Raspberry Pi audio jukebox and similar...

[OutInTheShed]

Anyone on here played with this kind of thing?

I've previously had a Pi Zero driving a Burr-Brown DAC quite nicely.
Did what I wanted at the time for under £50.

I'm now looking at some sort of solid state storage for a few hundred ripped CDs.
Vague ideas about multi-room, needs to be flexible though.

I want something that gives browse-able storage like my PC does, but I want it to just switch on and play, not fart about booting up and logging in and all that.

Just wondering what's out there? I've really let most of this pass me by because in the previous house, a CD player and an amp with 2 sets of speakers worked for us.

[OutInTheShed]

Miserablegit said:

Have a look at volumio. Runs on a raspberry pi. Once set up it is accessed from a phone or tablet and should do what you want.

Thanks, I will have a play with that.

Ideally, I think we'd like something self-contained.
Switch it on, press play kind of thing.
Maybe a skip track and skip album button...

But OTOH, I've got an old tablet which could be a dedicated remote control.
The wish list is kind of vague at the moment.

It occurs to me I've got an old car stereo, mechless MP3 thing, which has roughly the right kind of man-machine interface, but not great quality.

I've not really kept up with the expensive audiophile solutions, there seems to be a lot of broken stuff on ebay.

[OutInTheShed]

Lots to read about, thanks!

Picoreplayer looks to have potential.
Our focus is on locally stored music at the moment.
I think that has to be solid. It would be nice if it worked without WiFi, there's nothing worse than thinking 'I will just put some music on and chill while the router reboots' and finding there's no music until the router has had some counselling.

The other issue is actually getting hold of pi's at the moment.
I've got an old one. Somewhere!

[OutInTheShed]

TonyRPH said:

If multi room is important to you, I don't think any of the Pi solutions will do what you require.

My solution to multi room was a separate mini pc (Intel NUC / Gigabyte Brix) in each of the two rooms I want music in.

These run a generic Linux installation with MPD (Media Player Daemon) and the lounge one has a USB infrared remote control to stop / pause / skip tracks.

Both machines stream music from my central storage (NAS) a server running Linux.

It's all connected by Ethernet, I have bit perfect sound quality with no drop outs or other issues.

I also have several internet radio streams that I can choose from.

Obviously all of this requires some Linux knowledge.

Networking around the house is a possibility, but recently I'm conscious of the cost of having IT running full time for not much benefit.
There is some ethernet. I've noticed the Pi's built in WiFi is not great at going through our walls.

We quite often have two rooms playing the same music via the ancient method of the 'spkrs B' button.
There are 6 rooms, no! 7 rooms! where listening might happen, but logically there might be two people listening to different stuff and only certain combinations of rooms are valid.

I'm not sure what's essential and what's 'wish list' stuff, but I don't want to invest too much money or effort in things I won't use, or things which turn out to be restrictive.
I suppose multiple copies of music don't cost much now.
I don't know if my does does anything other than basic MP3, so that may imply keeping copies of the same music in different formats.

[OutInTheShed]

TonyRPH said:

I should have added that I can control both of mine from a single app in my phone (you can select between machines).

It's an Android app (there are a few to choose from) and as such runs on tablets too.

There are also a couple of Windows apps.

Our system will have to be easily understood and operated by my partner who is used to just putting a CD in, pressing 'play' and maybe pressing the 'spkrs B' button. Ideally without having to find her specs first.....

[OutInTheShed]

Shiv_P said:

Plex on Rasp Pi with Chromecast Audio's to each set of speakers? Works fantasticly for multi room

My initial reaction is to avoid something which won't function at all without Wifi.
Maybe i need to re-think that and make the wifi more robust.

Why is a Chromecast Audio so expensive compared to one which does video?

[OutInTheShed]

ARHarh said:

There are loads of options but surely running some kind of dlna server and as mentioned some kind of audio casting device would be easiest.

