I just want something that works and has a good UI.

[Mnyb]

iPeng is the name of the plugin? I'll check it out. Yes, my problems have been very strange. I've been on the forum and found it helpful, but to be honest, I just find the whole thing - networking and IT especially on Linux - annoying. To use an analogy, if you're familiar with 3D printers, I want a Bamboo and everything seems to be a Voron.

No the IOS app

 

[anonyless]

may I suggest trying Navidrome (Subsonic) server on one your Pi's ? it is very lightweight (actually the Pi5 is an overkill for it), been using it for a couple of years now and it's extremely reliable. its web interface player is solid and modern, but you can get bit perfect audio if you use 3rd party app for Linux like Feishin (screenshot below) that supports Subsonic server and works flawlessly plus has the option to use mpv music player instead of the web player.

Navidrome has a demo site so you can see if the web interface is to your liking

Navidrome

Navidrome Music Server - v0.59.0 (cc3cca60)

demo.navidrome.org

my 61k audio files library are being indexed by Symfonium app in 1:32 minutes, the Navidrome server is running on Odroid HC4 (arm64) SBC

 

[Timcognito]

Also, I feel that I'd often need visual interaction before I could make a verbal command.

I have a 10" Andoid tablet that I stripped down to music only plus internet, Bluesound and Roon, $80. I t has large icons that are easily touched on its touch screen. But I could set it up it to to receive voice commands when perusing my music visually and say"Play Mahler's 3rd symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein on the Deutsch Gramaphone label from Qobuz". I have chronic dyslexia and could dictate a lot of stuff but try to type instead to try to overcome it. Thankfully the members here razz my jumbled posts very little and stick to their content, one of the reasons I stick around. Not suggesting you do the same with your issues but maybe try a few voice command things to see if it lifts some burdens.
Ask some questions over here to see how others tackled similar issues https://help.qobuz.com/en/ (contact at bottom right) like "how do I setup Qobuz for verbal commands". Also Roon and Bluesound have been quick to respond to whatever issues I have had with mixed but generally positive results. https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/topics

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Have you considered Squeezer app on a iPad/tablet, much bigger than a phone screen

Also available for Android.

 

[Karlinamillion]

Also with LMS you can 'archive' the icons by holding them for a couple of seconds.
I use LMS with just 4 icons, Apps, My music, The archive folder and the 'turm off' icon.
With regards to the NAS disconnecting, I just have an SSD plugged directly into the pi. You can access it via the network, it's a little slow though

 

[somebodyelse]

With regards to the NAS disconnecting, I just have an SSD plugged directly into the pi. You can access it via the network, it's a little slow though

That depends on the Pi and the storage - with a Pi 5 and NVMe storage, or even USB3 SSD, it'll be faster than many NAS options.

The disconnecting puzzles me too. Does the NAS go offline a lot? From what I remember LMS doesn't like the music storage to suddenly disappear. I've run LMS in various configurations over the years and not run into connection problems like you describe.

 

[Paul Ebert]

I'm going to try digging deeper into why the connections are being dropped. For now that means waiting until it occurs again, I guess.

 

[TunaBug]

That depends on the Pi and the storage - with a Pi 5 and NVMe storage, or even USB3 SSD, it'll be faster than many NAS options.

The disconnecting puzzles me too. Does the NAS go offline a lot? From what I remember LMS doesn't like the music storage to suddenly disappear. I've run LMS in various configurations over the years and not run into connection problems like you describe.

Yeah I've seen problems with that. If NAS reboots then sometimes LMS thinks the library has been emptied out. It's easy to rescan the library, but I like to use the "New Music" view and thus flaw means that it thinks every album is new.

It seems like it has been better since I have added "vers=3" to the mount options. However, I'm not certain how to reproduce the issue, so it is not clear whether I have fixed it or just not had the issue yet.

If it shows up again I will be tempted to switch to using an NFS hard mount for the library and not SMB/CIFS.

ETA: In case it matters, I'm running LMS on piCorePlayer, library is on a Synology NAS.

 

[Apesbrain]

I'm going to try digging deeper into why the connections are being dropped. For now that means waiting until it occurs again, I guess.

Most important way to improve stability is to wire the server to your router. If a physical ethernet wire is impractical, consider Powerline. Leave this RPi powered on always.

Wiring the players is less critical, but can be necessary if you play 24/192 files. This is a different kind of connectivity issue and will manifest itself by dropouts while playing.

Enter your router management settings and reserve the IP addresses it assigns to your server and players. This will assure they don't change over time.

If you have music files on an external hard drive, it's best to use one that has its own power supply (i.e. not USB-powered). Again, leave it on. If you do use a USB-powered drive, be sure whatever is supplying the USB power is always on.

