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[ragnar]

Audio PC JRiver + Streaming Questions on Happy Coexistance

I currently have an audio PC in the listening room - SFF, SERV2012R2, 27" touchscreen display, 2Tb of local HD storage, JRiver w/JRemote(Android) 90% and JRemote (IOS) 10% usage. No user interaction via the Touchscreen monitor or local keyboard. (Until JRiver comes up with a workable touch based interface I probably wouldn't use another touchscreen monitor but the 27" size is quite nice visually)

In general this works really well, both easy and convenient to use and the TheaterView - NowPlaying screen looks spectacular showing album art.

BUT....I would like to be able to use also use Spotify or Roon/Tidal streaming as well, hopefully without having to deal with switching preamp inputs (run the streaming output through the AudioPC USB->DAC) AND either show the streaming service album art/now playing screen or ...nothing or the generic JRiver not playing anything image). Switching back and forth between JRiver and streaming should be accomplished from the tablet interface - PC outputs whatever is currently playing.

Has anyone successfully accomplished something like this? I am in the early stages of trying stuff out and see issues regardless of which solution I try.

Thoughts?

Ragnar

[RolandG]

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=96774.0

[ragnar]

as I posted on Computer Audiophile....

...sigh.... I saw that thread and it made me sad

I haven't had a chance to try out Tidal and Roon yet so I can't comment on their desktop or tablet UI but after a few days of Spotify I could see spending some (lots of) time grazing in their music library and being quite happy with their Android UI.

BUT... can I have both JRiver and SpotifyDesktop running on the Server at the same time and have beautiful music come out the USB port? Will Spotify or JRiver come to the front when active and display their playing screen on the monitor? I could probably live with the Spotify screen even though it isn't really optimized for a 10' interface. I could also (probably) live with the JRiver screen keeping focus as it seems to default to a generic wallpaper display fairly quickly.

I know I can configure multiple endpoints and go that route but then I lose the pretty display! NO SHINY! and that would make me sad again!... as well as having to deal with changing the preamp inputs each time (first world problems!)

....and then there is always the huge elephant in the room - with a single endpoint solution there will be less wailing and lamenting when the streaming service you are in love with suddenly disappears (see ongoing Tidal and Qobuz rumours)

The more I think about it I don't really NEED to stream through JRiver but I really WANT a way to use 1 computer as the player/endpoint and have it (automagically) show relevant (pretty) information on the monitor/screen.

Does that sort of make sense?

ragnar

[Hilton]

as I posted on Computer Audiophile....

...sigh.... I saw that thread and it made me sad

I haven't had a chance to try out Tidal and Roon yet so I can't comment on their desktop or tablet UI but after a few days of Spotify I could see spending some (lots of) time grazing in their music library and being quite happy with their Android UI.
...

You should be able to set up another zone with your USB DAC and use the MC WDM virtual sound card driver as the sound device for Spotify.

There's actually a few ways to do this.

I already have Spotify and other streaming services routed through my whole house and interchange between them seamlessly from my phone or tablet.

I use the native iPhone or Android App to control the streaming players and MC WDM sound card to output the MC DSP to my sound card.

The other streaming applications just sit in the background and MC Zone switcher has some rules to automatically route the audio to the right place depending on what it is.  I haven't got time to go into detail right now but it should work for what you want to do.  

You will possibly have to use the USB DAC in shared mode in the loopback zone as opposed to exclusive mode to enable seamless switching but I definitely have it working that way! (and with the TuneBlade and TuneAero to simulcast around the house)

If you're not interested in synchronized audio around the house it's really just as simple as setting the MC WDM virtual sound card up as the streaming default device in a dedicated zone with some rules.
The only thing you wont get is UI integration with MC, but I either have the screen turned off and use the native tablet app or full screen the native App on the PC and MC goes to the background.