DIY Affordable Android Streamer for Spotify with NAS playback support.

[KiranPS]

Hi All,

Like a lot of DIYers, RPI was the go to SBC for inexpensive Audio Streamer. With Allo BOSS , the audio quality (IMHO) was amazing for a fraction of the cost of other commercial streamers. The challenge with RPI and VOLUMIO now is that , RPI is hard to come by these days. Spotify has officially stopped supporting Spotify Connect and ShAirport is showing its age and some of my friends have had issues with newer IOS versions. I tried VOLUMIO on Intel NUC and was not 100% satisfied , then tried basic Ubuntu with MPD and YMPD for UI for NAS playback but this did not support streaming.

So I wanted a new solution with the following Features.

• High Power SBC with good processing and RAM.
• Android Based (So I could use Spotify or any Streaming App that's out there for android even obscure ones.)
• Support USB DAC (I plan to use this as a Digital Source Only. Good USB Dacs do isolation , re-clocking etc. )
• Mature Android directly from the OEM, maintained by the OEM.
• Ability to play files from my NAS (Using VLC and use android apps like Poweramp Music Player)
• Control the device from a PC or IPAD.

I could not use RPI 4/5 because Android on it is a little iffy on it . The RPI foundation only provides RASPBIAN / Ubuntu.

After considering many Android SBCs I settled on ODROID N2+ . It came in a 4GB variant and had good processing power in its class. The main SOC (Amlogic S922X) is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A73 and a dual core Cortex-A53 with a Mali-G52.

After getting the SBC , I got a wide screen LCD (WavShare 7.9inch Capacitive Touch Screen LCD, 400×1280) to give it a more of a streamer look.

I used Android 9 from Hard Kernel, there are third party versions for N2+ all the way to 13 and support for GApps.

Flashed the EMMC module with android and the board booted up without any issues. Touch worked out of the box and I reduced the font size, sideloaded VLC , Spotify and VNC Server and I was on my way, I have not installed GApps yet. I was able to use touch or an IPAD with VNC Client to control the device.
I then designed an enclosure and used laser cut 5mm acrylic to make it and here it is.




Running Spotify Premium.



Wanted to keep this post short, If anyone wants detailed build pics , DXF files for laser cutting etc, or have other questions please feel free to reply here.

 

[mbhangui]

Hi All,

Like a lot of DIYers, RPI was the go to SBC for inexpensive Audio Streamer. With Allo BOSS , the audio quality (IMHO) was amazing for a fraction of the cost of other commercial streamers. The challenge with RPI and VOLUMIO now is that , RPI is hard to come by these days. Spotify has officially stopped supporting Spotify Connect and ShAirport is showing its age and some of my friends have had issues with newer IOS versions. I tried VOLUMIO on Intel NUC and was not 100% satisfied , then tried basic Ubuntu with MPD and YMPD for UI for NAS playback but this did not support streaming.

So I wanted a new solution with the following Features.

• High Power SBC with good processing and RAM.
• Android Based (So I could use Spotify or any Streaming App that's out there for android even obscure ones.)
• Support USB DAC (I plan to use this as a Digital Source Only. Good USB Dacs do isolation , re-clocking etc. )
• Mature Android directly from the OEM, maintained by the OEM.
• Ability to play files from my NAS (Using VLC and use android apps like Poweramp Music Player)
• Control the device from a PC or IPAD.

I could not use RPI 4/5 because Android on it is a little iffy on it . The RPI foundation only provides RASPBIAN / Ubuntu.

After considering many Android SBCs I settled on ODROID N2+ . It came in a 4GB variant and had good processing power in its class. The main SOC (Amlogic S922X) is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A73 and a dual core Cortex-A53 with a Mali-G52.

After getting the SBC , I got a wide screen LCD (WavShare 7.9inch Capacitive Touch Screen LCD, 400×1280) to give it a more of a streamer look.

I used Android 9 from Hard Kernel, there are third party versions for N2+ all the way to 13 and support for GApps.

