Volumio vs Moode vs Picoreplayer - Comparison

[@The0nionKnight]

Thank you! I chose picoreplayer based off this review and I couldn’t be happier with it.

[@coin777]

Please fix the audio. Your mic needs a pop filter. Don't add bass and treble and use de esser

[@austinrhoads]

And maybe cut a little 7k

[@AlessandroRaco]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I personally tried all of these three software. i opted for the picore and i’m happy with it

[@AlessandroRaco]

because 1) picore is superlight and better to handle for the raspberry system.2) runs on ram, so there's should not be any risk to face a system file corruption if you suddenly shut down the system.3) great support from the community, thet are literally surfing the wave.4)customization: there's a plenty of additional features you can obtain playing with the raspberry gpio. they just work. plug-ins work, everything! i can't tell the same for the moode and volumio user.5) it seems to me that the fatter the system is, the more the issues are.6) by paying a software does not mean a user can't get problems. there are a lot of talented programmers around the world that just make it for passion, and they make it even better.( and deserve a donation i think)

[@AlessandroRaco]

@@nickburak7518 with picore and the extension “Material skin”you can simply point from any browser to your picore mac address followed by :9000 and you’re in! No app needed

[@AlessandroRaco]

@@nickburak7518 generaly 192.168.WHATEVER.WHATEVER:9000

[@AlessandroRaco]

@@nickburak7518 you’re welcome, i like to share the few things i understood

[@lio1234234]

Thank you for the video, it was really useful. However, the EQ you have on your voice over is far too bass heavy, I can barely understand what you are saying because of it

[@ernestgalvan9037]

Good headphones, and I have no problems with audio.

[@trixniisama]

Yeah and too many annoying "ssss", it's literally hurting

[@SnoDawg]

Why is he whispering

[@sean.butterworth]

Oh, the irony…

[@amdenis]

Great video, very useful. One thing on your audio for this video- something is making it very muddy, like the mic is damaged or something.

[@TechRoadTrip]

Thanks, glad it was useful, re the audio, I will definitely improve it in the future videos.

[@DistroUser]

I use a cheap USB mic "CAD U1" with no equalization, using ALSA in Linux...check out some of my videos for the audio. Cheers!

[@vicluu8026]

You forget to mention the practicality of Airplay ... For me, Airplay setting from Picoreplayer never works, it gives me no sound. Volumio always give me 2 seconds delay when I use airplay, so the audio is always behind the video. MoodeAudio give me instant and perfect airplay experience every single time. Airplay is a big part of my musical experience; that is why I was forced to use Moode Audio exclusively.

[@kennedys9714]

thanks for this but one of the most important features for me is crossfade of songs (no gap playback) volumio doesnt provide it, moode does. not sure about pico. but for anyone who wishes to use this in a public setting for a client who wants to keep the ambiance/mood with no drop, go with moode. just make sure the playlist scheduling is exact otherwise it can repeat songs.

[@hobbybaschtler7896]

Do you know if I can import playlists from my PC onto Moode? I tried this with Volumio, but I couldn't import and use my premade playlists.

[@MichaelSchultzNZ]

Nice video - I am using Volumio and Roon and it works amazing, full res files including MQA and streaming my files from another computer work great.

[@wp7310]

Why both? I'm thinking about Roon it a bit expensive but soooo convenient.

[@t0nyxgq]

Thanks for the info and the hard work you put in creating the video. I do want to mention that the audio is too bassy. I was having a hard time understanding with soo much rumble. Maybe consider a 100hz low cut filter.

[@mootzeroni]

Nice work on this comparison.

[@r5bc]

What about the API and the granular control of the playet via web socket and Rest calls?? This will allow a full flexible control and integration to smart home setup and node-red. I personally still didn't check mood and picorePlayer in depth, but volumio seems to be light years ahead in this regard

[@minaskky]

Just what I wanted ! Thank you very much !

[@teddymills1188]

I like Volumio dials. Make navigating and volume intuitive and easy.

