Early version? And you need good quality wifi or Connect the ipad to wired network. It is also subscription software but you can try it for two weeks. Like Roon it stores a database locally to get the fast searches. The sound quality comes from reducing the status calls over the network to the server. The app also support Qobuz and Tidal. They are working on internet radio but not yet.
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What does this mean?
Yes I saw that and decided to gloss over…
It is a UPnP controller that control your server/renderer. And the more you reduce the status calls the more you reduce the network traffic. If you you turn JPLAY down all the way you only have control by the end of a song which is a bit extreme if you listen to wagner operas, but you dont have to go so far.
You have to tell JPLAY if you have an OpenHome-type server (like Minim) or the UpnP type. But you dont have to change your setup to try it. Versions for iOS and Windows. They have links to a number of reviews on their site (JPLAY.eu).
They dont have all the cloud-based metadata but you can run your local files mix3d with Qobuz just like Roon.
Look at the reviews from many publications like absolute sound etc and you will quickly see if it is for you or not. you quickly learned what it can do.
I think what he really means is that the detection of network packet losses and subsequent recoveries without going into the technical details of the underlying UDP/TCP protocols.
Fewer network error recoveries may mean better SQ if data buffering is not sufficient?
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I compared JPlay to roon and at first thought JPlay sounded better. I’d listen to a song and then stop and switch to roon. But with Naim HE, I can actually switch on the fly, so that when I played about 20 seconds of a song and then instantly switched to beginning of song on either Roon or JPlay, it sounded exactly the same. My mind was just playing tricks on me when I gave a brief pause. The soundstage, tone, detail, everything was exactly the same between the too.
And as far as user experience, roon is a lot better. JPlay copied its look but still had a lot of connection issues. And I already have lifetime sub for roon. Maybe if didn’t and wanted to save, JPlay would do. Don’t like that they still don’t have lyrics within app though.
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This is one would expect if there is no bug in the software.
That is what I am saying. There are three nice alternatives out there right now. I have had a Roon lifer license for a very long time but never could get rid of that last bit of digital sound before I found Audirvana studio which was great on opening up the sound more like music until I heard a decent second-hand Melco which sent me back to Minimserver which was more or less where I started. JPLAY was just something extra on top of that. I have had all three running over the summer and for me the choice was easy. It does not make everything else rubbish and removing JPLAY would just mean I”d still be using mConnect.
On your home network if using Ethernet the chances of lost frames is going to be minimal… the chances are you have never had one in your network. If you have a poor under performing host ( NAS, streamer, computer etc) they could loose a frame in the software stack of a product and therefore has to be re sent controlled by the parent transport layer… but the data will be very rarely lost unless your host has crashed, stalled or has been completely over whelmed. Home networks are usually rather simple benign affairs really… perhaps some imagine they are doing far more than they actually are.
In UPnP there no ‘status’ messages other than the occasional SSDP discovery frame. Media transfer on UPnP / DLNA uses HTTP based TCP transfers… there are two popular TCP flow control variants used by Naim streamer hosts I have seen , based on how quickly the data is sent. Roon also uses TCP for media but its own control type.
I use the word frame as opposed to packet, as this is all within network traffic so it is frames we are referring to.
With a network there are broadcast type events that are occurring regularly that are nothing to do with UPnP or any other application, but with how Ethernet functions, these are things are things like ARP and ND. For a performant host these functions would normally be handled in hardware.
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I have 72 devices on my network right now, what are you even on about?
It was my tongue-in-cheek attempt at the interpretation of what I thought he was trying to say by the expression “The sound quality comes from reducing the status calls over the network to the server.”
Sure, I was trying to be objective, as some might be reading to genuinely follow the discussion.
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Sure, sometimes it is fun to read the un-explainable!!!
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But what I’m saying is I thought roon was lacking in sound quality compared to JPlay but turns out it’s exactly the same. I don’t have to give up roon’s usefulness in order to achieve better sound quality. I thought I was hearing a more analog type sound or more details but it was just what I wanted to hear. In quick switching, the music flowed exactly the same and even my emotional feedback to it was the same. I still look at other software to see if there are better features or functionality but now think sound quality is perfect.
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Sorry, I didnt doubt you experience. Either with Roon or JPLAY. But as always experience will vary depending on system and so on. And since there was alternatives I didnt bother to find out exactly what bugged me with Roon after exhausting their settings and trying HQPlayers NAA. JPLAY turned up a few system-iterations later - I had already settled with the upgraded Melco (after running Audirvana for a while). In fact one of the hardware I tried Roon on used the excellent (but expensive) network cards made by the same company that makes JPLAY. Their current UPnP-server also has a very good rep but a bit out of my range @ EUR 14.000. I really appreciate they are using the standard and not adding their their own features on top of it so you become locked-in to only use their products.
Do you know if someone is currently using jplay with uniti core? You wrote it should work but it seems you didn’t try