Article: JPLAY for iOS and iPadOS Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[Marcin_gps]

@The Computer Audiophile thank you for the review and for all extremely useful feedback we got from you over the months 🙏

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

10 minutes ago, Marcin_gps said:

@The Computer Audiophile thank you for the review and for all extremely useful feedback we got from you over the months 🙏

 

Thanks for putting up with me :~)

 

I know I had some strange requests and strange issues, but you guys always listened and had an answer. 

[Afveep]

How does JPlay compare to Roon in terms of managing libraries across your local files as well as Qobuz & Tidal? Roon's feature of presenting a consolidated library of local files+ streaming favorites is just awesome. I greatly dislike having to search across multiple sources in apps like mConnect. If JPlay can do the same, it's a real winner!

[Bones13]

Chris, nice article, and thanks.

 

The Podcast is the Lina one though...

[stefano_mbp]

@The Computer Audiophile nice Chris, and, if you allow me, I would mention some more features you omitted :

• the ability to show the local library pdf booklets (if they exist)
• it is possible to browse, and filter, by (among others) Conductor, Ensembles and Soloists
• it is possible to filter albums by Works
• Works are shown in the album details and they group the related movements 

I find these features quite important as they are quite unique among UPNP control point apps (at least for iOS/iPadOS).

 

It would be fine to make available ( @Marcin_gps , @mnuno10 ) a detailed guide to allow users to configure Minimserver in the right way (Full license needed) to be able to enjoy these features.

[Marcin_gps]

Just to add what @stefano_mbp posted above, I should say that the JPLAY app works fine on M equipped Macs. Granted, the interface is designed for touchscreen devices, but for someone working on Mac (like me) it's quite OK. 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

37 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

@The Computer Audiophile nice Chris, and, if you allow me, I would mention some more features you omitted :

• the ability to show the local library pdf booklets (if they exist)
• it is possible to browse, and filter, by (among others) Conductor, Ensembles and Soloists
• it is possible to filter albums by Works
• Works are shown in the album details and they group the related movements 

I find these features quite important as they are quite unique among UPNP control point apps (at least for iOS/iPadOS).

 

It would be fine to make available ( @Marcin_gps , @mnuno10 ) a detailed guide to allow users to configure Minimserver in the right way (Full license needed) to be able to enjoy these features.

 

I love it @stefano_mbp!

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Bones13 said:

Chris, nice article, and thanks.

 

The Podcast is the Lina one though...

Thank you @Bones13! I knew I forgot something and I just couldn't figure it out. I've put the right audio in the "Listen to this Article" area. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, Afveep said:

How does JPlay compare to Roon in terms of managing libraries across your local files as well as Qobuz & Tidal? Roon's feature of presenting a consolidated library of local files+ streaming favorites is just awesome. I greatly dislike having to search across multiple sources in apps like mConnect. If JPlay can do the same, it's a real winner!

Hi @Afveep, very good question. JPLAY is a little different and a mix of what you're used to. I highly recommend giving the free trial a spin and asking more questions to see if you can make it fit your needs. 

 

For example, when looking at my albums, I see everything combined. Here is Pearl Jam's Gigaton with local, Tidal, and Qobuz on the same screen. 

 

 

 

Here is Pearl Jam, but I have to go into each Artist page to see those albums only. 

 

[Jud]

Re VST3 plugins, do I recall correctly that you use Audirvāna in some situations? At least until JPlay works with VST3 plugins, that’s another option. The UI differs, of course.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Jud said:

Re VST3 plugins, do I recall correctly that you use Audirvāna in some situations? At least until JPlay works with VST3 plugins, that’s another option. The UI differs, of course.

You recall correctly. However, there's an issue with Hang Loose Convolver VST3 plugin and Audirvana. No clue where the issue is, but both sides are well aware of it :~)

[Jud]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

You recall correctly. However, there's an issue with Hang Loose Convolver VST3 plugin and Audirvana. No clue where the issue is, but both sides are well aware of it :~)

Dang. Sorry to hear that.

