In a previous post, I expressed my efforts to get ARC to function optimally. Today, I gave up. ARC seems like an underdeveloped product that diverts resources from the core product (ROON).
There are many issues, but the most concerning is ARC’s excessive heat generation. Even when the app is merely open and not playing tracks, it warms up significantly, posing potential harm to the battery. Given that I use an iOS phone with an A17 Pro processor, it’s clear this isn’t a hardware problem. For context, my iPhone registered 35.8 ºC under normal usage. After merely 2 minutes of playing local tracks on ARC, it went up to 42.7 ºC, an alarming increase of almost 7 ºC.
From a cosmetic perspective, offline listening presents another issue. Many album covers disappear in offline mode (see screen capture).
Although ARC doesn’t resonate with my personal usage habits (as I typically pair a phone with Bluetooth headphones), I think that significant market research might indicate many prefer to use ROON on their phones. If that’s the rationale behind allocating subscription funds to ARC and not ROON, it makes sense. Yet, it’s still intriguing to think about the number of users who regularly pair their phones with HiFi DACs and wired headphones while on the go.
My problem with ARC is that there is a large subset of users that can’t use it. Yet I am sure that it has been taking the vast majority of dollars and development time.
I have a very fast Internet connection using T-Mobile 5G that precludes me from using ARC. Why? Because it uses double NAT and does not allow to open a port through the firewall.
Roon needs to come up with a viable solution that allows all customers with a reasonably fast Internet connection to use ARC. If they don’t, why should people that can’t use it subsidize it?
ARC was terrible at launch and still not any better a year down the track. Countless users are experiencing Core crashes after using ARC for short periods of time and “support” will not even bother to comment in the thread: (Roon & ARC have become incredibly unreliable for me - what is going on?)
Even when it works it’s…just OK. It’s still missing so many features of the main app even a year after launch. The biggest issue is the abysmal customer support. How can Roon justify charging what they do for an allegedly premium product and then simply ignore the cries of countless customers?
For me, ARC has gotten worse. In the beginning, albeit lacking features, it at least worked on the basic level. Today, as I said numerous times in my other thread, it constantly crashes my core making enjoying music really, really difficult.
I’m a relatively new user, but I use ARC in my car on CarPlay via my iPhone and it works a treat! I have none of the issues detailed above. The only challenge I get is phone reception as I am in a rural location, but that is hardly the fault of ARC. I now use the built in download functionality to help with this.
Started off ok when it was in early access. It had its fair share of issues but seemed reliable on cellular. Thats not the case anymore and the constant hanging of the core as a result of ARC is infuriating. This is not a new issue either its been flagged for some time but now seems more prevalent than ever. I have stopped using it and moved on to more reliable apps. Downloads are a waste of time as it often just stops working and you have to reset and loose them all, that and ARC decides at random times to say they are not available.
I never had faith in ARC because of the Port Forwarding and never used it. I’m not alone.
Watching the threads reveled a lot of folks with ARC had issues with it, not just the port issue.
However I am also glad that Roon did not implement a additional charge for ARC especially since I was never going to use it. Also, for those who are using it, I’m glad that there is no additional charge for them.
I’m sorry about your issues/problems with it. It’s not perfect but I’ve been pretty pleased with it since it came out. I do use downloads quite a bit so maybe that helps. I’m really glad they have put the product out and hope they continue to support/improve it.
I’m a “lifetime” subscriber so maybe I’m just “sunk/stuck”. I agree that some “issues” with Roon seem to have grown over the past few years but I can’t find an alternate that works better.
That is an interesting point. How many users cannot resolve the port forwarding issues? I have a similar problem. My tests have been offline because I cannot open the ports with my current internet provider.
The double NAT problem hits me too but my main reason for not using ARC is the cost of wi fi data in South Africa , it makes it prohibitive.
The other problem is continuity of power supply , a problem that we , an many other "pseudo 3rd world’ countries , suffer from. Its improving but for how long.
