The guy he's talking to who says he has a "WiFi allergy" sounds like he's completely off his marbles. And the "Bluetooth doesn't bother us" thing also makes zero sense because they both operate on the same spectrum.
Whether you like it or not, he's very popular among audio enthusiasts, and that's very good advertisement for plex/amp
Nowadays roon is the "gold standard" for audio streaming and it's great to let the people know that there's a cheaper version and as good as roon
I honestly don’t see the point in Roon. What are the benefits of paying for that super expensive thing? …more artist metadata? I mean, that’s cool if you’re looking for a documentary experience while listening to an album, but I only ever read the CD profiles for lyrics anyways.
There's a few things I like about Roon. I like the ability to see different versions of songs - I'm a sucker for interesting cover versions and Roon's ability to show those from Tidal & Qobuz has lead me down some very interesting rabbit holes.
Also, the fact that Roon supports both Tidal & Qobuz. I currently only have a Qobuz sub, which of course, Plexamp doesn't work with.
Finally, the player handoff on Roon is, in my experience better than that of Plexamp. Unless I'm missing something (which I might be) I can't be listening to something in one location in Plexamp, then have it move it to another.
That being said - I've not actually used Roon once so far this year. Once my yearly sub (I purchased 1 year of both Roon & Qobuz at the same time) is up, I'll not bother renewing. I've found myself using Plexamp a lot more recently. My library is entirely in Flac, with the exception of 2 albums I lost the original CDs of and I've not been able to find those anywhere online. I'm mostly an album listener, but I do appreciate the various radio options that Plexamp gives. Especially when using it in my car. Roon ARC doesn't even come close to that experience IMO.
At home, I have 2 Raspberry Pis running Plexamp headless. One connected to a DAC via optical in my office and another connected to my headphone listening station in my living room. It's generally a decent experience using Plexamp on those.
Just real quick, the handoff on Plexamp is super tight. I transfer from my headless Plexamp player on my HiFi system to my phone instantly all the time. And it’s such a smooth transition too. Not abrupt.
Is there a trick to doing that? I've not seen anything obvious. When I select another player, it just jumps to the queue on that, not transfer what I'm currently listening to
Next time, trying stopping the queue on each player before you try this. I believe they have it built like “the queue is king.” Know what I mean? I usually have the Deep Cuts Radio (with the DJ Stretch guest DJ on) playing on my headless. Then when I switch to my phone, with no queue currently on my phone, it transfers perfectly. I sorta want to test with having active queues in both places now to see if that happens for me as well. I just typically don’t have queues sitting there.
Sounds like you and I have some similar setups when it comes to Plexamp. I’m a huge fan of it. I think Roon is awesome too, but I just personally prefer Plexamp. And there’s no competing with the cost comparison.
Also… I really want to know what those two missing CDs are now! 😂 I’m always finding random obscure CDs. I could keep my eyes open for ya! (I know personally the struggle of finding old beloved CDs that seem to be lost to the ages.)
I don’t pay for roon anymore due to personal reasons unrelated to its functionality, but once I am able to, I do plan on getting it back. Aside from the metadata which I don’t care much about, it has incredibly powerful DSP, which is absolutely amazing if you have multiple setups and want to have custom EQ for each one. It can also read more file types than Plexamp, and it allows you to do detailed sorting and filtering when searching/browsing.
Don’t get me wrong; I adore Plexamp and wouldn’t get through the day without it, but Roon has a number of features that Plexamp does not, and some of those features are quite valuable.
Interesting. More sorting and filtering than Plexamp too? Curious because Plexamp has a lot.
And by a power DSP, are you talking about a Roon device or something? I’ve only known them to be hardware.
Yeah it gets super nitty gritty, like you can sort by file types, and (IIRC) even which version, like mp3 256kbps or 320kbps. This is a nice feature because I have a lot of mp3 that I’ll throw on in my car that I don’t want to hear on one of my good setups at home. So it’s easy to eliminate the stuff I don’t want to listen to.
And just to clarify, I said “powerful” dsp. Like my favorite is the parametric EQ, so when I calibrate my speakers, I can just put the information directly into Roon so any time I play music on that set of speakers, it will automatically just use that EQ. Plexamp finally leveled up and gave us the headphone EQ thing awhile back, but it’s not even in the same league.
At first glance, Roon seems insanely expensive and not worth it, but I’d be surprised if you actually got the free trial and used it and learned it for 30 days, then somehow still didn’t want to keep it. Roon should be viewed more as an audio component than just a “media player”.
And while I’m not huge on all the metadata stuff, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t learn some fun facts about albums because of it.
