· I did fresh install after deleting ARC app that wouldn’t stay open. Tried to download 9 DSD and 1 hi-res album for offline listening. 5 successful and app closed. Reopened app and 1 more was downloaded. Now app opens, but quickly closes on iPhone before I can continue to download or listen to albums already downloaded
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· I’m using the modem supplied by my cable company -- Shaw/Rogers. No VPN or anything else that matters
I Grok’d the problem and was informed that this is a known issue downloading dsd albums on iPhone and ARC and they suggested downloading small batches at a time and so far so good
After posting here, I consulted Grok and downloaded 3 DSD and 2 192/24 albums successfully after multiple attempts and will mainly listen on the iPhone and CarPlay via the Quobuz app to around 30 hi-res albums that I’ve downloaded but at some point I’ll see if Apple has a fix for this issue. FYI: here’s what Grok said: “this is a fairly commonly reported issue with Roon ARC on iOS (especially iPhone), particularly when dealing with hi-res (high-resolution PCM) and especially DSD albums.From user reports on the Roon Community forums and elsewhere, downloading multiple large hi-res/DSD albums at once (like your batch of 10) frequently causes the app to crash during the process. After the crash, the app often becomes unlaunchable (stuck, gray screen, or immediate force-close), requiring a delete/reinstall to recover.
It is great that you were able to get some albums downloaded and find a temporary rhythm, but I want to jump in and clarify what is actually happening under the hood, as Grok slightly missed the mark on this one!
While Grok correctly noted the crash behavior, the core issue has absolutely nothing to do with downloading DSD or high-res files, or the batch size of your downloads. The actual culprit is the sheer size of your Roon library.
Our diagnostics show that your library contains nearly 700,000 tracks (699,722 to be exact!). When Roon ARC connects, it attempts to sync the database for your entire library. Apple places very strict memory limits on iOS applications. Trying to process and sync a database of this massive scale all at once hits that memory ceiling, which prompts the iPhone’s operating system to forcefully close the ARC app to save RAM.
There is no fix that will come from Apple for this, as it is a strict OS-level memory rule. However, our R&D team is well aware of this hurdle and is actively working on optimizing the ARC sync infrastructure to better handle “mega-libraries” like yours without overloading the phone’s memory.
Until those architectural optimizations are released, the only ways to get around this sync crash are:
Keep trying to open the app. Sometimes it manages to process and cache enough data incrementally during each brief window to eventually complete the full sync.
Temporarily reduce your track count (for example, by disabling a large watched folder in Settings > Storage on your Core), allow ARC to perform its initial sync smoothly, and then re-enable the folder later.
Would you like to try the temporary reduction method to get ARC fully stabilized, or would you prefer to stick to your current workflow with multiple retires for mobile listening while our developers work on the long-term fix?
Thanks for your reply and for the offer to help. I could ask Grok for citations to back up what it reports seeing on community forums etc but the good news is that I’ve now managed to make ARC stable and work in a way that meets my immediate needs. Taking a cue from users who have much larger libraries, I recently made a highly configured Mac Studio my core and am not using it for any other purpose and the first sync is quick as are backups and it all works perfectly. I also purchased a new iPhone [17 Pro Max]. And together with the AK HC5 dongle and UE Premium IEM’s I am able to enjoy my favourite 5 albums that are not available on Qobuz when I don’t have or want my AK SP-3000 with me. My plan now is to leave ARC offline and if worse comes to worse and I have to reinstall it would only include these 5 albums.
Thank you for the update! We are very glad to hear you have found a stable workflow that meets your immediate listening needs. That is certainly a fantastic mobile audio setup you have put together with the new iPhone, the AK HC5, and your UE IEMs.
I have added your report and library details to our internal development ticket regarding large library syncs on iOS. Your feedback helps our R&D team immensely as they work on optimizing ARC’s memory management, and we will make sure to notify you directly once a permanent fix for this is released.
For now, we will change this thread’s status to “Ticket In” so we can track it internally with the development team, and we will go ahead and close the topic.
Thank you again for your patience, and enjoy your music!
Thanks. I was shocked the first time the new phone synced with the new core as it started in the blink of an eye – and all syncs went flawlessly in this configuration prior to the cloud issue and are now back on track
We are happy to hear that the behaviour become better after the cloud incident was resolved. We will keep you posted on the status of the R&D ticket as soon as we have some updates.