Gapless issues over DLNA with Pro and JRiver MC

[Driftdive]

Hi,

My first post here after taking delivery of a WiiM Pro today. Initial thoughts were very impressed indeed, but after some listening I came across a problem I thought wasn't an issue, gapless playback? Hopefully there is a solution I've missed, as I really like the player and don't want to return it, but this is a deal breaker for me.

System:

JRiver27 on a dedicated music server running on Linux Debian11 and set to act as a Music Server. Nothing else runs on this server, just JRiver sharing FLAC files over the network via DLNA.
WiiM Pro in a second room connected to a Rega DAC (tested over both Coax and S/PDIF) and hard wired to the network, with WiFi turned off in the settings and fixed volume output selected. EQ is also off.

I get quite a gap between songs, in particular I just played Dark Side of the Moon and there was over a 4 second gap between Time and The Great Gig in the Sky. I also experience a crackle sound at the start of some songs, it's not loud but it's very noticeable, especially on headphones, again on both Coax and S/PDIF. I have tried running the Pro on the supplied power adapter and with a large USB 5V power bank, same thing whatever combination I try.

Playing Dark Side of the Moon via Qobuz however, I don't experience this issue, it plays gaplessly, it's just 16/44.1 FLAC files over DLNA from JRiver it seems.

Prior to this I have been running Volumio 3 on an Intel i5NUC acting as a DLNA renderer in the exact same setup as above with no issues at all.

Is there something I have missed or is this a bug/issue?

 

[Mike in NY]

Thanks, that's great news. Do you think it is a better app than MO4 Media ?

Yes although I don't know how far MO4 Media has come in development, but last I checked JRemote 2 was well worth the $8 or whatever it was back then, and I wasn't terribly impressed with MO4 Media though that was a coupe of years back as I recall. I don't think they ever released Jremote 2 for iOS however, Android only last I checked, so looking at this in the here and now is advised.

 

[madbrain]

Yes although I don't know how far MO4 Media has come in development, but last I checked JRemote 2 was well worth the $8 or whatever it was back then, and I wasn't terribly impressed with MO4 Media though that was a coupe of years back as I recall. I don't think they ever released Jremote 2 for iOS however, Android only last I checked, so looking at this in the here and now is advised.

According to a JRiver thread, the searching capability is pretty limited in JRemote2. And there is no trial unlike MO4 Media.
I just purchased MO4 Media. The search there is fine. It shows the artwork for the album, and multiple lines of information including album name, composer, and track name. I even got it to work over VPN on my phone - had to use hostname : port for the server, though, access keys didn't work.
Even got an SACD ISO to play.
I ordered a Wiim Pro Plus from Amazon. $219 is a steep price, certainly a lot more than a $35 Chromecast audio + $15 OTG Ethernet NIC.
I hope this works out and if so, that there is a good Black Friday sale on them so I can replace all 14 of my CCAs. I think I got one more in a drawer somewhere too.

 

[madbrain]

So, I bought a Wiim Pro Plus and received it today. I upgraded to the latest firmware. I set it up with Ethernet as a replacement for one of my Chromecast audio (also Ethernet-connected with OTG). I'm using the analog output, connected to two RCA line IN part of the multi-channel input on an old 7.1 receiver. I have 4 such receivers throughout the house, which can drive 12 zones. But I digress.

In JRiver Media Center 31 for Windows, I can see the Wiim device as a zone, and am able to play albums completely gaplessly, which is great, and which I had never been able to do with a Chromecast audio !
However, on my smartphone, things are different. In the Qobuz app, I see the Wiim showing up as "Wiim Pro Receiver". But if I select it, it plays albums with gaps, unfortunately.
JRemote2 seems to only list Chromecast & Chromecast audio devices when using the Cast button, not the native protocol, whatever it may be.
I'm not having luck with MO 4Media either - it plays with gaps.

What's the trick to playing gapless albums on an Android smartphone ? I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, FYI.

Edit: I got it to work gaplessly in JRemote2. I looking at the cast button on the top right and not finding DLNA devices there. I completely missed the zone control at the bottom left of the JRemote menu. The icon was not intuitive to me. When I pressed it, I saw the Wiim device listed, and when I selected it, everything played gaplessly.

Edit: MO4 Media plays without gaps now, also, not sure what I was doing wrong earlier.

