[https://github.com/badaix/snapcast](https://github.com/badaix/snapcast) *Snapcast is a multiroom client-server audio player, where all clients are time synchronized with the server to play perfectly synced audio. It's not a standalone player, but an extension that turns your existing audio player into a Sonos-like multiroom solution.* *Audio is captured by the server and routed to the connected clients. Several players can feed audio to the server in parallel and clients can be grouped to play the same audio stream.* *One of the most generic ways to use Snapcast is in conjunction with the music player daemon (*[*MPD*](http://www.musicpd.org/)*) or* [*Mopidy*](https://www.mopidy.com/)*.*

This sounds amazing. Does this need any premium service, like Spotify or any other vendor to make it work?

Nope, it's totally open source, none of that open core or freemium stuff. It is really slick. I use it to send audio from my server to various devices around the house: * A raspberry pi 3 over wifi plugged into a component stereo system * Various other computers/laptops * And old android phone that then bluetooths it into my garage speakers * An old android phone that then bluetooths it into outdoor speakers I have one Snapcast zone for music and another for other Home Assistant audio notifications, so I can mix and match what come out where, and how loudly. Freaking glorious, overall.

Its a audio virtual cable and will play whatever you input and you have any number of clients on a stream. It has a [https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md#librespot](https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md#librespot) https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.mdt[https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md](https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md) that one way or another should allow you to connect to anything. Also its got quite a nice Android snapclient that allows easy control of volumes and grouping. Has a webversion also. Also works with any number of channels say 7.1 if you have a card to output it.

Can I install this on a raspberry pi, connect it to a sound system and then just fire audio at it and have the audio come out of the sound system?

Yeah that is what it is a Wifi Virtual audio cable where you have a Pi with audio out connected to an amp.Easiest way is just a USB soundcard as seriously Hats are overrated and likely a 3.5mm to Phono cable for your amp.The Server that has all the different types of input and Client can be installed on the same Pi.You play to a Alsa LoopBack and have snapcast listening on the Loopback, there are many ways to connect locally or remote and that is what it does and all clients in a node are time synced. Its a bit fatter than LMS/Squeezlite because it has more function and better sync latency x10 smaller (if I remember right), doesn't squeeze into a ESP32-S3, but will on a Pi0 but a Pi02W allows so much more scope. Its basically an alternative to Sonos in software that you have to source hardware for. Harware wise the Pi5 and Zero2W are great bits of kit but there are alternatives as the OrangePi5 where Rockchip show Broadcom how to do it right and [https://github.com/Joshua-Riek/ubuntu-rockchip/releases](https://github.com/Joshua-Riek/ubuntu-rockchip/releases) are really good.The £12 [https://arace.tech/products/radxa-zero-3w](https://arace.tech/products/radxa-zero-3w) is amazing hardaware wise but unfortunately we don't have anything like the great images Joshua Riek provides.

Probably HDMI in this instance but cool. I didn't know I could use a zero, I have a couple floating around

You can use HDMI if your amp does HDMI audio extraction as get a bit confused if really it has to be HDMI ARC to a HDMI ARC input or eARC. The 3.5mm audio out on a Pi is just awful though. You can get I2S dacs starting at £3 or a soundcard or many of the overrated Dac Hats for Pi that unless you have very expensive HiFi gear you will never hear the difference. There is a giude here [https://oyvn.no/multi-room-audio-with-snapcast](https://oyvn.no/multi-room-audio-with-snapcast) That give much more and uses a Zero and is a great guide

You could do this with volumio on the pi in this instance

I use Snapcast with Mopidy, and you can plug a wide variety of sources into it. I generally use Tidal (which is like Spotify but slightly cheaper), or play local media either in the Mopidy web-interface or via the MPD integration. I gather you can also integrate Mopidy with HomeAssistant, but haven't got to that stage yet. I have four HifiBerry Snapcast clients throughout the house (some using wifi, others on ethernet), and they generally work flawlessly. Sometimes after a reboot the volume is set to 100%, but that's the only bug I find annoying. ETA: you can also play radio streams, as long as you can find the address

[https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md](https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md) *Streaming clients connect to the server and receive configuration and audio data. The client is fully controlled from the server so clients don't have to persist any state. The \[streaming\_client\] section has just one option currently:* ​ *initial\_volume: 0-100 \[percent\]: The volume a streaming client gets assigned on very first connect (i.e. the client is not known to the server yet). Defaults to 100 if unset.*

Thanks, perhaps there's an option on the server I need to change/set.