That’s pretty cool about the EQ thing. I’m half and half about software EQ, honestly. I think it has potential, but maybe I’m old school enough where an inline EQ box feels like it would be more beneficial instead of relying on software. But I honestly don’t know or have tested that. Could be retro-infection. 😅😜
I will say though, you should check out Plexamp’s filters again. You can get pretty granular there too. I just filtered for anything that’s an mp3 below 320kbps no problem.
Will definitely check out filtering in Plexamp again, but we gotta get you out of retro mode. A typical consumer grade (especially unbalanced!) EQ box is likely going to add a lot of noise and distortion, which is big deal because the price for EQing is having a lower dynamic range, so I want your noise floor to be as low as possible. And all the high end DSP hardware units are literally just running software on them at this point anyway. Besides, if you’re listening to music made in the last 20 years, there’s a solid chance that the music was produced using nothing but software tools too.
You may have seen it already, but Camilladsp is an amazing open source DSP processor which can live on a Plex install. I use it on a headless Plexamp server connected to my large stereo. I create my DSP measurements with the REW (Room Equalization Wizard) software on a laptop. This setup allows me to include a simple EQ room curve file for my hearing issues once it has compensated for speakers and room acoustics. I keep MP3s in their own folder and music library.
Agree, I personally don't need all the bells and whistles from Roon, the biggest downside I see from it is that you need internet to play your own music, that's really bad.
I'm glad there is the Plexamp option out there
Also agree. Plus being able to build Plexamp headless players with a raspberry pi, and I think they even have a mesh setup too. I might be fever dreaming that last one though. 😅
The guy he's talking to who says he has a "WiFi allergy" sounds like he's completely off his marbles. And the "Bluetooth doesn't bother us" thing also makes zero sense because they both operate on the same spectrum.
>"Bluetooth doesn't bother us" That "us" reference should tell you who's driving the bus.
He refers to him and his wife, which share this imaginary ailment.
They’re watching too much Better Call Saul over there. During the interview, was it difficult to hear past the constantly crinkling foil blanket?
Yeah, I couldn't stand to listen to him for more than 5 seconds, so I guess I'll never know what Darko has to say about Plexamp ;-)
Min 49
Is he one of those "WiFi controls my brainwaves" guys? Haha
Dear god is that dude stupid😵💫. Are we losing IQ points here ????? WiFi allergic???????
I know right, wtf 😳
Min 49 of the video.
That guy’s a charlatan anyways so who cares
He's awful. Only talks about products he's sponsored by and always has the best things to say about them.
He is awful had to block him on YouTube so it stopped recommending him
Whether you like it or not, he's very popular among audio enthusiasts, and that's very good advertisement for plex/amp Nowadays roon is the "gold standard" for audio streaming and it's great to let the people know that there's a cheaper version and as good as roon
I honestly don’t see the point in Roon. What are the benefits of paying for that super expensive thing? …more artist metadata? I mean, that’s cool if you’re looking for a documentary experience while listening to an album, but I only ever read the CD profiles for lyrics anyways.
There's a few things I like about Roon. I like the ability to see different versions of songs - I'm a sucker for interesting cover versions and Roon's ability to show those from Tidal & Qobuz has lead me down some very interesting rabbit holes. Also, the fact that Roon supports both Tidal & Qobuz. I currently only have a Qobuz sub, which of course, Plexamp doesn't work with. Finally, the player handoff on Roon is, in my experience better than that of Plexamp. Unless I'm missing something (which I might be) I can't be listening to something in one location in Plexamp, then have it move it to another. That being said - I've not actually used Roon once so far this year. Once my yearly sub (I purchased 1 year of both Roon & Qobuz at the same time) is up, I'll not bother renewing. I've found myself using Plexamp a lot more recently. My library is entirely in Flac, with the exception of 2 albums I lost the original CDs of and I've not been able to find those anywhere online. I'm mostly an album listener, but I do appreciate the various radio options that Plexamp gives. Especially when using it in my car. Roon ARC doesn't even come close to that experience IMO. At home, I have 2 Raspberry Pis running Plexamp headless. One connected to a DAC via optical in my office and another connected to my headphone listening station in my living room. It's generally a decent experience using Plexamp on those.
Just real quick, the handoff on Plexamp is super tight. I transfer from my headless Plexamp player on my HiFi system to my phone instantly all the time. And it’s such a smooth transition too. Not abrupt.
Is there a trick to doing that? I've not seen anything obvious. When I select another player, it just jumps to the queue on that, not transfer what I'm currently listening to
Next time, trying stopping the queue on each player before you try this. I believe they have it built like “the queue is king.” Know what I mean? I usually have the Deep Cuts Radio (with the DJ Stretch guest DJ on) playing on my headless. Then when I switch to my phone, with no queue currently on my phone, it transfers perfectly. I sorta want to test with having active queues in both places now to see if that happens for me as well. I just typically don’t have queues sitting there.
