Glider - an IOS UPNP app for Dialog/Phantom

[alandbush]

Discovered this via the following Control point for iOS thread

With the Dialog set to UPNP rendering beta mode the defined rooms are seen by the above app and files can be streamed from any of your network connected media servers and that includes those on a NAS! Volume control is enabled, although with a little bit of lag, and is also available from a locked screen.

Admittedly, very limited functionality but in a quick test it performed quickly and faultlessly.
I had fun switching a track from one room to another and an ipad whilst it continued to play!!
I also discovered you could reverse back through the 'playlist?' Although not sure how useful that is.
Selecting the Songs option and random play does just what you would expect BUT instantly.  Don't like the look of the selected songs, selecting random again changes the list BUT keeps playing the currently playing track.
Very promising.

This appears to be a one man operation, although one clearly capable. Check out the website which also has a community link.

It's another example of what can be done and, dare I say it, could potentially shame the Devialet Spark effort.

[steve_denney]

That sounds promising. I've been trying the Linn Kinsky to connect my Naim Unitiserve with the Dialog but there is a known issue with non Linn equipment where the Kinsky doesn't play the next track. It just stops after each track. It's a shame really because Kinsky is a great app other than that. I will try your suggestion and report back


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[streamy]

It's another example of what can be done and, dare I say it, could potentially shame the Devialet Spark effort.

No, it's not there! A direct comparison with Spark shows that Spark with its latest two updates made streaming and user experience better than all upnp systems in terms of responsiveness, stability, hires capacity, gapless play, and multisource features (Spotify connect, Qubuz, Tidal, Deezer, upnp, optical input, bluetooth, Airplay). Spark still misses out on catalogueing features like genres or other metadata, but excels in merging seamless play and latest gapless play of multiple sources. Within a second you choose and
listen to whatever you select. Upnp let's you wait for seconds to build up play. No difference with Glider, at least what I experienced in my 30' test today. The same user experience as in 2003 when I made my bet on Streamium technology with Philips. Roon is still No.1, but Spark could get there when Devialet would matter/acknowledge importance of Metadata.

[glider]

Hello,

I'm the author of the Glider app, and was hoping to add a bit of context to the conversation here.

As streamy pointed out, UPnP is not a whole lot better than it was in 2003. Many devices poorly implement the protocol, and most haven't adopted any of the improvements made in the past 15 years. That said, the protocol has become ubiquitous, and nearly every product that offers streaming will have some sort of UPnP renderer.

The goal of Glider is to provide both an excellent and consistent experience across all the different types of music sources and renderers you might have. Browsing your music library and switching between different outputs shouldn't require using a different app for each one. So in this way, Glider is protocol agnostic and more interested in trying to level the playing field across all of them. In some cases you might have a better experience using one device over another, but that experience will still be intuitive and consistent.

steve_denney - I'd be curious to know how things worked out with your Unitiserve, and would be happy to help if needed.

Thanks!

[ragwo]

Any chance of an Android version in the future?

[glider]

Hi ragwo,

Yes, there's certainly a chance, but not in the near future.

[kmjy]

I wish that it had Apple Music Support for Phantom.

Even a way to real time transcode the Apple Music track on the iPhone then send it out to the Phantom as a readable format over UPnP services would be exceptional. Phantom still gets a source file to decode itself but it's been transcoded to a readable format beforehand.

[glider]

Hi kmjy,

This is currently supported if you have the files stored locally in your Apple Music Library.

[kmjy]

Hi kmjy,

This is currently supported if you have the files stored locally in your Apple Music Library.

I always run into an error describing that 'this device is not capable of playing PAAC files'. Not sure why this happens.

[glider]

Would you mind emailing me at support@glideraudio.com so we can take a closer look?