Is Volumio the best 'streamer freeware'?

[ManuCV]

Well you seem to think that Volumio is the best - I understand that there are multiple variables at play here, but I'm speaking in general, which one has the most features.

I've tried out a few different ones also, and I kinda prefer Volumio - the only real deficit is that it lacks good airplay 2 integration.

That's interesting - What do you keep on your 4TB USB HDD?

Regarding CamillaDSP, how do you find the integration of it in Volumio? Do you have a mic connected so that it can make the appropriate adjustments to tone?

If you only want to know which one has the most features it's as easy as compare their websites and descriptions. I wouldn't describe that as "the best", but "the most fully featured". Anyway, discussing semantics is interesting but probably not the purpose of this thread or forum

That's interesting - What do you keep on your 4TB USB HDD?

I digitize my vinyl albums and rip my CDs / SACDs, it's a medium sized collection (around 4K albums, 40K songs of mostly FLAC 16/44 and 24/96, also some mp3). The HDD is connected to my Rpi 4 with USB, and I also use it as a music server for other networked devices (a Nvidia Shield in the living room, or the other Rpi 4 for headphone usage). It is a very comfy setup, very easy to manage files from any device.

Regarding CamillaDSP, how do you find the integration of it in Volumio? Do you have a mic connected so that it can make the appropriate adjustments to tone?

I haven't used CamillaDSP for that purpose, only for headphone EQ using the PEQ presets and works a treat. I have different headphones and switching to their preset it's a 2 click thing - perfect. You can EQ yourself or use pre-made presets (I use the ones created by Oratory1990 as a base and then I EQ to my liking).
I recently got a MiniDSP SHD and will use that for room correction. However it's completely possible to use CamillaDSP for this purpose.

 

[TheWalkman]

…
I've tried out a few different ones also, and I kinda prefer Volumio - the only real deficit is that it lacks good airplay 2 integration.


…

Newbie,

How‘s that? I can stream audio from my iOS devices to my Volumio equipped RPis via AirPlay2 and it works great.

What do you feel is lacking?

 

[chuckt62]

Well you seem to think that Volumio is the best - I understand that there are multiple variables at play here, but I'm speaking in general, which one has the most features.

I've tried out a few different ones also, and I kinda prefer Volumio - the only real deficit is that it lacks good airplay 2 integration.

That's interesting - What do you keep on your 4TB USB HDD?

Regarding CamillaDSP, how do you find the integration of it in Volumio? Do you have a mic connected so that it can make the appropriate adjustments to tone?

You use REW and export/import the filters into the FusionDSP Plugin or use the full CamillaDSP GUI that you can load from FusionDSP.

 

[ezublab]

Yes,, you need to make measure with atool such as Rew.
You can export Eq as txt file and load IIR filtrer directly in FusionDsp.
You can also export impulse as wav, and use Drc-fir included in FusionDsp to simply convert it and use it for fir filter.
See

FusionDsp How-to

docs.google.com

 

[threni]

I have used both volumio and moode. Currently using volumio because the control interface on a mobile phone is better imho.

They're both using mpd so use any mpd client. I use moOde which I control with the Android app MALP, which is great. (Note that MALP specifically warns not to raise bug reports when using MALP with Volumio so perhaps there's history there. No such warning about using it with moOde, and I've had no problems). Both moOde and MALP have responsive developers. I didn't experience this when I had problems with Volumio - which seemed to have to reindex my flac collection if I so much as farted. It was the reason I looked for an alternative. I'm glad I did.

 

[bbarreira]

I now use Roon. Yes is not free but never looked back. Best UI, android app with the same UI, easy DSP (with simple profiles switching).

Before Roon i used a lot of free options, from windows, Raspbery Pi and linux on a x64 PC.

Will focus on Linux.
-Volumio: i paid the "virtuoso" one year subscription to have Tidal connect. I used it just one month. Not reliable for me. Didnt like the UI, crashed at times.
-Moode: Very similar to Volumio.
-Picoreplayer: Simple. Just works. All the options that you will need, for free.
-Diet Pi: Works but not as simple as Picoreplayer
-Daphile: This only works on a PC with a x64/x86 cpu. For me was the best of all free options. Uses LMS, very customizable, very good UI with the material skin. Not for the Raspberry Pi but a mini PC (with an Atom, Pentium or i3) cost as much or even less than the Pi 4, so.. i bougt a Brix with an i5 for less than the Pi 4.

For me the problem with free options is that im always tempted to try this and that as if i might missing something.
Sometimes is better to pay and just have peace of mind. It took me a long time to realise this. Now i just enjoy the music. Much more relaxing.

 

[Dennis_FL]

I’ve been looking for somthing to work with both Roon and JRiver…. Does Volumio do that?

