DIY Raspberry pi 4 + DAC + Android = Tidal, Spotify & Apple Music

[vdevgon]

For Hi-Res there no option other than running the native apple music app on mac, IOS, android (and now linux). Airplay will do just 44.1kHz.

As of now the only solution for RPI I see is using the snapstore on the RPI to install apple music app on the RPI. I can't use this because I run all my RPI headless. The snapstore method will require you to connect a monitor, desktop and keyboard to the RPI and run the apple music on the Raspbian Desktop. Also running the RPI in run level 5 (graphical target) means more CPU will be used for non-music purpose. The ARM based processor even though they run at high clock rates, they really cannot match the brute force of a desktop/laptop. But if someone wants to run apple music on RPI, the other way is to enable VNC on the RPI and use the laptop to connect to the RPI over vnc and then run apple music

For this reason alone what I have done is repurposed a 2012 Macmini, hacked it to run OSX Ventura and use apple music on the macmini desktop. Then I use vnc on my Fedora laptop or my macbook to connect to the mac mini and run apple music. In my case the mac mini is also running headless and theoretically RPI also should provide the same functionality. But I have been using apple music on mac mini since almost 2 years. The snapstore version of apple music has just come recently.

Spotify is a much better app. You don't have to do all this jugglery to play music. It is truly platform independent. The spotify app can be running anywhere and the music can be played from any other damn device. Airplay is almost like spotify, but it will not be an option on even one music app on linux (the service version is through available).

This is how my mac mini appears using vnc on my laptop. I can also make it full screen so that my laptop screen entirely mirrors the mac mini screen.
View attachment 80681

Thanks for bringing out the limittaions of rpi setup. i guess getting an old apple tv with a dac connected to optical output would be better option. what do u suggest?

 

[vdevgon]

For Hi-Res there no option other than running the native apple music app on mac, IOS, android (and now linux). Airplay will do just 44.1kHz.

As of now the only solution for RPI I see is using the snapstore on the RPI to install apple music app on the RPI. I can't use this because I run all my RPI headless. The snapstore method will require you to connect a monitor, desktop and keyboard to the RPI and run the apple music on the Raspbian Desktop. Also running the RPI in run level 5 (graphical target) means more CPU will be used for non-music purpose. The ARM based processor even though they run at high clock rates, they really cannot match the brute force of a desktop/laptop. But if someone wants to run apple music on RPI, the other way is to enable VNC on the RPI and use the laptop to connect to the RPI over vnc and then run apple music

For this reason alone what I have done is repurposed a 2012 Macmini, hacked it to run OSX Ventura and use apple music on the macmini desktop. Then I use vnc on my Fedora laptop or my macbook to connect to the mac mini and run apple music. In my case the mac mini is also running headless and theoretically RPI also should provide the same functionality. But I have been using apple music on mac mini since almost 2 years. The snapstore version of apple music has just come recently.

Spotify is a much better app. You don't have to do all this jugglery to play music. It is truly platform independent. The spotify app can be running anywhere and the music can be played from any other damn device. Airplay is almost like spotify, but it will not be an option on even one music app on linux (the service version is through available).

This is how my mac mini appears using vnc on my laptop. I can also make it full screen so that my laptop screen entirely mirrors the mac mini screen.
View attachment 80681

apple music lossless is what attracts me to it over spotify

 

[mbhangui]

Thanks for bringing out the limittaions of rpi setup. i guess getting an old apple tv with a dac connected to optical output would be better option. what do u suggest?

If you have an existing ATV, use it. The only issue is I think it resamples everything to 48 kHz. Apart from Mac Mini I use Airport Express which does 44.1 kHz music bit perfectly and lossless. Since most of apple's music is 44.1 kHz, it would be good for most of the music.These AE devices, since they were discontinued, come very cheap on OLX, etc.

 

[vdevgon]

If you have an existing ATV, use it. The only issue is I think it resamples everything to 48 kHz. Apart from Mac Mini I use Airport Express which does 44.1 kHz music bit perfectly and lossless. Since most of apple's music is 44.1 kHz, it would be good for most of the music.These AE devices, since they were discontinued, come very cheap on OLX, etc.

yes realising it now as i am reading more about it. so rpi+raspbian+snap+apple music app seems best choice till now.

