I’ll start with this. I love Roon for searching for music, hearing new stuff via Roon Radio and the ability to play from Qobuz and my networked files; but (“Everyone I know has big but” - Pee-Wee) I often find the sound quality via Roon not quite as satisfying as listening to my files via the JRiver Media Center software and its app., JRemote.
So, three initial questions for the JPLAY experts here:
Am I likely to improve the sound quality of the files I stream from my network or Qobuz using JPLAY;
Am I likely to have a better user experience with the JPLAY app’s iOS remote equivalent of JRemote; and
Will JPLAY in any way cause me to have to duplicate files on my computer or NAS? [I am full up at the moment and can’t maintain a functioning Roon interface without adding or freeing up some more storage capacity on my iMac (Roon Core residence.)]
Thanks in advance.
[I guess I should add, does JPLAY work with the PSA DS Sr. DAC?]
Great idea for a thread. I don’t understand the operating principal. It says no core required. Does it just run on you remote (iDevice) and you point to your local music directories on the same network? Do you have to pay twice to install it on two devices, say iPhone and iPad? The price is certainly reasonable enough.
I have it installed on multiple devices in both houses for the one fee. Once you install it once it goes into your iCloud and any other installs are from there not the Apple Store. Never used it on more than one device simultaneously. So far it has worked with Zen Stream, Red, DMP-A6 and Teac NT-505. The Teac is based on Lumin so no problem with their architecture.
The biggest “expert” on JPlay for IOS is probably Chris of Audiophile Style as it’s apparently his daily driver plus he uses it in hardware reviews. I would consider him a “power user.” Long running thread on it there.
JPlay is client first meaning there is no easy way to sync information between clients you use on different devices.
For example, if I setup jazzgroove.org radio stations on my Mac the changes I make don’t get synced to the JPlay client on my iPhone or iPad. This goes for Artists, songs, etc that you Like as well. Or playlists you create.
I believe you can take the database from one client and replace the database on another client with it, but I have not tested this. Also, if you do this you’d have to make 1 client your primary or it would wipe out the changes made on the other client.
JPlay is very responsive and has an intuitive interface. Make sure to Select Gapless Playback setting for your rendering device.
MinimServer is fast and efficient, but it is not capable of identifying and loading up album art for files that are missing it. Roon and Plex do this pretty well. Or at least I haven’t figured out how to do that yet with MinimServer.
I’m going to look at DLNA/UPnP servers like Plex or Squeezelite as alternatives to MinimServer.
JPlay is a solid app. I can see it growing to be more feature rich, but it’s got a way to go to get to where Roon is in terms of local library integration, client synchronization, and multi room capabilities.
If you’re only using Roon for Qobuz or Tidal, and/or local library integration, don’t need multi room capabilities, and don’t have streamers that work with Qobuz Connect, JPlay is a solid option.
If you only use Qobuz or Tidal and have a device that’s supports Connect I would use that option over JPlay.
You can set tags, but I haven’t tried that. You can random play liked songs and albums. JPlay also has a radio function that will randomly play tracks.
I’ve been using JPlay with my new PMG 512 DAC, and it has issues. I don’t know whether this is due to JPlay or to the PMG streamer software, but after a random amount of time, from a few minutes to an hour or more, JPlay will start reporting an error “…while sending the action to the renderer”. Power-cycling the PMG streamer leads to an infinite (well, at least 1:15) “Initializing” from the streamer. I can still use Qobuz Connect from the Qobuz app to the PMG streamer, but I can’t even stream via JPlay from my local NAS library. Weird.