 

[Geertidow]

Here using PiCoreplayer (USB dac attacthed). Works great once you set it up. It even supports attaching an SSD with music.
Power usage is very low

 

[Dennis_FL]

Didnt see mention of ropieee in the comments.
Ropieee covers both my roon and jriver (dlna via the xl version) subscriptions.
Prior to that i was a volumio fan

Aha !!! Exactly what I was looking for.

Can you share how this works? Can you keep JRiver and Roon up and running at the same time?

 

[charleski]

Between Volumio and moOde, I'd choose moOde every time. Apart from anything else, the developer is responsive and fixes stuff quickly. Free, but worth a donation.

Sort-of ... I pointed out (quite politely) a problem that moode has with tag handling when there are entries in both artist and performer fields and the dev got all huffy and declared he wasn't interested in thinking about it. Luckily the code is written in php and it was easy to patch out the bug, though I need to run the sed script each time I upgrade.

 

[Xombul]

After having tried, Rune, Volumio, piCore, I am currently a Moode 8.2 user and I am very happy with it: MoOde is very stable (it was my main concern with Volumio) and using CamillaDSP is very easy. What is really missing in MoOde is the Chromecast protocol even if you can use BubbleUPnP for Qobuz (I hope it will be added in the future).

 

[lpdot]

The Spotify plugin for Volumio has been in shambles for a considerable time already. From what I see in their forum, the problem is far from being resolved. So, if you stream from Spotify, Volumio is not an option currently.

 

[muslhead]

Aha !!! Exactly what I was looking for.

Can you share how this works? Can you keep JRiver and Roon up and running at the same time?

If i understand your question correctly, both can be open at the same time but you can only use one to play out of the pi at a time because there is only one digital (USB) output. Now, if you have a pibased ddc like the holo red, you (apparently) can do both at the same time because all digital ouputs are active (this is what i have been told, i have not received mine yet and cannot confirm)

 

[Stickler1]

piCorePlayer plays most all streams including Qobuz for free. It plays embedded art fine instead of fishing for it. It allows for more robust (Samba) network places.
I do have one Volumio installation that stopped working with BubbleUPnP.

 

[holla]

I'm just starting to experiment with various RPi based streaming / playing solutions. I've seen some unsubstantiated claims that Moode gives better sound quality output than picoreplayer (e.g. this post ) . Is there any truth to that? If so, what is the explanation? It seems kind of unlikely for locally hosted music files, for example, doesn't it?

My use-cases would be playing files stored on a NAS, plus a bit of streaming with spotify, listening to my bandcamp collection, and radio from BBC Sounds. For the last two, Logitech Media Server plus a player seems the best/only solution. Having LMS and Moode or Volumio living together on the same Rpi would "work" but seems a bit clunky so I am tending towards a plain LMS+picoreplayer solution, but if there is any reason to imagine a degradation in sound quality then I would be pushed in another direction.

 

[somebodyelse]

Unsubstantiated as you say. Both are capable of bit-perfect playback, or various forms of manipulation depending on settings. In the former case they _shouldn't_ sound any different. In the latter they certainly could - different volume level and different eq are likely to be audible unless the differences are tiny. Without knowing the details of the configurations or the listening method it's impossible to say.

 

[Tom C]

The nice thing is that it’s freeware, so you can try for yourself. I’ve never personally experienced the differences in sound quality that are described in that post. The significant differences are in feature set, the user interface, and the reliability of the network connection, that is, I experienced dropouts more frequently with some software vs. others.
In my hands, on my Pi4, in my system, piCoreplayer is unquestionably the best, but it’s because of functionality, not sound quality.

 

[somebodyelse]

My use-cases would be playing files stored on a NAS, plus a bit of streaming with spotify, listening to my bandcamp collection, and radio from BBC Sounds. For the last two, Logitech Media Server plus a player seems the best/only solution. Having LMS and Moode or Volumio living together on the same Rpi would "work" but seems a bit clunky so I am tending towards a plain LMS+picoreplayer solution, but if there is any reason to imagine a degradation in sound quality then I would be pushed in another direction.

I didn't address this part earlier. You may be able to run LMS on your NAS. piCorePlayer and (I think) the others will let you install it on the Pi. If you don't already have a Pi then daphile or Volumio on a used thin client may be a cheaper option that's easier to obtain. I haven't tried those LMS plugins - the old iPlayer and iPlayer Extra ones still work for me.

Edit: I should add that by design piCorePlayer is more robust when you just turn the Pi off, rather than initiate a shutdown.

 

[ahofer]

My vote is roopieexl.

 

[somebodyelse]

My vote is roopieexl.

Any particular reason(s)? Might help others decide what to try.