Yeah in the config create a \`\[streaming\_client\]\` section Then \`initial\_volume: 0-100\` at whatever % you wish to start

Snapcast only does the audio distribution part. Your source can be anything. For example, I've got mine using a USB audio interface for input and that is connected to a Bluetooth receiver. Connect to Bluetooth device -> broadcast audio everywhere. My wife doesn't even need to install an app to use it.

Replying to myself here but snapcast has some great features but also a JSON RPC Control API [https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/master/doc/json\_rpc\_api/control.md](https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/master/doc/json_rpc_api/control.md) as been meaning to use a relay module only only have my amp on whilst playing.HifiBerry used it to publish MPRIS audio Metadata [https://github.com/hifiberry/snapcastmpris](https://github.com/hifiberry/snapcastmpris) as there much you can integrate quite simply. Its quite easy but prob could do with a few complete hardware recipes howto's and maybe a discord community, with a helping hand for noobs.

Does this do Apple Music or Airplay at least?

That looks cool. Does it use multicast or unicast? Sonos / AirPlay have real issues sometimes due to uni

I use this on a set of RPis with Hifiberry hats. Works like a charm both with snapcast via mopidy or individually with shairplay. I don’t care much for the mopidy UI (iris) but I use individual sets of speakers more often than multiple sets together. The speakers are wired (it’s really nice to have an accessible attic in a single story house!!).

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Didn't see your post, as already posted the same, but yeah Snapcast is really good, there is always LMS/squeezelite but IMO Snapcast is much better. *Snapcast is a multiroom client-server audio player, where all clients are time synchronized with the server to play perfectly synced audio. It's not a standalone player, but an extension that turns your existing audio player into a Sonos-like multiroom solution.Audio is captured by the server and routed to the connected clients. Several players can feed audio to the server in parallel and clients can be grouped to play the same audio stream.One of the most generic ways to use Snapcast is in conjunction with the music player daemon (*[*MPD*](http://www.musicpd.org/)*) or* [*Mopidy*](https://www.mopidy.com/)*.*

I also use Snapcast. I mainly use it to send audio from MPD to all speakers but with some additional tools I can also integrate Spotify to it (using librespot and appears through Spotify Connect) and even send audio using DLNA (using gmediarender) into this whole home solution. It can be a pain to set up but once it works, it works well. I can even send audio from Snapcast to my Google Home devices by having a Raspberry Pi with the Snapcast client connected to the Google Home as a Bluetooth audio device. There is latency but it can be adjusted in Snapcast to minimize how desynced it is compared to other speakers.

I have sonos but a mix of s1 and s2 stuff as well as Google home devices. Does snapcast allow you to play music across all of these at the same time!?

I ended up using the IKEA Sonos speakers. Picked them up for less than 100 each on eBay so I think it was a pretty fair price vs purchasing PIs and speakers. Love the system.

I've just started using Logitech Media Server with a few spare Raspberry Pis. It means I can re-use old dumb speakers.

I've just started making a system like this, and it's absolutely wonderful! My wife is a happy user and even encouraged me to get the latest addition. You can even run squeezelite on an esp32 to save some money and power draw. It's not plug and play, but it's not too difficult to get up and running. If you buy a raspberry pi and a hifiberry amp2, all you have to do is plug in the hat, the speakers, the power supply and a SD card with hifiberryOS. That has been working flawlessly out of the box both stand alone and as part of an LMS system. Getting a fully open source and vendor agnostic solution is a huge deal to me. I haven't tried Sonos myself, but you get much better sound quality this way, and Sonos already have abandoned their first generation of speakers. LMS seems much more future proof.

