first notes

README.md

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-# multi-room-hifi
+# Howto Multi-room HiFi
-Build details for DIY multi-room hifi system
+
+Following are (work in progress!) build details for my DIY multi-room hifi system. I've tried a fair number of possible builds and settled on the following:
+
+# Software:
+- logitech media server [via docker](https://hub.docker.com/r/lmscommunity/logitechmediaserver)
+- home asisstant using the [Squeezebox integration](https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/squeezebox/)
+- [esp32-squeezelite](https://github.com/sle118/squeezelite-esp32) and [piCorePlayer](https://docs.picoreplayer.org/getting-started/) clients
+
+# Devices:
+
+## Server
+
+Music library and server-side applications are on a debian server running inside a Proxmox hypervisor
+
+## Kitchen (total cost = £20)
+
+Music is playing on a [Roberts Radio](https://www.robertsradio.com/en-gb/retro) via an a1s model esp32-audio-kit (£16) board which is running [esp32-squeezelite](https://ale.cx/ALEX/2021/01/esp32-audio-kit-with-squeezelite-esp32/) which provides digital to analog conversion and output to the Roberts radio using a 3.5mm stereo plug and gets power from the Roberts radio via the hidden USB port inside. This device supports direct streaming via airplay, bluetooth or as an LMS client. 
+
+Roberts now sells units which support bluetooth streaming, but this is fairly limited functionality and unnecessarily expensive. Rather than getting a new unit, I "upgraded" this old radio and it works great!
+
+## Dining Room (total cost = £110)
+
+Music plays on a [Raspberry Pi](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/) which cost £36 and an [IQAudio DigiAmp+ board](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/iqaudio-digiamp-plus/) which cost £30. This device runs [piCorePlayer](https://docs.picoreplayer.org/getting-started/) which runs as an LMS client. The device also has a rotary encoder (KY-040), 128X64 Pixel OLED display (SSD1306) and an IR receiver which I use with an old apple remote. This is a pretty nice little Class D amplifier, running full-HD 192kHz / 24bit audio at 2x35w, which powers a set of Wharfedale 9.1 speakers I picked up used for £50
+
+- I've tried running this device using [Volumio 3](https://volumio.com/en/volumio-3) and [Mopidy](https://mopidy.com/) (in June-July 2022). I found both of these platforms to be overly complex and unstable as music players so eventually settled on LMS friendly piCorePlayer.
+
+## Living Room (total cost = £25.50)
+
+For our front room, I've built a DIY sonos-style player. This uses a 35W TDA8932 BTL Mono Amplifier Board (this cost £5) which powers a single Cambridge Audio S20 speaker which I got used for £10 running in mono (for obvious reasons). 
+
+We stream audio to this amplifier using a simple ESP32 WROVER Development Board (an Lilygo TTGO T8 v1.8 board) running esp32-squeezelite client software which connects to the amp using a £4 PCM5102 DAC. The reason I've gone for separate DAC/Amp boards in this setup is because there are very few amplifier boards with a build-in DAC chip, and this really limits your overall options. I'm aware that there are many projects out there using a board like the 3W MAX98357 ([like here](https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects/esp32-based-internet-radio-using-max98357a-i2s-amplifier-board) and here), but at this point I think going with separate boards is the best approach. I've drawn on the terrific [SqueezeAMP project](https://github.com/philippe44/SqueezeAMP) for this design.