Raspberry Pi for Airplay only

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gumdigger

429 posts

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#133483 23-Oct-2013 17:20

Hi

I have just purchased the Rasberry Pi Rev 2.0 board. I wish to dedicate this device for Airplay and control it using Apple/Android. Which OS should i load for a good stable performance and app support to control it.

Thanks.

chevrolux

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#920534 23-Oct-2013 17:41

I think XMBC has an add-on that can let it be an Airplay receiver.

So in that case... Raspbmc with the Airplay add-on should get you going with out having to get your hands dirty.

SumnerBoy

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#920536 23-Oct-2013 17:46

Raspbmc has Airplay built-in from memory - you might need to enable it in settings but that is about it. I would definitely recommend running Raspbmc from a good fast USB stick to ensure it performs well. Unless you have a very fast SD card. I found it much more usable when running from a 3.0 USB stick. It is very slick.

darkasdes2

428 posts

Ultimate Geek

#920599 23-Oct-2013 19:41

Raspbmc definitely has airplay and I am sure it works out of the box. I have it installed on my Raspberry Pi and it works a treat. Even lets you stream video content.
All you need to do is look for XBMC under the airplay button on your apple product and away you go.

davidcole

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#920623 23-Oct-2013 20:24

Figureing out how to hook a raspberry pi to some speakers for audio was something I was curious about. I didnt' like the idea of having to get receiving or hdmi stripper.

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chevrolux

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#920628 23-Oct-2013 20:31

davidcole: Figureing out how to hook a raspberry pi to some speakers for audio was something I was curious about. I didnt' like the idea of having to get receiving or hdmi stripper.

For half decent quality audio I think a USB DAC is the preferred option for most people.

I used to have Raspberry Pi's for each TV for media center but have moved to Roku's now. My remaining Pi is simply a music box for the home audio system - wasn't worried about quality so have just got it running off the 3.5mm jack. Seems to work really well.

gumdigger

429 posts

Ultimate Geek

#920654 23-Oct-2013 20:46

Thanks for the replies.
For audio, i will be plugging this into my amp using a 3.5mm to rca cable. Do you guys recommend a DAC in between?

davidcole

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#920657 23-Oct-2013 20:48

gumdigger: Thanks for the replies.
For audio, i will be plugging this into my amp using a 3.5mm to rca cable. Do you guys recommend a DAC in between?

How will you be pluggin a 3.5mm plug into the raspberry pi? are you adding one? This is probably where teh DAC needs to go...to convert usb to analog.

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Blanch

254 posts

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#920664 23-Oct-2013 20:55

I’m using Raspbmc, I don’t use AirPlay but to use it, you just need to enable "Allow XBMC to receive AirPlay content" under Settings - Services also have a look at Yatse, the XBMC android Remote.

chevrolux

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#920695 23-Oct-2013 21:48

davidcole:
gumdigger: Thanks for the replies.
For audio, i will be plugging this into my amp using a 3.5mm to rca cable. Do you guys recommend a DAC in between?

How will you be pluggin a 3.5mm plug into the raspberry pi? are you adding one? This is probably where teh DAC needs to go...to convert usb to analog.

Maybe you are thinking of a different board?

The Raspberry Pi has a 3.5mm jack on board.

I personally only use it for home audio so quality is not super important. What comes out of the 3.5mm jack is just fine IMO. Some people prefer to use a USB DAC to get better quality audio out of the Pi.

dacraka

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#920727 23-Oct-2013 22:25

Although the RPi may be having trouble with iOS7 at the moment until another update comes out (well with Raspbmc anyway)

See "Careful with iOS 7" section on http://www.raspbmc.com

ajobbins

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#920731 23-Oct-2013 22:30

davidcole: How will you be pluggin a 3.5mm plug into the raspberry pi? are you adding one? This is probably where teh DAC needs to go...to convert usb to analog.

Pi has 3.5mm audio out standard

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gumdigger

429 posts

Ultimate Geek

#921912 26-Oct-2013 00:28

Installed raspbmc on a class 10 SD card, pretty straight forward. Airplay works, but sometimes it reboots while streaming video.
Pointed it to the Media server to fetch my music and control it using official xmbc app. Loading files takes 1-1.5min on avg, which is a bit annoying.
Doing the same with appletv is a lot faster. So any way i could improve the loading time on rasberrypi?
Also noticed there are lots of other apps, paid and free. Which is recommended for android and IOS?

PANiCnz

990 posts

Ultimate Geek

#921924 26-Oct-2013 08:07

http://www.raspyfi.com/ - for audio I don't think there's a better solution, definitely not XBMC anyway.

gehenna

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#921959 26-Oct-2013 10:17

Yeah I've not had much success with streaming video using Raspbmc's Airplay implementation. It does tend to drop out or restart the stream more times than not.

Audio streaming is perfect.

Also can't mirror my display using it's implementation. So I'm happy enough with having two devices - Pi for my own media, aTV for streaming and sharing of devices given it just works so well.

Stu

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#921961 26-Oct-2013 10:25

As well as streaming from my local stash of music I'm hoping to have Google Music streaming directly through the Pi as well, as opposed to from another device as I am now (BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA from an old 7" tablet).