Music player/streamer for home office.. thinking Raspberry Pi, recommendations?

[Kevin P]

Since I work from home (well, most of us are nowadays) and I moved my WFH office downstairs into its own room, I'm thinking of putting music in there.

My goals:

1. Good audio quality... after all, I'm on HTGuide.
2. Compact unit that can sit on my desk, preferably with a touchscreen. It would connect to a mini stereo's aux input, or maybe powered speakers I'd put on shelves or on the floor.
3. To go with #1, it must have a decent DAC. Or depending on what I use for speakers, a digital output.
4. Compatible with FLAC, MP3, AAC, and others. Also compatible with music streaming sites.
5. Compatible with SMB (Windows shares) and/or NFS (Unix/Linux shares)
5. Prefer having an Ethernet port instead of wifi.
6. Money is always an issue. Would like to keep total cost under $3-400 if possible.

I know others like Supernova have done whole house audio with R-Pis. Another option would be an inexpensive Android tablet, provided it has decent audio out its headphone jack or USB ports to connect a DAC.

Also, once I have a device, the other question is what kind of mini stereo system should I connect it to that has at least halfway decent sound quality. Preferably something with separate speakers I can put on wall shelves or on the floor behind me. My office doesn't have a lot of space, and my work desk is mostly taken up by my work laptop, keyboard, mouse, docking station and 2 monitors.

So... mini system with separate speakers (no boombox/portable types), decent quality, aux in (optionally also Bluetooth), digital input optional.

Ready... Go!

[Kevin P]

Did a little research. Have a tentative list going. These are Amazon prices, I haven't price shopped yet. Might be able to find some of these cheaper.

1. Raspberry Pi 3 B or B+: $41.99
2. 7" Touch Display: $64.00
3. Smartipi Touch 2 case: $27.99
4. HiFiBerry Amp2: $53.21
5. 12V 10A Power Supply: $9.99

Total (for device): $197.18

The HiFiBerry Amp2 hat looks cool. It combines a DAC and 60W 2 channel amp. I only have to connect speakers. It takes 12-24V from a power supply (9.99 on Amazon or use an old laptop charger) and it also powers the Pi, so no USB power supply is needed.

I'll have to figure out what software to use as well. Something that makes it easy to play music on my server or stream from places like Amazon Prime, Spotify, Pandora etc. I need to be able to easily adjust volume and pause/mute for when I get calls.

[wkhanna]

i did not get this finished yet, but....

LINK

[Evil Twin]

Since I work from home (well, most of us are nowadays) and I moved my WFH office downstairs into its own room, I'm thinking of putting music in there.

My goals:

1. Good audio quality... after all, I'm on HTGuide.
2. Compact unit that can sit on my desk, preferably with a touchscreen. It would connect to a mini stereo's aux input, or maybe powered speakers I'd put on shelves or on the floor.
3. To go with #1, it must have a decent DAC. Or depending on what I use for speakers, a digital output.
4. Compatible with FLAC, MP3, AAC, and others. Also compatible with music streaming sites.
5. Compatible with SMB (Windows shares) and/or NFS (Unix/Linux shares)
5. Prefer having an Ethernet port instead of wifi.
6. Money is always an issue. Would like to keep total cost under $3-400 if possible.

I know others like Supernova have done whole house audio with R-Pis. Another option would be an inexpensive Android tablet, provided it has decent audio out its headphone jack or USB ports to connect a DAC.

Also, once I have a device, the other question is what kind of mini stereo system should I connect it to that has at least halfway decent sound quality. Preferably something with separate speakers I can put on wall shelves or on the floor behind me. My office doesn't have a lot of space, and my work desk is mostly taken up by my work laptop, keyboard, mouse, docking station and 2 monitors.

So... mini system with separate speakers (no boombox/portable types), decent quality, aux in (optionally also Bluetooth), digital input optional.

Ready... Go!

You do realize that this sounds like a setup for one of the classic lines.... "Pick any X, out of Y"... (4 out of 6, perhaps?) where one of the requirements (least likely to be fulfilled) is low cost...

[Supernova]

What streamer software are you going to use? When I was in New Zealand I used Volumino and gave Rune a spin (not to be confused with Roon). I wanted to go with Roon but their support for linux as a controller is mostly non-existent.

[wkhanna]

LINK to (old) info on SW

[Kevin P]

Not sure on software yet. Supernova is using piCorePlayer for his setup, maybe he can chime in on how well it works. Volumio and Kodi are others I've heard of and may try. I will probably try several applications before I settle on one. That's the beauty of the Pi, much of the software is free to download and try, and if one doesn't work out, I can always install another.

I did order a Pi 3B+ online and some of the accessories, I'll probably have them by next weekend. But in the meantime, I may play with some things in Virtualbox to get some ideas even before the hardware arrives. I found an article on how to install Raspian on Virtualbox.

[Supernova]

I have KODI, Plex and PiCorePlayer. I don't use KODI or Plex for audio, but if you go that route you will probably have to use OpenElec or LibreElec with the raspberry pi.

