Roon, ARC (and various Roon remotes) are buggy, with unacceptably high failure rates.
For me failure is predictable, especially after a Roon update, an iOS update or a MacOS update. Often it fails to initiate, or connect over WIFI or when I’m in my car using Apple CarPlay.
Like Murphy’s law ARC will fail even without updates. It’s as if it knows that I’m in my car looking forward to crank a song that I’ve been wanting to hear. It bites, I’m not always in position to troubleshoot and to restart or reinstall the offending app.
The fix is usually a search on the web with multiple restarts, or reinstalls of the app(s).
I don’t use port forwarding; I listen to music I’ve downloaded onto ARC onto my phone. And I use a USB cable to connect to my car’s system.
When things fail, I usually go a few days without until I can sort it out.
I know, it’s a first world problem.
In defence of Roon, I will say this, Roon is not the only app or piece of hardware that will malfunction.
Anecdotally, I just feel like computer system malfunctions are on the rise. I don’t have a fix, solution or recommendation.
I think the people at Roon work very hard to give us the most stable experience possible while working with multiple operating systems, a large variety of hardware and end users with varying degrees of ability.
I get a lot of enjoyment from Roon, with just the occasional amount of frustration. As a whole, I wish computers could be more stable and compatible, whether for recreation or for work.
I just want to say, that if you’ve ever posted about Roon/ARC being buggy, I’m sorry, I now feel your pain.
