Squeezelite and LMS

[simbun]

It's open for sure, I guess @cc_rider uses it in his applications.

I meant in terms of other companies being able to implement it in their products.

 

[onlyoneme]

I meant in terms of other companies being able to implement it in their products.

No idea.

 

[d6jg]

Are you talking about the WiiM Home App? It's still awful (for playlist management) although expecting big changes when they release the Amp.

Yes I was referring to the WHA

 

[onlyoneme]

Yes I was referring to the WHA

It still lacks a serious queue management IMO.

 

[Brown Sound]

Okay, one more noob LMS question, please. Sorry, I've been bugging @d6jg in another thread, between music chatting, lol. Anyhoo, I could not find a way to do folder browsing in Material, is it even possible? I saw that the Orange Squeeze app has this ability. I have a lot of albums in duplicate and some in triplicate in separate folders, in different sampling and bit rates, and it plays havoc with the album and artist type searches. The LMS database does great, but folder searching would be the cherry on the top, imho. Thanks, y'all.

 

[d6jg]

Okay, one more noob LMS question, please. Sorry, I've been bugging @d6jg in another thread, between music chatting, lol. Anyhoo, I could not find a way to do folder browsing in Material, is it even possible? I saw that the Orange Squeeze app has this ability. I have a lot of albums in duplicate and some in triplicate in separate folders, in different sampling and bit rates, and it plays havoc with the album and artist type searches. The LMS database does great, but folder searching would be the cherry on the top, imho. Thanks, y'all.

Yes possible but not really worthwhile imho

Open Material
Click 3 dots at top right
Interface
Scroll down until you see My Music and the setting cog next to it. Click that
Should be obvious from here

 

[Brown Sound]

Yes possible but not really worthwhile imho

Open Material
Click 3 dots at top right
Interface
Scroll down until you see My Music and the setting cog next to it. Click that
Should be obvious from here

Awesome! Thank you!!

 

[Rowlandville]

I'm just now stepping into streaming (beyond using Apple Music on my phone) and I'm in the dark about how much of this works. I hope y'all can answer my concerns.

To start: I was looking at buying a PecanPi for my home system and using picoreplayer to drive it. That would allow me to create playlists containing both streaming music (probably from Qobuz once I get this gear into my rack) and my local files.

I've since become impressed by the Geshelli J2 DAC reviews and am considering buying the J2 and a WiiM Pro.

The WiiM interface at first looked like it would save me the hassle of a picoreplayer setup. Now I'm concerned the WiiM won't natively let me access local files, and that I will require something akin to picoreplayer to be able to access local files and to create local+streaming combined playlists. (Is that correct?)

How do picoreplayer and WiiM function in tandem? Can I create playlists that combine music from each of the two sources? Will I have to bounce from one app to the other to see music from local and streaming? And will I be able to use the WiiM phone app to control it all or will I have to use multiple apps?

That's a lot. But from what I can tell this will require a somewhat complicated solution -- at least complicated for a newbie. Thanks.

 

[castalla]

Basically, you need a media server (running LMS - eg. Via picoreplayer on a raspberry pi) AND a player (eg. Wiim squeezelite).

Picoreplayer only runs on genuine raspberry pi devices. LMS can also be installed on Windows and Linux PCs.

I'm sure others will comment.

 

[Mike in NY]

LMS can also be installed on Windows and Linux PCs

Mac too.

 

[Rowlandville]

Mac too.

So would the fantastic WiiM phone app and OS that I've heard about be replaced?

 

[Brantome]

So would the fantastic WiiM phone app and OS that I've heard about be replaced?

When you use LMS, it acts as the server with its own control interface (usually its Material Skin on a browser) with the WiiM device as a player, so the WiiM Home app isn’t involved beyond initial setup. It works very well, but could be viewed as a side step from the WiiM app and its native ecosystem, with the WiiM pro/plus Squeezelite function (or mini with the LMS upnpbridge plugin) allowing your Wiim device to be part of the LMS world. Both co-exist very happily - I use LMS to play my local files, Qobuz, radio paradise and bbc sounds, while the WiiM home app is sometimes pressed into use for Amazon Music.

 

[Mike in NY]

So would the fantastic WiiM phone app and OS that I've heard about be replaced?

No as described above by @Brantome , these can work in complimentary ways and need not be considered as just one or the other, nothing mutually exclusive there.

The LMS instance would be your local library server, and the WiiM unit would be an endpoint player. Controlling that would be via LMS and not the WiiM Home app, however you might find other uses for the WiiM Home app, for example you could end up preferring it when accessing internet radio, or some other source not available on LMS such as the amazon Music example mentioned in the previous post.

Since the software involved here is free, I wouldn't sweat it too much in terms of which one you think needs to be used vs. which one kicked to the curb, they can comfortably co-exist.

I was looking at buying a PecanPi for my home system and using picoreplayer to drive it.

