OPUS support

[hyperion]

Please add OPUS support : it's the de facto standard for audio coding in 2023 and the best quality codec.

Most media servers are using OPUS by default.

Thanks

 

[hyperion]

@WiiM Team please add OPUS : if you had to support 3 codecs Opus would part of the 3 (FLAC OPUS AAC)

 

[Wiimer]

@Smartplug For your knowledge : Opus IS THE most MODERN codec valable in 2024 , and one of the most widely used for high fidelity playback when network bandwidth or storage space matters. You should be careful before insulting people with so dumb arguments : you just ridiculise yourself.
Personally I use FLAC at home, and opus anywhere else, including at home when my Navidrome streaming serveur IS ofline for some reason.

You're free to make requests, but based on the verification here, I don't think Opus is better than AAC.

「Opus」と「AAC」どっちが高音質? 周波数分析でコーデック比較した【藤本健のDigital Audio Laboratory】

前回は「Opus」という音声圧縮フォーマットについて、いろいろと検証してみた。すると、MP3よりも遥かに高性能であること、8kbps、16kbpsといった低ビットレートにおいても音楽が破綻せず十分聴くことができるレベルであること、そして128kbps、192kbps、さらには320kbpsにおいてもロスが少なく高音質なものであることが分かった。

av.watch.impress.co.jp

*Japanese.

 

[hyperion]

@Wiimer you are out of topic. This thread IS not focusing on AAC versus OPUS. But for your information Opus IS without any doubt better than AAC at any bitrate : you will find 10x more papers confirming it than the opposite. There's no questionning about this since years. Even AAC HE+.

 

[harkpabst]

Looks like nobody is interested ... still. The de facto standard seems to not be the standard for the majority of users.

One codec more the better, as far as I am concerned. But I don't care too much, either.

 

[jxrxme]

I‘m confused. My plex server says he is transcoding to 512kbit/s OPUS if I chromecast ALAC files to WiiM Amp via PlexAmp…

 

[hyperion]

As I have no Opus files I can’t test but LMS certainly has the capability to transcode Opus to various other formats which should then be playable by a WiiM Pro/Pro+/Amp in Squeezelite mode. The Mini maybe not.

LMS will need sox installed

View attachment 5123

A lossy encoded file should NEVER be transcoded once again, because of so called generation loss. Even if the initial lossy codec is close to bit perfect quality, aka indistinguishable from FLAC : after one more lossy conversion quality is not guaranteed.

 

[hyperion]

Looks like nobody is interested ... still. The de facto standard seems to not be the standard for the majority of users.

One codec more the better, as far as I am concerned. But I don't care too much, either.

The de facto standard for the "majority" is : MP3.

OPUS is way, way, better, but the "majority" doesn't care about sound quality.

 

[Fender]

It looks one or another of the minority slept the last two decades. Calling mp3 the de facto standard and a majority not caring about sound quality in this forum is at least adventurous ;-)

 

[hyperion]

It looks one or another of the minority slept the last two decades. Calling mp3 the de facto standard and a majority not caring about sound quality in this forum is at least adventurous ;-)

Maybe this forum members are a "minority", not a "majority"

Anyway, you should really come out to know that MP3 or AAC are by far the most used codecs, and that a very small minority of listeners are using FLAC (I do, but I'm not part of the majority). Now that some streaming services are using OPUS (YT Music for example) this may change in the near future.

 

[Brantome]

A lossy encoded file should NEVER be transcoded once again, because of so called generation loss. Even if the initial lossy codec is close to bit perfect quality, aka indistinguishable from FLAC : after one more lossy conversion quality is not guaranteed.

I would suspect @d6jg given his experience would probably be talking of transcoding to FLAC, not another lossy format.

 

[Brantome]

… a very small minority of listeners are using FLAC

But I think you’d find that the great majority of listeners in this forum, by its very nature, would be using a lossless codec like FLAC

 

[markitect]

I second this. I just received my Wiim Amp and am quite surprised that entire library on my phone that I converted to Opus to save as much space possible while staying transparent is now unplayable. Opus is a free codec so adding it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Brantome]

If you have an Android phone, try using BubbleUPNP and its ffmpeg on the fly encoding to play those files to a WiiM device.

 

[markitect]

If you have an Android phone, try using BubbleUPNP and its ffmpeg on the fly encoding to play those files to a WiiM device.

I just did but it doesn't seem to recognize my playlists or it doesn't see it. My playlists are all on PowerAmp. I have an SSD full of FLACs (that I used to convert to OPUS) but it seems that the USB function does not have enough power to run it.

 

[Brantome]

I just did but it doesn't seem to recognize my playlists or it doesn't see it. My playlists are all on PowerAmp. I have an SSD full of FLACs (that I used to convert to OPUS) but it seems that the USB function does not have enough power to run it.

Yeah, the Amp needs some usb drives to be be powered - I use a usb splitter cable for my external SSD.
And using playlists from one app and/or file system can sometimes be problematical.

 

[jxrxme]

I‘m confused. My plex server says he is transcoding to 512kbit/s OPUS if I chromecast ALAC files to WiiM Amp via PlexAmp…

Ok, Opus playback via Chromecast to WiiM device works fine. But not if playing directly from a DLNA server. That’s very odd and unfortunate.

 

[Brantome]

Ok, Opus playback via Chromecast to WiiM device works fine. But not if playing directly from a DLNA server. That’s very odd and unfortunate.

It's not odd as whatever you are using to the play the Opus file is coverting it to PCM before Chromecasting, and it sounds like your DLNA server isn't set to convert files that the player can't play natively. I'd check if it has a setting to convert the file (say to WAV) before sending it to the player

 

[jxrxme]

I use PlexAmp with Chromecast. According to the Plex Dash no transcoding takes place and the WiiM device plays the OPUS file directly. Actually if I do the same with a file format that is not Chromecast compatible the Plex server does transcode to OPUS (and not PCM) according to Plex Dash.

 

[Brantome]

I use PlexAmp with Chromecast. According to the Plex Dash no transcoding takes place and the WiiM device plays the OPUS file directly. Actually if I do the same with a file format that is not Chromecast compatible the Plex server does transcode to OPUS (and not PCM) according to Plex Dash.

View attachment 6858

I'd still say your plex app may well play or render an Opus file but transcoding is taking place somewhere in the chain as we've already determined WiiM devices don't support Opus files natively.