Great at video, awful with music - why?

General Discussions
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I love Plex for liberating my DVD collection from the shelf but I wish it would do the same for my CDs/downloads and music streaming. I think Plex is the best way to share your movie/TV show collections with friends and watch theirs. It’s powerful and feature rich, reliable and works very well. It is truly amazing. Everyone who watches TV and Movies should have Plex and cancel Netflix and the rest for a few months at least!

The Plex suite also tries to cater for music but why does it fail so miserably here? They try to provide a similar solution for your music collection, using the same mix of devices as with video (smartphones/tablets/desktops/laptops/Smart TVs). Actually, perhaps this is Plex’s killer feature for music, you can just use your TV remote without having to fumble or even think about your smartphone or tablet for once! This in itself is liberating but is also sadly limited, as it won’t let you do this while listening through your Hi-Fi system, unless it’s directly wired to your TV audio output. Even then, how would it sound with a digital output? Sadly my hifi system is connected to a Panasonic smart TV not supported by Plex.

Plex seem to have forgotten that music listening is not usually centred around the TV. Sometimes though it should be, Plex have a leap on the competition here but also misses the point. They crow on about music quality on their website but the truth is it’s impossible to access it, even when you have decent audio equipment.

Roon is the king at managing and listening to music on your Hi-Fi system(s) or powered/dedicated audio speakers.

This is where Plex fails, but for those not interested in Plex for music library or streaming playback, with Tidal for example, its no issue at all.

For me though, I pay a premium for this service with Roon, which is a shame for Plex because if they were as good at audio as they are at video they would open a whole new world for personal media management and distribution.

The main Plex iPhone app tries to let you control playback of music on some audio equipment, via Sonos/Chromecast/AirPlay etc., but is very unreliable and the quality suffers on the occasion it works. The Roon software suite is excellent at this, flawless, but Roon is VERY expensive. Worth every penny though. The functionality and compatibility with endless equipment is amazing. I can’t even get Plex to stream music to ANY of my audio equipment (unless I use the awful Sonos app or Apple AirPlay and all the restrictions associated with that).

I’ll only use Plex for video (very happily) but I am sad Plex is missing a big opportunity with music:

  • Playback music from your smart TV with your TV remote, a killer feature nobody else provides, but Plex limits this to music systems hard wired to your TV?

  • Plex could be a cost effective alternative to services like Roon (the free ones aren’t as good, nor are the closed system apps like Sonos - rubbish). Music audio playback over proper audio equipment with the incredible array of devise support and software features Roon provides, would be well worth a Plex pass subscription alone. I’d also drop my Sonos app like a hot brick and internet radio and Podcasts is also an area severely lacking attention on every system I’m aware of, including Roon and Plex, to a degree (where’s Radio Paradise with all its features?).

  • The new Plexamp app caters better for music but is limited to iPhone playback only, why?

Plex is still the undisputed king of video. However it still has a long, long way to go for audio/music playback which for me is where my money is for Plex.

Unless I’m missing something?

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  • Playback music from your smart TV with your TV remote, a killer feature nobody else provides, but Plex limits this to music systems hard wired to your TV?

All you need is a connection to integrate whatever machine you use to run Plex as a source for your music system.
For many users, wireless options such as Chromecast, AirPlay etc. are fine – if you dig a bit you’ll also find users who hard-wired the audio output of their plex clients to a serious system. For some that way indeed goes through a tv (but I’m not sure that’s a common use case)

  • The new Plexamp app caters better for music but is limited to iPhone playback only, why?

Nope… you can run PlexAmp on iOS devices but also Android as well as Windows/Mac/Linux machines.

Unless I’m missing something?

I think so :wink:

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This is exactly the problem Plex has with music. It requires a PC/Mac/NAS (all noisy, ugly and awkward to relocate) or a TV to be hard wired to an Audio system (with audio wiring - Plex can’t take advantage of Ethernet connections here). I really hope I am missing something? I run Plex server on a Windows 10 machine and my music library is on a specialist Audio device with an internal HD and a wired Ethernet connection to my home network. It also has its own audio output and a good quality internal DAC. My Plex Server, Plexamp on iOS, Plex on Apple TV & Android Smart TV for example, have no issue accessing and playing back the FLAC music files. However, I rarely ever want to listen on any of those devices as I have a hifi system or powered audio speakers for that. You’d need them to take advantage of the quality playback Plex promises. Particularly with Plexamp. Great to know it’s available on desktops too, thanks.

Plex running in the Sonos app works very well and is better (but not a great solution as the Sonos app is awful compared to many others - but Plex is amazing here at allowing access to my friends music library to listen to on Sonos!). Thanks to Sonos speakers and the Sonos app though. Great integration by Plex & Sonos here.

However the Plex sever and client apps can only playback to a physically attached audio system with audio cabling mentioned above. Perhaps because Plex is first and foremost a video solution not an audio solution. I think Plex is just missing that last mile to deliver an amazing audio experience as it does so well with video.

Chromecast and AirPlay just aren’t good solutions here. There is compression and loss of quality in most scenarios currently (although AirPlay 2 will say it addresses these issues). AirPlay/AirPlay 2 requires compatible audio devices and ties up the source devices, like smartphones and tablets while playing back/streaming (over Wi-Fi) along with downsides like device battery drain, interruption to playback. The solution is clunky to say the least. Ok for casual/occasional listening. Plus, casting audio to Sonos with Plex client app is unreliable. Just doesn’t work for me anyway.

Plex really needs to be able to get the Plex Server to control playback to the plethora of great audio devices (streamers/DACs/integrated streamer/amplifiers/bridges) that connect to Home Ethernet or Wi-Fi networks. Chromecast/AirPlay protocols can also be utilised but should be utilised by the Plex Server rather than the Smartphone/tablet devices that can be used as remote control. Other server applications do this so it is possible. That way Plex can be used to listen on Audio speakers and hifi systems without the hassle.

Until then, sadly, the beautiful and feature rich Plexamp apps will sadly be locked to the devices they run on.

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well… if you rule out all available options, that kind of leaves you with nothing.
you might be able to stream through Ethernet to a device that supports DLNA.

I’m apparently not audiophile enough to recognize or appreciate the shortcomings of those apps and WIFI streaming (I’m happily playing my FLAC/ALAC files from PlexAmp on poor quality headphones).

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