From Roon to Plexamp

[powerav]

I am looking to replacing Roon with Plexamp but the biggest setback with Plexamp was that I wanted it to play through my dac and not use chromecast on amplifier as the stream.

Here are the trials and tribulations I had during set up and what I would be missing out on and gaining if I decided to switch from Roon when my Roon yearly subscription expires.

1. I’ve had Plex installed on my Asustor NAS for years and have just used it casually but it would be problematic as I had to update or by installing the apk file and it would choose when to and not to work so I needed another server option.

2. I had an older i3 nuc lying around so that was going to be my new server, I figured Ubuntu would be the prefect option to install Plex on, installation of Ubuntu and Plex was easy but the catch here was getting Plex to recognise my music folders on my nas, while mounting these folders to Ubuntu was easy getting Plex to see not so. After searching Google for an answer it seems you need to write 3000 (exaggeration) lines of code to do it, not for me.

3.  Hesitantly I installed an unlicensed version of windows 10 to run Plex server, hesitant due to windows updates and deciding when to turn off and on so I made sure to adjust all those settings and installed Plex, after mapping all my media folders to windows, Plex saw them easily and I added them to library. 
4. Getting to work with Raspberry pi4 and Ropieee, this was more difficult than first thought, installed latest version of ropieee, Plexamp then appears as an option in services, changed output to usb, went to Plex tv to get the code and copied in. Tried Plexamp on iPad to see if the ropieee showed up but nothing, searched Google again for answers, people were saying to turn upnp options off and try again but still nothing, after a couple of days of trying different options and resetting I almost gave up but I decided just to reset ropieee up and from scratch, entered new code and yes we have connection to Ropieee.

 

OK so how about the differences between Plexamp and Roon well for me personally this is them. 
1. Remote use of Plexamp vs Roon ARC, Plexamp is better here, just seems more stable with no drop outs.

2. How they handle different audio formats, Roon is the winner here easily, I have different folders of music labeled Flac, SACD and multichannel. With Roon all these go in one library and Roon sorts all these out in different versions so I can play Flac, sacd, multichannel all from the one program and one library. With Plex you need to create a different library for say sacd and then change library’s when you want to play, Roon the winner here for sure.

3. The big one sound quality, there is a difference here and of course will be subjective but I tried some heavy rock and metal tracks Def Leppard Too Late For Love and Death Angel Disconnected, at first was impressed with Plex, the bass and drums seem louder or more thunderous so I switched back and forth between Roon and Plexamp and Roon is bit more refined but still has that punch that is required, I wish there was zero difference but there is so Roon wins.

 

To sum up looks like I’ll be keeping Roon, maybe just still keep Plexamp for remote play for $160 lifetime Plex pass can’t go wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

[Snoopy8]

There is no beating Roon for its ability to manage libraries and different file formats. 

 

There is a difference in sound quality of different Linux system, and some may be better compared with Roon?

 

53 minutes ago, powerav said:

2. I had an older i3 nuc lying around so that was going to be my new server, I figured Ubuntu would be the prefect option to install Plex on, installation of Ubuntu and Plex was easy but the catch here was getting Plex to recognise my music folders on my nas, while mounting these folders to Ubuntu was easy getting Plex to see not so. After searching Google for an answer it seems you need to write 3000 (exaggeration) lines of code to do it, not for me.

A crazy idea, assuming you know how to install and troubleshoot a Plex Linux install.

 

Use SnakeOil (SO), which is based on Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTE (24.04 coming soon).  SO has the ability to map NAS drives, as logical drives that can used by any music player.  So, maybe,  after manually installing Plex in SO, it can see those drives???

 

If this can be made to work, you will likely see a SQ improvement.  And further improvement if you install the Ubuntu real time kernel.

[powerav]

Sounds Interesting and worth investigating.

[Snoopy8]

2 minutes ago, powerav said:

Sounds Interesting and worth investigating.

Start here

https://www.snakeoil-os.net/forums/Thread-Announcing-Snakeoil-Measurements-1-3-0

And please let me know if you need help (but I do not know Plex).

[powerav]

I’m definitely going to keep the server running for Plexamp as I’ll need it for remote play, Roon arc is absolutely useless in the car, Plexamp loads quickly and first time every time.