 

[Brantome]

Use Qobuz from within the WiiM Home app?

 

[madbrain]

Use Qobuz from within the WiiM Home app?

Thanks, I will try that !

Edit: I did, and it works fine !

 

[dacaesar]

I'm making some progress, as Simbun reported JRiver was converting the file which I hadn't noticed, as the JRemote app just shows 16 bit 44.1 kHz - however, playing via the WiiM Home app I could see songs were being shared as 320 kbps, 16/44.1 Shows how good my ears are!

View attachment 694

So going into JRiver and configuring the DNLA settings I changed this to PCM 24bit, it had been set to 'MP3 High Bandwidth' This change has got rid of the scratchy squirrels click, which must have been the conversion from FLAC to MP3. It's still not gapless serving data from JRiver, but using the WiiM Home app it is gapless and without the click now. So in theory if it can be done one way, it can be done the other?

I'll keep at it as there must be a solution and it might help anyone else who might get the same issue.

And the Pro is definitely not going back, even if I just use if for streaming Qobuz, it will have more than earned it's place in my system

Thank you! I just received installed the Wiim Pro plus today, and your solution did the trick. As a Mac user, I haven't found many alternatives to Jriver as a DLNA server. It's much better than Plex as it organizes my collection way better.

 

[nonok242]

The only flaw of Symfonium is that it doesn't handle DLNA ""Servers"" sources, but it's not really important anymore in 2023. As a music player app Symfonium is focused on the modern music streaming servers (Jellyfin, Subsonic, plex, etc... it supports most of them).

It has support for UPNP renderers and Chromecast, and on the audio side it has at least as many features as Blackplayer or Poweramp.

Personally I use a Subsonic server to publish my 2000 albums FLAC music collection (I publish it on my home Box Internet : so I have my personnal Spotify-like server) : Navidrome.

Symfonium automatically read my music in FLAC when I'm at home, et automatically transcode in OPUS 160 (which is CD quality) when I'm away.

I've been running my self hosted navidrome server for a couple of years now and it's been excellent. The obvious, being an adroid user, was Symfonium, but how are you integrating Navidrome with Wiim? Are you just chromecasting via symfonium?

 

[lightsout]

So, I bought a Wiim Pro Plus and received it today. I upgraded to the latest firmware. I set it up with Ethernet as a replacement for one of my Chromecast audio (also Ethernet-connected with OTG). I'm using the analog output, connected to two RCA line IN part of the multi-channel input on an old 7.1 receiver. I have 4 such receivers throughout the house, which can drive 12 zones. But I digress.

In JRiver Media Center 31 for Windows, I can see the Wiim device as a zone, and am able to play albums completely gaplessly, which is great, and which I had never been able to do with a Chromecast audio !
However, on my smartphone, things are different. In the Qobuz app, I see the Wiim showing up as "Wiim Pro Receiver". But if I select it, it plays albums with gaps, unfortunately.
JRemote2 seems to only list Chromecast & Chromecast audio devices when using the Cast button, not the native protocol, whatever it may be.
I'm not having luck with MO 4Media either - it plays with gaps.

What's the trick to playing gapless albums on an Android smartphone ? I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, FYI.

Edit: I got it to work gaplessly in JRemote2. I looking at the cast button on the top right and not finding DLNA devices there. I completely missed the zone control at the bottom left of the JRemote menu. The icon was not intuitive to me. When I pressed it, I saw the Wiim device listed, and when I selected it, everything played gaplessly.

Edit: MO4 Media plays without gaps now, also, not sure what I was doing wrong earlier.

Old post but can anyone answer why Jriver can see the Wiim's as endpoints. I am not complaining, I just noticed it myself at home.

But I thought that means that they are used as DLNA/UPNP end points which for some reason I thought wasn't a feature yet.

 

[Mike in NY]

Old post but can anyone answer why Jriver can see the Wiim's as endpoints. I am not complaining, I just noticed it myself at home.

But I thought that means that they are used as DLNA/UPNP end points which for some reason I thought wasn't a feature yet.

It does mean they are DLNA/UPnP endpoints, and that has always been a feature.

 

[lightsout]

It does mean they are DLNA/UPnP endpoints, and that has always been a feature.

I misunderstood one of the points on the roadmap. That's great news thank you!