- PLEX MEDIA PLAYER RASPBERRY PI SOUND OUT OF AUX INSTALL
- PLEX MEDIA PLAYER RASPBERRY PI SOUND OUT OF AUX SOFTWARE
- PLEX MEDIA PLAYER RASPBERRY PI SOUND OUT OF AUX PC
Add a case for €7 and a 5V power supply for €8 and we have ourselves a network streamer for €50.
PLEX MEDIA PLAYER RASPBERRY PI SOUND OUT OF AUX PC
It’s tiny! This ‘Single Board Computer’ (SBC), that I sometimes call a ‘Small Board Computer’, offers the basic functionality of a Linux PC but with reduced processing power. Instead, we look to the world of Raspberry Pi (RPi)where greater potential user intervention brings with it greater potential complexity.
PLEX MEDIA PLAYER RASPBERRY PI SOUND OUT OF AUX SOFTWARE
If we wish to consciously decouple software from hardware, an off-the-shelf solution like a Bluesound or a Sonos won’t do. Bluesound calls the shots on software updates and, therefore, on product lifespan. One potential downside for a small number of power users: the BluOS operating system is inseparable from the Node 2/2i’s hardware. For power users, we note hi-res audio support, a subwoofer output and an analogue/TOSLINK input. A front-facing 3.5mm headphone socket brings headphone users into play. A touch panel gives us access to volume control, play/pause and track previous/next without having to pull up an app. The Aries Mini is now discontinued but in the last two years, Bluesound has carved itself a larger niche of the entry-level network streaming pie by developing BluOS – the software that runs on all Bluesound hardware and its associated smartphone and desktop apps – to a point where it now rivals Sonos on user-friendliness and setup ease. We know this because of better sounding – but lesser-known – alternatives like Bluesound’s Node 2i (€550) and AURALiC’s Aries Mini. Seemingly of secondary concern to both Sonos and Google was sound quality. Sonos – and to a lesser extent Google – built their market reputation on 1) being super easy to set up and, when the mainstream moved from downloads to streaming, 2) supporting an enormous range of streaming services. Perhaps the most recognised makes and models of network streamer are the Sonos Connect (now Sonos Port) and Google’s (now discontinued) Chromecast Audio. We talk to it over the network using a smartphone and/or desktop app. Where it differs from a Mac or PC is that we don’t give our network streamer instructions via a keyboard and mouse. In other words, a network streamer is a computer solely dedicated to audio playback. The DAC decodes the digital signal to analogue and sends it onto an amplifier. At its most basic level, it’s a computer made up of hardware and software whose only task is to receive a digital audio stream from a nearby server or the cloud via Ethernet or Wifi and pass it on to its own internal DAC – or an external DAC via USB.
PLEX MEDIA PLAYER RASPBERRY PI SOUND OUT OF AUX INSTALL
The software that we install onto our PC or Mac allows us to interface with the hardware: a keyboard and mouse allow us to tell the computer what to do a screen outputs visual feedback.Īnd its through the screen that we get to ‘see’ the operating system – usually Windows, MacOS or Linux – and any other applications we might have installed: MS Word, Adobe Photoshop or VLC.Ī network streamer is not too dissimilar to a PC or Mac. We can see the hardware if we pop the lid and take a peek inside: the CPU, the RAM, the storage (SSD or HDD) and the inputs/outputs (I/O). An Apple Macbook or Windows-based PC is made up of two fundamentals: the hardware and the software that runs on the hardware.
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