IPs (addresses not real, just used for explanation):
Device - Public IP and 198.51.100.1 VPN assigned private
Core - 203.0.113.100 private address
The Core ARC is configured with a port but it is not open to the Public Internet. The Network is routing the Roon request to the Local Router which allows for Device to talk to Core on it’s private 203.0.113.100 IP address.
Problem:
ARC connects to the core and browsing in fine. I can interact with the application just fine and it’s snappy. I see my daily mixes. I see my play history. I can browse playlists. I can tap on everything.
Until… I tap “play”. Then, 9 out of 10 times, it spins then tells my I have a poor connection. 1 out of 10 times it plays just fine.
From my troubleshooting, I don’t see anything different on the network between the stream and the web socket to interact with the Core.
So, why does Play fail? I’m happy to work with Roon Support if they can look over the logs to help me identify the failure here. I’d almost point to a firewall issue but then I need to understand what is different between playback and browsing and why it works every great once in a while. My “fear” is that the play request is heading towards the Roon public IP (NAT’d from Local Router) which will not work. But I cannot confirm this because I cannot find a way to read any ARC client logs. I also cannot find any ARC Server logs.
I should also note that ARC works perfectly fine when sitting on the some network as Core.
Qobuz app, while I’m connected to the VPN, works fine. So this appears to be Roon ARC issue and the way its trying to stream from Qobuz. Since Qobuz is my preferred streaming source very few of my playlists use Tidal. In fact, of the 6 Daily Mixes, only 2 had some files that were playable in ARC because the rest were tracks from Qobuz.
Any hints? Things I should try? I’m going to try and tap the network when I get more time but that won’t be as straightforward since this is VPN traffic. Thanks
I wanted to check in on this thread to see if you were able to get your Qobuz issues sorted? As you probably know by now, using a VPN does limit the scope of support we’re able to offer, but I’d love to try and provide as much assistance to you as possible!
Let me know, I’ll be monitoring this thread for your reply
I need to know what request is being made to Qobuz and what the response is. Qobuz app works but ARC does not. Either the request isn’t being made correctly to work across the VPN (which would be weird) or something at Qobuz isn’t liking the request because of the ARC + VPN (even when Qobuz app works).
I do understand that using a VPN isn’t a supported method of accessing ARC but if this set-up, specific to Qobuz, isn’t expected to work (because of something at Qobut) then it’d be a good thing to add to the ARC FAQ. But we’ve got to get a root cause first. Also, this could very well be a Qobuz issue but without logs I cannot open a inquiry towards them.
Thanks for letting me know! After taking a closer look into your account, it does appear that Qobuz has a longer response time in every request than TIDAL from the Core, regardless of the remote or endpoint used. This tells us the issue likely resides between Qobuz and your VPN.
In your logs, when you appear to be using a VPN, requests to Qobuz are taking slightly longer than requests to anything else. There does not seem to be any request from Qobuz to go through your regular router translation, it seems that Qobuz just doesn’t play nice with the VPN you have set up.
With this, I’ll need to move your thread into the Roon Software category as VPNs are beyond the bounds of where we can offer support. You have my sincerest apologies for this!
Perhaps others from the community can help weigh in on potential workaround to get things moving faster between Qobuz and the VPN you have
Well, I’ve not used that VPN for weeks since it doesn’t work so not sure exactly what you’re looking at. Be happy to set-up some time to try a few tracks to make sure we’re looking at the right thing.
Again, it works on the Qobuz app on my VPN so Roon ARC is certainly doing something different. It’s that “different” I’d like to track down. Hopefully someone from Qobuz watches this area?
@benjamin I just tried to play a few tracks so you had fresh data.
Qobuz - Spins and times out nothing plays
Bon Ivers - Towers
Lisa Hannigan - Undertow
Lykke Li - Sleeping Alone
Lana Del Rey - Arcadia
The National - You Had Your Soul With You
Tidal - Plays (started playback in 2 seconds)
Gary Numan - Betrayed
Local - Plays (started immediately ~1 second)
Beastie Boys - Gratitude
