Is there a cross platform LAN audio streaming standard?

wire-screw · 10 Jan 2022 at 21:51

Hi all,

I'm looking to implement an easy to use HiFi setup with WiFi audio streaming from mobile devices. I'm currently using AirPlay (ShairPlay) installed on a Linux machine doing a lot of DSP for the HiFi crossovers and EQ etc. I'm finding the AirPlay a little underwhelming with significant delay, many dropouts, popping / clicking noises, it's limited to 44.1k/16bit and only good with Apple devices.

I would like to have realtime (less than 100ms latency), higher quality audio and the ability to stream from iOS, Android and any PC (macOS, Windows and Linux).

I can't find anything online that seems to satisfy this, I can't believe there isn't a cross platform standard for audio sources and sinks on a network! Does anyone know of a solution? I don't mind installing a bit of software here and there. I'm an embedded software engineer so no problem getting down and dirty with Linux or writing some code.

Many thanks!

Caged · 10 Jan 2022 at 22:06

I guess the closest you can get is Dante but it's not really designed for this

inogen · 11 Jan 2022 at 00:02

I started thinking about using ampache but I’ve not got around to having a proper look at it yet.

james.miller · 11 Jan 2022 at 07:19

look at VBAN

VB-Audio Network

VBAN, The VB-Audio Network Protocol,

VBAN Protocol has been designed for real-time transport of digital audio stream in IP-based network environments. VBAN allows to send or / and receive audio to / from other computers of any local networks. Voicemeeter already allows easy way to manage several incoming / outgoing streams.

For Any Local Network Infra-Structure

Based on UDP Protocol, VBAN is made for Audio Pro and Audiophiles, to transport multichannel audio in native PCM format (all sampling rate supported). Developed like a "RADIO" transmitter / receptor system, the VBAN protocol can also broadcast other data (Serial, TXT...)

wire-screw · 12 Jan 2022 at 20:18

Hi all, thank you for your replies. There doesn't seem to anything that really fits the bill. I think I will go for a mixture of Bluetooth AptX and AirPlay.