Looks like kodi might be back in the audiophile game

[anewmission]

i have been doing alot of research as of late as to which operating systems to use for my 3 different systems in the house.

 

currently using snakeoil os in my listening room and i love it! 

the only problem i have with it is remote applications from my phone, alot of the time upmpdcli and tidal dont have fun together..

 

my main needs or wants rather are a linux based operating system capable of the following

-native dsd playback via usb and i2s

-tidal and deezer streaming

-sacd.iso playback

-music player daemon/upmpdcli

 

the latest version of kodi has now implemented sacd.iso playback. dsd/mpd is still something you need to add yourself however it should be integrated within the next few updates.

the one thing i enjoy most about kodi is being able to watch tidal filmclips on my big screen. as kodi (libreelec) has addons for spotify, deezer, tidal, qobuz, squeezebox, roon, youtube and many more i find all of this extremely exciting.

 

libreelec had concentrated on adding things such as netflix, stan, foxtel, amazon prime video ect over the last few years, and it seems as though some developers are now concentrating on the audio side of things.

i will continue today to get everything working

the other thing that is quite exciting is that the remotes for libreelec/kodi are brilliant. easy to navigate, full of great metadata and easy to set up.

just thought i would give everyone a heads up and my opinion on operating systems which hifi users with screens can have a think about.

 

next step is to try rpi4with pi2aes to see if i can get video from the hdmi and audio from the i2s output.

if anyone has heard mpd via a linux operating system you will understand why i am excited to see this coming now through into my favourite video operating system.

 

[tripitaka]

Interesting update, thanks!

 

I used Kodi, a million or so years ago, before switching to MPD over Linux with i2s output.

 

It all took so long to figure everything out, that next time I would wait for someone to post a step-by-step guide before ever making another change

[MattyW]

A bit late for me....  I've long since moved to Roon for music and Plex for video content.  Server based streaming solutions are simply nicer to use, not even factoring in sonics. I find Roon rather good too. Not quite up with Audirvana but it's ease of use across multiple systems makes up for that.

[anewmission]

45 minutes ago, MattyW said:

A bit late for me....  I've long since moved to Roon for music and Plex for video content.  Server based streaming solutions are simply nicer to use, not even factoring in sonics. I find Roon rather good too. Not quite up with Audirvana but it's ease of use across multiple systems makes up for that.

Can roon or Plex do mpd? And wouldn't you want an all in one solution that is free and has thousands of coders upgrading as a community every day?

 

When I switched from lms to mpd my system did not improve 10% . To my ears it improved 50%.

 

Not too familiar with Plex. I just remember it being a nightmare to install addons and there is no dedicated operating system for Plex. It takes 3 minutes to install libreelec and then you can spend as much time as you want configuring it

[MattyW]

I run in docker containers for both on my UnRAID fileserver. Can't say as I run add ons. I really only use Plex for my old video collection and Netflix most of the time.  Roon + Tidal/Qobuz is pretty fantastic too.

 

I much prefer solutions where I can stop watching on one system in one room and pick right up where I left off from any system/room in the house. That's just me though. I never saw the point either till I tried it.

Edited August 11, 2021 by MattyW

[PKay]

On 10/08/2021 at 1:37 PM, anewmission said:

Can roon or Plex do mpd? And wouldn't you want an all in one solution that is free and has thousands of coders upgrading as a community every day?

 

When I switched from lms to mpd my system did not improve 10% . To my ears it improved 50%.

 

Not too familiar with Plex. I just remember it being a nightmare to install addons and there is no dedicated operating system for Plex. It takes 3 minutes to install libreelec and then you can spend as much time as you want configuring it

which app do you use for MPD? I have Snakeoil (which I think is fantastic) and use the LMS interface which works really well with iPeng.  I have one MPD app which is really basic at best.

[anewmission]

1 minute ago, PKay said:

which app do you use for MPD? I have Snakeoil (which I think is fantastic) and use the LMS interface which works really well with iPeng.  I have one MPD app which is really basic at best.

I have been using snakeoil for mpd in my listening room . I'm about to try Kodi for mpd.

