For at least a couple of months (maybe starting with iOS 18 update, but I'm not positive) I've had fairly consistent "poor connection" errors when trying to play Qobuz over my home WiFi with ARC. If I start a song on WiFi and it times out, I switch to 5G/LTE and it works fine. Once it's playing I switch back to WiFi and it's usually good, but sometimes times out at the next song. I have no issues using WiFi to play the FLAC versions that are stored on my Roon server.
Playing on iPhone 15 Pro, iOS and apps always up to date. Server is 2019 iMac 27" 5K, hardwired to network, MacOS and apps always up to date.
I'm approx 10 ft from the router and my home internet service is synchronous 1Gb fiber.
I've tried removing/reinstalling ARC, and that helped for a short time. I don't want to have to keep doing that because then I have to reconfig the app preferences.
I prefer using ARC to the standard Roon app on the phone.
My primary listening cases at home (like 95% of the time) are either plugged in to a Schiit stack via USB or AirPod Pro 2s. I use the standard Roon app to stream to my other system, but I find ARC is better suited to playing directly through a phone.
I like that ARC auto-detects which output device to use, and it knows how volume should be handled between the two (device vs fixed). The standard Roon app doesn’t even know that the phone is plugged in to an external DAC*, just that I’m playing on the phone, and I have to manually switch volume modes—and device volume control on an iPhone is crap thanks to Apple.
I suspect I’m an outlier among Roon+Qobuz users: all of my electronics are lower-end. Maybe better gear has better options.
*I don’t even see an option in the standard Roon iPhone app to add the direct-connected DAC in Settings>Audio where the other devices are.
While all authorization and login requests pass through RoonServer for streaming services, the audio streams themselves take different pathways for Roon and ARC.
When you stream Qobuz via Roon, the stream passes through your RoonServer machine. Via ARC, the audio stream takes a direct path from Qobuz to the phone. If you’re on home WiFi, it will still pass through your router, but the ARC → Qobuz audio stream will not pass through RoonServer.
It sounds like there are no issues with address resolution or buffering when you reach Qobuz via your cellular provider or via RoonServer itself. However, the phone → ISP → Qobuz pathway is failing.
I recommend checking the DNS Settings on your phone itself. Navigate to Settings → WiFi and select your home WiFi network. Scroll down to “Configure DNS”. What do you have selected?
Do you have a timestamp of when this last occurred?
How strong is the WiFi connection as indicated on the phone when this occurs?
If you have the Qobuz app installed on your phone, can you reproduce this discrepancy between WiFi/cellular there?
Thanks for the follow-up! Our team will take a closer look.
You performed playback on the same mobile device, correct?
Are you able to play the same qobuz track through the Roon app?
If you wait, does it ever resolve?
We have seen users have a better experience in the past if they change their Router’s DNS servers from the ISP provided ones to Cloudflare DNS, Quad9 or Google DNS. Can you please give this a try and let me know if it helps?
Hi Benjamin,
I added Quad9 on my phone and router config yesterday and it seemed to help, but I tested again this morning around 10:10 PDT and the problem was back.
Yes. All of my testing is done on the same iPhone.
Yes. The Roon app plays the same tracks that failed in ARC.
No. Once the poor connection message comes up, trying to play again doesn’t resolve it. The only thing that works consistently is turning off WiFi until the song has played for a bit, then turning it back on.