Plexamp is a FREE ALTERNATIVE to Roon

This episode is brought to you by Roon and AudioQuest:

🎥 Camera: John Darko / Olaf von Voss
🎬 Editor: John Darko
🌈 Colour: Olaf von Voss
🕺🏻 Motion GFX: John Darko
💰 Ad segment: John Darko

0:00 Intro
1:05 Scuba + Plex server vs. Plexamp
3:43 iPad Plexamp + Audiolab 9000N
7:06 'Plexamp ready'
10:25 Why Plexamp? Why Roon?
15:10 Outtakes

👉 As seen in this video...

Plexamp

Plex Media Server

Western Digital MyCloud NAS 24TB

Scuba - Triangulation

Convextion - R-CNXV2

iPad 2022 Yellow

Klipsch Heresy IV

Wharfedale Linton

Audiolab 9000N measurements

Audiolab 9000A

WiiM Ultra

Cables and power products by AudioQuest

Hi-fi furniture and speaker stands by Solid Steel

Room treatment by Vicoustic

Darko.Audio may earn a small commission from items purchased via affiliate links, as indicated by a '🛒'.

Darko.Audio is an Amazon Associates Program member, an Audio Advice Program member and a Howl Program member.

#streaming #hifi #plex

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[bergamasq]

WiiM have just announced that they're running an open beta of their plex integration in 2 weeks time and are aiming to have it implemented by the end of this month.

[DarkoAudio]

UPDATE! Just as I was about to hit publish on this video, I got an email from Plex explaining that Tidal integration will end on Oct 28th.

[sloopchrisp]

As someone who only rips CDs and streams them (other than free Spotify for browsing) and doesn't subscribe to a streaming service I found this really helpful in evaluating my choices

[theonlyegg]

I don't use it at all for music, but my collection of movies and TV shows lives on a Plex server and man, it's fantastic.

[markloughtonUK]

Plexamp also works with Android Auto. You get cover art and easy controls in ya mota 😊

[SteveHuffer]

Plex, for me, has been absolutely rock-solid.

[jeremiahchamberlin]

I remain intensely interested in topic of streaming, and a music library and especially (these days) the ability to have all of my music ‘served’ to me, I am stymied by not being able to comprehend what you’re talking about. You appear as a magician to me, waving a wand at this box and that, picking up your phone, walking around outdoors, passing streams around the house like a kid playing tag while I sit in stunned wonder at how you can get music from anywhere and everywhere. In this video, I finally learned what it was you’ve griping about all these years, namely, gaps in your playback. Not all of us are bothered by the gaps; we like to know when the last song ended and the next one begins; but I can see where some would find it annoying when they’re looking for a steady stream of music coming to their ears.

[belowmhz]

After watching this video, I decided to try setting up a Plex server on an old 2011 MacBook Pro that was just lying around. I guess it's the excitement of something new, but I've gone several days without using my Tidal account, and honestly, the Plexamp apps for iOS are pretty solid

[stephenclark]

Olaf's 'b-roll' definitely deserves multiple Espressos. Thanks for another great set of reflections. Plex would be my choice.

[EricNoël-gd]

Thanks John for sharing. My experience with Plex is really good so far. My need was simple: my CD transporter died and I had two choices. Replace it or rip my CD only albums (not on tidal or Spotify). So I did. I have a synology (NAS) with Plex server installed. Using UPNP protocol, I stream directly to my Yamaha R-N2000A (fantastic BTW) and I use the Yamaha MusicCast app has my remote. Uber simple. Really happy with my setup.

Keep the good work! Both of you. Cheers!

[Martintii]

Roon user here. The seamless integration of streaming and local library is what got me in the door. But only recently did I start to use Roon's DSP. I use Focus Fidelity room correction software to make convolution filters for Roon. It's pretty awesome.

[FabianEuresti]

Just bought a copy of R-CNVX2! Just uploaded to Apple Music and it’s now in my Plex library too. Love your taste in music, Sir!

[miffmaff]

Nice timing with the Tidal integration ending XD
I've been using plexamp for some years now, and i really like the idea of streaming music from my own server to myself. Overall very happy with this app.

[KINGTED]

And PLEX does all of that for local video, photos, and even dvr for live TV with a networked antenna! I use it every day!

[BrunoP]

Glad to see Plexamp getting visibility!
Great video, can't wait to see 9000N review
Hopefully Bluesound will implement plexamp natively

[juicythedj]

Just a heads-up John: I've had a bad experience with the WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra literally frying my drives! They were idling at 55 degs even though I kept the (tiny) fan clean. Swapped it with a Synology DS220+ and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Their software is a dream, it's plenty powerful for Plex (including video with transcoding) and has a properly-sized fan. The drives are idling at 33 degs in the same setup and room. Even at the "cool" setting, it's practically silent apart from the mechanical noise of the drives themselves.

It probably goes without saying: make sure you have a backup of your Western Digital, maybe over its built-in USB port.

[andrewbarton]

Roon.... I'm still on my 2 week trial, but I have bought a NUC, and I'm not going back! Needless to say, I am very impressed!

[RalphPantuso]

Nice video, I really enjoyed it.
I use both Roon and Plex/PlexAmp.
Roon is great for streaming music when at home and does a great job of managing one's music library, something that Plex does not do well with music.
Plex is great for streaming videos when at home or away.
Plex does a great job of managing one's video library.
PlexAmp is great for streaming music when not at home.
Roon ARC is pretty much worthless - never works whereas PlexAmp always works.

Roon when at home and PlexAmp when on the go.

[bokolobs]

I have both Plexamp and Roon. Would just like to add a some more differences: 1) Plex sends the stream as flac to the Plexamp endpoints and the endpoints will do the decoding. Totally fine as rpis can handle decoding with no issue with an added benefit that it's less of a bandwidth hog than Roon, which sends the stream as decoded PCM to endpoints. 2) You have to play with the settings to get bit-perfect playback in Plexamp. You have to do this for each endpoint. In my experience, bit-perfect is default in Roon. 3) From what I can tell, you need to refresh/rescan your library every time you add new music to your Plex server or at least set a schedule for rescanning. Roon updates the library automatically. 4) Plexamp via Google Cast is not gapless, but Roon is.

IMO, Plexamp is just better than Roon (Arc) outside the home. They are the same for playback sound quality at home in my use case. Roon's UI is king.

[parkerscott]

I ripped all my old CDs last year and created a Plex library on my NAS. I had just been using the Plex app, but the PlexAmp is way more music focused. Nice find!