SROVA: Linux-based headless hi-res player beta for NUC/PC and Raspberry Pi

[Sasha Masand]

Hi everyone,

I’m Sasha, and I’ve been working on a Linux-based headless hi-res audio player called SROVA.

SROVA is designed for people who want a simple dedicated music player/server that can run on a small Linux machine such as an Intel NUC, mini PC, or Raspberry Pi, and output to a DAC. At this stage it is very much a beta, and I’m looking for technically comfortable users who enjoy testing, breaking things, and giving useful feedback.

The current beta supports:

• TIDAL playback
• Local lossless music library scanning and playback
• Internet radio
• USB DAC output
• Web UI for control from phone/tablet/desktop
• Android remote APK
• NUC/PC .deb package
• Raspberry Pi 4/5 ARM64 .deb package

The local library scanner is currently lossless-first, so formats such as FLAC, ALAC/M4A, WAV, AIFF and APE are supported. MP3/OGG are intentionally skipped for now.

At the moment I am mainly looking for testers on:

• Debian 13 / Ubuntu-style AMD64 systems
• Intel NUCs or similar mini PCs
• Raspberry Pi 4 or Pi 5 running Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit
• External USB DACs
  
  I am especially interested in feedback around:
• Install experience
• DAC detection/output
• TIDAL login and playback
• Local library scanning
• Raspberry Pi compatibility
• UI/remote usability
• Any bugs, rough edges, or confusing steps

This is not being presented as a finished commercial product. It is a beta test build, and I’d rather be upfront about that. The goal right now is to get real-world testing across more DACs, Linux machines, and Pi setups before polishing things further.

Beta test page with downloads and instructions:

More about SROVA is on the main site here: https://srova.music
The beta test downloads and installation instructions are here: https://srova.music/beta/

A few notes before installing:

• Please use a test machine or a setup you are comfortable experimenting with.
• Fixed-volume / bit-perfect style playback can mean very high output levels depending on your DAC/amp, so please keep your hardware volume low before testing.
• The Pi build is intended for 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS.
• Debian Sid / rolling distros are not officially tested yet.

I’d be grateful for any feedback, install logs, DAC compatibility reports, or suggestions from this community.

Thanks,

Sasha@SROVA

 

[phofman]

I checked the amd64 test deb, but could not find the required .so rust-compiled libs. Is the deb complete?

 

[Sasha Masand]

I checked the amd64 test deb, but could not find the required .so rust-compiled libs. Is the deb complete?

Thanks for checking and for pointing this out.

You are right to flag it. The AMD64 .deb currently up there is an early test package, and it looks like the Rust-compiled .so libraries did not get bundled into the package properly. It worked on my own test/dev machine because the required build/runtime files were already present there, so this is a packaging miss rather than intentional.

So for now please treat the AMD64 test .deb as incomplete. I will rebuild it, make sure the Rust .so files are included inside the package, and then do a cleaner install test on a fresh/clean machine before re-uploading.

Appreciate you catching this — exactly the kind of thing this beta is meant to uncover.

 

[Sasha Masand]

@phofman

Thanks again for spotting that.

The AMD64 / NUC-PC .deb is now back online on the beta page:

srova.music/beta

I have uploaded a new test16 AMD64 build. This one has been tested here to install and run correctly, including the required Rust-compiled .so libraries that were missing from the earlier test package.

Please download the latest AMD64 package from the beta page rather than using the earlier file. If you already downloaded the previous AMD64 build, best to discard that copy and use the new test16 package.

Appreciate the careful check — it helped catch a real packaging issue before wider testing.

 

[fatoldgit]

So what drill down options are available for local files, such as:

- by genre then artist
- by artist
- by album

The images I saw didn't really show much of this.

Peter

 

[Sasha Masand]

Hi everyone,

A fresh SROVA beta is now available:

https://srova.music/beta/

This is test17, and I think this is the first build where SROVA is starting to feel much closer to the product I had in mind when this project began: a simple, headless, Linux-based hi-res player for people who want a clean playback appliance rather than a full desktop music app.

Both builds have been updated:

SROVA for NUC / PC / Linux laptop — AMD64 .deb
SROVA for Raspberry Pi 4 / Pi 5 — ARM64 .deb

There is also an optional Android Remote APK, though SROVA can still be controlled from any browser on the same network.

The big reason I am posting again is that SROVA has moved on quite a bit since the earlier beta. Two features I would really like more people to try are:

Infinite Play
This lets SROVA continue playback intelligently from your current TIDAL track. The current modes are:

• Same Artist
• Similar Artists
• Surprise Me

The Last.fm-dependent modes are now handled more clearly, so the UI makes it obvious when Last.fm is required.

Auto Mix
This is intended to make SROVA feel less like a manual queue-only player and more like a music appliance. Start listening, and let it keep the session going without needing to constantly search, queue and manage tracks.

