Anyone Using Plex to stream music?

I am starting to get into it and really liking it. I want to start moving away from roon due to their fees. Plex is free or just a 1 time fee depending on the features you want. I am still sorting it out but sound quality seems very good.

Figuring out what kind of streamer box I Could use to connect to my dac.

Remote control works really well.

I don’t know of any hifi streamers that natively support Plex. Not an issue in that service provided apps are usually much more functional than native support built into streamers. Certainly the case with Plexamp, and even was also the case with old Squeeze devices that I used prior.

I have Cambridge Audio Evo 150. I stream Plex to it via wired USB 2 connection from a nearby desktop computer, or wirelessly via Apple AIrplay, or Google Cast. All support CD resolution but not higher. All sound similarly good.

Ironically, I am finally just starting to plan to test install and compare Roon and test various streaming services with it, including Qoboz, TIdal, Spotify, and Amazon music, and compare to Plexamp. All but Spotify provide higher than CD resolution. I mostly stream CD res FLAC files to my good system.

Plex has limitations if/when one crosses the CD resolution threshold, to whatever extent that matters. Tidal is integrated into Plex pretty well I read but Plex only goes to CD resolution even with the pricey Tidal high res "+" service, so no real value in that with Plex. I have limited experience with higher than CD resolution and not sure yet how much I will really care about that. I plan to do some testing. To date, I have only sampled higher than CD resolution via a few internet radio stations I can stream via the Cambridge Evo. We will see.

The consensus on the internet seems to be that neither Roon nor Plex holds all the cards at present. Will Roon functionality including higher than CD resolution support be worth it to me, a long time Plex user? We will see.

BTW, just to set the table properly, I am 100% thrilled with my current streaming using Plex and Plexamp. SOunds great at home and anywhere I listen remotely even in the car via carplay. The sonic analysis features in plexamp that identifies similar sounding artists, albums and tracks, is worth its weight in gold as a means of navigating the music.

But having hifi mania in my blood, of course I always want to explore new alternatives that may present themselves.

I stream mostly from my own sizeable lossless FLAC format CD resolution music library. I’ll explore new music with Spotify that I bought mainly for my daughter’s use, or base level Amazon music from time to time. I do not use CD or higher res streaming services like Tidal or Qobuz or Amazon Plus currently, but am curious.

Plex ONLY integrates Tidal into its music libraries and only up to CD resolution, no higher res/MQA, so Tidal hif+ adds nothing there.. Roon does several popular streaming services including Qobuz. My Cambridge audio streamer is a swiss army knife of good sound and supports almost everything including full MQA. I am not a fan of the overall Tidal/MQA value proposition going in. Qobuz seems like a better choice. No lossy high res formats (whattt is that???) and can buy to download. Nice. But have to go Roon for that.

We’ll see. Kicking the tires on a bunch of new hifi products and services is always a lot of fun when one has the time to just experiment. But I am over 60 and I know I do not hear up to 20khz anymore like I could when I was 20. Will higher than CD res really matter to me? Nyquist Theorum (look it up) that CD resolution is based on says probably not.

Also all those "high res" files both Tidal and Qobuz offer. Are these at higher resolution from some higher resolution studio master that the commercial releases at CD quality were made from? Or merely lower resolution source material upsampled to higher resolution, which would be profiting off snake oil at consumer’s expense, IMHO.

These things can happen! Which is why I have been relatively slow to bite on high res streaming services to-date. My own music library + vinyl collection can keep me listening alone still for many years. But its never enough, right?

We will see.