New to ASR - new to streaming - RPi to remote WiFi speaker possible?

[layw]

New to streaming and been reading on the web but become confused by what is or is not possible.
what I have..

NAS drive containing music files connected to my LAN
RPi (3 & 4 available)
plan on adding a HiFi Berry
adding additional speakers in other areas of the home at some point

I have a WiFi/Airplay/BT speaker located in one section of the home that I currently connect Spotify via my iPhone.

While I realize that I can connect the RPi audio directly to the speaker (physically connected) I have no LAN (ethernet) access available in this part of the home only WiFi and the NAS is on the LAN in the basement.

I am hoping that it would be possible to have the RPi and NAS box on the LAN located in the basement and broadcast from RPi to the speaker on the main floor and using iPad/laptop/iPhone as a remote.

I'm planning to look at Volumio/MoOde but looking for some suggestions.

 

[tw99]

Lyrion Media Server will run on a Pi which can sit anywhere on the network, and there are plugins that will allow you to play on any DLNA device, which probably includes your speaker, and also via Airplay.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

You could plug a Wiim Mini into the BT speaker and stream from the NAS over WiFi. That's what I do with a JBL Charge as a "floater". Two other WiiM's connected in TV room and Office system. The units can be grouped if desired ie for concurrent playback. They even have a timing/delay mechanism to sync them. Very cost effective way to achieve multi-room.

 

[layw]

Thank you,

I'll look at LMS and it's configuration and control but I need to understand if LMS on the Rpi is the music database (my term) and "player/streamer" (again my term) pulling music from the NAS or some other configuration.


Shadow - good suggestion and it may come to this

 

[popej]

I am hoping that it would be possible to have the RPi and NAS box on the LAN located in the basement and broadcast from RPi to the speaker on the main floor and using iPad/laptop/iPhone as a remote.

The usual way is opposite. You connect RPi directly to speakers and RPi connects to your network by wifi.

 

[Timcognito]

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[TunaBug]

but I need to understand if LMS on the Rpi is the music database (my term) and "player/streamer" (again my term) pulling music from the NAS or some other configuration.

Yes and no; it depends on how you set it up. I'm running piCorePlayer at home. When you install piCorePlayer the basic install includes just a player (the program is called "SqueezeLite"). It's the thing that will drive your DAC, whether via HDMI, USB, hat, or a builting headphone jack on your Pi.

By itself SqueezeLite can do nothing. You need an instance of LMS (Lyrion Music Server, nee Logitech Music Server) somewhere on the network. LMS maintains the music database, and it talks to multiple players on the network to maintain your queue of music on each player. You interact with the system by a web interface that LMS presents(*). Note that you don't have to have the music on the same device as LMS; I think most people have the music on a NAS and mount it with an NFS or Windows/Samba share. Note you don't even need to run LMS on a Pi. You can run LMS on Windows/Mac/Linux and there are various packages for running on a Synology or QNAP NAS.

If you have a single PI then you can install LMS inside of piCorePlayer on the same device. In that way your single PI is running both LMS and SqueezeLite. One stop shopping. It might be exactly what you want.

When I originally set things up I had three PIs:

1) PI4 with piCorePlayer running LMS. I disabled SqueezeLite on this system: it was LMS *only*
2) Pi Zero2W with SqueezeLite, connected via USB to RME ADI-2 DAC. It's for headphone playback.
3) Pi Zero2W (a second one), SqueezeLite only, connected via HDMI to Denon AVR.

All the music files reside on a NAS, LMS accesses them over the network and builds its own database. Thanks to damaging an HDMI cable I have since moved PI #1 above to be connected to the Denon. So device #1 runs both LMS and SqueezeLite, and device #3 is gone. #2 is still connected to the RME.

The LMS database is by default stored on the SD-card where LMS runs. You can relocate it so that you're not pounding I/O on the SD-card, but I haven't done this yet.

(*) I said above that you interact with LMS. There are other ways, but I simplified that out for now.

 

[Berwhale]

@layw - There are lots of ways of achieving what you want, but as @popej says, the RPi is usually configured as an end-point and would be connected directly to the speaker.

Here are two ways I have this setup in my home (my music is stored on a Synology NAS):

1. I run LMS on a virtual Ubuntu server. LMS is pointed to the Music share on the Synology NAS for it's media. I have an RPi configured as end point in my garage which runs PiCorePlayer. More here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...coreplayer-streamer.42228/page-2#post-1495871)

2. I run Plex Server on my Synology NAS and my music is setup as a library. I run PlexAmp Headless on an RPi4 (I believe you need a PlexPass to use this feature). More here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/plexamp-headless.51669/

 

[somebodyelse]

The usual way is opposite. You connect RPi directly to speakers and RPi connects to your network by wifi.

Perhaps, but that's not the only way to do it. LMS on the Pi can access the music stored on the NAS, and stream it to multiple endpoints including DLNA and Airplay enabled speakers.

 

[popej]

LMS on the Pi can access the music stored on the NAS, and stream it to multiple endpoints including DLNA and Airplay enabled speakers.

I know. I have tried it with older Yamaha AVR and got no usable results. Does it work for you?

 

[somebodyelse]

I know. I have tried it with older Yamaha AVR and got no usable results. Does it work for you?

It worked with DLNA endpoints last time I tried it - kodi on a PC, and native on a couple of Sony TVs. The protocol hasn't changed so I doubt it's broken in the meantime, but you never know. I don't use DLNA as the inconsistent gapless support annoys me, but have tried it and set it up for others. I haven't tried Airplay as I don't have anything that supports it natively - I'm trusting that the plugin works as advertised.

 

[Doublej]

I know. I have tried it with older Yamaha AVR and got no usable results. Does it work for you?

By any chance were you using WiFI onthe Yamaha AVR? Recently I rearranged my setup and switch my older Yamaha AVR from wired Ethernet to WiFi. My Yamaha AVR became unusable for streaming. Steams (Pandora, Spotify, NetRadio) would randomly stop after a short period of time or not start.

I reverted back to a wired Ethernet connection to my Yamaha AVR and the problems immediately went away.

 

[popej]

I used Ethernet. I don't remember, what exactly was the problem. It was some time ago, maybe soft is better now.

 

[layw]

Thank you for the responses, descriptions.
I’m planning to make a small scale build ( using just a few files as a music library ) just to play with configurations and hardware
The suggestion of having pcp and LMS on a single Pi and send to airplay or wifi speakers with music on my NAS is in my mind what I’d like to see and what I will try first.

 

[somebodyelse]

Depending on the NAS you might even be able to run LMS on it.