 

[vdevgon]

So got my RPi 4 and IQaudio Dac Pro, yesterday.
Installed Lineage OS 18.1, Google services, fiddled around with the DAC settings. Built a prototype Finally some decent results.
View attachment 60959
Apple Music plays 24Bits 96khz maximum over DAC. Even Tidal plays highres songs.

View attachment 60957View attachment 60956View attachment 60958View attachment 60960View attachment 60954

Waiting for my touchscreen, till then using my 10yr old sony bravia which had gone kaput(screen turned purple) but started working on its own with some lines on top when I plugged my laptop and pi in.
View attachment 60955

Does anyone get bitrate above 96khz on RPi + DAC combo?
Any app to show live bitrate.

Few things in pipiline:
Get power button working
Test DAC and tests output
Touch screen implementation
Adding second screen

how u managed to install apple music app on this

 

[mbhangui]

yes realising it now as i am reading more about it. so rpi+raspbian+snap+apple music app seems best choice till now.

I believe it is not good. @jaiwant_alex already tried this and says not to waste effort. Use your existing ATV or get an AE. All other solutions will be very costly (macbook, iphone, ipad, etc).

 

[amrutmhatre90]

how u managed to install apple music app on this

Hi buddy,

This was a Android Build, so supported playstore. I would advice going this route unless you want to tinker with things and so on.
I was done with tinkering, wanted something plug and play, went with Wiim Mini > Wiim Pro > now with Eversolo

You can try out Volumio, it supports AirPlay

 

[vdevgon]

Hi buddy,

This was a Android Build, so supported playstore. I would advice going this route unless you want to tinker with things and so on.
I was done with tinkering, wanted something plug and play, went with Wiim Mini > Wiim Pro > now with Eversolo

You can try out Volumio, it supports AirPlay

u mean u would suggest
lineage os+google play store+apple music on rpi+allo boss2

i have volumio and airplay setup but airplay is limited to 48khz , just wanted to explore full capabilities of allo boss 2 and build a dedicated music player for apple music.
Thanks for your guidance.

 

[vdevgon]

I believe it is not good. @jaiwant_alex already tried this and says not to waste effort. Use your existing ATV or get an AE. All other solutions will be very costly (macbook, iphone, ipad, etc).

Thanks . what is AE pls

 

[mbhangui]

Thanks . what is AE pls

Airport Express. This is the first generation. The 2nd generation look exactly like apple tv but white in colour. This device is also a wireless N router. Can do PPOE too. Can also extend the wireless and also can do bridging between ethernet and wifi.

Apple AirPort Express Wi-Fi Hub-D/A processor

Usually, a Stereophile "Follow-Up" follows up (duh!) a full review of the component in question.

www.stereophile.com

Using Apple's AirPort Express with a DAC: A how-to guide

Apple's AirPort Express can output audio via fibre-optic cable, making it ideal for use in a high-end audio system. Our thrilling guide will tell you how

www.cnet.com

 

[amrutmhatre90]

have volumio and airplay setup but airplay is limited to 48khz , just wanted to explore full capabilities of allo boss 2 and build a dedicated music player for apple music.

Might be out of your budget, but get Eversolo DMP-A6, this does Apple music natively and Hi-Res too

 

[vdevgon]

Might be out of your budget, but get Eversolo DMP-A6, this does Apple music natively and Hi-Res too

Thanks for the suggestion. But i am not looking for an out of box solution. Would like to make a similar setup with rpi + allo boss2 + android. Any suggestions in that direction would be welcome.

 

[mbhangui]

Thanks for the suggestion. But i am not looking for an out of box solution. Would like to make a similar setup with rpi + allo boss2 + android. Any suggestions in that direction would be welcome.

I had tried this some time back https://emteria.com/blog/android-on-raspberry-pi

It worked but android being android, it was taking more cpu and memory compared to raspbian. So I dropped it. Just get another microsd card and burn the image. Connect a display, mouse and keyboard and follow the on-screen instructions. After the setup is through, see if the boss2 I2C device gets recognized. All linux distributions now come with the device driver for allo, but google is a different animal. So you might just need to check if boss2 works on android.

 

[vdevgon]

I had tried this some time back https://emteria.com/blog/android-on-raspberry-pi

It worked but android being android, it was taking more cpu and memory compared to raspbian. So I dropped it. Just get another microsd card and burn the image. Connect a display, mouse and keyboard and follow the on-screen instructions. After the setup is through, see if the boss2 I2C device gets recognized. All linux distributions now come with the device driver for allo, but google is a different animal. So you might just need to check if boss2 works on android.

