What's in the realm of possible?

[mark3141]

Hi,

I tried searching around and couldn't come up with much so I thought I'd ask. What's possible for a cheap network audio player? I'm envisioning something like a Raspberry Pi but with a digital audio out (no HDMI/TV type input wanted) that connects to my DAC and controlled by a tablet.

I've considered something like XMBC, but I can't see how I can avoid spending less than about $200 for a computer to run it. Since I'm really wanting something that can accurately move the bits from the ethernet cable to my DAC and can be controlled externally, I wouldn't expect this to be too much, right? (Is my understanding of what I want even correct?)

Thanks!

 

[Tjj226]

You can find a junk PC for dirt cheap. Format it, strip it down to bare components, and use it as a wireless server. However, I know of nothing that will do audio processing before sending it to your device.

 

[counter culture]

Try an Android stick.

Simple, low cost, HiFi network music streaming device

 

[abraxalito]

Its quite possible to pick a relatively simple MCU and write the software yourself but it'll be very time consuming. An LPC1768 ought to cut it, there are cheap dev boards for such.

 

[DF96]

See this thread. It seems there are snags with the R-Pi at present, althoigh there is some hope that better software drivers may improve things.