[jglacken]

Your review of JPLAY came at a good time.  I just sent my Antipodes K50 in for the big upgrade.

I am still able to play music from my nas to my N-01XD using Esoteric's app.

I have MinimServer on my Nas but have never used.  I downloaded the JPLAY app to my iPad configured everything and have great music playing.

I think this setup has better sq than the Esoteric Sound Stream app.  Pretty cool.

I too have some convolution filters that Mitch Barnett made for me.  It would be nice to use them.

[joelha]

One very good guy reviewing the product of another very good guy. 

 

I'm looking forward to reading this review. 

 

Joel

[agladstone]

If you are an Aurender owner and use Conductor on both an iPad and your iPhone with both a library on the Aurender, a very large music library on a Synology NAS and Qobuz subscriber, would this be better than Conductor iPhone app, or useful in addition to Conductor ? (The NAS folders are also mapped out in Conductor, but lack the cover art etc when searching it)? 

[The Computer Audiophile]

6 minutes ago, agladstone said:

If you are an Aurender owner and use Conductor on both an iPad and your iPhone with both a library on the Aurender, a very large music library on a Synology NAS and Qobuz subscriber, would this be better than Conductor iPhone app, or useful in addition to Conductor ? (The NAS folders are also mapped out in Conductor, but lack the cover art etc when searching it)? 

Aurender doesn’t support UPnP, so this app won’t work at all. 

[Mike Rubin]

I am curious about sound quality improvements that others observe.  I had a number of interface issues that I was never entirely able to resolve, so I stopped using JPlay a few months ago.  My primary interest in my extensive troubleshooting was in maximizing my system's SQ but, in the end, I didn't find that I was able to hear a difference between JPlay and the other DLNA players I tried.  (I don't count HQPlayer in this equation, because, unlike JRiver, Minimserver, MConnect, and my Audirvana setup, it modifies the playback of what the server sends out.)

 

In what ways have other users found JPlay to sound better than bit-perfect renderers such as Audirvana or JRiver?  I am willing to give it another try if the predominant sentiment is that it sounds better than the competition.

[stefano_mbp]

10 hours ago, Mike Rubin said:

JRiver, Minimserver, MConnect, and my Audirvana setup

 

10 hours ago, Mike Rubin said:

In what ways have other users found JPlay to sound better than bit-perfect renderers such as Audirvana or JRiver?

… a bit of clarity is needed …

• JRiver and Audirvana are primarily standalone players but they can be used as servers when a UPNP endpoint/renderer is available on the network
• MConnect Player and JPlay for iOS are UPNP control point apps
• Minimserver is a UPNP mediaserver

that said, in a “pure” UPNP environment the followings components are needed:

• a UPNP mediaserver
• a UPNP endpoint/renderer (like SOtM sms200 or Sonore uRendu and other) that runs, in most of the cases, MPD/UPMPDCLI that is the actual player (UPMPDCLI is the MPD network interface)
• a UPNP control point app

then in this environment MPD is the player that receives from the UPNP mediaserver the stream, most of the cases this is BitPerfect.

 

In a “ibrid” (let me say) environment where JRiver or Audirvana are used with a UPNP renderer/endpoint you have those player that can do a lot of things (DSP/transcoding/upsampling) and they send a UPNP stream to the renderer/endpoint, they aren’t controlled by a control point app but you must use a remote control app (Audirvana Remote os JRemote).

 

Remote control app is very different from UPNP control point app as the former issues commands to the server while the latter just receives from the UPNP mediaserver the addresses of the files and send them (the address) to the renderer that will then ask the server for those addresses and finally play them.

 
From the description of these to scenarios (“pure” and “ibrid”) is easy to understand that the “pure” one is much lighter on the cpu of the server and we know that the more a cpu is stressed the more the quality of the sound can be affected by this stress.

