JPLAY on Antipodes

Thanks much, @NickBacon . I’ll give it a try tonight. Btw…under your prescribed settings, are you streaming and/or playing from local? I stream only from Tidal.

@justaute I hardly ever stream and mostly play locally stored files from the Oladra ssd.

@justaute I have just added Qobuz to the JPLAY libraries but no music through that route I’m afraid. Now that I think about it that might have been mentioned to me before. (This all still with using the Squeeze server and player, just for completeness).

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That makes sense. Even after following your set-up directions, I still couldn’t get it to work with Squeeze/Squeeze for streaming. It seems streaming through that combination is the issue. Very much appreciated your help.

I have to admit, I oldfashionly mostly play local files—probably my mistake :blush: . Whenever someone raves about having heard an amazing track or album, my first question is always, “Was it local or streaming?” Not this time.

Yesterday, on AS, I said to you :
“I initially misunderstood—I think you were trying to compare the sound signature of JPLAY for iOS with Material, rather than focusing on different player and server setups. Fortunately, we can actually compare all of them!” But you’re right, although they do look the same, the second album won’t play with the Squeeze preset.

Changes in JPLAY for audio output and libraries don’t sync with the Antipodes server. Often, tracks play in silence unless I switch to a different preset and then back to Squeeze. Switching with other server apps open (see image above) doesn’t always work either. For instance, with MPD active, JPLAY may prompt “Renderer not connected” even though the track advances, but there’s no sound. This back-and-forth gets confusing and frustrating, though it might not be an issue once settled for one preset.

I remember Nick asking once in this forum for their suggested settings for LMS + Squeezelite for best sound quality, having an Antipodes reply instantly here. Since @MarkCole /Antipodes recently promoted the JPLAY annual subscription here, maybe he also could guide us on how to set it up properly and easily switch between the server presets in a consistent way?

Possible new thread: JPLAY integration
IMG_0475

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Good call, Paul. It really would be helpful for Antipodes to step in here, especially given the “certified” status of Antipodes. It’s ok if jplay can’t stream via Squeeze/Squeeze, some help or understanding of limitations would be nice.

Maybe this leads us to the question: if Material Skin can stream Tidal via Squeeze / LMS to Squeeze then what’s missing in JPLAY to do the same? LMS already has everything it takes. But I do recall that Tidal integrated was not working for a while here in a previous AMS version. Maybe it has something to do with that? It seems like this is something we could all address with Marcin.

Coming from Innuos Sense and having demo-ed Jplay for a few days, there are functions I sorely miss.

  • Ability to sort: I don’t always remember the name of the song of the artist. Material Skin has those functions listed, but do not work. Big deal to me.
  • New music recommendation: nice to have.
  • Play previously played songs: makes life so much easier.

Are you sure this is not available within JPLAYs FILTER & SORT functions?

Oh…those functions are available in Jplay. I was referring to Material.

I have split out this topic from the previous thread.

There are users way more experienced with JPLAY than I am, this thread has progressed without my input till now, so I just popped in to clarify…

JPLAY is a UPnP solution, MinimServer and MPD, is the AMS solution that is JPLAY certified.
JPLAY can also be used with MiniDLNA + MPD, also we have included Squeeze + MPD preset that can be operated via JPLAY.

If you can get Squeeze+Squeeze to work with JPLAY, all power to you, this isn’t something we have spent any time on and @NickBacon has outlined how he has set this up…

Love the use of logo’s…

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Thank you Mark,
The setup as described by @NickBacon above works perfectly. The sound quality and user experience of playing local files with JPLAY from Squeeze/LMS to Squeezelite is fantastic on all Antipodes servers, but streaming with JPLAY in this specific server/player preset isn’t functioning.

If Material Skin can stream Tidal over Squeeze LMS to a Squeezelite player on an Antipodes server, what’s holding JPLAY back from achieving the same with Tidal? I’ll let you know here what Marcin “way more experienced with JPLAY than I am” thinks.

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Just on this, for a giggle I have set my Oladra to MinimServer + MPD so that I can use JPLAY with Qobuz streaming. Later on I hope to have some free time to compare the sound quality of local files played via this set up and the same files streamed from Qobuz with JPLAY as the controlling app…

This track will be the first because it is one of my go to tracks for quickly assessing sound quality. The search function of JPLAY makes it easy to find locally stored tracks as well as on Qobuz and then to play the alternative versions. I have always found the search function of Qobuz in LMS/Squeeze to be very clunky. JPLAY is miles ahead as a user experience so it will be interesting to see how Qobuz sounds via MinimServer + MPD.

