Hi everyone,
I have the Focal Arche connected to Windows 10 PC and after bringing it back from standby, I either have to unplug it and plug it back in, or disable/re-enable the Focal Arche in Device Manager.
Driver and all setup, it works perfect. Have even re-imaged PC and tried others. Also disabled power savings on my USB ports.
Not sure what it could be? Anyone else seeing it? Anyone resolved it?
Thank you!
I have the same issue, I found out that (for me at least) the only way to get around the problem is to power up Arche before I power up PC. All works fine then. If I power up PC before Arche I have to unplug and plug it back in for it to work.
I also have issues when I put Tidal into exlusive mode after some time I get “NO SIGNAL” on Arche and it won’t play any sound. I have to unplug and plug it back in and disable exclusive mode for it to work again, but then I lose out on Tidal sending correct bitrate to Arche.
Hey Kupco, you nailed it! All of the above for me as well. My problem is…my PC is always on. So device manager disable/enable works okay most of the time if you don’t want to do the unplug/plug. Shame too…the Arche is incredible. I’ve compared many DAC/Amps, and still my favorite. Minor bug and tolerable. Hopefully the next firmware update fixes it.
I’m glad to have found someone else with these issues. I thought it was my PC motherboard / Windows acting up and was thinking of resetting my USB ports to see if that helps, but it sounds like that won’t solve anything.
I also hope they will come with a firmware fix, but am a bit skeptical honestly. Arche has been out for almost a year and there have been no firmware updates for it yet (at least I could not find any on the Focal website). I suspect they’ll update the firmware only when new Focal headphones come out to add their dedicated amp option.
I love the device too, it sounds amazing, so it is a pity it is having such stupid and annoying bugs.
Still, this is not something to detract from the amazing sound this thing produces and my enjoyment of the music I am able to listen to thanks to the Arche.
Would still recommend it to anyone for and audition if they’re looking for an amazing single unit DAC/AMP.
Absolutely agree! I honestly prefer it over the Dave. I upgraded a lot on it too by getting a Powerquest power conditioner to feed it, Diamond cables from AQ, and a Dragon High Current cable. It revolutionized it and the clarity. It’s funny to say out loud. but I now almost get butterflies in my stomach listening to it. Feels like the singers voice is literally in my ear. You can buy all the Audioquest stuff from Headphones.com too. I buy everything from them and Taro is great.
I suspect the same on the firmware updates. Need to somehow get Focal’s attention to it, but their support team never replies. Emailed them so many times.
And yes, definitely not your PC.
Similar issue for me and the Arche, on a Mac and not a PC. Sometimes the unit will just seemingly lock up and stop accepting input. I have to physically unplug and reconnect the USB cable to un-wedge it. It doesn’t happen often, maybe once a week (and I use it constantly all day long).
I experienced this once when I accidentally streamed a DSD file to the Arche, thinking I was hooked up to my Topping D90. As I recall a simple power cycle didn’t restore things to normal, I was actually worried I might have permanently damaged the unit. It ended up just “starting to work” again after I’d left it unplugged (power and USB) overnight. I had fiddled with it quite a bit before to no effect, even doing the “reset” function from the menu.
Sounds like Focal needs to do some work and patch these things with a firmware update. Fingers crossed…
It seems I may have fixed the startup issue with my Arche. After changing the setting below, Arche worked even after I turned it on after I turned on my PC, but have to test it more to be 100% sure.
This is what I did:
Nice find Kupco! I forgot about this…I only changed the USB power saving under the hub…seeing it is HUB 0002, I found that USB HUB, and disabled power savings. But FYI, that didn’t help. Hopefully your setting is more global policy and will make a difference. Thank you so much!
Btw disabling all power savings on my ethernet adapter in device manager under device manager settings Advanced Tab. (see below). Made a HUGE difference in sound quality for streaming. Also dropping receive/transmit buffers down to 80 receive and 160 transmit…cleanest sound I’ve heard from Tidal yet.
Same here, the change in global power settings did not help in the long run (helped only the first time I turned on my pc after I changed it). Still need to power up Arche before I turn on my PC. Not too big of a hassle (for me at least) to be honest, but certainly a bug that would be nice to have taken care of.
Thanks for confirming! Yeah, it’s just my PC is always on…treat it like my media hub, so when Arche goes to sleep, it stops recognizing it.
Hey @Henry. I’m dealing with the “NO SIG” issue on my Arche since I got it and nobody reacted to my post over in this thread: Troubleshooting MegaThread.
You’re the only person I know who is using Arche on a Windows machine. Do you have any issues when Arche is set to 16/44.1 kHz? Or what bitrate are you running your’s at? I’m trying to figure out if it is my unit, or driver issue or something else…
Thanks for any help.
Hey, I have it set to maximum bit rate and frequency, 384khz, but in exclusive mode from Tidal, it just does what it matches to the song. No sig I encountered when I used COAX input, not USB, and was outputting DTS and other crazy surround sound signals like 5.1.
Tell me your connection path and setup…and what you’re trying to play, Tidal?
Thanks for your reply.
I have the Arche connected via USB to my PC. I get the “NO SIG” issue when I:
The issue occurs only after hours of continuous listening (3+) and not much earlier. I have music playing in the background when working. Do you listen to your Arche for many continuous hours?
What I will try doing is setting the bitrate to 24/384 kHz (same as you) and play Tidal in exclusive mode to see if that changes things.
/edit: Even setting the bitrate to 24/384, when playing Tidal in exclusive mode I unfortunately get the error.
My guess is it is a either a software driver issue…check the settings I shared and then reboot, both the arche and PC. etc…
If no go, sadly it may be the unit is overheating or failing after so much time. I listen to mine for hours and hours. But I did read on forums about various fails and repairs needed. They have a warranty on it though, so worst case, repair.
I have reinstalled the drivers multiple times, changed settings, played with usb ports etc, nothing helped.
I even thought it may be a heat issue too, so I propped up my unit on some feet to give it more breathing room, no change unfortunately.
The only thing I did not do is a different usb cable and a different unit.
I reached out to my local Focal distributor who was kind enough to lend me a second unit to see if the issue persists. It’s coming tomorrow. Will post here what I will find out.
Thanks for your help.
But only after hours of listening right? How long until you can use again after you get the NO SIG?
I use audioquest USB. I doubt it’s that, but try. And see about connecting another source during this time, see if another laptop or iphone (must be charging to work with arche) will help.
Btw, hoes the repair program work? Would love to know for future…if you find out details. Thanks!
Yes, only after 2-3+ hours. After that I have to unplug and plug back in the USB cable, but after that it takes only minutes for it to NO SIG again, which would point to the overheating issue. But the baffling part is that switching to 48 kHz makes the problem go away completely.
I did try my laptop as another source and got the same error, so I ruled out my PC as the culprit.
I’m down to - drivers (but you don’t have the same issue, so not sure about this), cable or my unit. Or some really unfortunate combination of my PC/laptop setup/drivers etc that may be causing this.
I have purchased my unit in France, but live in Czech Republic, so warranty will be fun and more dependent on the store I bought it from than on Focal itself. But I will update this thread on how it’ll go once I have to go that route.
