LMS is the server.I drew a blank with picoreplayer, and found LMS to sound poorer.
Volumio works for me, so I don’t really care why the alternatives didn’t work as well for me as they seem to for others.
I’m aware of how LMS works (otherwise I wouldn’t really be able to comment on the SQ, after all) but the end result sounded poorer for me compared to running Volumio.
Can Volumio act as a UPnP server?
That's interesting, as I found the reverse to be true, but there really isn't much in it to my ears. However, we might both be deluding ourselves. Expectation bias, good mood or bad mood when assessing the application etc. may be the reason for us hearing differences that might not be there!
Can Volumio act as a UPnP server?
No, I could quite clearly hear it, across a couple of attempts. It was an annoying shame, as I liked the functions etc, at least with the material skin installed.
But my point wasn't really to knock LMS. Perhaps something about the way I used LMS (installed on a separate dedicated Pi 4) was responsible.
My intention was more just to reassure the OP that Volumio can be fine, even if that experience isn't universal. So often threads like these seem to go > OP tentatively asks for advice on a certain thing > replies say 'I do this instead, you should too!' > OP finds it all rather confusing.
So I just wanted to add a note that the OP's tentative direction is actually fine for many people, at least as something to try first and get comfortable with the general concept before trying alternatives.
If LMS was set to transcode your files or stream then you may have got variable results.
I am technically incompetent. I’ll be amazed if I can get it to work.
Agreed, Volumio can be fine and it is dead easy to install. There are some settings that the OP will have to check in order to ensure a bit perfect output though. IIRC it defaults to outputting all incoming data at 96/24 and this has a noticeable effect on quality. You can prevent this by toggling the feature off.
Your experience with PCP is different to mine. I use it with the Material skin too and the functions etc. are great!
Maybe this was the reason for your bad experience: