Option for streaming deezer to rpi

[audionutz]

I wondered if anyone could suggest a set up for me. I want to stream deezer to my pi wireless, using my tablet or LT as the control. Currently I have to connect my dac to my LT which means a long ass cord across the room. I want to be able to stream and control volume remotely. If it could also stream from a dhd that would be even better.I have been looking at options but quite frankly I,m overwhelmed by all the formats ans streaming software etc. I am hoping someone can dumb it down a bit for me.

[Cebolla]

Specifics here Mr/Ms, otherwise you'll get general answers that'll likely not apply and/or confuse you even further.

 

For example:

What's an LT (assuming laptop, but you never know)?

 

If laptop, what's the Operating System + version (eg Windows 10)?

 

What's the tablet's Operating System + version (eg Android Marshmallow/6.0)?

 

You can probably get away with Pi for Raspberry Pi, but what version is it?

 

What Operating System + version are you using on the Pi (eg Raspbian Jessie)?

 

If the Pi's Operating System / Linux distro doesn't come with a network audio file player/streamer built-in, do you have a preference?

[audionutz]

Sorry I guess I should'nt have been so general. Right now I use a chromebook With a usb dac. I just bought a new tablet. Im not sure about the android but i assume it would be the most recent or at least very close to it. I have tried volumio,moode,rune. on my pie with limited results. The best luck I had was with volumio but It doesnt do deezer and there were some issues with the volume control being very unpredictable. I have two pi's a 2b and a 3. I have played around with raspian and a bit of ubuntu but i'm far from an expert.I also have a cd collection I ripped into flac and stored on a hard drive. I am trying to sort out what OS would suit my needs and be reasonably easy to set up and use and of course maintain audio quality.

[Cebolla]

Talking about moving the goalposts! Adding a previously unmentioned FLAC file collection stored on some HDD into the mix isn't subtle, however casually you mention it.

 

Assuming no other 'surprises', it's unfortunate that the laptop is a Chromebook, as it really narrows down your options. Had it been running one of the big three OSs (ie, Windows, OS X & Linux), then you could have used it as the media file server and/or Deezer client for the Pi to network stream from. As a Chromebook, all you can really use it for in your proposed setup is as a controller for the software on the Pi. If you were using a Chromecast Audio as the streamer instead of the Pi, then the Chromebook would have been more useful, especially if it's a relatively new one.

 

Your best bet, assuming the storage drive is a USB HDD, is to get the Pi to do more or less everything by attaching the HDD to it and using the good old reliable and still well supported Squeezebox / Logitech Media Server streaming system. The Chromebook & Android tablet will be used to just run the Squeezebox controller and LMS configuation apps (via a web browser). As the Squeezebox type streamers' audio file server, LMS can be used to stream from online music services, such as Deezer, as well as provide FLAC file tracks, locally or over the network, from its media library.

 

So the idea is to run both LMS (to provide the Squeezebox streamer with your stored FLAC files and access to Deezer) and the Squeezebox streamer (using the Squeezelite Squeezebox emulator software) on the Raspberry Pi. It so happens that there's a decent distro for the Pi that can give you just that - piCorePlayer:

A combined LMS server and Squeezebox player

 

LMS provides access to the stored audio files and internet radio by default. For Deezer access, you'll also need install the icKStream LMS plugin component (you can use ickStream for other online services too, eg, TIDAL & Qobuz):

ickStream Open Beta for Squeezebox

 

The LMS provided web browser Squeezebox controller app should be ok to use on both the Chromebook and the Android tablet. However, there are several Chrome and Android Squeezebox controller apps available for you to also try.

 

Volume control might still be an issue, as that's entirely dependant on the DAC you are using with the Pi and the Linux distro's audio support. It may prove unsolvable, in which case you'll need to consider either changing your DAC or adding a preamp in the chain.

[audionutz]

Thank you for taking the time to go through all of this for me. The dac I am using is the audioengine dac1. I am quite satisfied with it although at some point I will no doubt want to step up to a better one but that wont be for a while.I did actually play around with Picoreplayer I think it was the squeezebox thing that discouraged me as I have no experience with it at all. I can install a linux distro on my chromebook. I have done it in the past but not for audio use. I can set it up to switch back and forth between the OS's or remove chrome entirely. The flac files are something new to me as well so its still a bit of a novelty to me. It isnt however a "must have" I already had everything to do it so I wanted to try it out. I can stream anything I have ripped so its not a huge deal. A pre amp is coming as well once I can finish building it, for now I use the dac 1's headphone amp as sort of a pre amp. If one of the big three had worked out I would consider switching back to spotify. I was never able to get moode working at all, Rune worked great but there was a very noticeable change in audio quality when using the software volume mode.Volumio seemed less affected in that department but many times it would just randomly revert back to Hardware mode and the volume would skyrocket. Quite annoying.

So before I take another look at picore is there a particular linux distro you would recommend. If it can be installed on my chrome book it might be a better option. As far as volume control I have already come to the conclusion that It might have to be a motorized unit with remote jerry rigged to my dac until it is put into the pre amp.

[Cebolla]

The Squeezelite player application is just software that emulates the now defunct Logitech Squeezebox range of audio file streaming devices. So not really much you need to do with it once installed. The Logitech Media Server software can be a bit tricky to configure, but its default settings and the installation of the ickStream plugin component (for Deezer) I mentioned is all that's required for your setup.

 

I should have made it clearer in that it's not just the OS that Chromebooks use, that's the problem. There's also the issue of their widely varying ARM based hardware for the different models that are out there. So it'll be really difficult to get pre-built audio software applications that'll work properly with Chromebooks, even if you do manage to install some sort of Linux distro on them.

 

However, you did say you've got two Raspberry Pi's. How about using the Pi 2 as the non-audio critical device to run the piCorePlayer distro with just the LMS software on it to take care of the attached HDD and Deezer connectivity? You could then move the Pi 2 close enough to your router to be able to connect to it by ethernet cable. It'll also free the better spec'd Pi 3 from the burden of audio file server & Deezer connection handling duties, to just use Squeezelite player software to decode & play audio file streams from the Pi 2 and Deezer, outputting the audio to your DAC.

 

Shame you couldn't get Moode Audio working, because the latest version has actually got a built-in Squeezelite player.

[audionutz]

Ya I was disappointed about moode as well. Wanted to try all three for comparison. I tried a couple of different times but I was never able to get any sound. I suspect it doesnt play well with my dac. I had posted on the moode forum but go no response. If it has the squeezelite installed it may be worth some more effort because it would pretty much do what I need.

[Cebolla]

Indeed DACs are the usual suspects, but given that at least one of the other similar distros worked, I wouldn't have thought it to be unsolveable with Moode. Surprised about your response from Moode support. Did you ask for help here? @TimCurtis is usually very supportive in the CA Moode thread:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/moode-audio-player-raspberry-pi-23858/

[audionutz]

Well dont ask me how or why but I now have moode working .It took a couple of hrs of configuring and I honestly dont know why but it suddenly started working and hasnt flinched since. Just now tweaking it for the best sound. I already have Bubble upnp on my phone which has already added moode to it. I still have not figured out the deezer issue though.