I do see that Roon Core pushes my Mac Mini to 70% CPU utilization on a regular basis, so that is potentially my issue. I don’t think I was getting dropouts at first, so maybe I just need to reboot my Mac and start thinking about something more powerful, like maybe running ROCK on a NUC.
After I get my Cisco switches tomorrow I’ll reboot my router, mesh WAPs, and Mac Mini and see how things pan out after that.
Dropout issue is usually something with your home network. Are you on wifi?
No Qobuz issues for me since my original post.
Yes, I have a Linksys Velop mesh system. Two units. My network topology is:
AT&T Fiber router -> Velop mesh #1
Velop mesh # 2 extends #1
Velop mesh #2 -> Gigabit switch #1 -> NDX2, Gigabit switch #2
Gigabit switch #2 -> Mac Mini running Roon, home office stuff
However, I have two Apple TVs attached to the wifi, but never have problems streaming HD video from Apple, Netflix, etc. I would think if I have throughput issues, I would see problems with video too, and I don’t.
I think you might find that having your Roon core on wireless is the major contributing factor, especially if playing hires. Wireless is not full duplex and its bandwidth can reduce severely with incoming/outgoing traffic on the same unit. if your streaming from Qobuz in Roon it will be heavy on the network as the core needs to pull from the internet via wireless from you router then push this out wireless to your endpoint so this could be putting a big strain on your overall wifi bandwidth on the access point its using and causing it dropout. Whilst hires audio is not huge datarates compared to video the fact the the core is pushing and pulling at the same time could significantly reduce its bandwidth at times when the signal may not be strong. Video services are only pulling not doing both. Try at least to have Roon core hardwired even if temporary and see if it improves your situation.
While my Roon Core is pulling data from the internet over wifi, it’s pushing to the endpoint (NDX2) via ethernet. If you look again at my network topology, I noted that both the Mac Mini and NDX2 are on gigabit switches connected together (via Cat6). It’s very unlikely that I will be able to run ethernet cable from the router (downstairs) to the the switch(es) upstairs.
I just got a pair of Cisco 2940G switches that I’ll integrate into my network. Maybe that’ll help with traffic between the Roon Core and NDX2.
FWIW: last night I rebooted my Mac Mini running Core and so far today I’ve had no dropouts.
My bad did not read your schematic properly. Hope you get to the bottom of it.
Thanks. I got my Cisco switches but I think one or the other needs a factory reset, but I don’t have a console cable. I’ll have to ask my IT guy at work.
I now have a pair of CIsco 2940G switches in place of the Linksys switches I had before. However, even before that I’ve been playing Qobuz/Roon to the NDX2 all day while working in my home office and haven’t noticed a single dropout today. I might be that the reboot of the Roon Core server (Mac Mini) was all that was needed.
I think it’s a pretty good chance I’ll keep the NDX2 and sell my old ND5-XS.
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