WiiM mini and Alexa Plex Skills Integration

[Rockstar2020]

Hi,
I'm using WiiM mini connected to my Onkyo receiver along with Tidal Connect and Amazon Alexa integration.
Also I have a large library of music specifically FLAC/MQA files managed on a Plex Media Server.
I understand there's an upcoming integration with plex which I'm so waiting for but I'm submitting this post for another issue that I'm facing.

I have integrated Plex skills on Amazon Alexa where I play my library using voice commands (ie Alexa, ask plex to play ....) on my echo speakers.
So far I've been able to Direct Play my FLAC contents on echo speakers with no issues. Specially on echo Studio I'm getting fantastic playback quality of FLAC files.
But when I play the same content on WiiM which is integrated as spekaer in a device group within Alexa app, I see that the audio is getting transcoded down to 320kpbs.
Why is this happening?
Is there a limitation on WiiM as speaker which only limits to stream audio at max 320kbps?
I understand WiiM/Alexa integration is capable of streaming Amazon Music UHD contents so I wonder why there should be limitation of other medias.
I'm not subscribed to Amazon Music Premium so I only want my Plex integration also plays my music without transcoding.
Unfortunately there's no easy setup within Plex Server to force direct streaming of music files.

Below snap shot is the status reported on Plex Server when playing a FLAC file to WiiM speaker group.
As you can see it's transcoding.



and below is a snapshot of playing exactly the same FLAC file on an echo device which is not using WiiM as speaker.




Has anybody on this forum implemented a similar setup like mine? I'd like to hear about your experience.
Also, I'd like to get feedback from WiiM's support team to understand how this issue can be fixed.

Many thanks

 

[Rockstar2020]

OK, I think I'm going to give up but as last try I'd like to get your opinion about the following line in my log:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec 10, 2023 09:27:43.003 [140108006800184] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.1:55756 (Subnet)] GET /music/:/transcode/universal/start?protocol=http&hasMDE=1&session=071cd93c-9a09-4fef-8bc5-ae266fb6b00c&playQueueItemID=574975&directPlay=0&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&offset=0&maxAudioBitrate=320&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F360611&Accept=application%2Fjson (5 live) #2834 TLS Signed-in Token (Matt) (Amazon Alexa) (range: bytes=0-)
Dec 10, 2023 09:27:43.004 [140108006800184] DEBUG - [Req#2834/Transcode] Found session GUID of 071cd93c-9a09-4fef-8bc5-ae266fb6b00c in session start.
Dec 10, 2023 09:27:43.004 [140108006800184] DEBUG - [Req#2834/Transcode] TranscodeUniversalRequest: adapting profile with augmentation data: add-transcode-target(type=musicProfile&context=streaming&protocol=http&container=mp3&audioCodec=mp3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Specially the highlighted ones, which is clearly asking plex to transcode my FLAC audio down to 320kbps.
Why is this request coming from my router's IP?!!

I doubt I can get anything from Alexa support because based on what I've read so far in the forums, they do this limitation to control the bandwidth of multi-speakers in a group which to me that's stupid if they don't let the control in the hands of their user.

Any thoughts?

 

[Brantome]

Hi, as above my comment about this, please disregard my Alexa MRM comments - while they are accurate in themselves, they're answering a question totally different from your use of the preferred speaker setting to route skill audio. So bandwidth saving, lack of device memory etc aren't relevant. Again, sorry about my earlier red herring...

I'll also update my comment about using a WiiM remote to ask Plex to play on the paired WiiM - after some thought, I now think that should deliver FLAC as it's no different from asking Plex your Echo Studio to play from the Plex skill. Unfortunately there's no way of testing that without a remote as a skill can't ask for its audio to be played on a named echo other than the one making the request.

As you experienced with the Studio, I believe you're hitting the Alexa limitation of playing audio from a skill thru the device group preferred speaker route - that's where the cap is being applied. It doesn't matter if that preferred speaker device is a WiiM or an Echo - it's the combination of the audio being delivered by a skill rather than a core Alexa streaming service AND the use of the preferred speaker route to get to the device. As I said, I experienced similar using the Heos skill with my Heos Link HS2 before I had a WiiM.

Unfortunately, I don't see any sign of Amazon changing that - the dev forums have long had discussions as to why the delivery route and APIs for skills audio are different from those used for core streaming services.

 

[Rockstar2020]

Even if the WiiM remote works, that would not be an option for me.
I'll be waiting for the built-in support for Plex to be released.
In that case I think I can ask the Plex skill on one echo to stream content to another Plex player which would be my WiiM mini.
I may be wrong though!

I didn't see plex support in recent firmware release, any idea in which release I can expect it?

Cheers

 

[Brantome]

Even if the WiiM remote works, that would not be an option for me.
I'll be waiting for the built-in support for Plex to be released.
In that case I think I can ask the Plex skill on one echo to stream content to another Plex player which would be my WiiM mini. I may be wrong though!

I didn't know that the Plex skill can redirect audio to another player (which is unusual for an alexa skill) but on checking https://support.plex.tv/articles/236324808-alexa-voice-commands/ , I see it does support requests like "Alexa, Ask Plex to change my player to Living Room TV". Can you do that just now with echos e.g. can you ask one echo to change playback to another echo? If so, what happens if you ask "Alexa, ask Plex to change my player to wiim-mini-name"?

I didn't see plex support in recent firmware release, any idea in which release I can expect it?

Cheers

WiiM have said that they were working on Plex support, but beyond that, as a non-Plex user I don't know what that means. It could mean support for Plex as a server from the WiiM app, or the converse with the WiiM device appearing as a 'native' player to Plex. As I'm not a Plex user, I haven't been following in any detail the threads where people have been asking for Plex support. Maybe have a look at the Plex/Plexamp feature requests.

WiiM did say that they expected to deliver it 'by the end of the year', but with all the activity around the WiiM Amp, I can see that slipping into the New Year. Who knows?

 

[Rockstar2020]

Well, I've been using the Plex skill feature to stream both video and audio on another Plex player for sometimes already. In fact that was the first thing I tried to get Plex play directly on WiiM mini which unfortunately didn't work.

 

[Brantome]

Well, I've been using the Plex skill feature to stream both video and audio on another Plex player for sometimes already. In fact that was the first thing I tried to get Plex play directly on WiiM mini which unfortunately didn't work.

Ah, shame. Does it work to another echo? Maybe what WiiM are doing will move that along…

 

[Rockstar2020]

Ah, shame. Does it work to another echo? Maybe what WiiM are doing will move that along…

Well, that's not exactly what I said.
Plex skill can stream music on another registered player like my Fire TV and Sony Bravia TV running Plex application (PLex app or Plexamp). This is basically their casting feature which also works with Alexa voice control.
What WiiM has done so far is integrating WiiM device with Alexa to appear like an echo device/speaker, NOT a player.
This is the reason I can't play audio via a voice command executed on an echo device.
Once they add full Plex support (ie Plex Connect) similar to Tidal connect, then Alexa will see WiiM as a regiestered player and then I assume I can run voice commands to play music directly on WiiM without the need to have it part of a group.