A Raspberry Pi as a music server

[TheWalkman]

Can anyone advice or know good guides on basics of using Rpi4 as a DAC source?

Specifically using Rpi as a 'Network DAC', Windows PC or laptop is used as normal but the audio output is somehow send to the Rpi over network and to play automatically? Or how about same thing but over bluetooth?

If this is not possible, too difficult or has too much latency to work well (for videos etc.) then what about the Rpi with local storage and playback but controlled over the network or bluetooth, either with PC or mobile?


want to learn about what options there are.


Volumio allow something close to the first option. PC controls Volumio Rpi over network, Rpi access PC storage over network.
wont be as seamless as a 'network DAC' but still ok for music if no other option

getting closer again to the solution: https://volumio.github.io/docs/User_Manual/Stream_audio_to_volumio

Shoto,

If I understand your question, this is really easy.

If you want to use a Pi as a streamer you can use Volumio to stream from a NAS or what I do is load my music files (~250 - 300 CDs) onto a microSD card and store them onboard the Pi along with the OS and Volumio image.

In the configuration shown, I’m using wireless networking.

You don’t need a Pi 4. I’m using a PiZero W2 which has more than enough power. A Pi 4 is a major overkill for this application. (I just checked my Pi and the average CPU loading is 14% with a system temp of 42’ C. It’s not even breaking into a sweat doing this!)

I use Samsung High Endurance SD cards so no worries about longevity. A 64gb card costs around $14 and I still have 30 gb of free space.

I can also stream radio stations from Volumio as well as stream audio from my phone or tablet via Airplay.

My setup today is a Pi Zero W2 => Topping E50 DAC (via microUSB to USB B cable) => Topping PA 5 amp => Elac Reference DBR62 speakers.

(That’s the Pi Zero W2 on top in the Flirc case.)

I typically control this from an iPad or iPhone. (I can do the same from my laptop but never do.) The Topping DAC has a remote as well to control volume and source.

Works great.

 

[shoto]

Shoto,

If I understand your question, this is really easy.

If you want to use a Pi as a streamer you can use Volumio to stream from a NAS or what I do is load my music files (~250 - 300 CDs) onto a microSD card and store them onboard the Pi along with the OS and Volumio image.

In the configuration shown, I’m using wireless networking.

You don’t need a Pi 4. I’m using a PiZero W2 which has more than enough power. A Pi 4 is a major overkill for this application. (I just checked my Pi and the average CPU loading is 14% with a system temp of 42’ C. It’s not even breaking into a sweat doing this!)

I use Samsung High Endurance SD cards so no worries about longevity. A 64gb card costs around $14 and I still have 30 gb of free space.

I can also stream radio stations from Volumio as well as stream audio from my phone or tablet via Airplay.

My setup today is a Pi Zero W2 => Topping E50 DAC (via microUSB to USB B cable) => Topping PA 5 amp => Elac Reference DBR62 speakers.

(That’s the Pi Zero W2 on top in the Flirc case.)

I typically control this from an iPad or iPhone. (I can do the same from my laptop but never do.) The Topping DAC has a remote as well to control volume and source.

Works great.

View attachment 171959

I set up volumio today. The idea of Rpi was daunting, thinking command line, tedious setup, troubleshooting etc. but volumio could not have been easier or quicker to set up, does exacty what I need, everything explained clearly in manual... and all free!

 

[TheWalkman]

I set up volumio today. The idea of Rpi was daunting, thinking command line, tedious setup, troubleshooting etc. but volumio could not have been easier or quicker to set up, does exacty what I need, everything explained clearly in manual... and all free!

shosto,

Glad to hear the install went smoothly.

I don't think you're alone: my sense is a lot of folks are intimidated and write the Raspberry Pi off before even attempting it. There are many great tutorials (beginning at the Volumio website) that do a great job of walking you through the steps and it really isn't very difficult at all.