I've used Moode, Rune and Volumino. My wife did not like the user interface of any of those (they're essentially the same), but they're super simple to setup. I have never tried to use them with a touch screen interface as they have a web interface which you can use on your phone or computer.

PiCorePlayer is more cumbersome to setup and may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but I think it's the best player, especially if you have a large library. I have 39K songs and (no I didn't download any of them illegally) the LMS server finds them easily. However if you want normalized volume you're going to need an application like Foobar 2000 to write gains to your files. If you don't do this you'll feel the pain quickly. I wish this feature was built into LMS, but it's not at this point. Also you need to make sure you have proper metadata in your files. If you do not then use something like Picard, Foobar2000 or SongKong

Playlists aren't as easy to create as say iTunes on any of the players. Although you can use and import iTunes playlists in some and I believe they all support AirTunes and Chromecast. One good thing about pCP is that it runs in ram and has a very small footprint. It only access your sd card when you save preferences and boot. Configuration is done through the web interface and there are a lot of options but it's mostly self explanatory.

All of the players are good for streaming (Moode, Rune, Volumino, PCP). I found you have to use a subscription to get access to them which is irritating.


What I recommend is start with Volumino since writing to SD card is simple and if you don't like it you can try something else. If you decide to go with piCorePlayer I'm happy to help if you have any questions.

Sorry if my post seems a bit vague and all over the place, I have a bit of scatterbrain going on today.

[Kevin P]

I have most of the parts now. I've assembled the screen and Pi into the case. I haven't installed the HiFiBerry Amp2 yet since I'm just testing with earbuds plugged into the Pi's 3.5mm jack for now. Once I settle on software and get the remaining pieces parts and I finalize the build I can add the Amp2 then.

Yesterday I used NOOBS to install Raspbian and LibreELEC (Kodi) onto my SD card. I tried out Kodi last night. It works pretty well for playing audio from my server, but it seems to be limited in terms of streaming from the web, but that could be because of all the DRM crap they use on streaming sites like Amazon. DRM needs to die, seriously.

Kodi also has UI limitations on a touch screen. It seems to be made more for use on a HTPC with a remote or keyboard. Some navigation wasn't possible or easy with the touchscreen, I had to use an attached USB keyboard to go "back" for example. I couldn't adjust volume from the screen either, requiring me to use function keys on the keyboard.

I'll probably try Volumio next, and PiCorePlayer. When I find one I like, I'll make it the permanent install.

I need to order the optional rear panel for my SmartiPi Touch 2 case, since the existing cover won't work with a hat installed on the Pi. I also ordered some rotary encoders on Amazon. When I get them I'll hook one up and set it up to act as a volume control and pause/play button. I'll probably mount it in the spot where the Pi camera would go, assuming it fits.

[Kevin P]

Just installed Volumio... wow. Me likey so far. Its UI is far more touchscreen friendly than Kodi, it has plugins for Pandora and Spotify (haven't tried these yet), but one thing I discovered, and really like, is I can stream the radio station I used to listen to in NH.

Unless I come across something I like even more, I'll probably use Volumio.

There's plugins for buttons and rotary encoders connected to the GPIO pins as well, so I can add my volume/mute control.

[Supernova]

Volumino is a good choice. Development is very active too.

[Kevin P]

It's up and running in my office.



It's still a work in progress. I ordered the back cover but don't have it yet. The rotary encoders I ordered are apparently on a slow boat from China, so I'll get them sometime before I die. I ordered a pair of Aperion Intimus 4Bs but they haven't shipped yet. I have a little 2" speaker from my electronics junk pile hooked up to 1 channel right now so at least it makes sound, albeit clock radio quality, but it works!

I have a power supply on order as well, but for now I'm using a spare mini PC power supply I had kicking around (12V, 5A). The HiFiBerry Amp2 hat runs on 12-24V and also powers the Pi and touchscreen so I don't have to use USB power.

[Kevin P]

I got the rest of the parts yesterday, so I finished up the build today. Here she is!

My plan was to install the rotary encoder in the spot where the camera would go. Here I am determining if it will fit.


I had to do some dremeling to fit the encoder in its spot.


Here it is, mounted from the rear.


Here it is, mounted from the front.


I added some electrical tape in case it contacts the rear of the RPi PCB. There ended up being adequate clearance but I didn't want to risk a short.


(More to come in next post)

[Kevin P]

More pics of the build.

(Re)installed the Pi into the case.


(Re)installed the HiFiBerry Amp2 Hat. This provides a DAC, 60W class D amp and also powers the Pi from a 12-24V power supply.


Testing functionality. It all works.


I added the speaker terminals to the rear cover (I had installed the power jack and a power switch last weekend).


I installed the fan and hooked everything up (power jack and speaker terminals)


(More in next post)

[Kevin P]

And she's done!







Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

The rotary encoder acts as a volume control when turned, and pressing it in toggles play/pause (handy when I get calls from work). Holding the button for 3+ seconds and then releasing it triggers a shutdown, so I don't have to shutdown from the menu.

[wkhanna]

so nice!
and you even included a classic 'foot' shot!

[Supernova]

Nice work.