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Author Topic: Sound quality versus Gizmo  (Read 1805 times)

jonztunez

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Sound quality versus Gizmo
« on: July 08, 2023, 03:02:17 am »

I decided to buy the android version of JRiver for my Xiaomi 10 because Gizmo consistently tends to crash after around 20 minutes.
Anyway, what I'm finding is that the sound of JRiver android is what I would call very speccy (technical term) - intermittently - to the point of almost being unlistenable when at its worst. It's ok some of the time. The app doesn't crash, however.
Has anyone else experienced this, and, maybe got a solution?
It's pretty frustrating and mystifying - the sound using Gizmo is fine/ excellent, but for the JRiver app, not. Not quite understanding why they shouldn't be the same on the same platform.
I've got JRiver V31.0.21 installed btw. The phone handles 24bit HD audio.
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JimH

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Re: Sound quality versus Gizmo
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2023, 06:44:10 am »

If you're playing from a server, make sure the audio isn't being converted to MP3.
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jonztunez

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Re: Sound quality versus Gizmo
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2023, 12:14:19 am »

Thanks Jim
I checked that out - and switched audio conversion to no conversion.
Anyway - went out and about to test - and still getting the same intermittent problem with the sound quality.

However - just discovered - I have just set up my home hifi to port the music in through my phone (so phone connected with JRiver android to JRiver Media server MC 31 on my server via wifi, and then with a bluetooth connection to the hifi) and, it sounds perfect.

The problem then seems to be only occurring when the phone is using a mobile rather than wifi connection.
And, as originally mentioned - Gizmo doesn't suffer from the sound issue in any circumstances.
Is that any help?
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jonztunez

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Re: Sound quality versus Gizmo
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2023, 03:00:48 am »

Spoke too soon regards mobile vs wifi connection - getting the intermittent audio degradation regardless of connection.

So I think the main issue is why there is a difference between JRiver for android and Gizmo?

Do they use different audio processing paths, either at server end or local client (on my phone)?
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Sound quality versus Gizmo
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2023, 12:12:49 pm »

Gizmo is a remote and requires MC to be running on another machine as a server, JRiver for Android is actually the full-fledged JRiver app ported to Android and doesn't rely on MC running on another machine, it can act as a remote (but works great as a standalone player). I believe Gizmo (since it's older) uses either the Android system player or the original ExoPlayer as the backend. I wouldn't be surprised if JRiver for Android uses ExoPlayer2 instead. One of JRiver's devs would have to comment on that as I don't believe there should be a difference, unless conversion is happening.

While JRiver for Android will work fine as a remote, it's not its primary function, it works best as a standalone media player for local media (e.g. on a Nvidia Shield TV it works nicely). Alternately you might have better luck with Panel in a web browser (which JRiver for Android uses as its user interface) or JRemote2 on Android, which are dedicated remotes.
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BradATIMA

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Re: Sound quality versus Gizmo
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2023, 08:52:19 am »

What version of Android is the device running?

What type of files have files have this problem? Is it every file or a specific type of file (file type, bitrate, bit depth)?
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jonztunez

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Re: Sound quality versus Gizmo
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2023, 01:43:36 am »

Android: 13 TKQ1.221114.001
All files that I've tried have had the problem - primarily, e.g.
FLAC; variable bitrate 1400-1600; 24Bit
FLAC; variable bitrate 1900-2300; 24Bit
FLAC; variable bitrate 440-760; 16Bit

Distortion comes in for maybe 20-30 seconds after 3-4 minutes - and then, comes and goes.

Happy to report that files in the local library work fine.
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