When does 2i devices get Roon support?

Answered
Anton Westbergh

Hi Bluesound.

I bought a bunch of Bluesound 2i devices (3x PowerNode, 1x Node, 1x Flex, 1x Pulse) under the impression they were Roon Ready.

After ~6 months of troubleshooting I realize they are really not. The problems I encounter is tons of dropouts, slow startup of playback, or simply no response at all from devices. 

I run most of my devices on WIFI because I don't have ethernet wired across my home. I've tried attaching the devices with Ethernet, and like that the problems become less frequent, but it's still not perfect. Also, I don't see that as a solution. I bought these devices as wifi-compatible..

My network is super reliant
(Unify with 3x AC PRO Aps, with little to no congestion)

I've even tried running a separate dedicated WIFI with another high end router from ASUS just to verify that it's not the network that cause this, and I had the same experience.

I run Roon from a dedicated Server and have absolutely flawless playback from other devices on the network (Raspbery Pi running Roon). I don't see running BluOS as an alternative because I want a dedicated music server.

Is there active work from Bluesound on getting real Roon support for 2i-devices or do I need to return them all? 

 

 

1

Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    If you are running ROON, rather than each player individually decoding audio playback allowing for a more robust network environment, your ROON Core Server is decoding audio and transmitting full PCM as if you are playing WAV files grouped throughout your home. You will need to ensure each and every player in your home has good to excellent wireless signal strength. Consider purchasing Powerline Ethernet Adapters. Please see https://www.bluesound.com/network101. 

    This is not a Bluesound issue but a limitation of your existing Network Environment. 

    But don't take our word for it, here's what ROON says on the subject; https://kb.roonlabs.com/Networking_Best_Practices

     

  • Anton Westbergh

    Hi there Tony. I am aware how Roon works, but this is not a problem with my Network Environment, and I honestly get irritated to get this generic reply.

    You link to Roon best practises and I can tell you I run exactly what they recommend. A Unify setup with multiple high performance AP's.

    All my other devices I run in the same environment works flawlessly with Roon.

    Those include 4x Raspberry Pi 3's that run Roon, and they are also connected to the same WIFI. 
    (I actually started replacing my PowerNode 2i's with Raspberry Pi's which just feels ridicilous.. Soundquality is slightly worse, but they work flawlessly without any interruptions..)

    Strangely all my Bluesound devices have lots of issues when running Roon and connected to WIFI, and playback also starts WAY slower (5-10 seconds usually).

    This is absolutely a Bluesound issue.

    It's worth mentioning I have even tried running a totally different WIFI setup with the most high end ASUS hardware, but I had even more issues with that (funnily enough, again only with the Bluesound devices).

    Bluesound should not market your devices as WIFI devices if you require customers to get Powerline Ethernet Adapters in order to get a working setup.

    1
  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Hi Anton

    Please select Help, Send Support Request using the BluOS App for each and every Bluesound Player in your network to send us the diagnostic log so our Support Crew can review your signal strength. 

    When sending your log files, please let us know the make and model of your primary router along with any wireless extenders you are running and our Support Crew will be happy to help troubleshoot.

    0
  • Roman Keller

    Hi Anton

    Did you get any positive feedback from a technician?

    I have exactly the same issues (on a very good network setting with Zyxel WAX650S AP's).

    2x Pulsi 2i

    1x Pulse fex 2i

    1x Node 2i

    1x PowerNode 2i

    I can listen to each node separately with almost no interruption (some start delays,..). As soon as i group them, it does not even start because of the delays. 

    If i do the same with the blueos app, everything just work. 

    From my point of view it is an roon integration isssue

    0
  • Anton Westbergh

    Hi there. Sorry no.. I only got a list of suggested settings for my network, of which most already were active.

    They suggested setting RSSI at -60 as one example but that only introduced some WIFI dead zones in my home, and didnt help at all (none of my Bluesound devices had weak signals anyway)

    Roon has responded though that their technicians could reproduce the issues and _are working with Bluesound crew to fix it_ (not confirmed by Bluesound). Also Roon support clarifies that it will still depend on Bluesound actually implementing the fix..

    1
  • Roman Keller

    Thank you for the fast reply.

    Ok, i will go further with an attached bridge for the moment :-/

    0
  • Anton Westbergh

    I tried poweline ethernet adapters and that worked ok. Not the solution I want though.. I want to use wifi..

    1

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Didn't find what you were looking for?

New post