Unique sound of the highest quality — previously only possible with expensive sound systems. But with the help of the HifiBerry sound card, you can turn a Raspberry Pi minicomputer into a high quality music streaming player. Docked to a stereo system, playing your favourite music will be a real pleasure. And: The whole thing can be easily controlled via smartphone app. The guide shows how it works.
You will need:
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Max2Play operating system
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Raspberry Pi 3 with integrated WiFi
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HifiBerry sound card
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5 V / 2.5 A power supply for the Raspberry Pi
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Micro SD card with at least 8 GB storage capacity
How MAX2Play works
- Obtain the required hardware (see above). Select a suitable housing to store the devices compactly. A good solution is for example the HiFiBerry universal housing.
- Select a quality 5 V / 2.5 A power supply for the Raspberry Pi.
- On the PC: On the website Max2Play.com you will find the required image files for the Raspberry Pi. Install the software on a micro SD card with at least 8 GB of capacity. Use the HifiBerry installer to help here. This will configure it almost automatically. Select “MAX2Play” as your distributor. In the next step, Max2Play will automatically write the HifiBerry images to the SD card.
- As soon as the write operation has been completed successfully, remove the micro SD card safely from the PC and insert it into the Raspberry Pi.
- Restart the Raspberry Pi. You have immediate access to the web interface by entering the IP address “http://max2play” or “max2play.local” in the web browser. Tip: When purchasing, select the Raspberry Pi 3 with integrated WiFi. This allows you to perform the initial configuration conveniently without a power cable.
- All settings are now performed using the web interface. The operating system supports a wide range of useful plug-ins. Features like Airplay are pre-installed. Select your HifiBerry product in the settings. At the bottom of the page you can choose how you want to use your media player. Then select “Settings/Restart” to update the system and restart it. After a few seconds, the system is ready for use again.
- Now you have three options for customising the system:
- You can choose whether you want to use the system as a simple audio player, i.e. without music servers or other programs. The settings under “Audio Player” are already configured in this case. Using Samba sharing, you can insert all of the audio files you want. The disadvantage of this option: You cannot distribute music via Airplay. Likewise, there are no advanced options available as a synchronised player would offer.
- In the advanced options you also have the option of setting up a multi-room audio player-system, which also allows the Airplay plug-in. For this you must first set up the Squeezebox plug-in, which supports several players at the same time, and make further adjustments.
- The third is simple Airplay function, which only sets up one player. No further settings are required. In this case you use the Raspberry as an Airplay device.
- Tip: You can also get the whole thing pre-configured in six different bundles consisting of:
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B + Raspberry Pi & HiFiBerry Housing + 16 GB microSD card, including the Max2Play Software + 1 Year Licence Code + Quick Start Guide for the software +
Bundle 1: + HiFiBerry DAC+ light Shield + micro-USB power supply (5.1 V/2.5 A)
Bundle 2: + HiFiBerry DAC+ RCA Shield + micro-USB power supply (5.1 V/2.5 A)
Bundle 3: + HiFiBerry DAC+ PRO Shield + micro-USB power supply (5.1 V/2.5 A)
Bundle 4: + HiFiBerry DIGI+ STD Shield + micro-USB power supply (5.1 V/2.5 A)
Bundle 5: + HiFiBerry DIGI+ TF Shield + micro-USB power supply (5.1 V/2.5 A)
Bundle 6: + HiFiBerry AMP+ Shield + switching power supply, 65 W
Product image: reichelt