Thanks for sharing. I will go with raspbian + snapcraft+ apple music. will share my experience

 

[vdevgon]

So got my RPi 4 and IQaudio Dac Pro, yesterday.
Installed Lineage OS 18.1, Google services, fiddled around with the DAC settings. Built a prototype Finally some decent results.
View attachment 60959
Apple Music plays 24Bits 96khz maximum over DAC. Even Tidal plays highres songs.

View attachment 60957View attachment 60956View attachment 60958View attachment 60960View attachment 60954

Waiting for my touchscreen, till then using my 10yr old sony bravia which had gone kaput(screen turned purple) but started working on its own with some lines on top when I plugged my laptop and pi in.
View attachment 60955

Does anyone get bitrate above 96khz on RPi + DAC combo?
Any app to show live bitrate.

Few things in pipiline:
Get power button working
Test DAC and tests output
Touch screen implementation
Adding second screen

i am unable to boot from lineage os 20 flashed on usb disk in my rpi 4. it just keeps coming back to rpi screen. i am using 7" waveshare touch screen display. pls guide.

 

[mbhangui]

i am unable to boot from lineage os 20 flashed on usb disk in my rpi 4. it just keeps coming back to rpi screen. i am using 7" waveshare touch screen display. pls guide.

It is easier to have another microsd card and burn android on it and then boot from the microsd card.

There is some amount of setup required to boot from usb. Have you followed that?

 

[vdevgon]

It is easier to have another microsd card and burn android on it and then boot from the microsd card.

There is some amount of setup required to boot from usb. Have you followed that?

i tried from microsd too , it takes endless time and there is no response on display. but activity led on rpi keeps blinking, i checked that rpi with firmware sep 2020 boots from usb automatically. my raspbian was booting from usb automatically and working well.

 

[mbhangui]

i tried from microsd too , it takes endless time and there is no response on display. but activity led on rpi keeps blinking, i checked that rpi with firmware sep 2020 boots from usb automatically. my raspbian was booting from usb automatically and working well.

If this was already booted from usb earlier, then the problem is with the image burnt on the usb. What you should do is not use the 7" display. Is it from waveshare? The waveshare display is notorious. You have to use it's proprietary driver and without the driver the display doesn't work. I had this problem with my 7.9" waveshare display and ultimately connected it to my TV to do the setup for android. Also the linux boot image is on the microsd. So I'm not sure if the linux boot image can use a androod rootfs. So do everything from the microsd card. Once you have done the complete setup, we can copy the androod rootfs from the microsd card to the usb disk. I will guide you how to do that. But that is after you have successfully booted the android microsd card.

 

[vdevgon]

If this was already booted from usb earlier, then the problem is with the image burnt on the usb. What you should do is not use the 7" display. Is it from waveshare? The waveshare display is notorious. You have to use it's proprietary driver and without the driver the display doesn't work. I had this problem with my 7.9" waveshare display and ultimately connected it to my TV to do the setup for android. Also the linux boot image is on the microsd. So I'm not sure if the linux boot image can use a androod rootfs. So do everything from the microsd card. Once you have done the complete setup, we can copy the androod rootfs from the microsd card to the usb disk. I will guide you how to do that. But that is after you have successfully booted the android microsd card.

ok thanks a lot for the pointers, very useful. yes its waveshare display. will get a monitor and use the same. thanks again.

 

[vdevgon]

Finally the project is complete, more than happy with the sound output and quality. Streaming Hi-Res Apple Music and Tidal now at 88khz or 96khz too

Some pictures of the progress

View attachment 61528

The Prototype - was bulky and needed lot of acrylic sheets. Dropped the plan.
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Final Outcome
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View attachment 61540
Size comparison with the 3090 Q Accoustics centre speaker.

Used a small plastic box. Can keep it vertical or drop it flat, small compact as a tiffin. As suggested by @Black_Hawk need to make some ventilation holes to keep insides from getting warm and hot.

Capacitive touch screen is silky smooth. Pi runs very smooth and no hiccups at all.

which lineage os u have used. i tried lineage os 20 on sd card and connected my tv via hdmi to my rpi 4 and it seems like inifinity. no display on tv except intial rpi rom text,