Is there any point in Roon Arc? Over the last four years I have been unable to use it because of a necessary mesh system but have now switched to Starlink with a single modem and still am unable to configure the Arc app. It seems to me that this is a rather buggy system that is largely ignored by Roon but perhaps configurable by nerds who understand the language and technical aspects.
To reach ARC outside your home, Roon needs a way to traverse the firewall that your router maintains to keep your home network safe from unwanted internet traffic. This is usually plug-and-play using a service called UPnP that is preinstalled in router software and in Roon.
In some cases, internet service providers have a specific implementation that prevents Roon from reaching ARC even if you allow it through your router firewall. You don’t need to know the jargon, but this is known as Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation, and it’s what other users are referring to when they mention Starlink has CG-NAT.
Many users will install Tailscale to get around CG-NAT. This is where it gets tricky in your case, because you have an original-series Nucleus serving as your main Roon Server, and that particular operating system (RoonOS 1.0) can’t run Tailscale.
You are, unfortunately, correct that the workaround requires a certain degree of technical engagement. That said, it is entirely possible and we’re here to help. You will need to follow these instructions below to install Tailscale on a third device (any computer) in your setup, and then designate that as a Tailscale subnet router.
Tailscale makes this (somewhat) simple with their documentation here:
Please reach out with any questions and we’ll watch closely for your response. Thank you!
it seems to me that if Roon has developed an app that they would have made it simple for those of us who do not understand these things to make things simpler.
They did. It’s called Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), but this won’t work with your chosen ISP, and the alternative is only available on the newer Nucleus. However, Roon Technical Support can assist you setting up Tailscale on another device.
You’re right to expect ARC to just work, and for most people it does. I’m sorry it hasn’t for you.
As others have mentioned, Starlink keeps that door locked in a way neither you nor Roon can open directly. That’s not something you did wrong, and it’s not a bug we can fix from our end. It’s how Starlink’s network is built.
Are you willing to give Tailscale a try with our help? If yes, tell me what computer you have in the house (Windows or Mac), and I’ll send you the first step. If you’d rather not, that’s completely fine too, just say the word and we’ll take it from there.
Just checking in on this. Will you be able to try Tailscale with Roon, and if so, what computer do you have in the house, Windows or Mac? If you are still open to it, send that over and we can give you the first step for getting it set up, since Starlink is the piece blocking ARC here. Let us know where things stand or if you want to go a different direction.
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I don’t object to a technical solution if one is genuinely necessary. What I object to is that, four years after ARC was introduced, the only practical solution for many users still appears to involve installing third-party networking software and configuring subnet routing. That is well beyond the expectations of an ordinary consumer.
I use a Nucleus precisely because I wanted an appliance that simply works. I am not a network engineer, nor do I wish to become one merely to use a feature that is advertised as part of the Roon ecosystem.
If ARC cannot function on common internet services such as Starlink without this level of intervention, I think it is fair to say the product remains inaccessible to a significant proportion of users.
That’s a fair critique, and I want to respond to it directly rather than talk around it.
You’re right that the ideal is an appliance that just works, and for the large majority of setups ARC does exactly that. On most home networks it configures itself automatically through UPnP with nothing for you to touch. So the friction you’ve hit isn’t the normal experience, and it isn’t a case of ARC being half-built.
Where it breaks down is a specific kind of internet service. Starlink uses CG-NAT, which means your connection doesn’t get its own reachable address on the internet, so there’s no “door” for ARC to open regardless of what we or you configure on the router. That limitation is imposed upstream by the ISP, not by Roon, and it affects any service that needs to accept an incoming connection, not just us. Your case is made harder by one more thing: your original-series Nucleus runs an operating system that can’t host the usual workaround directly, which is why the remaining path involves a second device.
So I’ll agree with the spirit of what you’re saying. When both of those conditions line up, the fallback is more involved than an ordinary consumer should have to take on, and that’s genuinely worth us hearing. I’ll pass your feedback up as exactly that.
None of that means you’re stuck. If you’re open to it, the Tailscale route works reliably once set up, and I’ll walk you through it one step at a time so nothing is left for you to puzzle out alone. If you tell me whether you have a Windows or Mac computer in the house, I’ll send just the first step and we go from there. And if you’d rather not, that’s a legitimate choice too, just let me know.
I’m no nerd either, a near complete technophobe. I mostly listen to vinyl in my music room. I don’t know what a subnet is. More to the point, I don’t want to know. I’m not sure techie types appreciate the level of anxiety induced by having to deal with anything that isn’t plug-and-play. It took me weeks to get sound out of HQPlayer. HQPlayer induces you to fiddle with the settings so I stopped using it. I use Innuos Sense. That said I have an Aqua Formula DAC and the Aqua LinQ streamer is based on HQPlayer plug-and-play, which is fine by me. I use Roon in 10 zones and never think about it, it just works brilliantly.
All these add-on features like ARC are fine, as long as they don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, making things complicated or needing new hardware. I don’t use social media because the apps have too much functionality and they do my brain in. Family WhatsApp and that’s it for me.
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