There are previous more specific threads, but requests for high-quality audio output have just been repeatedly ignored by Plex for a very long time and things have only gone from bad to much, much worse in the last two years or so, so I’m starting another thread.
I, as a lifetime user, use Plex for music, to stream our collection of 1700 CD’s (stored as FLAC) and lossless digital downloads from my NAS (via a read-only mount to an Ubuntu 20 server on a 8G Rpi4 running plexmediaserver). Tidal integration is welcome, but useless due to the audio quality issues. Live tv, podcasts, couldn’t care less, unwelcome bloat.
For background music etc. use we play mostly via Chromecast Audio devices (multi-room), 50-50 from Plex or Tidal, but for really listening … Well, I’ve no longer used Plex at all for some time, because there is no decent audio quality output option.
Audio quality has to be a priority for many other Plex customers too; This is specialist software after all, not something for the basic youtube-from-a-phone-via-bad-bluetooth-earbuds crowd. The previous threads also indicate this.
Plex servers should deliver the original audio file format as-is to the player and the player should, by default or certainly via an option, do everything in its power NOT to touch the stream in any way whatsoever, just forward them on as far into the audio output chain as it can, bit for bit.
Plex for Mac now has the exclusive audio option and it’s capable of switching the DDC/DAC sample rate, which is a very good start, but then everything falls apart when everything is resampled to 48 kHz. Everything. CD’s in 44.1/16 get upsampled, HiRes stuff downsampled - both equally and horribly bad. None of the player/server options makes any difference.
Plexamp is no go, there is no exclusive audio option at all, no idea what it’s doing in the background, but it can’t/doesn’t switch output rates.
Looking at past threads, I don’t even know if it’s the server doing stupid things or the players, or all. Whichever the case, this is crazy. Please give us back our original, loved audio bits.
Not much code would be needed to make everything perfect; Prioritizing this is way overdue.