[@id0069]

I couldn't understand the audio on this and I couldn't read anything on the website because there is almost no contrast - light text on white ?

[@TechRoadTrip]

New video comparison with better audio is coming up soon. Re the web I don't know what monitor u use but for most people it's just fine. Tested on multiple devices

[@id0069]

@@TechRoadTrip Thank you for responding - especially to an older video. The monitor I'm using is a Benq monitor with external speakers. It seems to work fine for other videos. I also tried it on Samsung TV, but it wasn't any better. It sounded like the narrator was speaking softly, but too close to the microphone. The resulting sound seemed bass heavy and garbled. Of course it could also be that at 70 yrs old, my hearing and vision are not what they used to be. Anyway, thanks for posting and it would be great to get an updated version.

[@dozyproductionss]

This might be a stupid question but these act as operating systems? I want to make a bluetooth boom box with a 5-7" screen.

[@leonardopapantoniou4227]

So you say it is better to use Tidal in Volumio and not Tidal connect?

[@taranagnew436]

can you play files off of pi to a computer listening to files via bt headset via computer?

[@bzcup]

You can connect your Bluetooth set directly to the pi. If it's connected to a PC you can access the files on the pi via samba share and use a player on the PC. For LMS, there is a squeezebox player for PC that you can control as a LMS player.

[@milslion863]

Hi. Please can you tell me how put to work picoPlayer with Qobuz?? i install picoPlayer but dont see nothing related to Qobuz. Thanks.

[@nosurname9652]

Many thanks for time spend, helped me a lot. And video quality is really good (topics, visual part, short and understandable explanation etc). One question still left after this video: does volumio support streaming services (mostly interested in Spotify) in free version or only in paid?

[@TechRoadTrip]

Hi, thanks, as mentioned in the video volumio supports streaming services as Tidal, Qobuz, Hi-res audio, natively in volumio's premium plan, now also Tidal connect. Via plugins there is a support for Spotify and Spotify connect both will require premium account

[@nosurname9652]

@@TechRoadTrip Many thanks for answer, will start with Moode or Pico than bcs choosing Raspberry as cheapest music streamer possibility.

[@prabhuja7554]

Moode does it now support Spotify??

[@djbusters]

I am not so surprised to find that why Deezer was not playing Hi-Res streams on PiCore player even when I have the subscription. Qobuz plays beautifully. I suspected that something was off from Deezet side, But now make that case even stronger.

[@cassio2999]

you can stream via nas Dlna or upnp

[@hovax19scooter]

thank you very much for explaining the differences! :)

My main issue with piCorePlayer is that it's built on its own linux distro. Which I'm sure feels cool but doesn't make any sense given that Pi's can happily handle full fledged linux distros. Now this means that it's pretty hard to add additional software. E.g. I want to add zerotier so that I can access the device though my VPN from anywhere. This should be easy with moode which is built on debian (or raspbian, I guess, to be exact). Also, since an audio player has such low performance requirements, there is no reason why you wouldn't want to add other software as well. (Though, I guess one could use docker for these if that's supported out of the box. Still more work than as if it was debian or some other widely used distro.)

[@TechRoadTrip]

Thanks man, for your comment, absolutely agree with your point.

[@bzcup]

They use the 12 MB distro to run it in RAM for faster operation and to avoid SD wear and corruption. Also it can run on slower hardware as the pi zero w. I read somewhere it can even run on some esp32 versions with limited functionality. I don't think it will ever support docker.

[@Videogame9559]

Hi can you bluetooth working with subscription?

[@DrDryce]

Now the plugin for Deezer supports the HiFi plan and it plays the flac files accordingly

[@basmeyer22]

HiFI, flac... all empty terms, what is IN that flac files is what matters, raw info about the data, how many bits, the sample rate. So in other words, did anything change here, or did nothing change and are we "just" still talking about 44.1 kHz / 16 bit CD audio files.

[@bzcup]

​​@@basmeyer22Deezer hifi plan streams are 44.1 kHz/16bit FLAC. They never had hi-ress.

