2. digital
  3. 189377-160439

Please help with Roon server/core issue

Hi AGers, 

So long story short: I only stream music (do not own any). I have Tidal and Qobuz streaming through Roon. And that is my problem. I started out using a M1 Mac Mini to stream but I often lost connection to Roon. So I bought a Small Green Computer i5 Sonictransporter and LPS. SQ improved but not the Roon problem. 

We have fiber optic to the house, a fully wired network and I have Silent Angel N8 switch feeding the SGC Roon server and my Lumin T2. No wifi anywhere. 

Finally after a couple of years, the problems increased to the point that 192/24 files crackle and pop. So I wrote to the Roon Community Forum under the Support section.

The Roon support person wrote back that:

*****We’ve activated diagnostics for your account and RoonServer and here’s what we can confirm:

  1. Track downloads from Tidal and Qobuz’s servers are timing out with 24/192 FLAC files, and the prebuffer is barely ahead of playback. At times, it’s dropping out.
  2. There are sample dropouts reported with by RoonServer on T2 Zone. These at times accumulate sufficiently to cause unnatural interruptions on the stream.
  3. RoonServer constantly loses connection to upstream internet services due to network reachability changes in logs.

Your RoonServer’s intranet and internet connection appear to be struggling. How are you connecting your RoonServer machine to the internet?*****

Peter Lie from Lumin kindly wrote back and suggested I try changing my DNS to 8.8.8.8 - which I did. That did help a lot with SQ and speed but did not fully resolve the crackle and pop issue with 192/24 files. 

I would welcome any suggestions. 

Thanks, Nadine

128x128atanarjuat99
zgas-music
82 posts
 

Hi Nadine-

Interesting post and cool to see all the folks weighing to help. Roon changed my music listening life for the reasons you mention and more. A great product when it’s working, which, fortunately, is most of the time. When I’ve needed support, my experience with their crowd sourced support model is less than stellar. 

I’m late to the party, but are you doing any wireless at all?  Occurs to me this might be a good diagnostic test of your hardwired network. I run Roon wirelessly on an Eero mesh network. If you could set up a temporary wireless connection to your rig you could take your internal wiring out of the loop.

The diagnostics from Roon on your server sounds like you may have a connection problem from your ISP?  Speed test might not uncover that? If you still have the problem on wireless, maybe  something wrong with the fiber modem?

atanarjuat99's avatar
atanarjuat99 OP
59 posts
 

@zgas-music hey thanks for chiming in.

We do not have any wireless at all in the house. This is on purpose as we prefer a wired household. But interestingly, the most helpful solution came from Peter Lie at Lumin . He suggested that I change the DNS on the modem to 8.8.8.8. Weirdly that had a huge effect, and the problem is mostly resolved. However, as a result of investigating the problem, I am now thinking about getting a network switch with the clock is my current one doesn’t have a clock. And also rolling fibre out all the way to the music control center. :-)
Best, Nadine

testrun
234 posts
 

I assume your fiber speed from your provider is 500+.  I think you have an issue with the termination of the fiber where converting to ethernet, Or you have a bad ethernet connection between your fiber to ethernet converter (not a modem but often referred to as a modem) or ethernet cable between converter router / switch.  Your provided should be easily be able to confirm the speed into your house. I had a similar problem and it ended up being the connection oof the fiber into my house.  

atanarjuat99's avatar
atanarjuat99 OP
59 posts
 

@testrun Hey thanks for this thoughtful response. You may have put your finger on the issue. I notice that the shielding on the fiber is removed where it enters the box. We have also had some internet issues with other devices so it tracks.

When I run a speedtest, it is always close to 1000mbps (we have 1.5 gbps fiber coming into the house). As we do not have wifi, we do not have a router, only the conversion box/modem. 

I would like to replace this cheap box with a higher quality one from somewhere like After Dark but our provider is hard to talk to, with support in the Phillipines.

If you know of a high quality alternative to the fiber to ethernet conversion/modem box, please let me know. 

Thanks again. Nadine

More to discover