Mpd on Linux just sounds so much better than windows or Mac.

Snakeoil is a gem of an operating system. I wouldn't touch roon again after discovering it

[anewmission]

Just now, anewmission said:

I have been using snakeoil for mpd in my listening room . I'm about to try Kodi for mpd.

Mpd on Linux just sounds so much better than windows or Mac.

Snakeoil is a gem of an operating system. I wouldn't touch roon again after discovering it

Ohhh which app... I agree there is not many great mpd apps. Unless you use upmpdcli.. bubbleupnp is great for that. Snoopy can give you his thoughts on that .

Lms is an easier remote app however it doesn't sound great to me.

I have tri d it with snakeoil and daphile and it definitely doesn't compare to mpd.

I'm hoping libreelec (Kodi) Linux os will give me the same clarity as snakeoil but that I will respond with very soon

[anewmission]

59 minutes ago, MattyW said:

I run in docker containers for both on my UnRAID fileserver. Can't say as I run add ons. I really only use Plex for my old video collection and Netflix most of the time.  Roon + Tidal/Qobuz is pretty fantastic too.

 

I much prefer solutions where I can stop watching on one system in one room and pick right up where I left off from any system/room in the house. That's just me though. I never saw the point either till I tried it.

Kodi can definitely do multi room setups. 

You. An even set it up as a server/client system where you just need a rpi or something similar. This is what they have been doing in quite a few hotels around the world

[MattyW]

Sounds like it's evolved a bit since I used it last

[PKay]

24 minutes ago, anewmission said:

 

@anewmissionDaphile isn't even remotely close to Snakeoil in my experience.  My machine is a very old 32 bit Antipodes that I have revamped so upmpdcli.. bubbleupnp are a bit too difficult for me to get going. 

 

I'll have to give MPD another try

Edited August 11, 2021 by PKay

[tripitaka]

1 hour ago, PKay said:

@anewmissionDaphile isn't even remotely close to Snakeoil in my experience.  My machine is a very old 32 bit Antipodes that I have revamped so upmpdcli.. bubbleupnp are a bit too difficult for me to get going. 

 

I'll have to give MPD another try

To me, BubbleUpnp has seemed device-dependent, for reasons I'm never likely to understand, but I'm in a happy period presently where it works perfectly on my current phone.

[anewmission]

1 hour ago, tripitaka said:

To me, BubbleUpnp has seemed device-dependent, for reasons I'm never likely to understand, but I'm in a happy period presently where it works perfectly on my current phone.

I wish I could make phone/tablet apps. I would make a kick ass mpd remote

1 hour ago, tripitaka said:

To me, BubbleUpnp has seemed device-dependent, for reasons I'm never likely to understand, but I'm in a happy period presently where it works perfectly on my current phone.

Hence why I'm trying to get Kodi playing native dsd. The remotes for Kodi are next level

[PKay]

2 minutes ago, anewmission said:

I wish I could make phone/tablet apps. I would make a kick ass mpd remote

Hence why I'm trying to get Kodi playing native dsd. The remotes for Kodi are next level

There seem to be a few more since the last time I looked. I'm currently trying yaMPC which isn't too bad.

 

I must say MPD is  sounding fabulous tonight - definetely better than LMS.

[anewmission]

11 minutes ago, PKay said:

There seem to be a few more since the last time I looked. I'm currently trying yaMPC which isn't too bad.

 

I must say MPD is  sounding fabulous tonight - definetely better than LMS.

I tested it against roon on a directstream.

Given the roon was coming through ethernet and snakeoil was coming through i2s via pi2aes. It's hard to really compare. 

Mpd on snakeoil won.

 

[Guest]

A while ago, I tested Roon vs Mpd on the Intel NUC feeding the same DAC via USB.  Mpd won hands down.  I have also compared Roon with native apps on other systems and native apps win.

 

@PKay  previously, you did say you preferred Mpd, so I am surprised you are now going back.

 

While Mpd is my preferred player, I do use LMS with Upmpdcli when accessing Qobuz.  I like the way LMS has implemented it, especially via Search.

