[Daniel Johnston]

Hi All,

I am getting solid performance when playing music stored on the SD card. It is Roon ARC where I’m now getting a jam. Up until about a month ago, I would get clear reception when playing Roon ARC on the Poly with settings at:


and now I get this pretty consistently:


So in the last few weeks, the only thing I changed is my router, upgrading from an old Google Mesh router to a new Synology router and mesh, done in part to solve this problem (which it did). I rebooted the Roon core, deleted and reinstalled the Roon ARC app, and other resets. But the problem persists.

Anyone tips? I will follow up with Synology next.

It took me a minute to figure out what you were doing. You are using AirPlay from ARC to the Poly. Is this how you listen to the Poly on the go or at home? Technically ARC is not meant for using at home on your local network to the Roon core. That being said, I do the same but use a Sony DAP as the endpoint. I found the iOS Roon app very buggy.

The Poly should be able to sense Airplay vs RAAT streaming automatically. Does your poly work via the Roon app? Can you use another app to stream to Poly via Airplay? Did you port forward the Roon ARC TCP port? I get the too slow network errors when I'm on tightly regulated networks because ARC can't see the port. It is unclear if your issue is poly or Roon. Did you post this over at Roon or the Roon thread here?

 

[DavidWeinberg]

Your phone, poly and roon need to be on the same network. In your example the phone is connected to the poly network and your roon server probably to the new router. Try connecting each to the router over wifi.

My understanding is that to use the Poly in hybrid hotspot mode, the phone’s WiFi setting needs to be connected to the Poly as does the phone in AirPlay (as is the case in my first image). I thought that would be all I need to do.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I think that is the way it was set with my old router, and I’ve done that hundreds of times.

BTW, I do get an occasional playbacks, such as this (but maybe that is in temp memory).

 

[Daniel Johnston]

How good is Bluetooth on Poli? Does is support AAC?

It uses SBC which is similar to the bitrates of LDAC low quality, and AptX. SBC is a better bitrate than AAC.

The BT implementation is fine. It doesn't use HQ BT codecs but absolutely can be a good BT endpoint.

 

[DavidWeinberg]

It took me a minute to figure out what you were doing. You are using AirPlay from ARC to the Poly. Is this how you listen to the Poly on the go or at home? Technically ARC is not meant for using at home on your local network to the Roon core. That being said, I do the same but use a Sony DAP as the endpoint. I found the iOS Roon app very buggy.

The Poly should be able to sense Airplay vs RAAT streaming automatically. Does your poly work via the Roon app? Can you use another app to stream to Poly via Airplay? Did you port forward the Roon ARC TCP port? I get the too slow network errors when I'm on tightly regulated networks because ARC can't see the port. It is unclear if your issue is poly or Roon. Did you post this over at Roon or the Roon thread here?

I’m using Roon ARC on the go and Roon core at home. The Roon ARC app was buggy early on, but it worked well for me except for intermittent dropouts which I previously reported (a whole different story).

I agree that the Poly should automatically differentiate AirPlay vs RAAT, and it did so before the switch of the router. Roon works fine on the Roon app at home. I don’t mess around with port forwarding, etc. unless I have to do so, and then only when absolutely necessary. I haven’t posted at Roon yet, but will do so in the next day or say.

 

[Melting735]

How good is Bluetooth on Poli? Does is support AAC?

I use Bluetooth all the time to connect to PC for movies and games. The quality is very good actually, and no noise issue vs usb. Most importantly, there is no detectable latency for me even tho Chord used an old BT technology.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

I’m using Roon ARC on the go and Roon core at home. The Roon ARC app was buggy early on, but it worked well for me except for intermittent dropouts which I previously reported (a whole different story).

I agree that the Poly should automatically differentiate AirPlay vs RAAT, and it did so before the switch of the router. Roon works fine on the Roon app at home. I don’t mess around with port forwarding, etc. unless I have to do so, and then only when absolutely necessary. I haven’t posted at Roon yet, but will do so in the next day or say.

Try forwarding the ARC port. That should solve your issues. That probably will be the first thing Roon will tell you to do. The minimal decrease to your network's security is worth it.