My solution was dead simple , a 1tB SD card in my phone and USB Player pro either by Bluetooth or via an AudioQuest Dragonfly (Red)
While I get the point, isn’t that kind of similar for most features? I don’t use DSD, yet DSD support was implemented and that’s a good thing. Others only use local files, yet there is streaming support and I’m sure it didn’t come cheap. I’m sure everyone has features they don’t use but someone else does. Not sure if opening up this balance sheet helps anyone. (And of course, if Roon has more success because of feature X, in the long term this even helps customers who don’t use X).
I respectfully disagree. Using a buyer persona, I will present my idea in a hypothetical case.
Bob (a good name because it’s only three characters, and you can spell it backward) wears a fedora and shoots film with his Leica M6. He only listens to music in 24/192, showing his friends how to connect his ROON music server to his phone. He later listens to music from his phone using Bluetooth headphones, but that’s not the point. The music in Bob’s phone is in 24/192.
Here is my problem: why is my money used to develop a product for Bob when Spotify (or any other lossy streaming) will suffice for Bluetooth headphones? Why do I need to subsidize Bob’s needs? Bob, as I understand it, was not the target market of Roon (a HiFi music software to manage music libraries and stream HiFi content). Please let me know if I am wrong because I might be the one who is not the target market (In which case It is my problem).
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy HiFi on the go, but I connect Qobuz to an external DAC via cable to a pair of A6t. I was trying to use ARC myself to enjoy my own music using this setup.
You are entitled to your opinion. I don’t think it’s practical and I am not going to ask my money back from the Classical users for whose metadata I am paying, either.
Your argument is that the cost of implementing the retrieval of extended metadata (from MusicBrainz, I assume) is similar to the cost of developing a whole new application and new services. Also, you choose not to use some functions of an existing product. I cannot choose. I have been trying to use ARC for months.
My argument is that everyone’s fees are pooled, and all features are free for everyone. Seems like a sensible model to me. It’s the same in many applications like Office etc. I don’t want to imagine the support nightmare if individual features only work after enabling them and paying for them.
Roon have said, by the way, that metadata is amongst their biggest expenses.
In the end, Roon chooses how the license works and one can take it or leave it. Much like most apps.
That’s a different argument and of course ARC should be improved. Maybe for certain internet configurations it can never work, but e.g. DSD will never really work with my DAC, either.
There is, by the way, an open feature suggestion for a tiered license model. As you can see, out of 10 people, 10 will want their individual slices. I can’t see that working for many reasons, but you can add your vote for it:
Opening Roon up to a paywall is the worst idea ever, causes consumer confusion as to which model of subscription to go for and more layers of support and development. I pay yearly and don’t begrudge features I don’t use. I don’t use DSD, MQA playback not do I use the composition and classical sections I’ve even stopped using Roons integrated streaming library.
Roon Team finally acknowledged that “something” is wrong with ARC and ceased the " you’re holding it wrong" approach. Maybe we can get a working product. Anyway, I agree that the current focus doesn’t really present ARC as a HiFi app but rather another lossy one. The beta USB driver promises a lot but is also full of bugs. At the end, USB audio player pro is still the best HiFi mobile option for Android.
I gave up and subscribed to Apple Music for mobile.
The longest period ARC worked for me was one day.
I am not in IT and have no desire to spend any more time reading here, trying to get it to work, then reliving the frustration like some sick Groundhog Day joke when it inevitably crashes.
Same here. I also gave up with ARC and deleted the app. The daily frustration was to much for me. Also i am not an IT professional and i share your feelings.
ARC never worked good and my iPhone 14 Pro Max 1TB was always at high to critical temperature. The download speed to local memory is a real pain and ridiculous slow. How should i fill up my 1TB RAM from iPhone if a download of an Album needs five minutes? It is impossible to use.
I am using Plexamp with Car Play now and it works like a charm. Roon Core for home use is a good product, but Roon Arc is worst. Lost faith in it too.
To be honest, i thought it was probably “me” but if i read the comments, i know i am not alone with that kind of issues. There is also no support about that. As a paying user, you feel lonely and lost. And the community gives you a feedback “Hey, it’s you, Roon is perfect, so it’s you”.
