Hi there, I’m looking for any help to improve my ARC experience.
ARC is setup and working, but in low signal areas it just doesn’t work properly without playback issues, even at low MP3 bandwidth. In contrast Qobuz works perfectly fine.
Is there anything I should be checking on my end to give ARC a fighting chance?
Setup is:
Roon Rock/server NUC i5 8gb ram
Network Orbi, NUC is connected to Master Node
Phone is Apple iPhone Pro13, IOS 17.4.1
Provider is Telstra
ARC is setup and works just not reliably in low signal areas /. Qobuz does
Well it depends: in case you stream a ‚local‘ file from your Nuc to your ARC device, it heavily depends on your uplink capabilities of your home- and fixedline-network, plus your cellular link. Whereas, if you ‚only‘ stream from Qobuz or Tidal to your ARC device, you are mostly dependent on cellular only.
Hence, could you be a bit more specific, under which circumstances you face issues.
OK, automatic in ARC chooses the “Balanced” setting on cellular, and this is equivalent to the “MP3 - 320 kbps” setting in the Qobuz app. So in this case, the cellular side should be the same for both apps.
(ARC has a lower, “bandwidth optimized” setting, but Qobuz doesn’t, so this makes no difference when streaming Qobuz in ARC)
Like @Stefan_Mauron wrote, when streaming Qobuz in ARC, the stream is requested directly from Qobuz. The Roon Server at home is only needed for authentication, which is not data-intensive. I.e., your upload bandwidth at home should not be relevant in this scenario.
Hence, I would expect that ARC and the Qobuz app both work the same. If they don’t, I am at a loss why. Could it be that the cellular connection is very variable? In this case, the amount of buffering done by each app might make a difference. If the Qobuz app has a larger buffer (I don’t know, but could be), it might cope better with a very variable connection.
I keeping trying every new release, but ARC fails to perform. Where the problem previously was constantly “Poor Connection” which, for the sake of keeping the story short was not actually a “poor Connection” issue. With the recent ARC updates, the “poor connection” issue appears to be resolved. Much faster playback response…. Until it just stops working all together and freezes. Have to force quit app, then relaunch… same thing over and over. I have deleted the app many times and reinstalled with now difference. I use Plexamp exclusively now… it just works flawlessly. Fast, Responsive, never freezes or crashes. As a lifetime subscriber, I am absolutely rooting for Roon and as I said previously will continue to check back after updates, but until ARC is a finished product, PlexAmp is my choice
The most useful test in this situation is to compare the cellular data ARC playback experience of Qobuz vs. local library content stored on your RoonServer.
ARC authorizes Qobuz streams through your ROCK at home, but the audio transport itself is between the phone and Qobuz servers’ directly. Local files, however, would be subject to any upstream bandwidth throttling or restrictions resulting from the mesh network.
If you have better luck streaming from Qobuz in ARC than you do with local files, try checking the multicast forwarding settings in the Orbi mesh setup, or hardwiring the ROCK to the main router.
If you’re interested, we’re testing an unofficial alternative connectivity method (Tailscale) for ARC to assist users experiencing chronic poor connectivity with ARC. I’ve sent more information in a PM.