Streaming audio options

I have:

1. A wife that doesn't want to use the TV to browse music.
2. A Synology DS211, though I'm considering upgrading to a 4-bay model soon.
3. A standard amplifier.

How can #1 get music from #2 to #3?

She might -- provided it allows her to browse, rather than search -- be persuaded to use a tablet to find music. I have a spare RPi that I can plug into the amp, if necessary.

Is the Synology software usable? Does Plex work? And by "work", I mean: "work without messing around with the configuration every time I want to change anything".

It'd be nice if the kids (4 and 6) could use this, too.

To be honest, I'd like some kind of kiosk mode for the tablet, though that might be another question.

And, by tablet, I'm basically talking about a Nexus 7 or an iPad mini.

Plex works. I use it to drive a Chromecast, which you could then connect to your amp (if the amp has HDMI input). Even if you're ignoring the video output, it would still do the job.

That said, Plex's music interface isn't as sweet as other music things you can drive from an Android tablet, like Google Music. But they're all compatible with the Chromecast.

Bingo. Thanks.

Question, though: doesn't this mean that the audio is coming from the NAS, to the Nexus, and _then_ to the Chromecast? Or does it sort itself out properly?

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201812808-Cast-from-Android

How about using an empeg to serve music to the amplifier, and Android app on the phone/tablet whatever to browse/queue tunes?

I'd second Plex, but I haven't used it for anything other than TV and Movies. I also haven't used the Audio Station from Synology. For my own music collection, I've been doing what Dan alluded to: I put it on Google Music. That way I can have an unlimited streaming music service that contains the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, something that's impossible with Spotify or rdio.

Side note: isn't Synology awesome? I'm absolutely loving mine. I have the DS412+, and I'm currently messing around with the Surveillance Station as my DVR for my nursery cameras.

Plex works, and Synology Audio Station works too.

In general, I like Plex, but I've been encountering occasional problems with its Chromecast implementation. Sometimes Plex on my iPhone and/or Plex on my housemates' Android devices won't see the Chromecast. And when they do finally find the Chromecast, they lose connection to it sometimes, or do weird things such as crash out when you just intended to press pause.

All the other apps on our phones which can Chromecast are fine, so I can only assume that the Plex code for the Chromecast isn't fully baked.

I still use Plex when I can, though.

In case you are interested in other options which involve your Pi and some free time:

If your amp has HDMI input, you can connect the Pi and that is it. Else there is some neat hardware out there from places such as HiFiBerry and IQaudiO and others which can give you a high quality DAC to connect your amp, with an optional little Class-D amplifier to drive speakers directly (for other projects).

Once you have that connected there are lots of software options such as PiCorePlayer and Squeezeplug (Squeezebox Server) or Volumio and Runeaudio (New Projects). All of these allow you to control your music with an app or through a web browser.

Set up a uPNP renderer on a RPi like this
http://blog.scphillips.com/2014/05/playing-music-on-a-raspberry-pi-using-upnp-and-dlna-v3/

and use one of the uPNP controllers on your tablet/phone (my current pick is BubbleUPNP although it's not free) in conjunction with Plex or whatever uPNP server you can install. I have Plex server running on unRAID so it's the full Linux version as compared to Synology where it might be a bit cut down. Certainly is no configuration required after initial setup for me (all via a web interface)

Still requires a tablet or phone to select and press play.

I like Plex too, but I've had similar issues with it and Chromecast. I've recently been having problems casting my phone's screen to the Chromecast without dropping connection, so I'm not sure it's entirely Plex's fault. Casting Chrome tabs from my laptop seems to work without a hitch...

I am. Plex is the only app having the trouble on my phone. The other apps on my phone which Chromecast (including the DS Video app casting the same content from the same NAS) work fine.

Related announcement today from Google: http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/01/05/...ected-speakers/

Along the same vein, the easiest solution I can think of, but also likely the most expensive, is this puppy: http://www.sonos.com/shop/products/connect

Also not yet mentioned in this thread:

Either get an amplifier that supports bluetooth, or get a bluetooth receiver to plug into one of the amp's inputs.

Or heck, just get a cord to plug the headphone jack of the playback device into the amp.

