Comparison

Roon ARC vs AJC Player

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Roon ARC

Access your entire Roon music library and streaming services on the go. Enjoy personalized recommendations, offline listening, and advanced audio controls with a familiar interface.

Highlights
  • Access Roon library anywhere
  • Stream TIDAL, Qobuz, KKBOX
  • Offline music downloads
  • Personalized recommendations
  • Advanced audio controls (MUSE)
  • Car integration
Features
Read full description

*** Roon ARC requires a valid Roon subscription *** ARC puts the best possible on-the-go music experience in your pocket and lets you enjoy your Roon library and all of Roon's immersive features wherever you are in the world. ARC is a custom-built streaming service powered by your Roon system at home. Explore your complete collection of artists, albums, playlists, and personal music files, plus TIDAL, Qobuz, and KKBOX streams. Discover added content from Roon's music experts and smart features, such as staff-curated playlists, Daily Mixes, New Releases for You, personalized recommendations, and Roon Radio. You can add albums to your collection, build playlists, set favorites, create tags, and more, just as you can in Roon. Offline listening lets you download your personal music files to keep the music playing wherever your adventures take you – even if you're off the grid entirely. ARC offers remote access to Roon's captivating library of in-depth artist bios and album articles, revealing the stories that take us deep into the heart of our favorite music. And there's more… Ready to hit the road? Your Roon library is too! Roon's browsing and discovery features fully integrate into your car's controls for safe and convenient playback. With ARC within easy reach of the wheel, every road you take is a journey in sound. ARC makes the driver's seat feel like your listening chair at home. ARC is designed to look and feel just like Roon. You get the same intuitive, aesthetically rich Roon interface you know and love, fully optimized for your phone. No more switching between streaming apps; ARC compiles all your music in one place for easy access and maximum enjoyment. And now, Roon's audio shaping suite and pristine sound quality have arrived in ARC - with bold styling never before seen in a mobile app! MUSE delivers the precision audio control of Roon when you're on the go or running a streamlined mobile setup with ARC. It places radically unique EQ handling, optimized balance control, precision volume leveling, FLAC, DSD & MQA support, crossfeed, headroom management, and sample rate conversion in the palm of your hand. You can customize sonic qualities to your specific tastes with MUSE, then save or apply them with a few clicks. To top it all off, MUSE even remembers your presets and reapplies them when you reconnect to a known device. The MUSE Signal Path display provides complete audio signal transparency as the music flows through your device - from source media all the way to your speakers. ARC offers artful design, sound quality, and a music listening experience unmatched by any other music app. Best of all, it's included free with your Roon subscription.

About

AJC Player

Features
Read full description

AJC Player is a music discovery and streaming app for exploring concert recordings from the Aadam Jacobs Collection. Browse a growing archive of artists and live shows, open each concert to view its complete tracklist, and play songs directly from the collection. Features • Browse artists and their available concerts • Search the collection by artist name • View concert details, dates, artwork, and tracklists • Stream individual songs • Skip forward and backward through a concert • Save favorite tracks for quick access • Continue listening with background audio playback AJC Player is designed as a simple, focused way to explore and enjoy live music recordings. Content source and permission AJC Player is based on the Aadam Jacobs Collection, available through the Aadam Jacobs Collection website and Internet Archive collection. Content is used with permission.

Screenshots

Roon ARC4 screens
AJC Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

Roon ARC and AJC Player are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Roon ARC versus AJC Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRoon ARCAJC Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (196 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews35.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings196 — better—
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size122 MB26 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperRoon LabsAngel Soto

Bugs and requests

Roon ARC

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Corrupted media files
  • Disappearing playlists
  • Inability to select external storage for downloads
  • Inconsistent connectivity to Roon server

Requested features

5 requests
  • Native iPad app
  • Siri integration for voice control
  • Improved browsing and search capabilities
  • Automatic offline downloads
  • MQA decoding support

AJC Player

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Roon ARC

No in-app purchases

None

AJC Player

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Roon ARC free?
Roon ARC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is AJC Player free?
AJC Player is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Roon ARC or AJC Player have ads?
Neither Roon ARC nor AJC Player shows ads.

Other comparisons