How many endpoints (players) do you need, i.e. how many rooms or systems need a streaming player? The WiiM unit would be one such player, but your piCorePlayer need not be anything but a server if you only have one system/room. In that scenario you wouldn't get a player like the PecanPi, just use a Raspberry Pi 4B and attach a USB storage device to it as your piCorePlayer/LMS instance.

You can also just run standard LMS (not piCorePlayer), on a pre-existing Windows, Mac, or Linux computer instead of Raspberry Pi.

 

[Rowlandville]

No as described above by @Brantome , these can work in complimentary ways and need not be considered as just one or the other, nothing mutually exclusive there.

The LMS instance would be your local library server, and the WiiM unit would be an endpoint player.

I was looking at the WiiM interface online. There is a "My Music" link that, from what I can tell, controls my personal library/songs on my device. Is that correct?

I've burned in thousands of songs, but all but a few hundred are accessible through streaming. So only those few hundred would be kept on each device (iPhone and Mac). The rest of my listening would be streamed from online. So would the WiiM app (without pi) allow me to access those songs when using that device? (Ex: When I'm using my phone at home -- listening either through the phone speaker or streamed to the WiiM Pro via Airplay 2 -- would the WiiM app alone -- without pi -- be able access and play those few hundred songs on my phone?)

How many endpoints (players) do you need, i.e. how many rooms or systems need a streaming player?

Just one. I'm used to listening to my music on my phone when I'm not near my system and I expect I'll continue to do so.

 

[Brantome]

Yes, the WiiM Home app can access music files stored on the same device as the app and play them directly to your WiiM device over wifi.
More usually, you’d have such files stored on a NAS or PC on your network so that any device can access them for playback, but in your case if you have those few hundred tracks on both your phone and PC, you could use the Wiim home app alone for playback.

 

[Rowlandville]

That's fantastic. Saves me the headache of installing a new layer of software.

Would I be able to incorporate those local songs into playlists that include streaming songs (for device-specific playback only, as outlined above)? (I assume I would need to create TWO iterations of each playlist -- one for the iPhone and one for the Mac? I wouldn't bother. I would just put them all on my phone, but I'm curious if I'm understanding this correctly.)

I've read multiple places that Airplay 2 will stream Apple Music in the 256 AAC format -- and not lossless -- to the WiiM. Is that correct? What if I'm using Qobuz? Will my iPhone stream Qobuz losslessly or also in AAC?

 

[Brantome]

That's fantastic. Saves me the headache of installing a new layer of software.

Would I be able to incorporate those local songs into playlists that include streaming songs (for device-specific playback only, as outlined above)? (I assume I would need to create TWO iterations of each playlist -- one for the iPhone and one for the Mac? I wouldn't bother. I would just put them all on my phone, but I'm curious if I'm understanding this correctly.)

Unfortunately not but I’d hope that was something Wiim could do in the future.

I've read multiple places that Airplay 2 will stream Apple Music in the 256 AAC format -- and not lossless -- to the WiiM. Is that correct? What if I'm using Qobuz? Will my iPhone stream Qobuz losslessly or also in AAC?

Yes, often discussed and when it is, I always trot out this link https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-music-lossless-mess-part-2-airplay-r1026/

If you are using Qobuz, you can play it losslessly up to 24/192 from inside the WiiM Home app, or up to 24/96 using Chromecast from the Qobuz app itself (it’s the Qobuz app itself that caps ChromeCast at 24/96). When Qobuz release their Connect mechanism , hopefully in early 2024) that should also support 24/192 losslessly. It’s really just Apple Music and Airplay 2 that’s an unmitigated disaster when it comes to wireless playback, even using its own gear and protocols.

 

[smitty2k1]

Longtime Wiim Mini user here. Was using it on my desktop with UPNP bridge for LMS. Happily upgraded to the Wiim Pro from Linkplay's eBay used store for $100. Glad to have ReplayGain back and experimenting with PEQ. All seems well with native support but I'm just using it for playback of network media files.

 

[Rowlandville]

Honestly, makes me wonder about dropping $20 to buy a used first gen Airport Express. Bit perfect. Use the app on my phone to control the interface, and save myself $140.

 

[Brantome]

Honestly, makes me wonder about dropping $20 to buy a used first gen Airport Express. Bit perfect. Use the app on my phone to control the interface, and save myself $140.

Can’t deny it’s an option for lossless CD 16/44.1 playback, although everything higher will be resampled to that. Plus Apple Music allows you afaicr to sync your iTunes library with your iCloud library (with iMatch somewhere in there too, but it’s a few years since I did it) in effect uploading those local files to the cloud which would allow you to mix streaming and non-streaming tracks in a single playlist. I did this a few years back to allow Alexa access to such files.

Still think, local files apart, that a Qobuz solution is so much better quality wise when it comes to wireless streaming.