Test17 also includes a lot of under-the-hood fixes that should make testing smoother:

• AMD64 package rebuilt and validated properly, including the required Rust runtime libraries and bundled TIDAL Python files.
• Raspberry Pi ARM64 package rebuilt and validated on a Pi 4, including clean install and reboot/autostart testing.
• Missing ARM runtime dependencies for GTK4 and Adwaita fixed, so clean Raspberry Pi installs should now start correctly.
• Startup behaviour improved: after reboot, SROVA comes back idle instead of trying to resume stale playback state.
• Radio duplicate/reconnect behaviour improved, so clicking the same station again should not cause unnecessary reconnects or choppy playback.
• Local Music scan reporting improved. MP3/AAC/lossy files are now clearly counted as ignored by design, since SROVA is focused on lossless playback.
• Local Music folder diagnostics improved, especially for mounted/NAS music paths.
• TIDAL source-section search back navigation fixed.
• Global search back navigation improved for TIDAL detail pages.
• TIDAL playlist create/add/remove flows improved where available.
• Several smaller UI polish fixes across Settings, Local Music, Radio, and mobile/tablet views.

SROVA is still beta software, so this is not a “please replace your main player today” type of post. But if you have a spare NUC, Linux PC, laptop, Raspberry Pi 4, or Raspberry Pi 5, I would really appreciate some real-world testing.

The most useful feedback would be:

• Device tested: NUC / PC / laptop / Pi 4 / Pi 5
• OS used
• DAC used
• Whether the install completed cleanly
• Whether DAC detection worked
• Whether Radio playback worked
• Whether TIDAL login/playback worked
• Whether Last.fm worked
• Whether Local Music scan worked
• Whether the service survived reboot
• Any logs/screenshots if something failed

One important reminder: SROVA is designed around fixed-output / bit-perfect style playback. Please start with your hardware volume low and control volume from your DAC, amplifier, preamp, or active speakers.

I know the earlier ASR response was quiet, but I genuinely think this is now a better build to test. If you are interested in a lightweight Linux headless player with TIDAL, Radio, Local Music, Infinite Play, Auto Mix and browser/Android control, please jump in and give this test17 build a try.

All downloads and basic install steps are here:

https://srova.music/beta/

Thanks!

 

[Sasha Masand]

So what drill down options are available for local files, such as:

- by genre then artist
- by artist
- by album

The images I saw didn't really show much of this.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Good question — the screenshots probably did not show this clearly enough.

At the moment, the local library side of SROVA is mainly album-led. Once your music folder is scanned, SROVA presents a local album library where you can open an album, view its tracks, and play the full album or individual tracks. The scanner reads the usual file metadata/tags, including artist, album artist, album, track number, quality, etc., and also handles things like FLAC/ALAC/WAV/AIFF/APE and external CUE sheets.

For the current beta, the local music browsing is deliberately kept simple and reliable:

• Album view / album drill-down — available now
• Artist / album artist browsing — planned/partly on the local library roadmap
• Genre → artist → album browsing — not exposed in the UI yet, but it is exactly the kind of drill-down we can add once we see how people want to use the local library

So right now I would describe the local section as album-first, rather than a fully mature library browser with genre/artist/album hierarchy. The immediate focus has been getting playback, scanning, lossless-only library handling, TIDAL, radio, Auto Mix and Infinite Play stable across NUC and Raspberry Pi.

That said, your suggested drill-down structure makes complete sense, especially for larger local libraries. I will add this to the local library improvement list:

Genre → Artist → Album → Tracks
Artist / Album Artist → Albums → Tracks
Album → Tracks

Thanks for pointing it out — this is exactly the kind of feedback we need from beta testers.

 

[Sasha Masand]

Small update from my side: SROVA Test18 is now available for download.

There has not been much activity in this thread, but since it is open I’ll keep posting the main development milestones here. Maybe it will be useful to someone later, or maybe the thread gets some traction once the project is a little more mature.

Test18 is a fairly important beta for us. The focus has been less on adding flashy new things and more on making the whole package feel usable and stable across the three main sources:

• TIDAL
• Local Music
• Internet Radio

Both amd64 / NUC-PC and Raspberry Pi / arm64 builds are available on the beta page now:

https://srova.music/beta/

A few areas that have had attention in this test cycle:

• cleaner service-style install and startup
• better source separation between TIDAL, Radio and Local Music
• improved queue / next-track / seek behaviour
• Infinite Play / Auto Mix style queue continuation
• local library scanning and playback improvements
• radio playback and metadata/artwork handling
• UI polish across desktop, tablet and phone layouts
• more complete packaging checks so the .deb files include the required native libraries and Python modules

SROVA is still very much a beta, so I would not suggest anyone put it straight into a main listening setup without being comfortable with Linux troubleshooting. But Test18 is the first build where I feel the overall feature set and stability are starting to come together properly.

