Gav's World : Multimedia System : Music

Multimedia System - Music

Primary Listening

The primary way that I listen to music is in the living room with this setup:

Server Side

The server has our entire CD collection ripped and encoded as FLAC. The music directory is exported as a read-only NFS mount so that the likes of the Media PC can mount it directly into the file-system.

Client Side

Installed onto the Raspberry Pi Media PC is Kodi and the preferred (as it doesn't require the TV to be switched on) Music Player Daemon. Both can play FLAC directly to the Marantz NR1504 audio / video receiver hooked up to a pair of Kef iQ5SE floor standing speakers. MPD actually directs its output to a Fanmusic FM-6011 USB-S/PDIF adaptor to get the FLAC digitally all the way to the amplifier - since it's built in DAC is far superior to that of the Raspberry Pi.

Kodi can be controlled directly from the TV remote control or Kore (Kodi remote) from our phones / tablets. MPD can be controlled via any number of ways:

MPDroid on Android phones / tablets (others available too)
Music Player Client on Linux desktop PCs
Fookebox on any PC with a web server (happens to be installed on the Media PC)
Plus any of these other clients

Other Ways of Listening

Server Side

The house server also runs Twonkymedia server which is a UPnP / DLNA server. It has access to our entire CD collection, but encoded as MP3 for the Philips Streamiums that can only handle mp3 audio.

For any devices that can actually handle FLAC (The Marantx NR1504 for example), the FLAC files are served by the MiniDLNA server, yet again on the house server.

Finally there is the Plex server which services Plex clients on phones / tablets / Chromecasts.

Client Side

There are many options for listening to music in the house: the simplest being on any computer connected to the network - all that's required is a program that picks up the UPnP / DLNA feeds.

However, what picks up the UPnP more often are the three Philips Streamium WAS6050/05 that are dotted around the house (and even in the garage). They have built in speakers, so are self contained systems, with their own screens and remote controls.

The TV also has the capability to stream music directly to it, however it's not a preferred option as it requires the TV to be on (obviously)!

The Obvious

We still have the CDs that all of the music on the server was ripped from. So, they can be played on the Sony UBP-X700 or indeed, any other CD player.