I’ve written before about Roon dropouts…every couple of minutes there’s a ;slight pause in the music using Roon. I am a lifetime subscriber but have switched to another platform—Innuous Sense— because the problem with Roon is so annoying. Innuous Sense works perfectly. To add to my Roon annoyance , when I’ve written to Roon about the problem , I either get no response or a very delayed Response—several weeks later—with no solution . I would like to use Roon but feel like I wasted my money on the lifetime subscription for a defective product. You should either refund my money or help fix it.
It would help if you could be a little more specific about the issues you are experiencing. Also details of your Roon Core, network setup, audio devices and the size of your library.
I’ve done that before! I have an Innuous Zenith 3 with a Phoenix reclocker and a matrix audio spdif 2 and PS Audio Directstream dac. My library is about 21,000 albums. The problem: every couple of minutes, when using Roon, there’s a momentary drop out.
You should store information about a subscriber’s system so they don’t have to provide it over and over.
Stephen, you probably are the primary cause of your own issues. You choose an audiophile nonsense Innuos server with an intentionally underpowered CPU and 8 GB RAM. That is inadequate to run Roon with a 20,000+ album library. Moreover, your posting history indicates that you run this server sometimes or always on Wi-Fi. These are red flags.
AJ
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
6
So, do I understand properly that you take the USB output of the Zenith Mk3 and feed it into the reclocker, then take the USB output of that and feed it into the Matrix Audio box and feed the S/PDIF output of that into the DAC?
That’s a pretty complex system to integrate. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or the other of those elements isn’t performing up to snuff. Why not feed the output of the Zenith into the USB input of the DAC?
You’re correct idc- it’s a complex system. I should have mentioned that I’ve had Roon for over 3 years and, until recently, it sounded great. The drop out problem just began a few months ago. Have no idea why but it’s obviously not the Innuous Zenith or the size of my library. I wish someone from Roon would help.I switched to Innuous Sense, their alternative to Roon, and it also sounds great. I prefer the Roon functionality, however. I would follow your suggestion, or at least remove the Matrix, but it just sounds so great (with Kef Reference 5 speakers, Krell amp and Benchmark preamp)
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
8
Usually, removing components is the way to find out where a problem lies. I’d just plug the DAC into the Zenith, and see if the Roon issue goes away. Unless you’ve already tried that?
I agree with trying the DAC connected directly as a means of troubleshooting/eliminating variables to isolate the cause of the issue.
As this hasn’t always been an issue for you it’s worth noting that recent updates to Roon have put more demand on the internet connection.
Dropouts are often caused by a less than ideal wifi environment - particularly if the core is using wifi.
Is the Zenith connected via Ethernet?
If not I’d try that first.
Roon, especially the core, requires a very robust internet connection and Roon advises that the core be connected via Ethernet.
Dropouts can also occur if the core CPU is overtaxed. If you’re using any DSP in Roon try turning that off and see if it helps.
But as mentioned by another poster above I’m not sure your server meets the minimum requirements for Roon, especially with a library that large.
And bear in mind that this represents just the base model Nucleus, which itself would be significantly below specification for a 20,000+ album library.
I may try reconfiguring my system by removing the matrix. But it sounds so good…with no dropouts using Innuous Sense instead of Roon….and in spite of those here who put down the Innuous Zenith. Have to admit that I’m not highly motivated to make changes .
Why using a Roon Ready DAC over another connection than the network?
Can it be that you use the the unsupported (by Roon Labs) and marked experimental by Innuos Squeezelite Player integration? Then you may just have to drop that if it doesn’t work for you. See also:
hmmm….I don’t have lots of technical knowledge so I don’t know what Squeezelite and Squeezebox are. So is it the PS Audio Directstream the device that’s unsupported by Roon? Is there a way to deal with this?
I think what @BlackJack wanted to say it is that the PS Audio is a Roon Ready device so you can use that directly on your network, plug the ethernet in to DirectStream. Maybe your problems are because a complicated setup that is using connections in the Squeezelite mode. Does it sound that bad if you plug a LAN cable (ethernet) in the directStream compared to
“Roon Core with Squeezelite Player (Experimental)” is a setup mode on your Innuos device. It is “provided as is and therefore not guaranteed to work reliably” by Innuos, It is known by Innuos that “This Experimental Mode may have occasional dropouts”.
As far as Roon Labs is concerned:
So go into the setup menu of your Innuos product and check there if you use the unsupported mode or not. Change if needed.
No, the DirectStream DAC is listed as a supported Roon Ready device (seems to require the optional Bridge II Network Card though) and Roon Tested device (if you connect it by USB).
As for your current setup, neither the “Phoenix reclocker” nor the “matrix audio spdif 2” are Roon Tested (or the PS Audio DirectStream DAC via SPDIF input if that matters for you). This means that there is no special support offered from Roon Labs for your current setup.
What to do when you have issues with a Roon Core on Innuos devices is documented here:
PS: As others already mentioned, 20k+ albums is not considered a small library (by Roon Labs too).
