Anyone use Volumio as a music player?

gudnoyez

https://volumio.org/

https://snakeoilsound.com/collections/frontpage/products/snake-oil-streamer

Anyone use Volumio as a Music Player? The reason I'm asking is I'm looking to get this Streamer off of Snake Oil Audio to use with my Schitt Stack.

This will make the stack o Schitt some what portable as I will be able to stream Wi Fi using this instead of lugging around a laptop. If I want to leave the comforts of the desktop and say move to the Lazyboy sitting the stack o Schitt on the nightstand next to it, or maybe move to the Couch or out on the Deck it's going to be a lot easier with out lugging the laptop along to wherever I may roam.

I'm just worried about this Volumio player I like simplicity in a music player without the hassle of always having to mess with it. In other words I dont want to get this streamer if Volumio is a (Schitty) 🤣 player. Hearing from one of you that have it or had it as a music player will help me out. Gotta admit that streamer is a pretty good idea. Volumio anyone?

Kex

I believe that @EndersShadow posted about using it in his WFH setup earlier today...

gudnoyez

Kex wrote: »

I believe that @EndersShadow posted about using it in his WFH setup earlier today...

Thanks just read his thread that's my worry not sure what a raspberry pi is I'm assuming I wont need that to run Volumio I'm only looking to stream Flac files and Tidal to it. I will have to PM Enders on it.

Kex

A Raspberry Pi is a tiny cheap computer that (usually) runs Linux, but yeah... you can run Volumio on PC’s and Macs as well.

gudnoyez

I'm only wanting to put the app on a spare android or a galaxy tab and stream to that Snake Oil Audio Streamer.

machone

I have no experience with Volumio but I run Picoreplayer on a RPi and it sounds very good. It took me a while to set it up but it was worth it.

msg

+10 on piCorePlayer. It's definitely worth the effort.
I use this with the HiFiBerry DAC in my main space desktop system with Audioengine HD3s and a sub and it's fantastic.

You can get the HiFiBerry Digi "Pi hat" for it instead of the DAC, and then you can connect it to your Schiit stack if you like. You might even be able to do this without the additional Digi Pi hat if your Schiit DAC has USB input. I've been meaning to try this to see if it works.

Check this out for some ideas. This case also comes in black, too, which is what I built. Made one for Darryl a while back he posted up on.
https://www.hifiberry.com/

Here's some stuff they have:

If you wanted to try this, Steve, it would make a fun project a few of us could hop in on to help you get it running. It's not too hard and it's not a crap shoot. It'll definitely work. Fun if you like to tinker, but once it's set up, all you do is use it.

With piCorePlayer, you can control it over a web interface, or using the Orange Squeeze app on Android, or iPeng on iOS. Those are one-time pay apps, but very much worth the money.

Click this to pull up a Google search on the forum to view some threads here on what others have done with Raspberry Pi players:
https://www.google.com/search?q=raspberry+pi+site:forum.polkaudio.com

erniejade

Talk to Skip on Volumio as well. Not only do they have software but they also have a streamer.

EndersShadow

Volumio is pretty slick and easy to use. I control the player via my phone (paid like 4 bucks for the app).

I tried using a couple other players but just liked Volumio better.

WLDock

There was a discussion back in 2019 and I was really interested in getting the Volumio Primo streamer.
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2485139#Comment_2485139
I've researched it but yet to try it out. It really seems like a nice player.

gudnoyez

Audio Thesis sells them they are definitely ones worth looking into.

WLDock

gudnoyez wrote: »

Audio Thesis sells them they are definitely ones worth looking into.

Interesting! Derek was in that discussion back then so I guess he was intrigued. I hadn't seen anyone talking about the Primo on here is why I posted the links.

maxward

I’m also interested in the Primo (and giving Skip a call). I am waffling between it and the Bluesound Node 2i for $300 less. It would boil down to which app is more user friendly and SQ.

strider

When my system was set up for streaming audio only, I used Volumio running on a Raspberry Pi. For the price, the functionality is very good. Used my phone as a remote, I don't recall paying anything for the app but my memory gets fuzzy when the subject of audio gear purchases and cost comes up. Set up of Volumio was similar to the other streaming programs I've tried. Never got around to trying the upgraded "pay to play" Volumio options. To my ears Volumio sounded fine. I switched back to JRiver Media Center after I had the need to stream movies again. Between those two programs, JRiver is my choice.

billbillw

I tried Volumio back when I made the switch from a laptop streaming to a dedicated DAC and a tiny "thin client" computer to stream. I believe I was interfacing with it over IP from any web browser. The interface was confusing to me and if I recall, I didn't like the way it played back files. It didn't automatically play songs in album track order or something like that. That was many years ago though and I might not have given it enough of a chance. I think I tried it for a day or two, then loaded Daphile and found it to be much more intuitive, but perhaps not as visually appealing. I've been running Daphile ever since. Both Volumio and Daphile (along with several other options) are very light Linux operating systems that are designed only to play audio. I think Daphile is more geared to x86 hardware.

If you haven't explored the idea of using a thin client, take a look at what's available on eBay. I have picked up several along the years, usually for $30 or less. That usually includes a fanless thin client with a small SSD (8-16GB is plenty for a streamer), 2-4GB RAM, AC wifi, and a power supply. The thin client can hide behind your rack and only have a USB running to the DAC. They tend to be more powerful than the Pi offerings, but obviously not as small.

EDIT: If you want to look into the thin client route, this website has a lot of details on various common models.
https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/
I tend to stick to Dell/Wyse and HP since they tend to be reliable and plentiful.

strider

My recollection of the playback functionality is similar to Bill's. I don't recall exactly what was odd about playback, but do recall consistently having to go back to Volumio to redo something to get the music selections playing like I'd wanted. Bill also brings up a good point regarding the thin client. Running programs on Windows is much more comfortable to me than running Linux, which is another reason I switched away from Volumio.

billbillw

strider wrote: »

Bill also brings up a good point regarding the thin client. Running programs on Windows is much more comfortable to me than running Linux, which is another reason I switched away from Volumio.

I wasn't suggesting to use a thin client to run windows. That would probably be dreadfully slow. I know because I tried to do that on a couple of the ones I have. I personally prefer Linux based setups for "appliance" type units. I ran windows streaming for some time and was always frustrated by updates, and other quirks that come with Windows. The Linux setups are fast, stable, and they are non-intrusive. They don't interfere in audio stream either, allowing bit-perfect playback, which is more difficult to achieve in Windows. Linux just works!