Apps for gapless play on WiiM from local audio file server?

[Chromatischism]

@Multicore did you settle on a solution?

I am setting up my WiiM Pro now and realized apps can't see the files on my Windows machine (but my other Windows machine can) so I need to set up a server. Should I install Plex? I always thought that was for movies but I haven't messed with it much.

On the phone, I typically would use BubbleUPNP. Have you tried that?

 

[Flippo63]

Jriver and to control by phone the gizmo app

 

[Chromatischism]

Set up Plex Server and it wasn't working.

Scoured through the settings and found "Enable the DLNA server". It was not enabled by default! Blasphemy.

Now I'm able to use BubbleUPNP or the WiiM Home app. Both are good and have pros and cons. So far, the WiiM app is pretty slick to play local files, I must say. Time will tell which one I end up preferring.

 

[popej]

I don't tolerate gaps in playback. Gap is like equipment failure, it stops my breath

Chromecast doesn't support gapless playback. Some apps can work as a proxy for chromecast, decoding and merging tracks, but this have downsides and limitations. Chromecast Audio was a nice hardware but a defective product, no wonder Google dropped it.

DLNA sometimes work. DLNA consist of server, renderer and controller. Probably all parts have to be aware of gapless playback. There is dependency on file format too. LPCM (wav), flac, probably ogg should work, but mp3 can be problematic. If you have compressed files, than maybe server can decode and send LPCM stream.

Usually an app on a phone works like a DLNA controller. This could be false for streamer app, it could work as remote controller for the streamer and behave differently. I observe this behavior with Pioneer AVR. When I use Pioneer remote app, DLNA streaming works gapless. When I use BubbleUPNP, there is no gapless playback, even though BubbleUPNP supports it. It could be similar with Wiim.

 

[obsessive9119]

@Multicore did you settle on a solution?

I am setting up my WiiM Pro now and realized apps can't see the files on my Windows machine (but my other Windows machine can) so I need to set up a server. Should I install Plex? I always thought that was for movies but I haven't messed with it much.

On the phone, I typically would use BubbleUPNP. Have you tried that?

I use minimserver as a DLNA server and it works very well. The WiiM app has come a long way in terms of playing local content - it’s quite a nice experience these days.

 

[Multicore]

@Multicore did you settle on a solution?

I am setting up my WiiM Pro now and realized apps can't see the files on my Windows machine (but my other Windows machine can) so I need to set up a server. Should I install Plex? I always thought that was for movies but I haven't messed with it much.

On the phone, I typically would use BubbleUPNP. Have you tried that?

I settled on Lyrion (LMS) https://lyrion.org/ and am satisfied. Use the web server it comes with from your phone (or whatever) as the remote control for playback to your WiiM. At first I wanted a native mobile app for control and thought using a web page would suck but functionally it's pretty good, and that's what counts. In some ways the navigation of music in a large collection in Lyrion is better than any app I've used.

I haven't used BubbleUPNP for years. I used to use it as the control app for upmpdcli https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/ when I had an RPi. The WiiM replaced both. But I remember Bubble being a nice app.

I don't try to play from the music server to my phone for headphones or bluetooth output. If I can't leave the home network, what's the point? I use Qobuz and files on the phone instead.

If you want to go down the path of a UPnP server, Plex is an option. It does audio as well as video and has a UPnP option that worked in my experience. But with Lyrion you likely won't also need a UPnP server.

 

[aagstn]

I paid the for the lifetime license for Asset UPnP and it handles things like gapless and various artists names correctly. There are probably free options that work just as well, but I did a trial of Asset and it worked exactly the way I wanted and the cost wasn't terrible at $37 US. I like having flexibility to use it with any software or hardware I want. I'm mostly using it with MusicCast and USB Audio Player for now. However, if I decide on getting a Wiim in the future I know I can use it there too.

 

[Chromatischism]

Usually an app on a phone works like a DLNA controller. This could be false for streamer app, it could work as remote controller for the streamer and behave differently. I observe this behavior with Pioneer AVR. When I use Pioneer remote app, DLNA streaming works gapless. When I use BubbleUPNP, there is no gapless playback, even though BubbleUPNP supports it. It could be similar with Wiim.

Hi-Fi Cast can do it by streaming directly from your phone rather than being a controller. Maybe Bubble has a similar feature; I have not looked.

 

[Chromatischism]

I use minimserver as a DLNA server and it works very well. The WiiM app has come a long way in terms of playing local content - it’s quite a nice experience these days.

I had Minimserver on my Synology NAS. It worked well but I have moved on from that, and now they have a licensing scheme.