It's also mind-boggling what you can with the Pi besides streaming. For $50 and a second hand monitor, keyboard and mouse, you have a fully functioning, well documented computer system that I could have only dreamed of when I was a kid. (That was in the days when in Altair or Imsai seemed like something off of StarTrek!)

I can't tell you how many hours of pleasure I've gotten from streaming via my Pi. I find it much more convenient than streaming from my phone or tablet, particularly for extended listening.

Enjoy!

 

[KaLam1ty]

If you have the time, a happen a few spare microSD's, I'd highly suggest also trying some of the other recommended solutions just to get a comparison. Easy enough to have a separate images you can pop in-and-out and test.

Volumio, MoOde, piCorePlayer, ... ton of options for good reason: They all have their merits!
My personal choice goes to piCorePlayer.

It's basically an image that packages two programs: Squeezelite (a music player) and Logitech Music Server together. It's a bit more finnicky to set up, but I found the Web-UI to be infinitely more responsive on low power/mobile devices vs. the latter two when handling a large library. It does very well with caching data and large album artwork. Ton of fun plugins as well and it's very mature and robust.

If the stock UI is off putting (..which it is...), I highly recommend using the lms-Material skin plugin, as the default is very dated. It feels very intuitive to use, very much like a typical Android music player app with right-click support for PC and hold-drag options on mobile.

Bonus props if you know basic HTML/CSS3, as it's easier to futz with the interface a bit, vs the aforementioned. (Note: The font normally isn't 'monospace', "Consolas". I just changed it to be that way. I believe the default is "Roboto"). To give any idea though...

 

[infurnus99]

I am currently using my pc as my music player using f2k. I use monkeymote to remotely control my library from my living room using my phone. I am planning to switch into a dedicated music streamer using a pi4. My setup is e30 ＞ l30 ＞ ath50x ＞ amp ＞ speaker. All the files are downloaded and in dsf format. Was wondering if I can build a server for it (as I have spare pc sitting in my garage) and control the playback using my phone.
Question:
- What os should I run on my pi?
- How many gb of ram should i opt my rpi?
- How should I setup the server?

 

[MCH]

I personally plug a hard disk drive to my router and it works as a NAS from which i can stream to any pi streamer in the house (i use bubbleupnp in my phone as a remote control and Moodeaudio in the pi) but i don't know if any router can do that.
Alternatively also on the cheap you can build a LMS with another pi (see post above yours) or even simpler, i guess you can just plug your HDD to your pi and play directly from it without a separate server (i don't do it but i am sure others can advice).
Hope it helps.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

I set up volumio today. The idea of Rpi was daunting, thinking command line, tedious setup, troubleshooting etc. but volumio could not have been easier or quicker to set up, does exacty what I need, everything explained clearly in manual... and all free!

Well, not exactly. They charge a monthly fee if you want to use their Qobuz plugin, and several other features. If you are looking for an excellent product for Pi that’s totally free, look at PiCorePlayer/LMS.

 

[drerd]

Hello guys,

Is there any chance I could run Home Assistant + a hifi music player on same RPI ?

I have a RPI4 that runs Volumio , but I want to make a unit that has multiple dockers : Home Assistant , Volumio( or any other hifi player) , VPN , portainer .

 

[0bs3rv3r]

Specifically using Rpi as a 'Network DAC', Windows PC or laptop is used as normal but the audio output is somehow send to the Rpi over network and to play automatically?

moOde on a Pi supports UPnP/DLNA.

 

[Raitsa]

Moode (Debian based) and Raudio-1 (Arch based) are excellent free choices as well, both updated and improved all the time.

 

[Ears of Tin]

Big thumbs up for rAudio. It has everything I need - streaming from NAS or attached HDD, Bluetooth send and receive, internet radio, Radio Paradise, equalizer, CD player support, tag editing, song lyrics, artist bios, OTA updates, DLNA, samba sharing. These are standard features on many players but rAudio is the most ergonomic UI I've found.

