Converting sample rate for specific devices

[edj]

There is a device on my network that cannot play audio encoded at a sample rate of more than 48kHz - a Sonos Ray (their basic TV soundbar). Other devices are able to play music at a higher sample rate.

Is it possible to use minimstreamer to convert audio that has a sample rate higher than 48kHz for this device only?

At the moment I am using minimserver and BubbleUPnP (which I generally use to play music on the network) and converting the audio on my phone is killing the battery! The music is played from a Synology DS920+ on 7.1.1.

If it's not possible with minimstreamer, I'd be interested in other solutions - thanks.

[simbun]

It's not possible to create renderer profiles I'm afraid.

MinimServer can offer multiple streams for the control point to choose between (based on the renderers support which it communicates with the control point) but I don't think this information extends to sample rate, it's typically what codecs they support.

I tried this with:

Code:

flac(88):-/wav;48

This tells MinimServer for all FLAC tracks with a sample rate of 88000 Hz to not only present the original track but also a resampled stream of 48000 Hz.

Looking at 'Show Metadata' for that track in BubbleUPnP I see both streams, one FLAC at 88200 Hz and a WAV at 48000 Hz but unfortunately it sends the 88200 Hz to Sonos, which is unplayable.

Instead of having the BubbleUPnP app do the transcoding you could use BubbleUPnP Server which has much the same functionality. Not only will it do the transcoding but it will also hold the playback queue so you'll be saving even more battery life!
Unfortunately there is no DSM 7 package so you'll need to install it using Docker which is a bit more involved.

EDIT: Another option would be to configure multiple MinimServer profiles, one for Sonos (that performs the resampling) and another without, but you can't have them both active at the same time so you would need to switch between them.

[simoncn]

One more option is to run a second instance of MinimServer in a Docker container on your Synology NAS and configure this instance to transcode down to 48 kHz. There are full instructions for setting this up in this section.

[edj]

Understood thank you Simon. I think running another profile or instance of MS is OTT given that this is just one renderer on the system.

I have experiemented with Docker in the past and found it slightly beyond me - another rainy day project!

Thanks for the speedy response as always

[edj]

I installed docker solely to use BubbleServer and have to admit it was very very simple when following the instructions on the BS website. No real tinkering/understanding required at all.

One of the best side effects is that it allows you to create a faux OpenHome renderer for a non-OH / regular UPnP/DLNA renderer - this means that gapless playback is much more reliable. Top stuff.

Thanks again Simon