ARC connectivity improvements, Roon Build 1407/ARC 266

Roon Software Discussion
1

Hey Community!

When we implemented a range of improvements to Roon and ARC a few weeks ago, we assured you we’d follow up again after reviewing your comments on those changes. As promised, we’re back today with another batch of targeted ARC fixes based on your feedback and our analytics insights.

Our latest release further improves ARC with work in the following areas:

  • ARC connectivity improvements
  • Improved behavior with IPv6 addresses
  • In-app connectivity diagnostics
  • Port forwarding enhancements
  • Additional Roon Server performance enhancements

Connection detection, activate

Based on your answers to the customer survey and more recent feedback, we know connectivity problems are the main reason why some folks aren’t using ARC. So, we launched a project to resolve those issues.

We started by reviewing your reports to identify common issues. Then, we added new diagnostic and analytics tools to help us pinpoint what’s going wrong when connectivity problems occur. The analytics data helped us identify and resolve specific code faults related to ARC connectivity. Over the last few releases, we’ve made a series of highly targeted incremental improvements that have significantly reduced the number of issues we’ve tracked based on your feedback.

We’ve seen exciting synergy around the changes we’ve made thus far. Since the beginning of this project two months ago, we’ve seen a steep drop in ARC connection issues. These changes have also improved IPv6 connectivity errors, reduced port forwarding snags, and facilitated additional server performance enhancements - all aimed at enhancing your experience with ARC. We’re on a roll! :boom:

While combing your feedback we learned you’d like more visibility into ARC’s connection status. We’re excited to announce that we’ve added a new diagnostic display to provide that. Check out the ARC settings page just under your sign-in information. You’ll find new status indicators that provide more insight into your ARC connection.

These combined changes have delivered significant gains on the connection woes we’ve tracked based on your feedback. The diagnostic tools we implemented revealed several snags that we’ve successfully fixed. But rest assured, we’re still on the case. Our engineers will continue to monitor analytics data and your feedback to further refine ARC’s performance as part of our ongoing effort to resolve these issues.

Conclusion

If you’ve experienced difficulty using ARC in the past, we encourage you to give it another try now. If you’re among those who sampled ARC when it was first released and haven’t revisited it since, you’re really missing out! It’s come a long way since then! ARC is the only way to take all your favorite music, Roon’s best features, MUSE, Smart Downloads, and many other app exclusives with you wherever you go.

This release introduces a number of upgrades that make enjoying ARC a more seamless experience. Your feedback has been instrumental in delivering these ongoing fixes and will continue to help guide our development efforts.

We’re grateful for your help and remain committed to ensuring that Roon meets your needs and expectations and continues to provide the most enjoyable and immersive music listening experience available.

As always, we thank you for being part of the Roon community!

17 Likes
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I would imagine if we can’t use Arc due to CGNAT then it still won’t work? I have T-Mobile home internet so I’ve never been able to use Arc besides offline downloads.

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I’ve been without ARC now for nearly 5 months since Build 1353 so was eager to try this; unfortunately; ARC failed to sync after about 30 minutes as ususal [something went wrong with red light] and i got an additional new message “no roon servers found” Have reported this to @connor who’s been helping me with the issue

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The changes we’ve just pushed wouldn’t solve CGNAT cases, however, Tailscale has proven to be an effective workaround for other users with the same case. Give this a try: Tailscale implementation with ARC to circumnavigate ISP CGNAT

1 Like
6

I can see my “closed” downloaded playlist but when I try to open it there are no albums to see. I see a blue and red moving light at the top of my iPhone screen. I can open the queue and everything is there and I can play the content of the playlist.

Suddenly everything is back. I love magic :crown:

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I can still reproduce an issue that would be hard to diagnose based on the ARC settings page information.

My home network supports IPv6 and Ipv4 but my Phone service only supports IPv4.

If I correctly open a pinhole in my ipv6 firewall but do not create an ipv4 port forwarding rule, then the Roon → Settings → ARC page reports ‘ready’ and gives no diagnostic information - despite the fact that no ipv4 connection is available.

Under these circumstances, when my mobile has WiFi disabled, so it is using the cellular service which only supports ipv4, then Roon ARC will not connect to my Roon Server (it does connect to the cloud service as you would expect).

Only when I correctly add an ipv4 port forwarding rule, does ARC successfully connect to my Roon Server over the mobile connection.

For someone like me who has a better than average understanding of how ipv4 and ipv6 work, this is exactly what would be expected to happen. However, for those that have little or no ipv4 or ipv6 knowledge, then this could be very confusing with the Roon Server reporting ARC connectivity ready but ARC reporting a failure to connect to the Roon Server.

I have already posted a feature request for reporting Ipv4 and ipv6 ARC connectivity status separately in the Roon → Settings → ARC page. The request can be found at:

In addition, it may be a good idea to report ipv4 and ipv6 availabiltiy and connectivity status separately in the ARC settings - where Cloud and Server connectivity are currently reported.

4 Likes
8

I used to use Tailscale when I had a Mac mini. But now I’ve moved over to a NUC (which is the best thing I’ve ever done actually). Not sure if that possible with a NUC? Maybe Roon should make their own solution.

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My Arc shows Build 261 still. I did update Roon this afternoon. How does Arc update?

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ARC updates via your mobile App Store / Play Store, just like the regular Roon remote on mobile. You can go to the App / Play store and trigger an update there, instead of waiting for the scheduled updates.

3 Likes
11

Today’s ARC update brought up the same problem I’ve had over and over. “ARC can’t find Roon Server”. I had just installed a fresh version of ARC before we left on a trip a few weeks ago. Downloaded close to 8GB of music on my wife’s iPad. And today, again, after the update, ARC couldn’t find Roon Server (our four iPhone 15 Pro’s were fine - the ARC update worked flawlessly [this time]). After 30 minutes of trying restarts, logging in again, reboots, shut downs, and waiting endlessly, the only solution was to delete ARC from the iPad, and reinstall it. Again. And lose all these downloads.
This problem is directly related to the length of time between logging into ARC. The longer the duration, the greater the chance of errors. This can’t continue.

1 Like
12

Still without success on my A&K SP3000.

On my iPhone sporadically without Roon Server.

This will be a never-ending story.

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Unfortunately, the ARC never worked.

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You only need a device to act as a Subnet Router. Be that an AppleTV, NAS, or a spare computer. I use a combination of a AppleTV and a NUC running a Hackintosh should I need remote desktop. So, as long as any device that can run as a subnet, you’ll be fine to use ARC.

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So far so good. Great even. Before this update, ARC would work for me for a while and then it would crash constantly. It seems to be solid now. Thanks for your efforts to continuously improve Roon.

2 Likes
16

Same here its getting better and better just didn’t test my issue with radio of artist “boy harsher” playing only there’s song and not trying implement other artist from same genere. Love ARC from day 1 (using daily) with hope of bugs disappear at some point to 99.9 :v:

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17

Thanks for flagging this. Will look into it.

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Haven’t done it myself but it seems possible. Check this out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tailscale/comments/1ab6lfm/tailscale_on_intel_nuc_glinet_router/

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Thanks for flagging this Neil. We’re looking into your case internally. Will send you a DM to follow up.

1 Like
20

Not if you are running ROCK as it is locked down. You could run Linux or Windows on it instead, both equally good options. And then use Tailscale.

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ARC is working beautifully. Get in my car, Android auto starts up and the music follows. I’ve also replaced a RaspberryPi / ifi DAC with an old phone and a ifi dongle. Eliminates clutter in the bedroom. Much better solution. Thanks Roon team!

2 Likes