Have any other Antipodes users tried the Jplay for ios controller with minimserver? After reading an article on Jplay in Audiophile Style I decided to give it a try. With my K30 in for upgrade I used my EX in MPD mode and minimserver on my Synology to play back my pggb files and also tidal and qobuz. The gui is very roon like although limited to one end point. Imho the sound tops squeeze, roon and hqplayer. It is a true controller unlike mconnect so the play path is direct from server to player.
@Progisus Thanks for that suggestion. I had not come across the Jplay app for ios but at your suggestion I have downloaded it and have taken advantage of the 14 day free trial.
On my Oladra I have done a quick and dirty comparison this morning of just one track so far, going back and forth between Squeeze (Auto) and MPD with MinimServer (Auto) but this track usually gives good insight as to whether I am drawn into the music or not.
With MPD + MinimServer + JPlay I found the track lost a lot of its space between instruments and everything sounded a bit congested and one dimensional.
Changing to Squeeze + Squeeze + Material (or iPeng) the congestion disappeared, the bass was tighter and more detailed, the guitar was more alive and the whole track was more like 3D instead of the 1D from MPD + MinimServer + JPlay.
As I said, this was just a quick down load it and play job so I have not looked for any settings in JPlay that might affect SQ so please help if you can suggest anything.
I would be very interested in any other impressions from anyone else.
I will try this but first I have to put in a request for 1-on-1 support as my dashboard isn’t functioning well at the moment. I will circle back on this.
As my K30 is away I was judging squeeze from memory. Also I am mainly a headphone or iem listener so soundstage isn’t as important as micro details to me. Hopefully my K30 is back before my trial runs out. It sure is an alternative for a roon user and a much more functional gui than squeeze.
You should definitely explore more. It seems JPLAY has an edge not only for the UI but because it can improve SQ by reducing network activity from the control point.
In settings is an option called Update time that determines how often the control point application queries the audio endpoint for a progress update.
Control point network traffic (noise) can be reduced with 90%. I am sure you know how beneficial that could be, system dependent of course.
To find out more, Chris at AS just published hisreview.
It’s been a few years since I last compared them, but when I last did, Squeeze had a slight edge. They were close though. HQPlayer with minimal processing came in third, but with scaling enabled it provided advantages neither of the two could provide but with a slight loss of transparency.
HQPlayer has gained a fuller sound over the years, which I think some might favor. I’m eager to hear what v5 brings to Antipodes once it’s available.
I have been trying more tracks to compare the SQ of Squeeze + Squeeze + Material compared to MinimServer + MPD + JPLAY and my vote is still comprehensively in favour of the Squeeze combination. One thing I do want to try though is a much longer Update Time in JPLAY to see if that helps, perhaps 120 or even considerably longer.
That was my finding too. Do you get that annoying 11mhz whistle when pausing or stopping some tracks? My K30 is on it’s way back so I am looking forward to the squeeze comparison again. Right now I am back to roon>hqplayer (bit perfect) for the convenience.
@kennyb123 If you get a chance try Jplay as your controller for your poly/mojo. It’s integration with Tidal and Qobuz as well as the poly sdcard is the best I’ve seen. The sound is superb but I’ll let you weigh in on that as my preferences don’t always align with the group. haha
Finally decent cover art from my music stored on my SD card! Great recommendation.
As far as my home system, I’m again able to switch to different presets thanks to a service call with Mark earlier this week. JPlay found my library but I have yet to do any listening with JPlay involved.
I should make an appointment to get my presets reenabled. i’ve been struggling at times with my custom one. I thought it might have been fixed during the upgrade but not. I understand they wanted to not touch the customer settings to prevent problems.
When in MPD mode, the renderer isn’t able to be discovered by JPlay or other apps. I am pretty sure it’s a problem with my network. It might take me some time to sort it out.
