Having discovered Subsonic for streaming lossless audio from one location to any remote location, I then looked for ways to get better sound quality at the remote location.
This doesn't apply to music on the move, instead I'm talking about a remote location which has a decent system for playing back the streamed audio.
Initially I was quite satisfied with the result of first streaming the audio over the net to an iPad and then onward streaming from there, via Airplay to a new AppleTV. Probably my expectations weren't too high for this streaming solution, so I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the results were. However, because the AppleTV will always change the sample rate to 48khz I wasn't getting bit perfect playback and I knew this result could be improved upon. How to improve on this without straying from the ease of use and very high domestic acceptance factor, though?
As I reported in my post on Subsonic (Stream your entire Library anywhere at full CD quality), this system can be navigated and operated with just one hand free and is the essence of simplicity. I know there are commercial music servers that can achieve this when the music is stored at the same location where it is being played; but I'm not aware of any that can handle music being streamed from another location, via the internet, at full quality.
To begin with I just brought my Macbook Pro home at weekends and hooked it up via usb to my DAC. This way I could achieve bit perfect playback; but what was the best software player to use that could support an http stream? I played with a lot of options and for a while settled on VLC. This involved connecting to my remote Subsonic server via the web interface, choosing the files I want to play back on the Mac and downloading an .m3u playlist for the stream, that could then be played by VLC. Hardly a domestically acceptable solution. The only part that can be automated is to configure the browser/mac to automatically play these playlists via VLC as soon as they are downloaded. There is no way to remote control this process using an IOS or Android device.
There are some dedicated Subsonic players for both Mac and Windows. These have the advantage of being able to talk directly to a Subsonic server; but I just couldn't get the ones I tried to work for me. In any case none of them can be remote controlled from an IOS device.
Enter XBMC. Originally written for the xBox (xBox Media Center); but now able to run on just about any platform.
I installed this on my MacBook pro, knowing there was an "add-on/plug-in" for XBMC available which allows it to talk to a Subsonic server. Once set up correctly this works very well. I can select my USB DAC in the settings screen within XBMC and send bit perfect audio to the system in my apartment. This is all served up from my Subsonic server which is located in my office, in another part of town (could, of course be anywhere in the world).
…and one nice bonus is that XBMC running on my Mac can be controlled using a remote app designed for it on my iPad.
So this solution is just as domestically acceptable as the previous set-up using the latest AppleTV. Only problem is that it requires my Mac to be hooked up and I need this for work back at my office.
So I thought about what else I could use to run XBMC on. I found instructions on the web on how to modify a first generation silver AppleTV. I happened to have one of these in my office, which I haven't used for years.
My only interest in running XBMC on an AppleTV1 was, again, to access my library of ripped CD's on the remote Subsonic server and other (legal) audio content. The instructions though also encouraged me to replace the WiFi card in the old AppleTV with a Broadcom Crystal HD card that enables it to support 1080p video content. Since the card is only around €35.00, I thought why not? It was a simple operation to carry out. Following this I installed Crystalbuntu on the AppleTV via a USB thumb drive.
Crystalbuntu is a customised version of Linux, which contains the drivers for the aforementioned Broadcom HD card as well as a script to install the latest stable version of XBMC.
After following a few simple instructions, the AppleTV1 booted into XBMC. No need to mess around with configuring Linux. So I now have a relatively quiet media machine, capable of streaming Audio and playing back 1080p HD video. Again this isn't an "apparent" computer. The XBMC is just as friendly to navigate as Apple's current AppleTV interface and again it can all be done with one free hand.
I haven't included any specific instructions or links here, because I don't know how many of you might be interested in such a system and not everybody will have a spare AppleTV gen 1 hanging around. I can, of course, provide relevant links to anyone who's interested. XBMC can run on other machines and the result should again, be very domestically friendly, so anyone using them doesn't feel like they're working on a computer.
I have been asked so many times for a solution like this and, as I said at the beginning, as far as I'm aware so far, there is nothing quite like it commercially available that supports these kinds of streaming facilities.
A lot of people have been using Subsonic for sometime and others have been running XBMC on AppleTV's and other simple machines. So I feel I've come a little late to the party. I don't know how many people have put the two together, though and anyway, I'm glad I found it now