.

I could verify myself that a “pure” UPNP environment plays better than an “ibrid” one where Audirvana/JRiver were used with the same SOtM sms200 UPNP used as a renderer/endpoint.

.

Enter now JPlay for iOS (that is not a player but a UPNP control point):

it works as any other UPNP control point (MConnect Player, Lumïn, Linn, Linn Kazoo, ecc..) but it has a particular setting for each renderer (Update time) that is aimed to reduce the network traffic (as @The Computer Audiophile very well described in his article).

How much the network traffic can affect the sound of the setup is described by @Marcin_gps and for sure the effect depends on how your system can reveal details. It’s anyway impressive that moving Update time from value 1 to value 10 the network traffic lowers by 90%.

 

Last but not least, JPlay for iOS has one of the best ergonomic interface and it is very well integrated with Minimserver which for its part is one of the best UPNP mediaserver (if not the best)

[Jud]

2 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

From the description of these to scenarios (“pure” and “ibrid”) is easy to understand that the “pure” one is much lighter on the cpu of the server and we know that the more a cpu is stressed the more the quality of the sound can be affected by this stress.

 

Though note that Audirvana has always been designed such that any DSP and sending the DSP-converted track over the network are separate steps. Thus you would want to listen/measure during playback both before and after any conversion is finished. Depending on what type of CPU and how much RAM you have, and what if any conversion you are doing, the conversion step may be done very quickly.

[stefano_mbp]

33 minutes ago, Jud said:

note that Audirvana has always been designed such that any DSP and sending the DSP-converted track over the network are separate steps.

They are separate steps but they are anyway subsequent … first is DSP/upsampling and then there is the sending to the renderer after wav conversion, of course you can decide not to use DSP/upsampling.

But I’ve found that Audirvana library management is too heavy and this has a bad impact on performance, my MacBook Pro i7/16GB ram (late 2011) was always running full throttle just to keep the library synchronized for at least 40’ since Audirvana was started, and this is an automatic task … no way to jump it.

If I had to classify the performance I should say (from the worst to the best)

1. Audirvana stand alone
2. Audirvana with UPNP renderer
3. UPNP “pure” setup

 

[Jud]

2 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

But I’ve found that Audirvana library management is too heavy and this has a bad impact on performance, my MacBook Pro i7/16GB ram (late 2011) was always running full throttle just to keep the library synchronized for at least 40’ since Audirvana was started, and this is an automatic task … no way to jump it.

 

My library of 10k+ tracks must be far smaller than yours - Audirvana finishes updating mine in a few seconds. I'm not sure I understand what process you refer to if you say it can't be avoided. The processes I'm thinking of can be turned off by unchecking boxes.

 

All this is aside from JPlay reducing network traffic. I have seen opinions from developers and engineers that fewer transmissions of larger data segments are better for SQ, and also the opposite, that more frequent transmissions of smaller data segments are better.

[stefano_mbp]

20 minutes ago, Jud said:

I'm not sure I understand what process you refer to if you say it can't be avoided. The processes I'm thinking of can be turned off by unchecking boxes.

I stopped using Audirvana when Studio was launched, so I refer to 3.5.x version and for local storage (thunderbolt attached) there is no way to avoid synchronization, it’s only possible for network shared storage.

Anyway, this isn’t the right place to discuss about Audirvana that is … old story for me …

[The Computer Audiophile]

42 minutes ago, Jud said:

I have seen opinions from developers and engineers that fewer transmissions of larger data segments are better for SQ, and also the opposite, that more frequent transmissions of smaller data segments are better.

Ain’t that the truth. 

 

Maybe we can write the bits to our hard drives at 1/2 speed too :~)

[AudioDoctor]

4 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Ain’t that the truth. 

 

Maybe we can write the bits to our hard drives at 1/2 speed too :~)

 

How about at 33 1/3rd rpm ?  ;-)