Ronn ARC is a real game changer for me. I have been using it from the first days after its premiere, mainly in the car and on trips away from home. It worked flawlessly, and when it didnât work, you could always pinpoint the reason, e.g. no GSM/LTE signal or some errors on my side.
I havenât identified the exact moment, but around September 2023 (maybe it was after changing iOS from 16 to 17?) ARC stopped working on the LTE/5G network. The selected song never started playing and after some time âPoor connectionâ messages appeared. I have observed identical or similar cases among posts in the Roon community, hoping for a solution, but to no avail. I gave up for some time and did what everyone else reporting the same problem does: I listen to TIDAL/Apple Music in the car and outside the house (even Hi-Res on LTE :)).
After the last ARC 1.0.45 update, I decided to check if anything had changed. Without changes. But when testing playback, I changed the PLAYBACK option in the settings to âAutomatically pick best qualityâ = ON and ARC started playing the TIDAL file!!! I tried changing to an album from my local library - again a poor connection message! I changed the setting âAutomatically pick best qualityâ = OFF and âCellularâ = âBandwith Optimizedâ and voila: ARC plays! After two songs I decided to skip the song, again no playback (poor connection). I changed the setting to âAutomatically pick best qualityâ = ON and playback was possible again. I had to get out of the car. After returning to CarPlay and ARC, there is no playback again, but the âAutomatically pick best qualityâ setting is changed to the opposite
the value was effective again. Itâs probably about changing the playback quality settings to start playback!
Sorry for this long story but I wanted to show that the problem is bothersome for me and, I think, for many users, and at the same time I think I have found some regularity that may help find the cause.
I get this sometimes. I do however have a middle man being Tailscale. But, as long as itâs on there no issue.
So with your above findings. Iâve realised if I just close the app on iOS and reopen the app and press play or skip the song, I usually get resumed playing. Not always, as sometimes the signal is says is good but it isnât.
When you find yourself in this unplayable state, if possible, could you check on your Roon Settings>Arc and see if thereâs an error code present, or, do you still receive the purple checkmark?
If possible, it would be helpful if you could recreate this situation, and share the specific date, time, and track attempted to play.
Thank you for your answer.
To make it easier, I ran ARC tests today on an iPhone with WiFi turned off (without using CarPlay, which doesnât seem to matter).
When playing albums from the local library, playback went smoothly. When I randomly selected an album from Roonâs recommendation (âNEW RELEASES FOR YOUâ) using the TIDAL source, playback was not possible with the message âPoor connectionâ - attached screenshot with time, playback quality settings and song data.
Then I just changed the playback quality settings and started playing the same song again. Playback went smoothly - attached screenshot with time, playback quality settings and song data.
I then proceeded to describe this situation and send this post.
Just NOW I tried to play something. It is not possible to play either from the library or from streaming (TIDAL). For all attempts, even after changing the playback quality setting, the âPoor connectionâ message appears.
The Roon server is connected directly to the router.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you what I wrote earlier, I used ARC for about half a year without any problems. During this time, I did not change anything in my home network infrastructure.
I also tried using the Roon server on Windows 10. But I returned to macOS because it did not affect the operation of ARC.
Are you using any VPNs within your local network, or on your mobile device?
This indicates that the problem is tied to an upstream connection to Tidalâs servers. Since youâre able to play Hi-Res tracks via the Tidal app under the same conditions, itâs potentially the Tidal API specifically thatâs choking up.
If itâs bandwidth-related, Iâd be curious to see what network priority settings you might have available for your Roon Server device.
Could you please provide a fresh timestamp of when the issue occurs next?
Today I repeated the tests as suggested.
It seems that the assumption about the connection with TIDAL would be confirmed. I havenât done many tests, but the one I did seemed significant.
While driving (Carplay), I turned on the playlist of the âYour Daily Mixesâ category called âPink Floyd Mixâ. The songs from the playlist started playing without any problems until the next song was a TIDAL song. Playback has stopped. After a dozen or so seconds, I jumped to the next song, which was already from my local library, and playback started. The situation was repeatable, i.e. it was impossible to play any song from TIDAL.
I am attaching two sample screenshots (1. no playback and 2. playback without error) so that you can read the timestamps. My timezone is UTC+1.
Today I installed the latest versions of Roon, both for the server/client on macOS (build 1365) and for the and iOS client (1364).
I turned on ARC in the car and all the problems disappeared: albums from the local library and from TIDAL are played without any problems. Hallelujah!!!
On the other hand, this may only be partly good news. We havenât found out the reason for the previous incorrect operation
But at the moment it seems that the problem has disappeared.
but I wanted to show that the problem is bothersome for me and, I think, for many users, and at the same time I think I have found some regularity that may help find the cause.
