I need a setup that works (WiiM Ultra)

[erictheperic]

I'm getting annoyed, so I would like some suggestions for my setup.

I have a WiiM Ultra, I have a Synology NAS with Plex server installed. What is the best way to enjoy my music with all features? (lossless, seamless,"bit perfect", quality interface/library control etc.)

These are my options at the moment (Android btw):

Plexamp - Fantastic app, but no way to connect to my WiiM besides Chromecast/Google Cast (limited features). WiiM was going to sit down with Plex for an 'endpoint' implementation, but sadly that seems to be farther away every time I check the forums.

Symfonium - Like Plexamp but with (far) more options. Does take some more fiddling to set it up the way you like. Has all the features I need, but especially in the last months I often have problems playing via UPNP. Player stopping, not starting, not picking up metadata, repeating tracks etc. Doesn't seem to play well anymore in combination with Plex server and WiiM.

WiiM Home app with Plex music service - A good app with the right abilities soundwise, but can't compete with Plexamp or Symfonium in terms of other functionality.


Are there better options available? I don't mind setting things up, but it should be relatively hassle-fee afterwards.

 

[Mr Ee]

I'm waiting for someone to say LMS
I really should try to set it up again on my nas, but it seems that a simple 'how to' guide is hard to find.

Android or Apple?
Minimserver (on nas) and bubbleupnp (on android) is good enough for me.

 

[erictheperic]

I'm waiting for someone to say LMS
I really should try to set it up again on my nas, but it seems that a simple 'how to' guide is hard to find.

Android or Apple?
Minimserver (on nas) and bubbleupnp (on android) is good enough for me.

Android, added it to my post too. Thanks for your recommendation, will put it on my list to check out!

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I'm waiting for someone to say LMS

I'm sure that someone will eventually.

 

[Valentino]

I can do it!
There’s an easy to follow How to at the LMS web site.

 

[simbun]

Symfonium - Like Plexamp but with (far) more options. Does take some more fiddling to set it up the way you like. Has all the features I need, but especially in the last months I often have problems playing via UPNP. Player stopping, not starting, not picking up metadata, repeating tracks etc. Doesn't seem to play well anymore in combination with Plex server and WiiM.

I've been using Lightweight Music Server with Symfonium for about 9 months and it's been flawless. It's also the server recommended by the Symfonium developer.

 

[Zap Rekowski]

Jellyfin Server also works wonderfully with Symfonium. Should be easy to install on the Synology NAS.

I currently have the Jellyfin server running on Windows, but will soon install it on the QNAP NAS as well. I am currently (still) accessing the NAS with Symfonium via SMB.

Minim-Server has been installed on the QNAP for years. No Android DLNA app that I know of even comes close to Symfonium.

 

[jetson]

I'm getting annoyed, so I would like some suggestions for my setup.

I have a WiiM Ultra, I have a Synology NAS with Plex server installed. What is the best way to enjoy my music with all features? (lossless, seamless,"bit perfect", quality interface/library control etc.)

These are my options at the moment (Android btw):

Plexamp - Fantastic app, but no way to connect to my WiiM besides Chromecast/Google Cast (limited features). WiiM was going to sit down with Plex for an 'endpoint' implementation, but sadly that seems to be farther away every time I check the forums.

Symfonium - Like Plexamp but with (far) more options. Does take some more fiddling to set it up the way you like. Has all the features I need, but especially in the last months I often have problems playing via UPNP. Player stopping, not starting, not picking up metadata, repeating tracks etc. Doesn't seem to play well anymore in combination with Plex server and WiiM.

WiiM Home app with Plex music service - A good app with the right abilities soundwise, but can't compete with Plexamp or Symfonium in terms of other functionality.


Are there better options available? I don't mind setting things up, but it should be relatively hassle-fee afterwards.

I use Asset UPnP on my Synology NAS.

 

[tommygun]

I run the Media Server App from The Synology Package Center on my Synology NAS and then the WiiM App running on an Android tablet finds and controls it natively as it is DLNA / UpNP compatible.

The NAS holds my entire music library in lossless FLAC files curated with Album Art, and a fully populated ID Tag for every track. I'm 99% sure that the tracks play through the WiiM in their native resolution and encoding.

Using the Media Server Package affords me the additional functionality of letting all my other media devices also access the library simultaneously, as I have 3 Raspberry Pi's running the moOde server, numerous PC's, and numerous portable devices that suck from the server and play various Bluetooth speakers or amplifiers.

Music in every room and sometimes twice!

 

[TonyE]

I mounted my WDC NASs over the network as drives so I can see all the files. Using NFS.

My NASs servers have Plex running in them but that's for the movies and videos.

