Audio Station
Brandi Wendelberger
reading around on internet I seem to understand that I can listen to FLAC music stored on my Synology 214+ NAS using Audio Station as a player and feeding the music via USB to my iFi Micro iDSD DAC. It works perfectly fine with mp3, but when I try running a FLAC file it simply doesn't play... am I missing something?
ok I might understand what my limitation is. I was assuming that once I had Minimsever installed on my NAS i needed a media player (always on the NAS), however you are telling me I need an external player. This might be an issue given my current layout:
I have quite a lot of experience with DS Audio Station and I can confirm it should and will play FLAC files through the USB Speaker output. You seem to have a particular problem here that I have not seen before.
I think Audio Station is the issue, I say this because when I right click on a FLAC file and then send it to Audio Station by clicking on Play the file doesn't start, the time remains at 00:00 as if the player is unable to read the FLAC file. Have you ever encountered this?
1. For the file duplication can you stop any other apps that are consider as a media server (e.g. DLNA Server, Minim Server etc.). Don't need to uninstall just stop the apps in Package Center. Then delete the errant files and see if they reappear.
2. For the Playback problem. What are you using as a Control Device (e.g. Windows PC, Tablet, MAC etc.) ? Instead of selecting "USB Speakers" for playback select "My Computer" in Audio Station UI. What happens now when you try to play a FLAC file ?
a) your NAS (Synology) is without any server program only a hard drive on your network where you can store files. you can write and read files or load them into any program when accessed via a computer.
c) not all media server programs can send all sort of files through your network so that the recipient, the renderer, can understand what the files is. In your case the original Synology DSM can show you DSD files by accessing the drive with a computer, but it cannot serve DSD files with the pre-installed audio server by Synology, nor can it handle DSd files with the DSaudio tablet/smartphone app.
I was looking for a solution in order to avoid having to buy a media server, but it sounds like (at the moment) Synology doesn't have the technology to send DSD via USB. Hence the only other solution I see is having a very long USB cable from my PC to the DAC in the livingroom and remote control J River via my Ipad.
How long is "very long?" If it's over 15 feet, then there are USB extenders that seem to work. Search the forums for this, as there have been threads that consider the sound quality of some of the extender technologies.
Just discovered Audio Station and its working quite nicely with the Dragonfly USB DAC. I also see that they are working on DSD for DSM 5.1 beta. Could make a very nice nucleus for a desk type headphone station. Using Hifiman HE-400 and feeding the Dragonfly output to Hifiman EF5 headphone amp
Also just tried using an idle JKMKIII asynch USB converter I have to Metrum Octave DAC, main system, worked fine. Quite nice actually, not as resolving as the Oppo with SMB but showed none of the midrange tone color bleaching I experienced from asynch USB with all PC solutions, including optimized Server 2012 setup. Ordered an iFi nano iDSD because I prefer DSD, will advise if it works as well as join the 5.1 beta.
Installed the DSM 5.1 beta this morning. Curiously enough it worked for DSD files feeding a Metrum Octave I so had to be transcoding as the DAC only works with PCM. The lack of documentation on supported file rates, formats for digital I/O remains irksome.
Many, if not most audio file formats include meta informations IN the file.This is the case for instance for mp3, flac, ...Many audio rippers set the same values for file name and meta inside the file, as a band aid for old audio program that do not know how to read them.What you are seeing is this information. You need a program to edit them.It is a possibility for instance in many media players or through the file manager of windows.
The Synology NAS and their underlying OS, DiskStation Manager (DSM), comes with several interesting packages (think apps) that can be downloaded from the Package Center for free. These packages run the gamut of multimedia for the casual user to virtualization and containers for small to medium businesses. Today we are going to look at, what is probably the most used package on my Synology NAS, Synology Audio Station.
By the title, it is easy to guess that Synology Audio Station is for playing audio like music and radio stations. The package allows users to create and manage large music collections where they can create playlists and even share. Users can add internet radio stations as well. And with the nifty mobile apps, you can take the music with you and even listen to it offline.
The big question here is why bother? There are several music streaming services now and they all run at about the same price, these include: Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music, and Spotify. And while I have two of the three listed, I still use Synology Audio Station several times a week.
Installing Synology Audio Station is pretty easy. Go to Package Center and either search for it or just scroll down a bit, it tends to be near the top of the packages. Click on it and it gives one the option to install. Click on that guy and a few minutes later you should be good to go, time varies with internet connection and NAS model.
Synology Audio Station is a way for users to store and share their music collections, as well as connect to internet radio. The package allows for high-quality playback on a variety of devices. It supports Amazon Alexa for voice control, as well as CarPlay and Android Auto. There is also a mobile app, DS Audio, for Apple, Android, and Windows phones.
I have around 430 cd collected in years (and ripped in flac using EAC), and few album in hi-res I bought from 7digital or qobuz, so I have a lot of songs.
My goal is to play them with the best quality possible when I am at home and keep playing the same playlist/songs downloaded on mp3 (160 or 320 kbps) on mobile.
I tried installing plex with docker but I stopped on the login page. Do I have to register to their website to use it even in local?
If so, what happened if my internet goes down? can i still login and play my local music or no?
I recently saw a Darko video about plex & plexamp and it seems interesting, it looks like it has all I am looking for, but it is not clear if I can have separate collection for each users or only a big one shared.
With Syno Audio, I have a common collection with all the classics (acdc, zeppelin, queen, stones, etc). Also each user has its personal music. (ex. I have some anime or games soundtrack, my girlfriend has pop music and my sister has her music, etc.)
Plex has two options to organize media beyond libraries: collections and playlists. Collections are curated by the server owner. They logically belong to a library (so only media of that library can be part of a collection) and they are accessible by all users with access to the library. Playlists are individual to each user and can contain media from different libraries of the same type (e.g., audio, video).
The DIY Audio Station is a high quality recording setup perfect for voiceovers, podcasting and more. Updated in 2022, the setup features additional microphones and a modernized setup, allowing users to easily create studio grade recordings, with no prior technical knowledge needed.
The DIY Audio Station is located in our professional audio recording room, which offers superior acoustic tuning thanks to strategically placed paneling and dampening systems throughout the room. With two industry standard Shure SM7B mics, the sound should be clear and crisp. The simple to use audio mixer, the Rodecaster Pro, allows for easy integration of different forms of audio content, directly from your phone via bluetooth connectivity, the AUX jack, or simply from the system itself. Preset SFX is also available to allow for more dynamic recordings.