Is Roon ARC a game changer?

Yeah, choice is always good but to be honest, even if I got ARC working I doubt I’d ever use it. I have lots of albums downloaded from Tidal on my phone and I can always stream using 4G if I’m in the mood to listen to something different when I’m walking the dog or driving to work.

I guess it would be great if you had a ton of obscure stuff that you couldn’t just stream when you’re out.

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For me ARC is more than a game changer, it is a game starter!
I have been curious about Roon since before 1.8 (old time Squeezebox, JRiver, iTunes 4 user), but the core Roon experience was a low priority ever since I went full streaming in 2016 (and small kids turned living room listening into an infrequent hobby).
Now with ARC it makes sense to really go full Roon. A late 2013 MacBook Pro is doing fine as a dedicated server and Qobuz provides official support in Brazil since the last year.
What I am really intrigued is why the marketing and PR effort seems so restricted to audiophile publications.
I follow many, many music writers who frequently touch on streaming topics, critiques about Spotify, lack of context, poor discovery and so on, but never find a mention to Roon and ARC. (I can only wonder what Ted Gioia would write about it. Or even how hyperbolic would Bob Lefsetz go!)
Perhaps it must be a wiser option to stick with the “audiophile” segment. (or wait for a deeper, full cloud integration with one of the streamers???)

No. Not at all. The real game changer will be when they add shuffle library, if they do. Otherwise, ARC is no big deal and has been done before

Can’t say as it’s a game changer but I can say I have become a converted believer after holding out for weeks on trying it.

And I only got it set up as another member was having an issue with exactly the same router I have so thought I would give it a shot to help out.

After resolving the set up issues I thought I might as well try it.
That was Tuesday morning.
It’s not given me one hiccup at all anywhere, going from WiFi to cell to WiFi without pause.

TBH I’m not too bothered about using it for anything already in a stream service as I could use their native apps.

But to be able to play any of my ripped CDs at anytime?

Yes that part is sweet and I’m deeply impressed all round, much more than I expected to be.

Hats off to @danny and the team on this one and sorry I took so long to believe :grin:

I think the latest micro-release added what I wanted in mobile: the ability to synchronize a playlist for offline listening on my phone. I’m not even going to bother doing the port forwarding; just download the playlist at home (where ARC will work even if you didn’t open a port), then use the downloads when out and about.

What’s more - with a firmware update from Dension, on a 2004 product, I now have the Artist/Track name displayed on the OEM head unit in my '03 BMW, when playing back through Roon ARC.

So you select the Album, Playlist etc. or Roon Radio and press Play and the details are displayed. The iPhone can go to Lock screen, which is less distracting, but the IDv3Tag display remains on the headunit, a BMW Business CD unit - brilliant.

Who needs CarPlay integration? Delighted.

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This. I was driving home tonight listening to my own CD rips in the car. Couldn’t be happier.

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Now I can use these headphones more, and I use Roon much more than I used to, because at home when listening to music I mainly listen with my first party high end gear as opposed to using Roon as background

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I love Roon Arc in my opinion it’s a game changer. It allows you to take your music everywhere. Just your music and nobody else’s or discover new music on cubs when you’re driving around or walking way cool

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So, it’s now we’re cool to give my nucleus a work out from a far as opposed to being at home since it’s on all the time. It also makes it much more cost-effective to use all the time at home and on the road.

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Game changer for me…able to listen to Roon on the go. I tried Plex before…way too complicated for me. The port forwarding required with ARC was simple compared to Plex. Besides having roon with me in the office or on a flight or the other end of the world is amazing. Software needs some ironing out of small issues…e.g. a couple of files downloaded to my iPhone 13 pro wouldn’t play in airplane mode. I expect updates will fix these small issues. YoutubeMusic initially acted weird with downloads too…I had to start playing the file before going offline for it to play in airplane mode. Really big for me is not having to touch Tidal app anymore with its hip hop centric user interface and algo.Well done Roon team.

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I simply love ARC. It is a game changer for me as it allows me to have my „SPOM“ - single point of music. :upside_down_face:

When full CarPlay support is there, that will be even better.

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Depends on your provider and where you are but broadly LTE is more than fast enough. I’ve noticed my Verizon LTE performance has fallen considerably in the last two years or so, but it’s still 5X what is needed to stream 192/24.

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I have to say I was initially a naysayer. I just didn’t see the point of ARC especially as I have a very small library of local files, I stream everything when I’m out using Qobuz or Tidal app, and it took me almost a month to get it working on my system.

However, having tried it for the past few days I’m a convert. Having access to all my favorites, playlists and streaming services all in one app is fantastic. And once I got it working, it has worked flawlessly. I’m currently playing a Roon playlist I previously wouldn’t have access to.

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Welcome to the dark side! :grin:

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One week working away from home and Arc never burped once.
In the car, in the factory, in the hotel, in the restaurant.
Wifi, cell data.
Nothing fazed it.
Playing high quality all the time as well.
Adding albums, removing albums, adding tags etc.
Outstanding performance IMHO.
A convert as I was absolutely a non believer in even wanting to try it.

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Mines been a story of two half’s. Downloads have been an utter disaster but streaming albeit I can’t do it all the time due to the limits of the cellular reception where I am has worked without issue.

One thing I have noticed is the DragonFly Black I brought is not suitable as the output to headphones is too damned loud with all my iems I can’t go over 2 without it hurting. So had to go to my BT adapter for my Shures.

Totally.

Right now, after lot of updates I can enjoy my vast music library without issues on my android phone.

Also they added MUSE, so its almost perfect right now.

Thanks for the best update possible for remote users. Next chapter should be complete roon experience from a pc outside your network.

I’m not sure it’s a game changer - but definitely a useful addition and will help Roon to remain ‘sticky’ for those who might look at alternatives. I recently drove across France listening via ARC and my playlists are gradually transitioning from Spotify, which I traditionally used in my car. So I may cancel Spotify as ARC does what I need with the added benefit of having my personal library available.

Yes :slight_smile: In the car it works just fine - Great.

Now it “just” need it to be bit perfect on my DAP - Than I am happy :slight_smile:

Torben