Chromecast Audio open source firmware?

[schildbach]

Is there any open source firmware for Chromecast Audio (or a similar device in that form factor) that can be used in combination with Music Assistant?

[OzGav]

There plenty of small form factor options https://www.music-assistant.io/faq/stream-to/#a-device-i-am-yet-to-purchase

[Hedda]

There is no projects making open-source replacement firmware for Google's original Chromecast Audio hardware as far as I know.

I have also been looking for alternative open-source hardware products in similar form-factor with open-source firmware closest ones I found so far are the "HiFi ESP32" and "HiFi ESP32 Plus", which in turn are are stripped-down variants of the "HiFi Esparagus" and "HiFi Esparagus S3" :

• https://sonocotta.com/hifi-esp32-and-hifi-esp32s3/

  • https://www.tindie.com/products/sonocotta/hifi-esp32/

• https://sonocotta.com/esparagus-hifi-medialink/

  • https://www.tindie.com/products/sonocotta/hifi-esparagus-media-center/

All from Sonocotta/anabolyc who btw makes many other ESP32-based open-source Hi-Fi audio hardware in his Esparagus/Loud/Louder series:

• https://sonocotta.com

  • https://github.com/sonocotta/esparagus-media-center

FYI, if you want a "future-proof" solution purley for Music Assistant (and Home Assistant) then consider something that will support "Sendspin" (which is a new audio streaming protocol which is design to be the default native playback protocol built into and designed for Music Assistant):

• https://www.music-assistant.io/player-support/sendspin/

  • https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/4200

I think that from a Music Assistant (and Home Assistant) userbase point-of-view the main downside with those (other than size and aesthetics) are that they do not currently ship out-of-the-box with preconfigued ESPHome firmware which supports the new Sendspin audio protocol and feature a user-experince that is more similar to that of the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition hardware (but without microphones) as having the software-side be fully plug-and-play would make it a lot simpler for new users and maintain updates for them in the long-run similar to Home Assistant Voice PE concept:

• https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/12/19/voice-preview-edition-the-era-of-open-voice/

  • https://github.com/esphome/home-assistant-voice-pe

Again note that those are all open-source hardware so others can also make similar ESP32-based devices using their designs (if they release them as open-source hardware under the same license and give credits where credit is due), however it is now really the software-side (as in both firmware and Music Assistant) that needs to catch-up in making the user-experince for installation/configuration easier to install/setup and update maintenance simpler to use for beginners.

PS: Also see this related discussion here with @anabolyc (Andriy Malyshenko from Sonocotta) who is the developer of all Esparagus hardware:

• https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/5102

As linked above he currently also have an ongoing crowdfunding campaign for a kind of similar product with built-in 65W power-amplifier.

[Hedda]

Off-topic but a tip if you are ever in the future might be looking for a more flexible Linux-based open-source hardware solution that will also support the new Sendspin audio protocol in a similar fusion then keep an eye on the new Linux-Voice-Assistant project from Open Home Foundation as its concept share a lot of similarities to Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition however instead running on more powerful Raspberry Pi hardware (which can be used in combination with audio HATs/Shields from example HiFiBerry or Sonocotta).

[schildbach]

Thanks for your thorough recommendation. Are you aware of a similar device that has SPDIF or TOSLink (and actually doesn't need high-fidelity analog audio)?

[Hedda]

Are you aware of a similar device that has SPDIF or TOSLink (and actually doesn't need high-fidelity analog audio)?

Read this whole page in the Music Assistent documentation about different solutions that support Sendspin, Squeezelite or Snapcast:

• https://www.music-assistant.io/faq/stream-to/

For reference first read up in general on ”Player Providers” (which more or less are built-in servers for different audio streaming protocols) and how Music Assistent stream to those clients/endpoints:

• https://www.music-assistant.io/player-support/

Also read up on what is unique to each player provider for Sendspin, Squeezelite and Snapcast

• https://www.music-assistant.io/player-support/sendspin/

• https://www.music-assistant.io/player-support/squeezelite/

• https://www.music-assistant.io/player-support/snapcast/

FYI, there is an open pull request with ongoing work for adding SP/DIF digital audio output code support to the ESPHome firmware and when that is merged into its mainline code could be added to new ESP32-based hardware or existing ESP32-based hardware if they have exposed GPIO pins, like example the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition (where you can directly wire a real optical transmitter to the Grove connector). It does sound as if that pull request will probably get merged very soon, see here:

• [speaker] Add SPDIF output support esphome/esphome#8065

And of course many other Open-source network streamer solutions that that runs on top of a Linux operating system can support PipeWire and PulseAudio multimedia frameworks so can output digital audio (such as Raspberry Pi with a suitable HiFiBerry HAT hardware), so again for that keep an eye on the new Linux-Voice-Assistant project from Open Home Foundation and similar Linux-based projects (which usually target Raspberry Pi with various HAT or Shield addon hardware).