Dedicated streamer with spotify offline

[Moz]

I've recently embarked on a new digital only streaming setup but I'm struggling to find something which ticks these boxes:

1. Plays Spotify, preferably with Spotify connect so I can control it from my phone
2. Has the ability to play Spotify offline (i.e. like the android app, ios app or desktop app)
3. Has a way for guests to queue music - (maybe a dedicated touchscreen on the device or maybe a spare laptop runing Spotify?)
4. Outputs to an external DAC (Topping DX7 Pro - thanks ASR!)

The offline mode seems to be the one causing the problem. Lots of streamers with Spotify connect but so far I don't see any which can do Spotify offline mode.

I saw the Archimago Pi system and this may be the way to go even though the case doesn't lend itself to the Toppings DAC.

Budget is around £500 (645USD).

I only recently found AudioScienceReviews and am already thankful as it has saved me a lot of money!

In case it's relevant, the rest of the equipment is a Krell KAV 2250 power amp and two Monitor Audio Silver 8s

Thanks for the help!

Moz

 

[BDWoody]

I've recently embarked on a new digital only streaming setup but I'm struggling to find something which ticks these boxes:

1. Plays Spotify, preferably with Spotify connect so I can control it from my phone
2. Has the ability to play Spotify offline (i.e. like the android app, ios app or desktop app)
3. Has a way for guests to queue music - (maybe a dedicated touchscreen on the device or maybe a spare laptop runing Spotify?)
4. Outputs to an external DAC (Toppings DX7 Pro - thanks ASR!)

The offline mode seems to be the one causing the problem. Lots of streamers with Spotify connect but so far I don't see any which can do Spotify offline mode.

I saw the Archimago Pi system and this may be the way to go even though the case doesn't lend itself to the Toppings DAC.

Budget is around £500 (645USD).
I only recently found AudioScienceReviews and am already thankful as it has saved me a lot of money!

In case it's relevant, the rest of the equipment is a Krell KAV 2250 power amp and two Monitor Audio Silver 8s

Thanks for the help!

Moz

Nvidia shield

 

[WittleWe]

Hi,

I know rhis post is a tad old but I want to do the same thing but use my topping ex5 instead. cureently using an android tablet with blue tooth ldac to the EX5. But I want to dedicate a streamer to it. My spotify prenium music is download at highest quality and play well. My internet is via satellite and has high latency, hence the downloaded music.

Did you sort this out by now ?

 

[Phorize]

Hi,

I know rhis post is a tad old but I want to do the same thing but use my topping ex5 instead. cureently using an android tablet with blue tooth ldac to the EX5. But I want to dedicate a streamer to it. My spotify prenium music is download at highest quality and play well. My internet is via satellite and has high latency, hence the downloaded music.

Did you sort this out by now ?

Raspberry pi with moode or similar?

 

[WittleWe]

Raspberry pi with moode or similar?

Yep but what sort of PI....4 + what as a total package?

 

[WittleWe]

I have gotten very confused on the best Rasberry PI to have with downloaded spotify files that connects to an external dac ie topping ex5. I have thought a allo boss 2 dac streamer. Asked Allo a while ago if it would be suitable but havn't heard back from em.

 

[Phorize]

I have gotten very confused on the best Rasberry PI to have with downloaded spotify files that connects to an external dac ie topping ex5. I have thought a allo boss 2 dac streamer. Asked Allo a while ago if it would be suitable but havn't heard back from em.

If you don’t have a dac already the boss 2 player is an excellent streamer/dac. If you had it pre installed with moode you can have Spotify connect for direct streaming controlled by the Spotify phone app, including your downloaded Spotify music on your phone. The boss 2 also plays any input given over airplay, upnp and on a hard drive plugged in over usb. It also has web radio built in. You control the moode instance over your local lab using any web browser. The boss has single ended outputs to go straight to an amp.

As you have a dac already you don’t need a boss player.

You can use any modern pi to run moode, or volumio.

In your shoes I would get an rpi 4 with a case and power supply and a microsd card. The official vendors in your country will no doubt have a bundle offer with everything you need to get set up.

Then look at this for help with installing your steamer os:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/

You can get moode and the user instructions here:

moodeaudio.org

moodeaudio.org

There are many choices in terms of os. My advice is use moode to get up and running as it does Spotify connect out of the box. Once you are up and running you can play with os’s, but if it’s Spotify you are mainly using I’d wager you’ll stick with moode.

 

[Phorize]

I’d add that you may as well get the plastic case recommended by an official vendor-they operate well and crucially don’t limit the built in WiFi. The aluminium case out there offer better heat dissipation but usually require an external WiFi dongle as the case is as not as transparent to RF.