[tripitaka]

1 hour ago, PKay said:

There seem to be a few more since the last time I looked. I'm currently trying yaMPC which isn't too bad.

 

 

YaMPC seems to be only for iOS?

 

With Android remotes, BubbleUpnp is the only one I found that works for me (not that I've looked in a while)

Edited August 11, 2021 by tripitaka

[PKay]

1 hour ago, tripitaka said:

 

YaMPC seems to be only for iOS?

 

With Android remotes, BubbleUpnp is the only one I found that works for me (not that I've looked in a while)

I am using iPad and phone so I hadn’t thought of Android. Overall the app is okay. I think it needs jpeg for album art to pick up. 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by PKay

[PKay]

1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said:

A while ago, I tested Roon vs Mpd on the Intel NUC feeding the same DAC via USB.  Mpd won hands down.  I have also compared Roon with native apps on other systems and native apps win.

 

@PKay  previously, you did say you preferred Mpd, so I am surprised you are now going back.

 

While Mpd is my preferred player, I do use LMS with Upmpdcli when accessing Qobuz.  I like the way LMS has implemented it, especially via Search.

LMS with iPeng is very easy to use and although I couldn't get Qobuz to work spotify does and Tidal did (until I closed my account).  I contacted Qobuz and they said it didn't work on linux based systems.  I did all the tricks in the plugins and could not get LMS/Qobuz going.

 

This new app is much improved on the old basic MPD apps so I'll stick with it for awhile.

[anewmission]

What we need in Australia is Amazon prime music hd... Only pro lem is they won't release the source code for open source software

[davewantsmoore]

On 10/08/2021 at 11:54 AM, anewmission said:

the latest version of kodi

Thanks for the heads up.    I've lost touch with the latest but been around since XBMP....  I've kinda always longed to bring it back as my music front end.

 

On 10/08/2021 at 11:54 AM, anewmission said:

just thought i would give everyone a heads up and my opinion on operating systems which hifi users with screens can have a think about.

I've not looked into SnakeOil a lot ..... but my immediate throught it why not run Kodi on that OS (or some other "audio linux" distro).

 

[anewmission]

1 hour ago, davewantsmoore said:

Thanks for the heads up.    I've lost touch with the latest but been around since XBMP....  I've kinda always longed to bring it back as my music front end.

 

I've not looked into SnakeOil a lot ..... but my immediate throught it why not run Kodi on that OS (or some other "audio linux" distro).

 

if i knew how to do that, that would be amazing.

im not a coder. i am only just getting my head around ssh

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, anewmission said:

if i knew how to do that, that would be amazing.

im not a coder. i am only just getting my head around ssh

https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Kodi_for_Linux

It looks fairly simple, but you have to be comfortable working at the command level.  And of course, troubleshoot which is probably the bigger challenge!

[Hytram]

OK... You have my ears pricking up.

 

Before I go and try it all and it ends in a sad panda throwing poo because I struggle with Linux.. 

 

Kodi on a Rpi4 with media on a Qnap NAS being able to play SACD iso's and Bluray rips (which I haven't ripped yet) 

 

Am I kidding myself or do-able?

(equipment wise, not panda wise) 

[anewmission]

2 hours ago, Hytram said:

OK... You have my ears pricking up.

 

Before I go and try it all and it ends in a sad panda throwing poo because I struggle with Linux.. 

 

Kodi on a Rpi4 with media on a Qnap NAS being able to play SACD iso's and Bluray rips (which I haven't ripped yet) 

 

Am I kidding myself or do-able?

(equipment wise, not panda wise) 

yes the latest version of libreelec (kodi 19.x) will play sacd.iso's and bluray rips from your nas.

make sure you go into audio decoders in the addons and enable sacd.iso support

 

i will reply regarding dsd soon. the people on libreelec forums arent quite as patient and nice as they are on here.

 

for foxtel, stan, binge, disney plus, kayo ect.. you will need slyguys repository

netflix is castanigts repository

amazon is another repository

ill post some links to tidal, deexer, qobuz