Play-Fi

Usually takes me a couple of attempts and a few minutes to pair with my audiolab 6000n. Changing songs has a bit of delay as well, but using the app is good but I still find the actual Spotify tidal apps better to use. However the audio quality from the audiolab streamer is far better than any Bluetooth device just a shame it isn’t as easy to use as Bluetooth.

Tidal within the latest app update and latest Play-Fi firmware is still limited to 44.1kHz 16Bit on my Audiolab 7000N and the Audiolab Omnia. I hope we can have this fixed soon please.

This is a great app that lets you switch between sources easily. It only has throw problems. 1) I use an iPad and when you multitask to any news item that includes a video the iPad drops out of the music it is playing to play the video without sound and vision. 2) the source resets after being paused, such that you have to go back in to the app and reload the source and and album and track again! Otherwise it’s a great app.

Quite why a company like Quad bother with this poor app defeats me. It constantly fails in some aspect and since the last update it is the worst it’s ever been. Tonight it has taken 17 minutes to get it work with me being caught in an endless loop and having to reinstall the app. I choose the speaker set up, then choose the music to play and it then asks me to choose the speaker set up ad infinitum….. I wrote an email to developers but no response after 3 weeks.

Original review update Much improved since diatribe below. The latest update seems to improved the app very much - for me at any rate both in ease of use & reliability. Be nice to have Apple Music join the. roster Ok to start with - I’ve used it for a year now - but lately keeps stopping & doesn’t restart, unless you go back and reload which gets tiresome. Find it difficult to navigate around the app - I use Amazon music - and it is very limited in what it does. Needs a back to basics overhaul & until that happens I shan’t be bothered with it anymore as I’ve had enough PS The app support isn’t much use either as is almost unreadable? Light blue/grey typeface on a white ground? I don’t think Porus likes humanity much..,

The latest update seems to have broken gapless playback via Arcam rPlay. Gapless was finally added on a previous release, including the transferred playback feature, but is no longer working since downloading this update.

I must preface this by saying that my experiences are limited to using this app with stereo for playback of music. No idea if this is any use for multi room. But if you want to play internet radio and use your presets forget it. Buy any equipment that does not use Play-Fi. Find something else. Clunky and frustrating. And that is when it works. Upgrading to something for AirPlay so I can cut this out of my life

Getting there

DTS Play Fi as of version 8.3 appears to be working smoothly and gaplessly, at least with my Audiolab 7000n. I suppose you would be right to argue that the release of buggy software in the first instance is a very bad PR move. However it appears to now work pretty well. Loving the ability to stream 24bit 196hz wirelessly from Qobuz.

Update. So my initial review still stands however I have become used to the issues and just work around them. However I now use an old iPad connected via BT to the Quad or with the Play-Fi app as a sort of fancy remote and that works great. Original review:- Use this app with my Quad Vena 2 play and often will not connect. Every time you switch between devices - for example from iPad to iPhone you have to reset. When it’s working and not causing grief it’s fine. Also unable to use with iMac as a server - dealer told me to download Linn Kazoo and whilst that actually works and can see my iMac I’m unable to play any content. To say the app is frustrating is an understatement but I try and workaround the issues. End up using Bluetooth too often.