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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
fastfreight
800 posts
 

Hello @atanarjuat99 

it is good to do one thing at a time!

I use AES from the mu1 to my Tambaqui.  I believe the magic of the Grimm happens with AES not USB.  I have tried both and AES clearly better.  I use KS Realization cables elsewhere, so I have one to power the Grimm (and AES).  Upgrading from an Elation to the Realization AES was easily heard to me. I do not think the power cable is as important for the Grimm as the AES cable. While I am probably not saying this right, the Grimm MU1 has some kind of hybrid power supply and does not need a LPS upgrade.

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,623 posts
 

I also use AES from my MU1 to my Lampi.  i agree, the MU1 is designed to take advantage of the AES/EBU. 

But you don't have to buy an MU1 to get stable roon.  Before it I had a Innuos Zenith MK3 and a Chord DAVE with M-scaler.  I ran my Roon Core on a NUC.  For a while I ran it on windows.  Had occasional lock up and had to reboot.  Finally I installed ROCK and never had a problem.  I still have it and will list it for sale, watch the for sale listings.  

So when I went to the MU1 I retired the Innuos, the M-scaler (MU1 has upscaling built in) and the NUC with Roon core.  Really cleaned up my rack. 

But ROCK on a dedicated machine will get you stable.

Jerry

atanarjuat99's avatar
atanarjuat99 OP
59 posts
 

@carlsbad2 Thanks for telling me a bit of your audiophile equipment history. I can really see myself going to the MU1 in the future. But focused right now on making my NUC/ROCK as stable as possible. It has a very cheap LPS which I plan to upgrade (from AfterDark) and also upgrade my network switch. 

Honestly adding my initial network switch was one of the biggest improvements I have made.

Enjoy the music ! Nadine

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

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