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Post by Tim on Apr 3, 2023 15:59:08 GMT
Qobuz is starting to win me over. I've been swapping between it and Tidal over the weekend and often prefer how it sounds, but the added editorial content is a real plus. Roon had too much information, but for me Qobuz has just the right amount. I like that it gives the resolution being streamed and being able to buy music is good, so they seem keen on supporting artists more than the other streamers - a definite plus for me. I'm not mad on the UI though, not having a library of Albums seems an odd choice, but that's a personal thing I guess. And before you pipe up Martin and say it's called Favourites, I know . . . but I'd like a folder called albums, a folder for tracks you favourite individually and finally (an empty) folder of playlists
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Post by MartinT on Apr 3, 2023 18:56:55 GMT
a folder for tracks you favourite individually I'm sorry to "pipe up" but this is called a playlist. If you call it a folder instead, it serves the exact same purpose. You can choose just to play one track from it
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Post by MartinT on Apr 3, 2023 18:59:06 GMT
If you like the Volumio UI, the paid-for version supports Qobuz directly.
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Post by Tim on Apr 3, 2023 19:34:53 GMT
If you like the Volumio UI, the paid-for version supports Qobuz directly. No, I really dislike the Volumio UI - Volumio itself I find pretty dire as an OS, clunky and slow, even on decent hardware it's still a slug and it's absolutely hopeless at handling or playing a large FLAC library. I think folk are misunderstanding what I'm using Volumio for? I don't access it directly or use it's UI or anything in it's operating system at all, not one thing. I have installed Volumio 3 on an i5NUC and done nothing to it, other than go into the settings at first setup and select the playback device. I don't even have the Volumio app. It's just sat on the network connected to my DAC and the JRiver server is in my study - Volumio comes up as a DLNA/UPnP playback device in JRiver. So that's it as far as any interaction with Volumio goes, it's purely a 'dumb' DLNA renderer (end point or network bridge whichever nomenclature people prefer) for JRiver, which is the only thing I interact with, either directly or via the JRemote app. What I like about Volumio is how it sounds, as mentioned before on the exact same hardware I prefer it sonically to Roon. To me it's superior, but that's subjective. You might remember about 3 years ago I first used Volumio on a Netbook and liked how it sounded then too, but gave up with it as a device to handle music files directly as it wasn't up to the job. If I buy anything else that has a custom install of Volumio, like the Pro-Ject say, then I won't be doing anything different, it'll just be a DLNA renderer, I still won't be interacting with Volumio - hopefully that makes sense?
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Post by MartinT on Apr 3, 2023 20:17:08 GMT
Ah, ok then, but you've tried or use Bubble? That can also do Qobuz streams directly. What I'm getting at is that if you don't like the Qobuz UI, there are other ways of running Qobuz.
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Post by Tim on Apr 3, 2023 20:59:16 GMT
. . . . but you've tried or use Bubble? I have and it works well, very well. If I was just using Qobuz alone that would be a perfect solution. But using both Bubble and JRiver for the same DLNA end point can be a nuisance. If I'm playing Qobuz using Bubble but stop an album before finishing it and then switch over to JRiver there is quite a lag on that handover, plus when whatever I'm playing on JRiver is finished, Bubble will often then start playing whatever it was playing previously and overriding it can be problematic. Haha, nothing's easy, especially for a fuss arse like me! Still, it wouldn't be any fun if it was. I may get something solid and dependable just for JRiver playback and a second end point just for streaming Tidal or Qobuz, a WiiM Pro would be ideal for that, especially if Qobuz connect is on the cards as David Solomon has hinted. Best of both worlds then, a stable primary front end for JRiver and an independant streamer just for discovery on the WiiM. JRiver as a server is working a treat on Debian, current uptime is 6.4 days with over 7 GB data shared. That's what I really like about Linux, once you set it up how you like it, it just keeps going.
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Post by Tim on Apr 6, 2023 13:26:21 GMT
A WiiM Pro arrived today and it's been playing for about an hour now. Initial impressions . . . it's about as heavy as a big bag of crisps and the power supply is pretty weedy, so it's going onto a big USB power bank shortly - power input is USB-C 5V. It's hard wired to the network and connected to my Rega DAC via coaxial - WiFi is turned off. If you stacked 4 CD cases on top of each other you'd have about the same size and weight. (stock WiiM image)Setup was an absolute doddle via the Android WiiM home app, hard to get that wrong to be honest. Once it had downloaded the latest update, you are straight into first setup for the device. The app recognised the unit on my network and walks you through the settings, allowing you to rename it and select the output mode, by default it's RCA Phono so I had to select coaxial. I then selected the output resolution of 24bit 192kHz and it played a test tune to confirm operation of the output. It was playing music in under 5 minutes (not including the software update), so kudos to WiiM for making that really simple. It comes up as a playback device using Tidal connect through the Tidal Android app and to use Qobuz you need to use the WiiM Home app, which has Qobuz embedded. This isn't as slick or as polished as the Qobuz app, so here's hoping Qobuz do partner up with WiiM for Qobuz Connect. It was recognised straight away as a DLNA/UPnP playback device in JRiver and plays FLAC files via JRiver with no issues. Spotify connect works fine too. Sound quality wise at the moment it seems no different to Volumio playing FLAC on an i5NUC - headphone listening later will be more of a test. So overall, if it continues to work as it is right now, then for £149.00 I'd say it's an absolute steal for a budget streamer and a darned sight easier to setup than a Raspberry Pi, especially if you're not particularly computer savvy. It is pretty much plug and play, if you use it like I have. I think if I tried to index a NAS full of music with it and play from there, it wouldn't prove quite as simple, but that's not why I bought it. I just want it to stream Qobuz (or Tidal/Spotify) and be controlled via an app, which at the moment it's handling no bother. And from initial impressions it sounds no different to Volumio 3 running on a £500+ NUC, but does a lot more than the free version of Volumio.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 6, 2023 15:00:37 GMT
And from initial impressions it sounds no different to Volumio 3 running on a £500+ NUC, but does a lot more than the free version of Volumio. You couldn't ask for more, looking at the price. DLNA makes it very universal in application. Sounds like a nice bit of kit.
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Post by Tim on Apr 6, 2023 15:35:54 GMT
Yup, so far I'm impressed at the price/performance balance. You do need a half decent DAC as the on-board DAC is no more than okay and functional, but its priced accordingly for that and WiiM expect most users to use it with a separate DAC.
The units control settings are clear and well laid out in the app and it's apparent a lot of work has gone into development. The player has quite a bright LED status light, which I thought I'd have to cover up for late night listening, but you can turn that off in the app. Small details like that show they haven't just cobbled it all together and bunged it out to market. For me it's more useful than a Bluesound too, as that doesn't do DLNA or UPnP. Quite a bit cheaper as well.
I just noticed that if you join the Qobuz Club you can win a WiiM Pro in a draw, so it does look like they are collaborating.
EDIT:
Whoa there . . . hold your horses, gapless playback problems! A 4 second gap between songs on Dark Side of the Moon when playing FLAC via DLNA, no issues streaming DSotM from Qobuz, seamless between songs, but it doesn't like gapless over DLNA, not with JRiver anyway. No similar issues ever experienced with Volumio. I've posted on the WiiM forum to see if I've done anything wrong, but that's not a good start.
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