Flashed the EMMC module with android and the board booted up without any issues. Touch worked out of the box and I reduced the font size, sideloaded VLC , Spotify and VNC Server and I was on my way, I have not installed GApps yet. I was able to use touch or an IPAD with VNC Client to control the device.
I then designed an enclosure and used laser cut 5mm acrylic to make it and here it is.


View attachment 81078

Running Spotify Premium.

View attachment 81079

Wanted to keep this post short, If anyone wants detailed build pics , DXF files for laser cutting etc, or have other questions please feel free to reply here.

Commendable build. I have the same waveshare display and currently I'm usimg it for running cantata to play the tracks with mpd as the engine. The touch screen is useful for operating mpd and also rating the songs. The OS is raspbian. No third party scripts like volumio, moode, etc. What is missing is the ability to display spotify on the screen. I will be contacting you sometime after mid Nov as I need to build an enclosure. I'm a noob in these laser cutting and things. You can have a good laugh at my crude wooden enclosure. The crude thing has a power button too to shutdown the RPI cleanly.

 

[DAB]

How much the damages incurred??

 

[KiranPS]

How much the damages incurred??

ODroid 12.5k INR
Display 7.6k
Emmc 4.5k
Enclosure 1.5k (Acrylic and Cutting)
Accessories like Aluminium feet , HDMI F-M etc.

Total about INR 27,000 in material (also Iterations on other boards etc) , add a couple of dozen hours for research , design , Software install etc in Time.

 

[jaiwant_alex]

Very nice build. What bit rates are you getting on the local files played through VLC/Poweramp ?

 

[KiranPS]

Very nice build. What bit rates are you getting on the local files played through VLC/Poweramp ?

I am getting 96k on the DAC display for all files. I need to dig deeper to understand if android is up-sampling everything.

I have installed FooBar2000 Android and MiniDLNA on the NAS, feel this is easier than VLC.

 

[mbhangui]

I am getting 96k on the DAC display for all files. I need to dig deeper to understand if android is up-sampling everything.

I have installed FooBar2000 Android and MiniDLNA on the NAS, feel this is easier than VLC.

The android audio system in the OS does a fixed sampling rate like macbooks and apple tv. You have to use a player that doesn't use the android audio subsystem. USB audio pro is one such player (it is paid but not at all costly). I use USB audio pro on android along with miniDLNA on my RPI. It also has the ability to use SMB or NFS.

 

[KiranPS]

The android audio system in the OS does a fixed sampling rate like macbooks and apple tv. You have to use a player that doesn't use the android audio subsystem. USB audio pro is one such player (it is paid but not at all costly). I use USB audio pro on android along with miniDLNA on my RPI. It also has the ability to use SMB or NFS.

I have not installed GApps or Google Play services (play store etc.) so sticking to only reliable APKs that I can sideload. FooBar2000 seems to use OpenCL and the sound quality is pretty good IMO.

I installed Neutron Music Player and it supports Direct USB and Matching the output to the source. I was able to play 192k and 352k files .
I guess Android 14 is supposed to get this natively, Tidal and Spotify will probably use that.

 

[KiranPS]

Build Update : Version 2.0 of the same Android player with 7 inch Display . After using it for a while I felt the odd resolution in the 7.9 inch LCD has usability issues with some apps, so removed it and used a standard 7in WaveShare Capacitive Touch Display. I also finally installed GApps so I can get any play store app instead of sideloading. I was able to install Neutron Player and its able to play 24 bit 96,192 and 352.8 Khz files without any issue. Internals are exactly same. This time I put the extra holes so that the same acrylic enclosure can also accommodate RPI 3/4 with BOSS . I can share the Laser Cut DXF files if someone needs it.




Neutron Player playing a hires file.


Spotify looks much better now...

 

[mbhangui]

Hi @KiranPS, I have loved both of your builds. I have sent you a PM regarding this. I want to build something for myself. I need your help and guidance. I have two of these waveshare 7.9" displays and two spare RPI3b+. I have done the software part for control part in making this as a controller and display for all my streamers at home. I will make a post in the DIY section later.