Chromecast audio is no longer available, but there are alternatives. I believe amazons echos will do the same thing, not sure never tried. Just grab any pi or old PC install something like Openmediavault. Load the Mini DLNA plugin and share your music library. Then control from any device. You can test this on a pc to see if it works for you before committing. Try using this for the pi you already have. https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/raspberry-pi-chromec...

I run an old thin client with proxmox. It runs my Home assistant, open media vault (with DLNA server), pihole, motioneye and jellyfin. I cast to speakers using Chromecast Audios and chromecast speakers. I group speakers together for multi room and can cast anything from any device to any device

As you say there are loads of options.
Mostly all doing slightly different things.

I think I'll take a step back and try to decide what functionality is really important.

It could be as simple as running some SPDIF signals around the loft and a couple of FLAC players.

[OutInTheShed]

Seems like no two people approach the problem the same way, loads of different answers.
All good learning.

[OutInTheShed]

HowardB said:

have you looked at the Brennan B2 - I have one and love it - basically a PI and SSD in a nice box with a great web interface

I've not seen a B2 in the flesh.
I quite like the concept.

Somebody I used to work with has/had a JB7, which was a nice bit of kit in its day, but at that time I thought 'I can buy a PC and and CD player for the same money'. Now they turn up not working on ebay. I like that sort of 'one box' approach, switch it on and press play, ticks a lot of boxes.

To get multi-room seems to imply Sonos kit, or will it speak to other families?

[OutInTheShed]

donkmeister said:

Out of interest, do people find they use their multiroom capabilities much once the novelty has worn off? It's one of those things that sounds great in theory, walking around the house with the same music everywhere.

I've got multiroom (well, two room) A/V whereby the receiver in the cinema room drives the TV in the kitchen too. The thinking was that I could put on a movie or sporting event and not miss out if I got up to grab something out of the kitchen but the reality is I've never used it. It's easier to just hit pause.

The only use case for multiroom audio that applies to me is cleaning/tidying, where I might be moving around the house a lot. However, Mrs D doesn't want to listen to my ste and I don't want to listen to hers so we often end up wearing headphones in that situation anyway.

Is there some killer use that I'm missing out on? Is this rey just a sad indictment about the decline of my social life that I no longer have parties requiring the use of several rooms at once?

Or have I just misunderstood and we're talking about zoned audio (i.e. playing different stuff in different places). If that, then I can recommend a Free as / TrueNAS running Plex server, and then anything that you can cast to in the relevant areas. An Nvidia Shield in your main viewing/listening area too.

We don't have any interest in multi-room video.
The lounge and kitchen speakers are used together a lot.
There are times when my office plus kitchen would be good.
Also her office plus kitchen.

The rest of it, I agree it's mostly about accessing a library of music and not having to maintain several copies of the library, so yes, server functionality would cover that.

[OutInTheShed]

nyt said:

How about something like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266165418399 as the server.
Low power consumption.
Install NAS operating system to provide file sharing and DLNA access to your music.
You might have to install a larger hard disk

Then https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09QCVVLN8 in each room. These can sync music between rooms.

That's an option.
The things which put me off:
Need to use your phone to use it.
Need to run a NAS all the time, which racks up an electricity bill, more so if you need to up your wifi game to service it.

Will Wiim be around in 5 years time? There have been a lot of these gadgets come and go, it would be nice to have tech that doesn't turn over every few years.
It's neat little unit, but won't look so neat with power and audio wiring.
It's 90quid a room, but if you're into audio, you're supposed to want the £145 'pro' version. What's the difference? Kind of implies the 'am' version's audio isn't as good as it could be.... I've not yet found any serious reviews.

There is some attraction in using R-Pi, it would allow other functionality, like turning off the audio amp when idle and maybe some monitoring of things like temperature. It's shame that R-Pi has imploded in its ability to actually sell the products people want to buy.

[OutInTheShed]

nyt said:

All good points.

