 0.5 or lower at night.
  • I am running ROON on a Mac Mini, connected to an AirPort Extreme via Ethernet cable. Playing music on a Naim Mu-so, connected to an Airport Express via Ethernet cable. Airport Express is wirelessly connected to the AirPort Extreme LAN.
8

Surprised you can do anything.

I have been rightfully corrected by @WiWavelength, it probably isn’t a bandwidth problem.

Don’t know if this is part of your problem, but I’ve read other people on this forum complain about Apple WiFI.

Tagging @support for you.

9

The Internet provider has been promising an upgrade to FIOS for a while. Fingers crossed. In the meantime I largely use it as an opportunity to be off the grid (it is a second home). But I want to listen to music.

Glad to hear things should work for playing local files. I will think about stringing some Ethernet cable to connect the Airport Express with the AirPort Extreme. It sounds like that might help.