If you like the topic of high fidelity audio you may be familiar with what a streamer or network music player. These dedicated devices, unlike for example a CD player (analog audio source), are used to play our digital music files stored on a local or remote server, directly to our HiFi sound equipment.
There are many network music players of various brands, but generally one of good quality and barely entry-level, it can be above 300 to 500 euros. That is why it has become very popular to use a good, nice and cheap Raspberry Pi board to create one at home for a fraction of the cost, and with excellent results.
Before starting
The streamers They can obtain the files in several ways, one of the most common is through your own network storage device that serves as a server, this it can be a NAS or it can be your computer, but it can also be a streaming music service.
If you’re trying to save money by using a Pi instead of a branded network player, you may not want to spend on a NAS either. This not a problem if you have a computer with the files you want to use and that you can keep on as a server (at least while listening to music).
If you don’t have your own music files (MP3, FLAC, or rips from your CDs), you can always use Spotifywhich, while not yet offering lossless quality audio, will soon. Either way, you probably won’t notice much of a difference.
If you do not understand the usefulness of this because you are thinking about it to listen to music in front of the computer, it is because the idea of a streamer is to place it in a living room or room where you have a stereo with speakers, amplifier, and others. It will be a dedicated device solely for the purpose of adding a digital audio source to what may be equipment with only analog sources, such as vinyl or CDs.
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What do I need to create my own network player
- A Raspberry Pi board– The process works with any board, even the oldest and cheapest from the manufacturer. However, I recommend using at least a Raspberry Pi 3 or 3B + for the simple fact that they have WiFi connectivity. If you can connect a network cable directly to the Pi at the site where you are going to put your streamer (recommended) then the WiFi does not matter.
- A microSD card: The operating system that we will use is ultra light and does not need too much space, even with a 4GB card it is enough for it.
- Volume: Volumio is a well-known HiFi streamer manufacturer that offers its excellent operating system completely free of charge. You can download the Volumio image for Raspberry Pi on the official website.
- Etcher: balena Etcher is a free and extremely easy to use software with which we will create the image of the operating system.
Optional requirements and other considerations
All of the above is enough to build a streamer, but you will receive the cheapest experience. Basically, if you have at least a 3.5mm to RCA minijack cable to connect your Pi to an amplifier or directly to speakers preamplified, you will receive sound.
This is not the best option, since there you would be using the DAC of the Raspberry Pi itself. The DAC or Digital Audio Converter It is the element that is responsible for converting the digital signal it receives into an analog signal that comes out of your speakers. RasPi’s DAC is far, far from being the best in the world, it works and little else.
For a better result and higher sound quality, you have options like add a direct DAC board as an accessory connected to your Pi. One very famous and recommended is ALLO’s BOSS, which at once offers you an RCA connection for your board. It costs about 70 euros.
In my case, I have used an FX Audio X6 DAC connected to my Pi via USB. It is an inexpensive DAC that you can get for about 60 to 80 euros, but that offers excellent sound quality, it also has optical and coaxial inputs. There are many similar options on the market.
The whole thing (Raspberry Pi, DAC, SD card, a case, power supply) can end up costing you around 150 euros, half if you ignore the DAC. It’s less than half or even less than a quarter of what a Denon, Yamaha, or Volumio streamer would cost you.
How to install and use Volumio on your Raspberry Pi
- Connect your microSD card to the computer where you downloaded the Volumio ISO
- Install and run Etcher for the first time
- Select option Flash from file
- Choose the Volumio ISO you downloaded, for example: volumio-2.907-2021-07-02-pi.iso
- Click on Select target and choose your microSD card
- Click on Flash! and wait for the process to finish.
Once you insert your microSD into the Rasperry Pi you already have an operating system, you just have to configure it
Volumio is a desktopless system, this means that it is controlled from a graphical interface that you can access from any browser. You do not need a monitor, or a keyboard, or anything more than the mobile, tablet, or a computer.
You will need to connect Volumio to your local network. This can be done in two ways: with a network cable or via WiFi (as long as you have a Raspberry Pi 3 or later). If you connect the network cable, you are good to go. If you will use WiFi, you have to follow these steps:
- Connect your Raspberry Pi to power and turn on the device.
- Volumio will automatically create a WiFi Hotspot network called “Volumio” whose password is volume2
- You must connect to that WiFi network from any device that you are going to use to configure the system (mobile or computer)
- Hotspot is a temporary way to use Volumio, so it’s a good idea to connect it to your WiFi network in Settings.
- When you are connected to Volumio via Hotspot, you can access the graphical interface by entering the IP 192.168.211.1 or http: //volumio.local from a browser.
The graphical web interface works from any desktop or mobile browser. Or, you can also use the official Volumio app for Android or iOS (this costs only 2 euros and is a way to support the project).
During the initial configuration you must choose language, name for the device, the audio output (Volumio detects all available connections, from HDMI to the DAC you have connected).
At this stage you can connect Volumio to your WiFi network to stop using Hotspot mode. If you later want to know the IP of Volumio you can use a free app like Fing to analyze all the devices connected to your network and obtain their IPs.
Plugins for Spotify and add your files from Windows
Volumio has a good list of plugins to add more features to the system. For me there is an essential plugin when using it: Spotify Connect.
From the add-ons section you can easily find it, and what it does is basically turn your RasPi into another device where you can send Spotify music.
The advantage of this is that you can simply use the Spotify app on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, the web, etc. to send music to play in Volumio with your Pi, and none of those devices need to stay on or connected, unless you want to control playback later.
Another very useful thing if you don’t have a NAS, is to simply use your PC as a server for Volumio. In Windows it is very easy to do and you just have to open an old friend: Windows Media Player.
From the old player click on To transmit and activate the multimedia streaming. The advantage of Windows Media Player, no matter how old, is that it is literally the easiest way to add your PC as a media server to Volumio: you don’t have to install anything, it comes by default in Windows 10 and 11 (and older, of course), and it’s just a couple of clicks.
You shall automatically allow devices to play my media, and in more options, allow remote control of your player.
Windows Media Player will send you to the Control Panel and there you should also see all the other devices to which you can stream content. Then you just have to click OK.
When you have done this, you can return to the Volumio web interface and search Media Servers (on the side panel). There you will find your Windows computer and your Windows Media Player music library.
If it does not appear, you can always go to the settings and in the option Sources add a network drive manually. Volumio does an automatic scan and detects all units connected to your network.
The operating system is extremely easy to use and you have many more options to take advantage of it. There are more add-ons, radios, and some premium options like connecting with Tidal and Qobuz for streaming from the cloud at HiRes.
This is the most basic guide possible with the minimum of options that are needed to enjoy the experience. Volumio is not the only system of this style, but perhaps it is the easiest to use and the one with the most variety of accessories. If hi-fi music is something that interests you and you have a good set of speakers at home, you might be interested in playing around with this a bit.
More information | Volumio Documentation