[@HaimPeretz]

Im very like picoreplayer and used it only as a player, have LMS as docker container. The only issue with this in case I need to take my diy speakers to other places. For this i prefer the combination of LMS docker container + Moode audio with Spotify and squeezelite enable

[@MegaEpstein]

Very good video. Unfortunately for me all these three os don't support KZbin and Apple music

[@biggyk87]

and never will.

[@space_wanderer]

Volumio has a KZbin and KZbin Music plugin - everything plays perfectly!

[@hobbybaschtler7896]

Thanks for the comparison. I have one question: Can I import playlists to Moode and Picoreplayer? My main usecase is to play music files from external storage, but I didn't manage to get Volumio to play my playlists.

[@Pirxel]

Does Volumio still supports tidal or that requires some volumio subscription?

[@TechRoadTrip]

New updated video review of current Volumio version is coming up soon. ...And yes, unfortunately only the paid subscription of Volumio supports Tidal and Tidal connect

[@felipeavalos3404]

Just an update, Volumio has broken NAS access, it will only allow to play entire folders. It's a known bug but it seems there's no interest to fix it.

[@Goggolar]

Nice work! Helped me a lot! Thx!

[@hotjazzbaby]

Thank you. Great comparison. 🌟🌟🌟 I updated from v2.xx to the latest Volumio player yesterday to use with flac files stored on a Samsung ssd. It sounds great but as with v2 this new v3 interface is quirky on every device using the app version and web version That means sometimes the volume slider is unresponsive, wrong song is shown to be playing when it is not, the song queue sometimes loses some tracks and then needs to be reloaded, the heart symbol is activated even when a track has not been marked as a favorite, sometimes the back button puts me back on the start page instead of one folder up. So maybe I’ll try the pcore player.

[@kailashshewtahul4045]

Nice video. How about balena?

[@crazydiamonduk]

Which can I use in jukebox mode. Meaning my Pi is connected to my AMP but I can browse and play the music with a client (my phone) which will play on the Server not the client. Thanks for the great video

[@bzcup]

I think all of them can work like that. You use the phone as a remote only. And not only the phone but any device that has a http browser. Picore player can be further split up into server (LMS) and player (squeezebox) on two separate machines but can work on one as well. It also supports the raspberry pi display, check google, there are a lot of projects like that.

[@prabhuja7554]

Moode . Does it has a Phone app? How to control via phone??

[@bzcup]

Through any http browser you access the pi IP address.

[@ekjellgren]

Which streamer do you recommend? Tested Allo Boss2?

[@TechRoadTrip]

A lot of time passed from the time I posted this comparison but looking aging now how some developers in this field still didn't listen yet, I still would stick to Picoreplayer, if you don't like the limitations I already described, moode is the second. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to test Allo Boss2 yet.

[@vibor123]

Volumio does not support BT play without paying subscription.

[@zeh9047]

piCorePlayer seems full featured in a small image file. Why Moode and Volumio have such huge iso images? It would be great if there was a piCore port for the apple tv 1st generation! :-)

[@sol756db]

right now, August 20123, moOde wins for me, free and perfect with Spotify on older Raspberry Pi with DAC hat

[@digitalemon]

KZbin Music?

[@navinadv]

What about Max2Play?

[@arekwi6682]

In essence its the same as Picoreplayer.

[@grangermacy]

Very helpful - again. I loved your PiCore setup guide. It worked perfectly especially the expansion of the boot partition needed for the 7.0 update. I was wondering why Tidal HD was so poor. I didn't realize picore didn't support it. Now I know why I am enjoying Qobuz so much more. Was thinking about trying Moode but you make it clear that streaming support in Moode is not convenient. I'd just love to find a way to use the Android app with it since its more functional.