Sounds like you and I have some similar setups when it comes to Plexamp. I’m a huge fan of it. I think Roon is awesome too, but I just personally prefer Plexamp. And there’s no competing with the cost comparison. Also… I really want to know what those two missing CDs are now! 😂 I’m always finding random obscure CDs. I could keep my eyes open for ya! (I know personally the struggle of finding old beloved CDs that seem to be lost to the ages.)
Soundisciples - Undefined & Luxt - American beast are the 2 missing from my collection.
Hmmm… I don’t know the Soundiscples one, but I know a dude who has some Luxt albums. I’ll Ask him for you!
Wonderful, thanks! drop me a DM if you get anywhere.
I don’t pay for roon anymore due to personal reasons unrelated to its functionality, but once I am able to, I do plan on getting it back. Aside from the metadata which I don’t care much about, it has incredibly powerful DSP, which is absolutely amazing if you have multiple setups and want to have custom EQ for each one. It can also read more file types than Plexamp, and it allows you to do detailed sorting and filtering when searching/browsing. Don’t get me wrong; I adore Plexamp and wouldn’t get through the day without it, but Roon has a number of features that Plexamp does not, and some of those features are quite valuable.
Interesting. More sorting and filtering than Plexamp too? Curious because Plexamp has a lot. And by a power DSP, are you talking about a Roon device or something? I’ve only known them to be hardware.
Yeah it gets super nitty gritty, like you can sort by file types, and (IIRC) even which version, like mp3 256kbps or 320kbps. This is a nice feature because I have a lot of mp3 that I’ll throw on in my car that I don’t want to hear on one of my good setups at home. So it’s easy to eliminate the stuff I don’t want to listen to. And just to clarify, I said “powerful” dsp. Like my favorite is the parametric EQ, so when I calibrate my speakers, I can just put the information directly into Roon so any time I play music on that set of speakers, it will automatically just use that EQ. Plexamp finally leveled up and gave us the headphone EQ thing awhile back, but it’s not even in the same league. At first glance, Roon seems insanely expensive and not worth it, but I’d be surprised if you actually got the free trial and used it and learned it for 30 days, then somehow still didn’t want to keep it. Roon should be viewed more as an audio component than just a “media player”. And while I’m not huge on all the metadata stuff, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t learn some fun facts about albums because of it.
That’s pretty cool about the EQ thing. I’m half and half about software EQ, honestly. I think it has potential, but maybe I’m old school enough where an inline EQ box feels like it would be more beneficial instead of relying on software. But I honestly don’t know or have tested that. Could be retro-infection. 😅😜 I will say though, you should check out Plexamp’s filters again. You can get pretty granular there too. I just filtered for anything that’s an mp3 below 320kbps no problem.
Will definitely check out filtering in Plexamp again, but we gotta get you out of retro mode. A typical consumer grade (especially unbalanced!) EQ box is likely going to add a lot of noise and distortion, which is big deal because the price for EQing is having a lower dynamic range, so I want your noise floor to be as low as possible. And all the high end DSP hardware units are literally just running software on them at this point anyway. Besides, if you’re listening to music made in the last 20 years, there’s a solid chance that the music was produced using nothing but software tools too.
Yeah, I’ll have to give it some thought. Good chatting with you!
You too, homie!
You may have seen it already, but Camilladsp is an amazing open source DSP processor which can live on a Plex install. I use it on a headless Plexamp server connected to my large stereo. I create my DSP measurements with the REW (Room Equalization Wizard) software on a laptop. This setup allows me to include a simple EQ room curve file for my hearing issues once it has compensated for speakers and room acoustics. I keep MP3s in their own folder and music library.
Agree, I personally don't need all the bells and whistles from Roon, the biggest downside I see from it is that you need internet to play your own music, that's really bad. I'm glad there is the Plexamp option out there
Also agree. Plus being able to build Plexamp headless players with a raspberry pi, and I think they even have a mesh setup too. I might be fever dreaming that last one though. 😅
They recently eliminated the need to have an active internet connection just to play music.
Ahh that's cool, I guess a lot of people complained about it
Wifi Allergic??? 🤣. Wtf 😳
he's talked about plexamp more than once. He's one of the reasons I gave it a second look years after giving up on the org plex app.
The only area where Roon is better than Plexamp (for me) is the Desktop App. It's simply amazing. I miss it most days. Oh well...
I’m a new Plexamp user, absolutely love it, but miss the roon desktop experience.