 

[TunaBug]

Enter your router management settings and reserve the IP addresses it assigns to your server and players. This will assure they don't change over time.

+1 for that. I create DHCP reservations for anything that stays in the house. All the convenience of static IPs, but also with the convenience of a single place to manage then along with other network settings.

 

[Paul Ebert]

Most important way to improve stability is to wire the server to your router. If a physical ethernet wire is impractical, consider Powerline. Leave this RPi powered on always.

Wiring the players is less critical, but can be necessary if you play 24/192 files. This is a different kind of connectivity issue and will manifest itself by dropouts while playing.

Enter your router management settings and reserve the IP addresses it assigns to your server and players. This will assure they don't change over time.

If you have music files on an external hard drive, it's best to use one that has its own power supply (i.e. not USB-powered). Again, leave it on. If you do use a USB-powered drive, be sure whatever is supplying the USB power is always on.

Yes, the server is connected to the router via Ethernet cable. My player is connected to a travel router via Ethernet (and the travel router is wireless to the main router). I haven't noticed any dropouts. The connection problems I have had are the server not being able to mount the NAS or the server and player not connecting (LMS not responding to the broadcasted message by the client?). I do think that reserving IP addresses would help, but when I tried it recently I couldn't get it working. I may try again when I have a minute or if the problem occurs again.

I used to have my modem and router on a UPS because we do lose power fairly often. I don't think that power loss has been the cause of my problems, but short glitches might be. My UPS died after what seemed like a fairly short time to me (a few years?) and at that time I was looking into getting a good sized battery backup for my home so I didn't replace it. Now, I'm leaning towards waiting to see if sodium ion batteries hit the market soon to purchase the battery backup so I should probably go ahead and get another UPS.

All my local music files are on the one ASUSSTOR NAS, so power to those drives is good as long as my home power is up.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

The WiiM Pro Plus includes a remote if that will help.

Also, the remote is available for purchase & pairing with any WiiM unit ($20).

 

[gwing]

Come to think of it, I could use a WiiM Pro connected to my Flex8 via SPDIF. I think it supports both Qobuz and NAS access. But then I think I'm limited to their UI on a phone / iPad / tablet (?). Phones are where I really have problems. They are just so small. An iPad is much better.

That is essentially what I do but I only use the Wiim apps for configuring the Wiim itself. For music playback I use Tidal instead of Qobuz but listen to that through the native Tidal app which controls the Wiim with Tidal Connect or Chromecast. Mostly I'm listening while at my desk so I'm running the Tidal Client app on a 28" desktop screen more often than a phone or tablet - but all of these are availabvle.

 

[Timcognito]

They are just so small. An iPad is much better.

FYI use it like a remote strip off everything but music and browser. Big touch screen 11"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9JT8R6C/ref=sspa_dk_offsite_search_5185?th=1

 

[somebodyelse]

My UPS died after what seemed like a fairly short time to me (a few years?) and at that time I was looking into getting a good sized battery backup for my home so I didn't replace it. Now, I'm leaning towards waiting to see if sodium ion batteries hit the market soon to purchase the battery backup so I should probably go ahead and get another UPS.

A few years is entirely plausible for lead-acid battery life in a UPS. LiFePO4 should last a lot longer but cost more up front - assuming you can find a UPS using them. It might be easier to find a power bank that switches fast enough to use as a UPS.

 

[gwing]

Yes, the server is connected to the router via Ethernet cable. My player is connected to a travel router via Ethernet (and the travel router is wireless to the main router). I haven't noticed any dropouts. The connection problems I have had are the server not being able to mount the NAS or the server and player not connecting (LMS not responding to the broadcasted message by the client?). I do think that reserving IP addresses would help, but when I tried it recently I couldn't get it working. I may try again when I have a minute or if the problem occurs again.

I used to have my modem and router on a UPS because we do lose power fairly often. I don't think that power loss has been the cause of my problems, but short glitches might be. My UPS died after what seemed like a fairly short time to me (a few years?) and at that time I was looking into getting a good sized battery backup for my home so I didn't replace it. Now, I'm leaning towards waiting to see if sodium ion batteries hit the market soon to purchase the battery backup so I should probably go ahead and get another UPS.

All my local music files are on the one ASUSSTOR NAS, so power to those drives is good as long as my home power is up.

If one of your main problems is the server not being able to mount NAS volumes that begs the question of how your server is connected to the NAS, are they both plugged directly into the router?

FWIW I have also had success by using simple cheap switches in remote rooms so that all the related 'infrastructure_like' services can plug directly into a single device and with those switches then being connected if necessary via powerline to the router. Client apps then either also plug direct into a rooms switch or take their chance with wifi.