 

[Cymruambyth]

It uses SBC which is similar to the bitrates of LDAC low quality, and AptX. SBC is a better bitrate than AAC.

The BT implementation is fine. It doesn't use HQ BT codecs but absolutely can be a good BT endpoint.

SBC is the standard Bluetooth. It has more compression than AAC, which is at least as good as Aptx.

 

[CH23]

I don't understand how people who paid €1000+ for a streamer, then use SBC and say it's good. you could've gotten a FiiO BTR5 and have better bluetooth audio?

Of course it remains weird that Chord decided against using anything like LDAC or APT-X HD on a €500+ streamer, but that's a whole different can of worms

 

[Daniel Johnston]

SBC is the standard Bluetooth. It has more compression than AAC, which is at least as good as Aptx.

Not true. See attached chart.

AAC in Apple's implementation is 256Kbs

LDAC starts at 330Kbs

However, not all compression is necessarily sonically equal. Whether you can distinguish SBC, AptX, or AAC sonically is up to your ears.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

I don't understand how people who paid €1000+ for a streamer, then use SBC and say it's good. you could've gotten a FiiO BTR5 and have better bluetooth audio?

Of course it remains weird that Chord decided against using anything like LDAC or APT-X HD on a €500+ streamer, but that's a whole different can of worms

Or instead of buying a BT dongle that may or may not sound "better" than the Poly, just use the Poly/Mojo.

I'm not overly impressed with any BT dongles regardless of aptX, SBC, LDAC, etc...

YMMV

 

[Cymruambyth]

Not true. See attached chart.

AAC in Apple's implementation is 256Kbs

LDAC starts at 330Kbs

However, not all compression is necessarily sonically equal. Whether you can distinguish SBC, AptX, or AAC sonically is up to your ears.

This is a misunderstanding of Bluetooth implementation. Anyone with an iPhone can tell you AAC is better than SBC.

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-are-the-best-bluetooth-codecs-aptx-aac-ldac-and-more-explained

And I wouldn’t use any Bluetooth to transmit music to the Poly.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

This is a misunderstanding of Bluetooth implementation. Anyone with an iPhone can tell you AAC is better than SBC.

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-are-the-best-bluetooth-codecs-aptx-aac-ldac-and-more-explained

And I wouldn’t use any Bluetooth to transmit music to the Poly.

Not a misunderstanding. Sorry that the printed facts don't fit your narrative. I highly doubt "anyone with an iPhone" can easily tell any differences between SBC and AAC. It comes down to the DAC on the receiving device and transducer as opposed to the few extra bits of bandwidth between codecs. It is widely known that the AAC BT codec on the idevices transmit at 256Kbps. But, that means very little when it comes to perception of good or bad sound.

https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/

They do corrolate somewhat to WhatHifi.

I don't use BT either, but I can confirm that the delta between BT codecs is not as large as audiophile sites tell you.

 

[Melting735]

I don't understand how people who paid €1000+ for a streamer, then use SBC and say it's good. you could've gotten a FiiO BTR5 and have better bluetooth audio?

Of course it remains weird that Chord decided against using anything like LDAC or APT-X HD on a €500+ streamer, but that's a whole different can of worms

The Bluetooth is not for pure quality but for convenience. Once you attach your poly to mojo2 and put them into the leather case, the USB connection is no longer available. It will be a pain to detach them. The poly's quality wifi will be used for music streaming, while its Bluetooth is still good enough for gaming and movies.

 

[CH23]

The Bluetooth is not for pure quality but for convenience. Once you attach your poly to mojo2 and put them into the leather case, the USB connection is no longer available. It will be a pain to detach them. The poly's quality wifi will be used for music streaming, while its Bluetooth is still good enough for gaming and movies.

I'd recommend airplay above bluetooth.

@Daniel Johnston and @Cymruambyth I would say that SBC and AAC are much like mp3 128kbps vs aac 128kbps. same bitrate, but different encoding. AAC is better than SBC for music IMO

 

[Melting735]

I'd recommend airplay above bluetooth.

I don't think there is an easy way to use airplay on Windows PC.