[@TechRoadTrip]

Thanks a lot for your comment. Glad it was helpful. Yes, I agree piCore and tidal hifi, I mean the limitation there is disappointing

[@dowster64]

Hi, I used your setup guide and Johny Darko's review of picore and LMS on one 'box' earlier in the year. Interestingly I've just tested and cancelled my volumio vertuoso install. This was the only way to get tidal connect (I have the HiFi+ level in Aus) to 'pass'the stream to volumio. Incidentally my hardware is raspberry pi 4 into Hugo2 and then into my HiFi. I found that Volumio out of the box had no volume control, however no Master recording I tried played above standard redbook (CD quality) as indicated on the Hugo2. Note the Hugo2 is not a MQA DAC. And I don't think Volumio does the first 'unfold' anyway, so a big waste of money. THe tidal 'hand off' was clunky anyway. So I went back to picore player and LMS. I have LMS installed on an Intel NUC and just picore as the player/streamer. Tidal is connectable to LMS and can play via picore no problems and at redbook levels - so no different from Volumio Vertuoso and Tidal Connect! I use Orangesqueeze on my phone. If anyone is curious the picore player can output a DSD stream from a DSD encoded file from LMS with the DSD plugin. I mainly play my own ripped CDs and Tidal via LMS so do difference. Volumio had a slick install but not real fix for no volume control.

[@trickyrat483]

@@dowster64 "Volumio had a slick install but not real fix for no volume control." That's more of a driver issue than a Volumio issue. Having said that, Volumio 2.x is on an older Linux kernel, so that may limit the driver choice (did for the headphone amp on my HiFiBerry DAC2 Pro.) Volumio 3.x seems to be on a later Linux kernel with more up-to-date drivers, hence your issue may be fixed in that release (still in Beta.) It does solve the headphone amp issue on my HiFiBerry DAC2 Pro, for example.

[@RazvanMGH]

Does lms support tidal connect?

[@bzcup]

It doesn't.

[@SanjayVinayak]

piCorePlayer does not have native UPNP rendering. There is an outdated plugin by Andy Grundman which is very buggy. Big negative in my opinion

[@cassio2999]

not Squeezelite & Roon but Logitech Media Server & Roon

[@veneratedmortal4369]

Volumio is such a scam. I dislike people arbitrarily limiting things. Won't be using that.

[@bylescx]

thanks for that, that tells me all I need to know 😂 I saw their "monthly" pricing, I'll never understand why companies do that... worries me that it'll stop working when _they_ feel like it.

[@tacofortgens3471]

What about ap-linux?

[@TechRoadTrip]

Have not tried that distro yet but will have a look at it, thanks for pointing it out.

[@DA-jw6nm]

so much bass in your audio....holy shit man

[@lukasf.6837]

please fix your mic settings, too much bass!

[@cassio2999]

I think you mean stream files instead of copy files

[@udayansengt]

How to play apple music on raspberry pi

[@TechRoadTrip]

Via airplay, should work on Volumio, Moode audio, also on Picoreplayer via plugin

[@rkumarblr1]

Is this native, through a plug-in or upnp for Apple Music. Is AirPlay 2 supported ?

[@bzcup]

​@@rkumarblr1if you care for lossless music use AirPlay 1. AirPlay 2 sender to AirPlay 2 receiver is lossy 256kbps AAC.

[@kloakovalimonada]

Great video, thanks! I'm currently looking for alternatives to the nice but incredibly buggy Volumio, and Moode audio looks like a good alternative.

[@jungtarcph]

Yeah, Volumio is so buggy! The spotify plugin is not working now, before it just stopped. Their forum just says its free.

[@blbeczech82]

Thank you for this comparison. 8:53 table helped me to stick with Volumio and not to try anything else (Tidal MQA and hi-res limitations on other systems). Anyway still considering to go back to Roon even there's no Spotify support...

[@mariovaiana7715]

Moode audio sounds better tha volumio with dsd an pcm programs

[@Montahue]

This is really valuable, its just a bit of a shame an audiophile has such a crappy microphone/base heavy settings that all get drowned in base😄But its only 15 minutes, the graphics are good and i have time to watch it more than one time :)

[@iLLumenaughty_9]

not so good quality mic for ur job

[@eliaspizarro0015]

Change your mic plz

[@peterhalas5202]

Very good content, but please take the mic further from your mouth, because we can hear all your saliva...