Downloading albums to iPhone via ARC

Roon Software Discussion Apple iPad and iPhone
1

Looking for pointers on how best to download albums in my library to iPhone to listen via ARC. It’s taking forever, when it works. Any and all suggestions welcome

2

you don’t say if you’re on wifi or cellular or what the download speed of the network is or what the quality of the downloaded files are, but all those details will affect your download time.

I only download if I’m on fast wifi. On cellular, I just stream it (usually in lower quality).

3

There have been many threads pointing out that ARC downloads are much slower than the network allows, also when on wifi. Unfortunately without a fix so far:

https://community.roonlabs.com/search?q=arc%20download%20slow

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4

There is no best way it’s just slow and they know it. Also the app needs to be open all the time and in the foreground or the downloads will stop some iOS limitation . I gave up and use PlexAmp when I need a full offline experience as I ca download an album in less time then arc takes for one track. ARC isn’t up to it yet by a long way.

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5

Thanks, that helps. What screen do you start downloading from? Does the down arrow always respond? Does your iPhone show you progress – that tracks are being downloaded and update you on how many?

6

Thanks. I thought it was me! [Fortunately I have an AK SP-3000 DAP which works perfectly and allows me to transfer hi-rez albums in seconds]

7

Thanks; makes me feel better!

8

I tend to leave the Arc download screen running and and the power connected and screen on.
Sadly it is pitifully slow and has not gotten better since the public release.
I can download 10-15 albums from PlexAmp in the time 1 album’s download in ARC. It’s better to set some serious time aside and set the screen timeout to be as long as possible.

9

With Android it’s possible to exclude the app from Battery Optimization. Then it can run in the background and at least the downloads finish even if the screen gets locked or if you use another app, even though they are still slow. I don’t know if iOS has a similar setting

10

Nothing like that on iOS (as that would mean giving user’s a choice) and there has been a lot of download corruption reported including by @CrystalGipsy (I have had the same).

I have set my Android phone exactly the same as you suggested and it is better but not perfect, sometimes I will return and it has stalled on big download queues and I need to throw the app away and open it again and it continues the download to completion.

It’s just part of being an immature app and hopefully this is something they work on in the near future for both platforms for reliability and speed (though I have not had corrupt downloads recently).

I mostly play ARC in the office on my iPhone as it doesn’t have my main SIM in it and it has been Very stable over the last couple of months, both online and offline. It can run all day without pausing so that is a big improvement over the early days.

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11

so you’re streaming not downloading for offline listening?

12

Both streaming from home, downloaded for offline listening and streaming of Tidal and Qobuz (as they cannot be downloaded).

As mentioned the reliability of streaming playlists and Roon recommended playlists has been great and a huge improvement over the early days of the beta and initial release.

If they can improve the downloading experience things are looking really good for ARC

13

thanks again. very helpful

14

I’ve downloaded 30 GB’s worth before Christmas and, fingers crossed, haven’t found corrupted downloads yet. Also no interruption issues at all, just the glacial download speed

15

I am getting the impression that that bug may have been squashed as I had loads corrupted before.
I downloaded loads over Christmas and as yet have also not had any issues with any of them either.

Previously I deleted about 40 albums across iPhone and Android where they had become corrupted (or were downloaded corrupted).

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16

I think I have it going now. Not using the core for anything else and locked the screen on my iPhone from going off. Downloads proceeding quickly now. Thanks to everyone who weighed in with suggestions. PS I’m able to listen to Tidal offline on Astell & Kern

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17

That’s because it uses the Tidal app just like a phone, not a third-party app like Roon

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