I have no actual experience with anything related to streaming music over network to AV receivers. But I will try to specify what I would like to achieve:
- music stored as FLAC on NAS
- the playback control done using wireless tablet device
- the output device being an AV receiver
- must support replay gain track tags
- complex playback control required, such as database sorting, playlists, random playback, volume fading - similar to what Winamp offers
Now, what I am not sure about:
- can I stream lossless FLAC (or decoded PCM) to tablet from NAS by wireless?
- can I stream lossless FLAC (PCM) from tablet to AV receiver by wireless?
- is there an application for tablets that support replay gain tags?
- if not, is there an application for tablets that has the ability to normalize track volumes on the fly (similar to what KM Player does)?
If not, should I add a PC that will then stream the lossless FLAC (PCM) by wire? If I add a PC to my chain, can I control the PC with the tablet by wireless?
So I am basically thinking about 3 main concepts:
A: NAS > wireless > tablet (audio processing & playback control) > wireless > av receiver
B: NAS > wired (less) > PC <wireless> tablet (audio playback control) <wireless> PC (audio processing) > wired(less) > av receiver
C: NAS > wired (less) > av receiver (audio processing) <wireless> tablet (audio playback control)
What is your solution? Is anybody streaming FLAC from NAS to AV receiver? Thank you!
Logitech Media Server (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logitech_Media_Server) (formerly SlimServer)
I thought with the Squeezebox hardware is what actually supports replaygain rather than the software? Otherwise it'd have to reencode and send. So while LMS might gives options for RG I'm sure it's the device that actually uses it?
Some AVRs do support music playback including FLAC over DLNA but I've not seen RG support. Although maybe something like Serviio could help here as it has profiles so theoretically might be able to re-encode on the fly.
Personally I use I use File Server (running LMS) into a Squeezebox which is plugged into my AVR. They have an app for tablets and it supports RG and everything you want
Recently started using MinimServer on a raspberry pi with my flac files on an attached usb drive. Tablet as control point or control and playback, using bubbleupnp for android. Works great for me - I prefer it to minidlna or LMS. YMMV. Not sure about Replaygain support though.