Comparison

Focal & Naim vs Roon ARC

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

Head to head
About

Focal & Naim

This app unifies your music experience, offering seamless control over your audio devices and streaming services. Manage your entire ecosystem, set up new products, and enjoy high-resolution playback with personalized settings.

Highlights
  • Unified ecosystem control
  • Intuitive product setup
  • High-resolution streaming
  • Multi-room audio synchronization
  • Personalized EQ and settings
  • Internet radio access
  • CarPlay integration
Features
Read full description

The Focal & Naim app gives you total control of your entire Focal & Naim ecosystem. It brings streaming, radio, and your personal music library together in one beautifully simple interface. Your Focal & Naim Account Create your free account to register your products, access local Internet Radio, and receive exclusive benefits such as extended warranties and enhanced customer support. Seamless Setup Ready your new Naim & Focal devices with our intuitive product setup process. Total Control Manage every aspect of your system — speakers, streamers, and settings — all from your phone or tablet. Whole-Home Sound Stream music perfectly in sync across rooms or set a unique mood in each of your spaces with Naim Multiroom technology. Stream Without Limits Access high-resolution playback up to 24-bit/96 kHz from your favourite streaming services. Enjoy thousands of internet radio stations, including Naim Radio, now also available locally on your mobile device. Tailor Your Experience Fine-tune your speakers to your room with ADAPT™ technology, adjust EQ, lighting, and noise cancellation for Focal Bathys headphones, or personalise settings across the Naim Mu-so range. Stay Connected Anywhere Control playback from your wrist with Apple Watch support. Version 8.0 also adds CarPlay integration, bringing high-fidelity Internet Radio straight to your car. Compatible with all current Focal & Naim network-connected music players (some legacy products not supported).

About

Roon ARC

Access your entire Roon music library, including personal files and streaming services, from anywhere. Enjoy high-quality audio playback, offline listening, and in-depth music discovery features optimized for mobile and car use.

Highlights
  • Access Roon library anywhere
  • Offline music downloads
  • High-quality audio playback
  • Advanced EQ and audio shaping
  • In-depth music discovery
  • 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.

Screenshots

Focal & Naim4 screens
Roon ARC4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Roon ARC at 3.3 against Focal & Naim's 2.2. Roon ARC also leads on review sentiment (36% vs 23%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Roon ARC holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 254 and 201 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Focal & Naim's written reviews are positive against 36% of Roon ARC's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focal & Naim ships an update every 5 weeks, Roon ARC monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Focal & Naim versus Roon ARC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocal & NaimRoon ARC
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.2 (254 ratings)3.3 (201 ratings) — better
Positive reviews23.2% of reviews35.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings254 — better201
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size448 MB124 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperNaim Audio LtdRoon Labs LLC

Customer experience

Focal & Naim

All ratings253 ratings
Positive23.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative68.0%
Written reviews681 reviews
Positive23.2%
Neutral10.0%
Negative66.8%

Roon ARC

All ratings199 ratings
Positive54.8%
Neutral8.5%
Negative36.7%
Written reviews224 reviews
Positive35.7%
Neutral11.2%
Negative53.1%

User reviews

Focal & Naim

From 254 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 App works well
  • 👍 Focal app works fine
  • 👍 Naim app works well with Uniti Atom
  • 👍 Seamless Tidal integration
  • 👍 Reliable connectivity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent disconnections and crashes
  • 🐛 Unstable app, unreliable connectivity
  • 🐛 Buggy, freezes, and loses connection
  • 🐛 Constantly needs to be reset
  • 🐛 Struggles to find and connect to devices

Roon ARC

From 201 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless integration with Roon
  • 🌍 Access music library anywhere
  • 🔊 High-quality audio playback
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly
  • 💡 Useful feature additions like EQ presets

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and connection issues
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly
  • 🤖 Unreliable performance, especially on mobile networks
  • 📱 Lack of iPad-optimized interface
  • 🔌 Requires complex network setup for remote access

Bugs and requests

Focal & Naim

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Frequent disconnections from devices
  • Inability to find and connect to devices
  • Crashes and freezes during use
  • Issues with firmware updates
  • Compatibility problems with iOS 16
Show 1 more
  • Metadata issues and incorrect album art

Requested features

7 requests
  • Improve volume control granularity
  • Add EQ controls and presets
  • Improve Tidal integration
  • Enhance radio station browsing
  • Implement better multi-room support
Show 2 more
  • Provide more customization options
  • Improve overall app stability and reliability

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

In-app purchases

None

Focal & Naim

No in-app purchases

None

Roon ARC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Focal & Naim free?
Focal & Naim is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Roon ARC free?
Roon ARC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Focal & Naim or Roon ARC?
Roon ARC is rated higher. Focal & Naim averages 2.2 out of 5 from 254 ratings, while Roon ARC averages 3.3 from 201 ratings.
Do Focal & Naim or Roon ARC have ads?
Neither Focal & Naim nor Roon ARC shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Focal & Naim or Roon ARC?
Focal & Naim ships an update every 5 weeks, and Roon ARC monthly. Most recently, Focal & Naim was updated on November 6, 2026 and Roon ARC on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons