I am coming from the Innuos world (Zenith), but I am very interested in the Antipodes products for a lot of reasons. I recently picked up a used CX and I am currently using Squeeze with the Zenith acting as the Player and connected to the Bricasti M3 via USB. I would of course like to get the Zenith out of the chain and connect the Bricasti using the direct Ethernet link. So far I have not been able to make this chain work.
I have configured MinimServer on the CX and connected the Bricasti via Ethernet. Running MConnect Lite I can see the CX, but cannot see the M3 as an endpoint/player. I installed MinimWatch on my PC and added MinimStreamer to the CX configurationt to see if it made any difference, did not.
I am guessing that I am missing something simple here, maybe someone can point me in the right direction? Ultimately I would like to get to a configuration where I can use JPlay as my client, and as best I can tell, MinimServer is probably the best route. Feel free to correct me on that as well. If there is a way to get Squeeze to work with JPlay, I am interested.
MPD plus MinimServer is the way to get JPlay able to play music. There’s also a UPnP plugin for Squeeze. Do a search in this forum and you should find more information on it.
True to form I was able to achieve playback of library files shortly after I posted this message. What combination of changes and reboots made the M3 show up as a player on mConnect Lite, I cannot say. It still will not play anything from Qobuz. I can see all my personal content, but clicking the Play arrow briefly changes the icon and quickly reverts back to the Play arrow. Perhaps posting this will make it work.
Hopefully just posting that will solve your issue as the MPD/MinimServer playback method was something I tried then abandoned fairly quickly as the sound quality. I do suspect though that you will have better luck using JPlay to stream from Qobuz.
I would be interested in your impressions of Squeeze on CX vs Squeeze on Zenith. I went from Zenith to Antipodes K30 and it wasn’t close but given the price difference that wasn’t a surprise.
With MinimServer/MPD configured and running JPlay I see the SonicOrbiter as the available player. Selecting that and playing music I do not get sound with the M3 connected via Ethernet. I kind of figured I would not. Do I need to connect the CX to the Bricasti with USB?
Having Minim/MPD set on the CX uses the USB output for sound from the CX.
However, Minim is available to the network, and can use any other UPnP device on the network as an endpoint.
Seems like your app is having difficulty locating the Bricasti on the network to pick as the “end point”
I assume the Network Player Option is installed in the M3, and you have IN5 selected as the input on the M3. How is the Bricasti connected to the network, is it connected to the CX via Direct Stream or is it connected elsewhere another switch perhaps.
Have you checked all your cables for correct seating and that they actually work.
Some routers have difficulty and/or take some time for renderers to show up on the network.
I have verified that I can play over USB to the M3 with MinimServer/MPD configured and controlling via JPlay.
The M3 did eventually appear on the network as a Player in JPlay, however I cannot seem to play to it. I have tried Qobuz and internet radio, neither seem to work. I will leave this mystery for another day.
I defaulted to a Roon trial, and this worked immediately. The sound quality is excellent and the direct link works. Thanks for your help.
Partially related to this thread, I would only add from my own personal experience that what’s cool about Jplay is that one can use the app on a Mac computer without the (K41) server being set to MPD Minim Server. So for example I can listen to Squeeze in the main listening room and simultaneously listen to Jplay while in my office via my Mac which has a 2.1 system connected. Also of note for anyone interested, the thing about Jplay is that it does not refresh across every remote once their main server is updated. So for example, if you use a Mac that app must be refreshed to download new files from your local library or from Qobuz. But if you use an iPad or two , each respective iPad must also be updated and refreshed from the settings menu within with Jplay.
I agree with most Jplay doesn’t sound as good as Squeeze which for sure (in my view) resides at the top of the hierarchy. But I think it sounds better than Roon and Jplay also offers excellent, robust support for Qbuz and seems to play filed even faster than Roon.
I absolutely hated that about JPlay. No excuse for it either as iCloud provides sync capabilities that developers can leverage to keep app data in sync.
I get it. A bit of a pain in the butt; BUT, for me it is a very small price to pay to be able to listen to music while in my office. It (Jplay) updates super fast so for me personally a very small price to pay. Maybe the fact that it uses different technology as ( DLNA server) which may explains why it cannot “centralize” the data? I don’t know. Or maybe he is just trying to keep costs down and allows him to offer what I think is a relatively fair price relative to other platforms like Roon. Just askin’…
