So I am a little dense about this and seeking an explanation in really simple terms! I am considering a trial of installing Plexamp on a Pi to see how it performs. My expectations of how it may perform are fairly realistic I think but I want to experience it for myself.
So at the moment I can use my Pi devices as AirPlay facilitators to cast Plexamp from
iOS devices to speakers playing nice with AirPlay thanks to the Pi. It sounds perfectly fine but given the super helpful information from @odinb1 about ALSA and installing on a Pi (thanks!) I am wondering what the advantages of a headless installation would be over and above the AirPlay casting scenario.
Any insights and knowledge on this would be gratefully received, as I say I am a bit dense about this!
Plex Companion is working differently from other “casting” solutions.
After you initiate the playback with another plex client (i.e. your phone), the player on the Pi is taking over completely and is fetching the play queue and the music data directly from the server.
Which means your phone doesn’t need to be in the vicinity during playback,
nor won’t it use battery for playback and data traffic.
You can even switch it off. Playback on the Pi will continue.
Hi @OttoKerner, I’m considering to buy a Raspberry Pi with a Allo DigiOne HAT to stream music to my DAC/amp. Just curious, you mention that the Pi is “fetching the play queue” from your phone and that the phone can then even be turned off, and the music will continue to play. How can the music then be controlled, i.e. skipping, pausing etc? Can the phone work as a remote when you turn it back on? (Forgive me the lame question, I’m new to this )
Btw would you recommend a Pi4 or is the Pi3 sufficient?
If there is no controller app connected, the Pi will simply play the current queue until the end.
You can use any supported Plex client as a remote. All you need to do is to (re-)connect to the playing device.
For what it’s worth, I’m using a Pi 3B with HiFiBerry digi and Khadas Tone Board as DAC.
It runs fine and after playing music for 4 hours straight, the temp is 59.1 C
@obkook
Thanks, nice setup! I plan to use the digital input on my Denon amp, I think the DAC is ok quality. For the future I might add an external DAC.
It should fit most HATs, since that is what it was a designed for. Can be corner-cases, like if you have XLR due to height (and placement, but do not have a HAT with XLR to test and see if it works or not), but otherwise, it should fit!. For you Allo, cannot see any reasons why it would not fit!