 

[WittleWe]

Thanks heaps for that. A PI buying I will go (Australia). Also ta for the info on the image install / case-hardware and Moode.
regards
Me

 

[Nick5]

I second @Phorize comments above. My experience with Volumio and Moode confirmed the superiority of Moode as the OS for RPi4 and using USB output only to my DAC. I’m experimenting with RPi4 and my next step is to add a digital hat (most likely HiFIBerry digi pro) and compare its Coax/BNC output to the existing USB. I have a feeling the outcome will be superior to warrant integration into my main system and replacing my existing CA CXN streamer.

 

[WittleWe]

ta to you both..... just wating on pi 4 product availability locally. Will be interesting to see how it goes replacing my android samsung tablet. My Asus chromebook didnt have enough room to store files and spotify settings wouldnt use external storage on it.

 

[Phorize]

I second @Phorize comments above. My experience with Volumio and Moode confirmed the superiority of Moode as the OS for RPi4 and using USB output only to my DAC. I’m experimenting with RPi4 and my next step is to add a digital hat (most likely HiFIBerry digi pro) and compare its Coax/BNC output to the existing USB. I have a feeling the outcome will be superior to warrant integration into my main system and replacing my existing CA CXN streamer.

@amirm has tested the hifi berry and found that it was good for the money:

Review and Measurements of HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro

This is a review and detailed measurements of the HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro DAC for the Raspberry Pi boards to build your own low cost streamer. The unit was purchased and drop shipped to me by a kind member. The HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro costs just USD $39.90. So you could have a streamer and DAC for just...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Unless Cambridge Audio have royally messed up the cxn dac it’s unlikely you’ll get an audible difference though. IMO usb is by far the most suitable approach. Its just a pcm stream rather than an audio signal being transported so you get to avoid the problems associated with audio signal tranmission-jitter, ground loops etc.

If you are after a high performing streamer/dac you could check out the allo boss 2 player, which comes fully built or as parts if you already have a pi 4:

Allo Boss2 Review (Stereo Streamer)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Allo Boss2 Ethernet (and wifi) streamer/player. It was sent to me by the company for testing and costs US $149 by itself. My tested configuration included the Nirvana power supply which brings the cost up to US $209. I must say, I am very...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I can’t find the cxn dac measurements but it’s extremely likely that the boss 2 (which has nearly state of the art dac performance) will out perform it, it will also do dsp which is very useful with headphones in particular.

 

[aandres_gm]

I don't believe a Pi + Moode can work with locally storages files from Spotify. The way Spotify Connect works is the "master" device tells the "slave" which song is being played, so the slave can establish a connection to the Spotify servers and stream the song directly. Local files will not get transmitted from master -> slave over Spotify Connect.

Since Moode's connection to Spotify only works on the slave role, it is impossible for it to download and locally store files.

 

[Nick5]

can’t find the cxn dac measurements but it’s extremely likely that the boss 2 (which has nearly state of the art dac performance) will out perform it, it will also do dsp which is very useful with headphones in particular.

Thanks for the comments. I also haven’t seen measurements for CXN. As a stand-alone equipment utilising the internal WM dac chip, it’s not bad but I managed to improve the sound by adding Topping D70s and using the CXN as a streamer only (digital coax to D70s). I’m a DIYer and enjoy building my HiFi system. This is why I think there’s a potential for improvement by going the RPi4 route.

 

[Phorize]

I don't believe a Pi + Moode can work with locally storages files from Spotify. The way Spotify Connect works is the "master" device tells the "slave" which song is being played, so the slave can establish a connection to the Spotify servers and stream the song directly. Local files will not get transmitted from master -> slave over Spotify Connect.

Since Moode's connection to Spotify only works on the slave role, it is impossible for it to download and locally store files.

I must admit this hadn’t occurred to me. If @WittleWe has an iPhone the solution would be to play Spotify downloads over airplay with the Spotify app to the pi. Not quite as elegant but wouldn’t involve airplay downsampling anything. I don’t own an android phone but pi support for chromecast looks somewhat messy.

 

[aandres_gm]

I must admit this hadn’t occurred to me. If @WittleWe has an iPhone the solution would be to play Spotify downloads over airplay with the Spotify app to the pi. Not quite as elegant but wouldn’t involve airplay downsampling anything. I don’t own an android phone but pi support for chromecast looks somewhat messy.

Airplay has also some issues, as it does downsample content. At the present time however, it shouldn't be a worry, as Spotify doesn't offer anything beyond airplay's compression limit.