I suggested that PC because it uses very little electricity.

Longevity: Who knows. But I think that the Wiim is standalone so it'll carry on working even if the makers go titsup. But there's always a risk

Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3GPZNpxcNw Seems to say that the 'pro' is much the same as the cheaper version soundwide, but with extra inputs and a network port.

If you do go RPi to play the music then you'll need to add a DAC. I use a USB DAC from Richer sounds. Sounds ok for £50. The audio out sound awful from a Pi (imho), You also need to add a case, power supply, Memory card. It all adds up.

The Wiim comes down to £76 once or twice a week.

I use a smart plug to turn off my amp/pi/CD when I'm not using them. No sense wasting power. Probably not the best way to treat a nice amplifier though.

There is a remote on the way:https://www.amazon.com/WiiM-Remote-Streamer-Preset-Buttons/dp/B0BVVDCQ2V. (Not UK yet)

I'll probably buy a Wiim in the near future. I'll post how I get on.

All good points.

Firstly I'm looking to play with the Pi's as a bit of a hobby, so that's pushing me that way.
Case wise, there's plenty of space in the amplifier cases to accommodate a Pi.
Most of the amps I have are not so precious, a couple of mid range Cambridge.
Alternatively the case of an old CD player might serve.

Yes you need to add a DAC to a pi, but a pretty good DAC IC is next to no money. You can get one on a little 'breakout PCB' for about £6 to experiment.
When Pi Zero's were actually available new for a tenner, that put the whole 'node' on the table for say £25 with enough SD card to store some tracks locally. For another fiver, you can add a display. Buttons can be added. Etc.


There are other cheap DIY processors than Pi, like the Wemos and ESP stuff, but I suspect that needs more competence to make it work!

[OutInTheShed]

This I think is a winner:
https://www.cocoacrumbs.com/blog/2020-09-01-airpla...

That is DIY polymath stuff. Hardware, software, 3d printed mechanics and a shiny wooden box.

[OutInTheShed]

I'd like a go at making some active speakers too.

Today has been a classic. Some strange goings on with my webhost and/or ISP, or it might be because the Openreach bit is full of rain, but I've had to reset my router/modem about 6 times, so I'm pleased that the music hasn't depended on that!

[OutInTheShed]

Rummaging about on ebay and elsewhere, it seems there is quite a choice of hardware out there.
A mate found an 'A900 Wifi audio receiver' which was about £20 15 years ago, but seems to have a tidy Wolfson DAC in it.
Found these on ebay which I wasn't aware of:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203074827397
£23 and it's British, or at least Welsh?

https://www.steljesaudio.co.uk/docs/range_intros/M...


Or I could get some more wire and a few switches :-)

Time was, plugging my phone's earphone socket to the aux in actually did the job and I looked at the web for gigs to go to and CDs to buy,

[OutInTheShed]

Realistically, HD Audio isn't going to make much difference in the kitchen.

I'm not convinced we'd tell the difference in a soundproof audiophile bunker let alone when the extractor fan is running.

[OutInTheShed]

ben_eunos said:

upgrade your wifi with a mesh network. use a hardwired backline between each point. there's no excuse for crap wifi nowadays.

set up some kind of NAS to host your files.

decide upon a casting system for your different rooms, and then cast the files to each room when you want to play them.
if you want a physical hardware/display interface for one of the rooms then look at manufactuers that build amps/streamers with this as a starting point and then stick with their system for your other endpoints. however, i doubt you will beat the usability and updatability of a phone or tablet for control purposes.

you say you want to save power by not having a NAS on, but you also don't want to have to boot a device up. These sound like conflicting demands.

You're not wrong, there are some conflicts in the wish list.

I don't live alone!

Trying to be clear about what 'we' want from it is not trivial.
Reminds me of some big projects when I had a career...

Cue, cartoon of tree/rope swing etc.....

[OutInTheShed]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Almost too many choices.

I'm looking at Moode.