Summary first - I’m looking for software to use for web-controlled music playback. Main requirement is playback via a DAC on the hosting device and a half-decent UI for it (though streaming would be nice…).
Hardware-wise, I’ve currently got a Pi Zero W paired with a HiFiBerry DAC+ Zero, which has been fine for me quality-wise, routed as an aux input to an old HiFi. That, plus plenty of space elsewhere to host split apps - currently running Emby as a main streaming host for other media, and the media is just on a NAS pulling over NFS.
I’ve been using Volumio for a while, but have been frustrated with a few things (UI, playlist management, etc) so I’m looking for a change. Streaming from Emby/Jellyfin via DLNA looks like it might be a decent fallback, but I’m wondering if there are any nicer ways to handle it.
Any ideas? Open to switching a few bits of infrastructure around, of course :)
I would even go as far as to recommend checking out the project underlying Jellyfin integration, mopidy - it’s a well-rounded audio server, which allows you to play your local collection, network shares, as well as to integrate different external music services. Several front-ends are available as extensions, plus you can install additional extension to expose the MPD protocol, allowing you to control it remotely via one of many MPD clients.
For playback, you can install it on the Pi itself, or have it running on a separate machine, with the Pi itself running a low-complexity RTP receiver. :)
I second this approach and have it running since several years. Tried volumio/jelly and others but mpd/snap is the most flexible one. Spin up docker mopidy/snapserver/snapweb, and if required shairport. It basically enables you streaming like Sonos to other instances running snapclients connected to speakers. All controlled via webUI, or native apps or Airplay. My setup is controlled via homeassistant and handles playlist generation via custom bash scripts + syncing to Navidrome. Though, it may require some fiddling compared to other out-of-the-box but lesser flexible solutions, imho.