I recently switched secondary system from Volumio to piCorePlayer/LMS which is also great. My fat fingers didn't work well with Moode, too many volume control accidents. For full disclosure I don't subscribe to any premium streaming services like Tidal or Qobuz.

 

[Matty1]

Hi. Newbie here and to RPi music server. I purchased a RiP 4 and a new digi2 pro. Nothing works. Speaking with Daniel, and looking at hifiOS it recognises the digi But no sound. Connecting via toslink no red light ever comes on. He can’t pin it down but he thinks it’s hardware, either the Digi or Pi. Most likely the pi. Any thoughts or experience with this?

thanks

 

[Ears of Tin]

Hi. Newbie here and to RPi music server. I purchased a RiP 4 and a new digi2 pro. Nothing works. Speaking with Daniel, and looking at hifiOS it recognises the digi But no sound. Connecting via toslink no red light ever comes on. He can’t pin it down but he thinks it’s hardware, either the Digi or Pi. Most likely the pi. Any thoughts or experience with this?

thanks

You can test just the RPi by removing the digi2 and testing for sound from the headphone jack.

 

[Matty1]

You can test just the RPi by removing the digi2 and testing for sound from the headphone jack.

I will. That doesn’t mean the pins to the digi2 are the problem though?

 

[MCH]

are you using the official power supply for the pi? if not, what are you using?
i had problems with a different pi+dac hat and turned out it was underpowered

 

[Matty1]

I am. I will try again with a fresh flashing and setup.

 

[Matty1]

are you using the official power supply for the pi? if not, what are you using?
i had problems with a different pi+dac hat and turned out it was underpowered

In picoreplayer re diagnostics I get the following

Output devices:
null - Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default
plugequal
equal

the digi2pro is firmly plugged in, flashed properly etc etc.


it’s either the Digi or Pi?

 

[Matty1]

are you using the official power supply for the pi? if not, what are you using?
i had problems with a different pi+dac hat and turned out it was underpowered

Yes. Brand new official supply.

 

[shoto]

unfortunately i left beaten track slightly with volumio and problems have shown up.

Until now I used small usb stick for playback but I want to use internal SD storage , I bought large 250gb card for this to have lots of room, I thought it would be very simple to connect card reader to my computer and copy music to sd card.

First, the volumio partition only used small amount of space on card, I had to force it to use all with an obscure trick of putting empty file called “resize-volumio-datapart” in the directory.
Then there was no 'dyn/data/INTERNAL' folder that should be there to store the files, I tried making it manually as one post suggested but volumio just ignores it.

The intended way is copy over network, or so I read. I added SMB drive on a computer for the INTERNAL folder ( \\volumio.local\Internal Storage ), it connected succesfully and first appeared I could copy things over and they show up in volumio but they are all empty 0kb files, only the file name is intact.
Next I tried again to locally copy files to the SD with card reader into the INTERNAL folder that volumio created itself when I connected SMB drive.
It worked this time somehow and the files were visible and playable in volumio, I did not like this long and tedious process for a hodge podge solution.

But this solution is still no good, Only loose files can be added, folders do not show up, some of my music files have no meta data or VA albums metadata splits up the tracks up in 'artist' view so I just like to browse music folders as they are stored... it worked for USB drive, can I really not do this with the INTERNAL storage folder?

If instead I create a seperate partition from unallocated space on the sd instead of expanding the volumio partition will I be able to detect and use it like a normal USB drive?
Volumio shows options for USB, NAS and INTERNAL in the music library, a seperate SD partition does not fall under any of these so I already feel like it will not work... very frustrating

 

[Matty1]

This may have been talked about elsewhere, but if using a raspberry pi with Digi hat (eg Digione) vs airplay express using optical, if the dac is good enough to suppress the jitter and both are bitbperfect is there going to be any difference in sound quality. if I’m feeding the dac a better digital signal, is it going to sound better?

thoughts would be useful.