Every time I see a software update is due ,I rush off with baited breath to see what goodies we are going to get AND oh calm down its only ARC
OK bit exaggerated but no too much , other than a list of performance updates a month ago I “feel” it’s pretty accurate.
I have no use for ARC ,I still use my old iPod Classic in the car . I never wanted ARC but being a good quiet user I watched as virtually all dev effort went into making it and then much of the support effort going into making it work “on the fly”
Where is the list of improvements and updates on the main Roon app. I know I bleat but where is Box Sets promised nearly 2 year ago. My guess its in the queue behind DLNA support
It was all “beans and bus tickets” when Harman took over. WOW more resources Folder Navigation came, (not sure whose dead body it was over) playlist improvements came as promised to us and presumably your new new masters.
if ARC needs constant attention at the cost of the main app is it a correct business path ,it seems to me to be alienating non ARC users (me for one)
OK I am old , retired and travel infrequently so any form hard storage , SD card , iPod severs my purpose. I can see why people want have access on the move but at what cost to the main app, especially if it is so poor and unreliable to demand such dev effort…
For me, I wish they’d align the GUI to reflect one another.
I agree here. Unless Roon have separate devs for Roon and Arc. I believe they do, as myself and @DDPS have had contact with them.
Other than yesterday’s feedback thread I created about Arc, I’m happy with the performance (other than my phone getting hot). But yes, they do need to focus on the main experience and long standing bugs. Jeff Peacock has assured me things will/are getting better. I think they are……….slowly though.
Agreed, it is very disappointing that the lion’s share of app development (and bug fixing) seems to have been devoted to ARC and not the main server and client apps. Perhaps a lot of ‘under the hood’ work has been done, which is not so visible, but should result in better stability overall? Regarding the Harman issue, it is clear that folder browsing and mobile access were key requirements to ensure the continued success of the product in the market place, so I think we are stuck with the situation. Personally, all my local music is available in the Tidal app, so I never saw the point of ARC and it was chronically unstable for the first 6 months anyway, after which I gave up on it and deleted it. I’m sure it is better now.
IIRC, from the days of Alpha testing, ARC had a different development team because it uses a different development stack.
Recent ARC updates have improved the app, but it is still incredibly frustrating to use when driving into a rural or heavily congested area. It still fails to handle the loss of signal gracefully, and once the signal returns, whatever went wrong blocks further playback. An app restart is needed, but this isn’t practical while driving.
I hope they will get there, but it often feels like one step forward, two steps back.
Mobile access was available long before the Harman acquisition, and I do think it is essential, and always was the most requested feature. Folder browsing still makes no sense to me. I see zero utility in this feature as it duplicates what the OS provides.
Agreed re folder browsing and that is an interesting question. Admittedly I don’t use this forum as much as I used to but I don’t see the founders around much here anymore. It does make me wonder what involvement they now have in Roon and the direction it is going in.
Its great to blend streamed music with my local collection and have that at my fingertips when either in the car or travelling. Much better than using just a streaming service.
But the challenge with Roon ARC is that much of the time it simply doesn’t work. I can’t tell you just how much down time I’ve experienced for no explicable reason. Support always respond but for example right now, I can’t reliably use Qobuz via Roon ARC but I can stream my local library… support just can’t work it out.
Much of the Roon ARC development energy must simply be resolving bugs and user issues.
2 Likes
Torben_Rick
(Torben - A Dane living in Hamburg - Roon Lifer)
10
I don’t have any connection problems with ARC - the connection just works fine for me.
I just wish that ARC (and Roon) would be bit-perfect on DAP’s
“Is ARC that bad that it needs to soak up all the development effort of Roon Labs ?”
I was being a tad sarcastic that there is not much development effort going into the main Roon app as opposed to keeping an ailing ARC afloat (that I personally have no need for )
ah Well
PS did I mess up the title ? my typing is particularly poor at the moment
It works very well with Tailscale integration the issue is you need very good bandwidth at times.
The interface is amazing though especially with CarPlay functionality.
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
14
Just a comment on folder browsing…IMHO it was not really implemented. It is just media access using storage location as metadata. You can’t navigate via local file system to play a track. You still have to add to library to play stored media. It might be useful just to see what other metadata an indexed file was added under. But it is not capable of browsing any folders other than configured storage locations.
No, this isn’t the reason it stops working. An app designed to work on a mobile network needs to handle poor signal, congestion, loss of service gracefully.
I’m using Tailscale now, and have a symmetric 500 Mbps fibre connection, and alternative locally hosted services stream just fine when ARC gets stuck with a poor signal or whatever.
Well recently I heard on a podcast talking about Qobuz that if there is not enough bandwidth for it, it won’t work. Comparable to Apple Music which can operate in variable bit rates.
Could this be the case with Arc? I’ve had spots where Ard refuses to start but when it works it works.
I’m with you. My thinking for a while has been that the effort of the original development of ARC led to the Harmon takeover. ARC was a significant effort that I it was hoped would bring in a lot of new people to Roon (especially younger people, remember the advertising.) But whilst some existing customers were really happy, I doubt it gave them the revenue boost they were hoping for. Hence Roon then needed help to recover and that led them to Harmon.
the roon apps for smartphones and tablets were always the most unstable, most bug riddled, least efficent i had on my devices by far. (i have roon since 2020)
i think they should start all over
also the design of the roon app on my smartphone looks like a bad alpha version. it is just awful!
