play FLAC+CUE files on Android (UPnP)?

2020-09-08 12:45:08

For years (decades?) I've been using fb2k on PC as my main music player, both locally and on a network. Using fb2k on PC to push/play music from my library to various renderers works fine, but now I'd like to switch to an Android device as controller,

PROBLEM: most of my library consists of old CDs/vinyl ripped into single FLAC files with embedded CUE (mostly EAC, some CueTools). fb2k recognizes and plays the contents/tracks just fine, but none of the UPnP capable players on Android I've tried do. They just 'see' (and play) the FLAC/album as a single entity and cannot play individual tracks from them.

The only player I've found that reads/plays FLAC+CUE is DDB2 but only from the device itself and not from a network library, let alone being able to push it to a network renderer.

Did I miss something in f.i. BubbleUPnP or Foobar Mobile that would let them 'see' the individual tracls as well, or is there a player that does?

Re: play FLAC+CUE files on Android (UPnP)?

Reply #1 – 2020-09-08 13:14:22

A quick google search found https://neutronmp.com/
I have not used the player myself.

Re: play FLAC+CUE files on Android (UPnP)?

Reply #2 – 2020-09-08 15:48:15

Thanks, I've tried Neutron before. Accessing a local database (internal storage )it recognizes/splits the FLAC album, but when accessing the network share it doesn't. Must have something to do with the way the file is presented on the network. It can see the album(s) through UPnP/DLNA but apparently both those standards don't particularly like FLAC+CUE & fb2k is one of the few players that is able to make it work (according to bubbleguuum). When trying to access the albums as network share, it sees only the main folder and not the sub folders/content. It is the closest I've come thus far (sorry I forgot to mention it).

Re: play FLAC+CUE files on Android (UPnP)?

Reply #3 – 2020-09-10 05:29:18

I have an always on NUC at home with Win10 and Foobar2000 with UPnP plugin. All my music is saved as single image + cue (mostly flac single image + cue but also a few mp3 single image + cue).

For Android playback, I use either BubbleUPnP or Hi-Fi Cast to access the Foobar2000 library via UPnP. Both these apps allow you to select both UPnP source and renderer. This is for playback on my local network. BubbleUPnP Server (if installed/configured) allows for WAN playback but I’ve never used (data constraints).

I do not bother with image + cue on local Android device. I keep a small library on device for offline playback transcoded to lossy (generally either ogg-opus or ogg-vorbis). Generally image + cue is in the too hard basket (including for server side).

Not sure why you are trying to access a network share. That implies SMB which is not how I’d be accessing. If you have BubbleUPnP (or HiFi-Cast) on your Android phone then you should be accessing Foobar2000 via UPnP. There is a plug-in for this. It’s more or less no longer developed and could do with some minor enhancements but should do what you need. If I’m not mistaken the UPnP plugin for Foobar2000 is same dev as for BubbleUPnP.

Finally, GoneMAD Music Player for Android also states support for image + cue. I have this is my app library but not used for years as I prefer Hi-Fi Cast these days. It (GoneMAD) has a trial version so you could test this one as well.