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
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,295 posts
 

Nadine…I suspect your router. Have you talked to your ISP to have the router replaced? 
 

The other solution I can propose is mesh network. The gateway unit will broadcast to roon core either via Ethernet cable from gateway unit or Ethernet cable from a node unit depending on the location of roon core and a node unit that is close to your system can feed Lumin via Ethernet cable.

I’ve been using EERO for years with Roon and no issues whatsoever. 

erik_squires
15,781 posts
 

Of course, the problem could be in your home.  Try pinging cnn dot com, and doing speed tests to another PC and compare that to what your provider is billing you for.

arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,599 posts
 

+1 on mesh networks.

jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
899 posts
 

When I first read OP post I suspected router.  Maybe you can open a ticket with service provider and have them run a check on modem/router to see if its kicking errors at their end.  Other good suggestions here about connections as well.  If possible Maybe run a direct wire from router to the SGC i5 as a test. 

atanarjuat99's avatar
atanarjuat99 OP
51 posts
 

Thanks to all of you for very helpful responses.

@erik_squires Yes the Roon community forum might be better but, having posted there about this issue, I can tell you that AG is more helpful. And thanks for the advice re: DNS. We do occasionally have  Netflix dropouts so I am not eliminatingthe network problem.  I also suspect I need to do more testing in that locations.

@fastfreight did not know I could replace the wall plate couplers. I am going to order them pronto. We did run a couple of dedicated ethernet lines to the audio area but clearly still room for improvement.

@mapman ​​​​@audphile1 We live in Canada so have Telus as a provider. They ran fiber optic cable right to the box on the side of house. And, as we are a wired only household, we just have a modem connected to the fiber box. I did log into the modem to change the DNS.

Now off to do more testing!

 

 

More to discover