homeassistant

13690 readers

1 users here now

Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

greatalbatross@lemmy.world

Easiest way to create player targets for Music Assistant to connect to an active speaker via SPDIF for <$30 ? Squeezelite seems like a good candidate, but unsure how to connect to SPDIF (lemmy.nz)

submitted 11 months ago by sylverstream@lemmy.nz to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm struggling to find the easiest solution to connect a set of active speakers that have BT/Optical (Toslink)/Coax. I currently use a tablet to stream Deezer via BT, but I want to be able to use them in Music Assistant. I tried Bubblepnp on the tablet, but it's too slow for that, it wasn't reliable.

I don't want to spend 100s of dollars on e.g. Sonos stuff. I see Squeezelite as a good option, but I'm unsure how to connect an SPDIF speaker. The docs say you can connect to one of the pins. Do I just cut the plug of an SPDIF cable and then connect to it?

I don't have a 3D printer, ideally I want a box around it.

Ideally there's an out-of-the-box solution. Any tips or help appreciated.

top 5 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What hardware are you using to Host? That'll influence the answer.

[–] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

MA and HA are hosted on a RPi4 in the garage, not near the speakers.

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Squeezelite with a USB spdif out might work? (I'm unsure myself, I have my squeeze server able to connect to my casting devices)

Bonus: a USB spdif out isn't pricey says a very quick search

Edit: I'm dumb. https://github.com/sle118/squeezelite-esp32?tab=readme-ov-file#spdif

So they suggest either a specialized chip, which will likely need more hardware, or this little circuit. (See link) I would say if you had an extra coax cable, to cut an end and solder away, but that's assuming a lot.

Second edit: they can connect to Bluetooth as well.

[–] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 3 points 11 months ago

Thanks mate, much appreciated. That's what I mean, it's complicated... I have no idea what extra hardware I'd need. I just want to connect it via Coaxial and the only thing I can find is very complicated docs like you found :)

BT is not an option as I'd like to keep using the tablet directly to BT in case MA/HA is down.

[–] eco_game@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 11 months ago

You could try getting a Raspberry Pi Zero together with some kind of SPDIF output card, but that will probably go over $30.

I have no idea what pricing is like, but you could possibly try getting a used Logitech Squeezebox player.

If you're desperate to stay on the cheap and don't mind BT quality, you could also install Snapcast on an old phone, enable the Snapcast player provider and then use the phone to connect to your speakers over Bluetooth.