The music in the servers is 24/96 recordings I made from my LP and hundreds of CDs that I've ripped at Bluebook. All of it in WAV.

I use foobar.

If I connect a PC into a DAC via USB I can play them in bit native format. I can also play Tidal HiFi at bit perfect rates.

If I use a Chromebook or Android, and hook up the DAC over USB-OTG I see the music reclocked 24/48 or 24/192. There is a bit perfect audio driver for Android but not for Chromebook.

So, I got some WiiM Ultras. Running Tidal Connect to them, and wiring the DAC directly to the Ultra... streaming music from Tidal in the PC/Chromebook/Android as Audio over IP.. then Ultra becomes sort of a bridge and the music plays bit perfect.

OK... but I still can't play the music that I got in the NAS drives in bit perfect mode unless I run a PC...

Ideally, I'd like to mount the WiiM as a sound card... being able to select it for output when I run foobar in the Android and Chromebook.

 

[simbun]

OK... but I still can't play the music that I got in the NAS drives in bit perfect mode unless I run a PC.

Is there a reason you're not using Plex to index your music and the WiiM Home App (or Symfonium) to play to the Ultra bit perfect over UPnP (up to 24/192)?

Foobar on Android doesn't support UPnP unlike the desktop version.

 

[TonyE]

Just started using the Ultras like two months ago... too many projects.

Ideally, I should make sure all my CDs get ripped at Blue Book so I can get rid of them... and index them with Plex. But since I already have NFS working thoughout the LAN... that's just another thing to maintain.

BTW, I've noticed that the WiiM Home App running in Windows is still nowhere as stable as the version running on Android/Chromebook. And since I do most of my firmware developing with a PC... I haven't done much experimenting with the WiiM Home App.

Hey... I was able to mount the network drive to WiiM Home... let me give it a try... it finds the WAV music files... THANKS.

It works.... I mounted the network drive to "My Music" then I can parse the files ( I have the directories structures along type/artist/album ) and play the music. If I select the top level directory for a CD ( say Tears For Fears / The Hurting ) and can play the entire CD in series, with forward and backwards track working. The only thing is that the Ultra's front panel doesn't show any metadata... which is expected as WAV files have none.

THANKS.

Later, after lunch, I'll play with my Android/Chromebooks. I did this with my PC.

 

[simbun]

The only thing is that the Ultra's front panel doesn't show any metadata... which is expected as WAV files have none.

You don't have any tags in your files at all (WAV does support tagging)? In that case you probably don't need a music server as it'll have nothing to do, so maybe folder browsing in the Android WiiM Home app over SMB (Browse > Home Music Share > Vertical Ellipsis: Add Shared Folder) might suffice.

 

[TonyE]

The issue, to be honest, is that I've been doing this off and on since the mid 90s. I don't know if I had any means of tagging them.

I just created directories that contain the artist/album/song. The file names contain the song name. So that works quite well... specially now that I figured out how to properly mount the network files via WiiM Home

(THANKS)

I have NFS mounted on my Windows/Linux/Android/Chromebooks/Raspberries so that works fine. I have SMB drives in a Linux server and a Windows 10 PC, so I assume the WD PR4100 also uses samba. It's sort of opaque how they did it internally.

I suppose I should just finish ripping the CDs once and for all.

Otherwise I use Tidal HiFi and that works great with the Ultra.

I did record hundreds of LPs years ago ( I got like 4000 by now ) but I keep updating the turntable and cartridge and AD/DAC. So, why would I bother listening to what my turntable/cartridge/phono preamp/AD/DAC sounded 25 years ago (even if 24/96) when I can just warm up the turntable and listen to it with a LOT better sound?

Heck, for a while I was using Cubase to remove the ticks...

So, I think this pretty much solved my issue.

I use Plex to export videos to our smart LG TVs. I also use it in a WIndows 10 laptop in the home theater.

 

[motleypixel]

Interesting discussion. I just acquired the Ultra and like it so far, wte of use of my Sony BT headsets LOL. Any way, I was able to, if I recall correctly, download and install Plex components on my main PC (Win 10 tons of storage) where I have an 8TB drive and a share folder with flac albums. The Plex installs I believe were Plexamp and it's needed Plexserver. Once that was done, the WiiM Ultra found it on my LAN and bam I could stream music from my PC directly to the Ultra. The only thing was it was super duper basic, just not very front-end media'esque for my liking.

So with that, I wanted to say I have been using an IOS app on my iPad called "MusicStreamer" and it connects to my music folder on my main PC via CIFS or SMB heck not sure of the protocol but it's like \\computername or ip\sharename super easy but it's pulls in all meta data for each album and track. The interface is "FANTABULOUS" I think MusicStreamer and WiiM need to have a "venture" together