For what it's worth, when I had to solve the same problem that Roger is tackling, I ended up punting to the cloud, uploading everything to Google Music (which just barely fit under their 20k file limit), and paying for the "unlimited" monthly service on top of that so I'd theoretically never have to buy CDs ever again.

It took days for everything to upload, and this leveraging my work machine with its gigabit pipe to the Internet -- this process runs nowhere near line speed, and you're limited to MP3 as the sole file format they support, although they're perfectly happy with high bitrate MP3s. Since I'd previously ripped everything to Apple Lossless, it wasn't a big deal to do the conversion. The total size of the full MP3 dataset is roughly 130GB, also fitting now into a flash stick costing $40 and suitable for various automotive uses. (The future!)

And in the end, it really does work. I have an "offline" button on my tablet, allowing it to cache my collection for when I'm on an airplane. I have the Chromecast interface at home, easily driven and searched via tablet or phone. And at my desk, the browser interface does the right thing.

Honestly, my only complaint is that they don't really have a decent concept of a "family" mode, wherein I can hook my wife's and daughter's phones/tablets into my account, allowing them access to our music. All you can do today is add '[email protected]' as an account on their devices giving them full access to everything (mail, calendar, etc.). That's fine for my wife, but it's decidedly not fine for my daughter.

^ That's one area where something like Sonos really shines. They recently added the ability to set up multiple accounts for each service. For example, I have Pandora set up with both my and wifey's accounts and each of our stations & thumbs ups available.

For Roger's scenario plug the Sonos Connect to the amp, stream straight from the Synology over wifi, and control it from any wifi connected device in the house.

That's one nice thing about Plex... If you configure things properly, you can access your media stored on your plex server via the public internet. So the benefits of cloud without needing to upload everything.

When everything is set up right, it's transparent: Fire up the Plex app on the phone and get the same content regardless of whether you're on the same LAN as your NAS or on the internet.

In fact, Google Play Music can cast to Sonos directly from the app. I had hoped that this capability would be extended to all Chromecast-capable apps, but it looks like this is some special thing that only the Play Music app can do. It's a shame, because the inability to use my podcast app with Sonos is the only reason I don't have a Sonos speaker in my home right now. Sonos is abysmal for podcast listening.

Dan, I'm not all that excited about that announcement. You can already cast audio to a normal Chromecast and control it from the phone (you don't need the video). The only announcement there is that they'll be working with manufacturers to remove the need for an HDMI adapter with a headphone jack.

What I'm really hoping for is for Chromecast to add Sonos-like multi-room audio. That might not be possible with current hardware, but I hope someone does it. As great as Sonos is, the Sonos app is pretty bad.

Matt,

That's good to know. I just ran across this and was curious if this solves the podcast problem or not: http://www.connectedly.com/sonos-adds-podcasts-its-streaming-lineup-spreaker. I don't listen to podcasts myself, but as the goto tech for a lot of my family and friends, I like to be informed.

It's an OK solution, but it requires you to use that Spreaker service. I'm an avid podcast listener, and part of it is finding your preferred method of listening to the content. I've been an avid user of Doggcatcher on Android for five years, and I have it set up exactly as I want it. My wife also uses it on her phone, but unlike music listening, it's much more about keeping track of what you've listened to and where you are in your current episode. I'd prefer to use the app I'm comfortable with.

The best thing about the Spreaker announcement is that Sonos can stop pointing people to the other way they've been suggesting to listen to podcasts: that the app could look at your local files on your phone, which are often gibberish file names. You wouldn't be able to pick up where you left off listening in your app, but the content would be there. Clearly, I wasn't a fan of this solution.

The only answer I could come up with for my wife and I to listen to our podcast apps on a Sonos system was the following:

- buy the Play:5, which is the most expensive of the regular Sonos speakers at $399! This is because it's the only model that has audio in.
- attach an HDMI to VGA adapter to the line in on the Play:5
- plug a Chromecast into the adapter

This way I could Chromecast to the line in of the Play:5, and other Sonos speakers could get their source from that line in. It's not at all elegant, but it's currently the only way to play my podcasts around my home on synchronized speakers using the app I want to use.

This is why I eagerly await some sort of announcement that Chromecast will add Sonos-like capabilities.

Good stuff. Thank you.

The other thing you can do is plug a USB dac into the synology. Yes, it will send audio out of that too.

https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/tutorials/499

Synology boxes are made by most excellent geeks.