Play music from NAS to desktop speakers via…what?

November 2, 2015 1:15 PM

I have a Synology NAS with all my MP3s on it. I also have some older speakers that I would like to put somewhere in my house (e.g., the kitchen) so my wife can listen to music, which she selects via her iPhone. And I would like to do it cheaply, natch. Right now she turns on the TV and uses the Roku's Pandora or I (heart) Radio apps, which take a lot more power than some dinky speakers.

I know that there are things like the Sonos system that will allow this, but I am a cheapskate. Will little dongles like this $28 thing on Amazon actually work without turning the iPhone into a Bluetooth streamer? If so, how? Are there other devices that will use WiFi, so multiple phones can send audio to the speakers? (I saw the earlier, similar questions, but they are several years old now.)

Also, the Synology "DS Audio" app for iOS is a terrible dog. Is there a better choice for choosing & playing music from it?

Thank you, so many times!

posted by wenestvedt to Technology (6 answers total)

The Chromecast Audio can plug into the speakers and cast music from the phone. I did a bit of searching and found some forum posts that implied that you could cast from a NAS as well but it seemed that it wouldn't do it out of the box and might require additional plugins. I wouldn't be surprised if Chromecast eventually adds out of the box NAS streaming, though.
posted by matildaben at 1:22 PM on November 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: You could install Subsonic or Madsonic on the Synology, and use a cheapy $10 refurb Android phone over wifi, plugged into a charger & the speakers. I've considered doing that once my Chumby dies.
posted by fings at 2:08 PM on November 2, 2015

Best answer: I feel like I should have a good answer to this question, but I fail at both your requirements.

I do use a Synology NAS and stream music from it, but to our Sonos players. (The Sonos controller app on iOS is quite good.)

I also play from our NAS to little portable bluetooth speakers, but that's streamed from my phone.

The device you link to should be able to stream Bluetooth (not at very high quality, I bet) but it requires an initial audio out from your NAS to a computer or player of some sort, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place, right? I don't believe the Synology usually provides audio out via a 3.5 mm jack.

So you're probably looking at something like the discontinued Squeezebox - but at that price, you might as well pay the extra $50 for a Sonos Play:1, which is a really nice piece of kit.

Or maybe something listed here would work? But I think those fail the "cheap" part of your question too. So I think the search term you want is "DLNA audio player", which brings up items like this one ("Play the online and local music from Internet") - sounds like that would maybe work, but I would personally feel better spending 4x the money on a Sonos Play:1.
posted by RedOrGreen at 3:08 PM on November 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I use this Sabrent wifi audio receiver to do pretty much this. A Chromecast Audio should work too; I bought my units before that existed but if I were starting from scratch now I would probably go with the Chromecast.
posted by Itaxpica at 4:53 PM on November 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ooooh, Chromecast Audio -- I forgot about those! I wonder how the DS Audio app will work with one of those...
posted by wenestvedt at 7:54 PM on November 2, 2015

I use DLNA to stream music from a NAS, through my Android phone, to a Bluetooth speaker. It works well, although the DLNA player app I have is kind of clunky and the situation for iOS looks similar. Bluetooth has the advantage that it doesn't need any special support for other apps (Pandora, podcasts, etc)

I also mostly use a small rechargeable Bluetooth speaker because I can carry it to wherever I am --- kitchen, garage, whatever. I have a Bluetooth dongle for my nicer stereo, but I never use it because it's fixed in place.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:34 PM on November 2, 2015