As always, feedback is welcome — especially around install issues, DAC detection, ALSA/exclusive playback behaviour, and general playback stability on different hardware.

 

[Sasha Masand]

SROVA Test19 is now available:

https://srova.music/beta/

This is the latest beta of SROVA, my Linux-based headless audio player for Raspberry Pi 4/5 class devices and x86_64 mini PCs / NUCs.

Supported sources at this stage are:

• Local Music
• TIDAL
• Internet Radio

Test19 is mainly a refinement build. The focus has been on UI consistency, album-view behaviour, mobile/tablet polish, song-menu cleanup, artwork handling, and keeping the AMD64 and ARM64 packages aligned.

There are fresh packages for:

• AMD64 / x86_64 Linux systems
• ARM64 / Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5

The optional Android Remote APK is also available from the same beta page.

A reminder: SROVA is designed around fixed-output, bit-perfect style playback, so volume should be controlled on the DAC, preamp, amplifier, or active speakers.

Feedback is welcome, especially from people testing with USB DACs, Raspberry Pi setups, NUCs, local libraries, and TIDAL playback.

 

[Sasha Masand]

SROVA Test20 is now available:

SROVA Beta Downloads

Private SROVA beta downloads for selected testers.

srova.music

This is a smaller bug-fix build focused mainly on two things:

• Local Music folder persistence, especially on Raspberry Pi / ARM installs
• CUE file playback handling and safer CUE seek behaviour

No major new feature push in this one. The aim was to make the current beta more reliable before moving on to the next batch of work.

SROVA is still beta software, so please install only if you are comfortable with Linux terminal commands and testing. Hardware volume control is required, and it is best to start with the DAC / amp volume low before first playback.

Feedback from NUC / PC and Raspberry Pi users is welcome.

 

[Sasha Masand]

SROVA Test21 beta is now available.

Download / install page:

https://srova.music/beta/

SROVA is a Linux-based headless music player focused on simple bit-perfect style playback through ALSA-visible DACs. Current beta builds are available for Raspberry Pi 4 / Pi 5 ARM64 and AMD64 Linux systems such as NUCs, mini PCs, desktops, and laptops.

Test21 is mostly a stability, usability, and polish build. Main changes include:

• Settings now has an About section
• Local Music lyrics support added for embedded FLAC lyrics
• Artist Info now works for Local Music and Radio
• Mobile landscape VU view cleaned up
• Mobile home screen text fitting improved for long song/artist names
• Play Queue auto-positioning and return behaviour improved
• More user-facing naming cleaned up from the old internal hiresTI references to SROVA

The beta page includes the AMD64 package, ARM64 package, Android Remote APK, install notes, checksum file, and feedback form.

A reminder: SROVA is designed for fixed-output playback, so volume should be controlled by the DAC, amplifier, preamp, or active speakers. Please start with hardware volume low before testing.

If anyone tries it, useful feedback would be device, OS, DAC, wired/wireless network, source tested, and whether install, service start, DAC detection, playback, and reboot behaviour worked as expected.

 

[Sasha Masand]

SROVA RC1 is now available:

https://srova.music/beta/

This is the first release candidate after the recent beta/test builds. The page has downloads for both AMD64 / x86_64 Linux systems and ARM64 Raspberry Pi 4 / Pi 5 systems.

The main areas I would appreciate feedback on are:

• Install / upgrade from older builds
• DAC detection
• Radio playback
• TIDAL login and playback
• Local Music scanning and playback
• Raspberry Pi ARM64 behaviour
• Android Remote connection

As before, SROVA is designed for fixed-output, bit-perfect style playback, so please control volume from your DAC, amplifier, preamp, or active speakers and start low.

Any clear bug reports, logs, screenshots, or notes about the test system are very useful.

 

[Sasha Masand]

SROVA 1.0 RC2 is now available for testing.

SROVA is a Linux-based headless audio player supporting Local Music, TIDAL and Internet Radio. Playback is focused on direct ALSA output to a Linux-visible DAC, with control through a web interface or optional Android remote.

Changes in RC2 include:

• LAN discovery of NFS and SMB music shares
• Managed read-only network music access
• Radio presets with persistent custom ordering
• Renaming of user-owned TIDAL playlists
• Artist search across Local Music and TIDAL
• Improved Local Music artist, album and artwork handling
• AMD64 and ARM64 packaging fixes and additional validation

Current packages support Debian-based AMD64 systems and 64-bit Raspberry Pi 4/Pi 5 systems.

Downloads, checksums, requirements and installation instructions are available here:

https://srova.music/beta/

Testing feedback, reproducible issue reports and relevant logs are welcome.