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Squeeze+Squeeze isn’t certified or been tested by Antipodes to use JPLAY.

If memory serves me correctly, someone has already reached out to Marcin and I believe that this is a limitation of the third party UPnP plugins for Squeeze/Squeezelite.

There are three offered solutions for JPLAY playback that enable streaming why not just use one that works.

You’re right, but sometimes Squeeze to Squeeze just has that little extra edge. On the other hand, MPD with Minimserver can surpass it—so it really varies. Overall, having access to JPLAY, especially for non-Roon users, is a real advantage. I get that users want to explore different presets, and that’s why we have so many options, but it can feel a bit like we’re stuck sometimes. Plus, for those of us now used to JPLAY, having to open Material just to listen to Tidal in the Squeeze preset does feel a bit awkward.

In the end, it all comes down to what you’re willing to sacrifice in terms of user interface, and that will always be a point of debate. But I know you’ve got other priorities, Mark, and I’d prefer you focus on refining AMS vX. Wishing you all the best!

(Also) as someone who usually prefers local files, I think I know how this will go. Yesterday I was curious to compare Tidal + Material /LMS against Tidal + Minimserver MPD. I quickly made adjustments using different Antipodes presets and tried JPLAY with different Tidal options. However, JPLAY couldn’t handle it well—while the track would often advance, there was no sound. Managing JPLAY as a ‘skin’ alongside Antipodes presets proved to be a bit much, especially after midnight like yesterday. Anyway, good luck, and thanks for giving it a try.

This is interesting, Paul. In my system, using Jplay with either MPD/Minimserver or MPD/Squeeze works flawlessly when streaming Tidal.

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I bought a lifetime jplay license as it is a possible roon replacement with better sound than roon. It will need quite a bit of refinement before I would switch. At present it is squeeze/squeeze for sound and roon for discovery. Once I find my choice in roon I add it to qobuz or tidal and after a quick library refresh in squeeze it is there to play.

For jplay I have minimserver running on my nas and upnp running on a pi/ropieee for testing. I’ve also run them on the K30.

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And this is where I wish Material skin as the sort by date added function. So much easier to access.

As Mar Cole said, we are using something that’s free. That may be true, but it’s still less than ideal.

Well it is the end of the working week and I have settled down to do a little comparing.

First was comparing the test track (Spiral Stair) using JPLAY and with the Oladra in MinimServer + MPD mode. Listening to the streamed version from Qobus it sounded good. Good enough for me to wonder what all the fuss was about and why didn’t I just transfer to using MinimServer + MPD + JPLAY. The locally stored file version was different, possibly preferred but certainly still good.

Then I reconfigured the Oladra to Squeeze + Squeeze and played the same track streamed from Qobuz. To my ears it was better than either of the options heard so far but not by so much that it was one of those fabled night and day differences.

No, indeed, that was reserved for the final option of the locally stored file played with Squeeze + Squeeze. Wow, it just sounds so much better. Clean subtle details with zero smearing. So musical and so natural.

I suspect that this exercise is one of those where the quote of comparison being the thief of joy really does apply. All the other options sound good until one hears the sound of a locally stored file played using Squeeze + Squeeze.

My wife and I are sat here with the woodburning stove on and it is nice and cosey. I had asked for a while to listen to various playback options before we settled down to watch an episode of Ludvig on the telly but i had left the system playing music on the last setting of Squeeze + Squeeze after doing the comparing and my wife has asked if we can’t just listen to the music rather than watch the telly . . . . . . that might say something about the sound.

I didn’t include the option of local files played using Squeeze + Squeeze + JPLAY but I am sort of assuming that will sound the same as without JPLAY although that ought to be verified.

So my conclusion is that MinimServer + MPD + Jplay sounds great and will not disappoint. I can recommend it. One will not be disappointed with the sound and the user interface is a joy to use.

But I’m sticking with Squeeze + Squeeze + local files, possibly with JPLAY, and in which case with JPLAY I will make do without Qobuz streaming but then the local files sound better anyway (although I admit the local file vs streaming comparison is getting closer, its just not there yet).

Some may say they knew what I would conclude but I genuinely had an open mind on this

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