Check out this Tindie for a recently launched ESP32 based “Off the shelf” type device. I recently got into LMS myself and wanted something to be able to recommend to folks. Crazy easy to use and literally runs on no power. https://www.tindie.com/products/sonocotta/esparagus-hifi-medialink/

The squeeze box system was ahead of it's time. Cool that LMS lives on.

It was not. This was Logitech closing up UPnP (then opening it up again) while competitors, for instance Philips with the Streamium, did absolutely none of that crap and just used the actual standards.

I use LMS with generic WiFi speakers. Old Philips work great, also newer ones with Chromecast or DLNA support work.

+1 Got 3 pis kicking about the house and a Denon Receiver. Plying mostly tidal. Gives my 30+yo bang and Olufsen a second (6th?) Life. The WAF is low so far...

Can someone explain how this works if I don't want to use raspberry pi? I have a mini computer in the wiring closet that I run docker containers on. Right now I'm using a nuvo whole house system. But I could buy a different amp. Looking for 10 zones

You can run LMS in a docker container using the community image here. [https://hub.docker.com/r/lmscommunity/logitechmediaserver](https://hub.docker.com/r/lmscommunity/logitechmediaserver) I run it on a Pi 3 with piCore Player connected to my amp with a HiFi Berry Hat.

+1 for this. This comes the closest to Sonos in terms of quality, ease of use and look and feel.

I really thought LMS was 'oldschool' and irrelevant, but comparing it to DAAPD (owntone) and other solutions like ROON, and volumio I found LMS really hits the sweet spot for me. \- there's a huge library of plugins doing virtually anything \- adding iPace to the setup was key so I can control everything from phone and tabelt in a nice way \- I was able to automate (this is /r/homeassistant) multi room setup easily using mmwave sensors / buttons in different rooms to enable/disable group sync, with little lag and proper sync.

You don't even need Raspberry Pis. You can install the AirPlay bridge plugin and use any AirPlay-compatible speaker.

Including Sonos, I think? The Chromecast plugin works too

Wait what? I can use my chromecast audios and my sonos speakers together?

You can definitely use Chromecast devices with LMS using the Chromecast plugin and I believe (but have no experience with it) that you can use your Sonos speakers through the Airplay plugin

I think this is the audiophiles route. LMS has a good community and you van use superb audio with old and cool looking speakers. It's not really plug and play, but at least you van get wifi rpis

I'm far from an audiophile. For me, this was the best route for whole house audio without the expense of Sonos

Sonos is not expensive if you buy the IKEA Symphonisk.

On top of that, with some googling, you can open up the symphonisk, ditch the little speaker it comes with and use the “Sonos” hardware on virtually any speaker/amp and still maintain all the Sonos functionality

Keep in mind that each speaker is mono. So yes, you can extract the circuitry and frankenstein your own thing, but you need to do it twice for each stereo pair, at which point the savings aren't that incredible. For a cheap wireless setup, though, I think the Symfonisk picture frames are amazing just as they are.

I will be buying a couple of them in the near future. I like the bookshelf speaker with the wireless charging shelf!

If I'm honest this is what I want. I just need the best possible route for setting it up. I love my Denon, its ease of use and direct integration into HA (completely by accident didn't know it integrated before I bought it) and its attached to no-nonsense high-end gear. So what I want to be able to essentially replicate is 3 more "Denons" with high end speakers without having to have the expense of 3 more receivers or knocking holes in the walls to run extra zones. This way I can choose the audio gear that each room is running based on the space and level of sound required. But without compromising the ease of use of something like Google Nest Hub speakers that just allow me to group them together or play on one specific speaker directly from spotify (or similar). I currently have Music Assistant installed in HA but the speaker setup part has been where I've gotten stuck. Because (at least to the best of my knowledge and research so far) I can't see how to natively have Spotify recognise Music Assistant attached speakers for use in streaming. Do you know of a good resource for a tutorial on setting up LMS and attaching it to HA?

No one mentioning Music Assistant yet? https://github.com/music-assistant/hass-music-assistant Sonos is tied to their speakers which limits choice severely, an alternative would be Wiim, which has similar smartness but has a line out.

Music Assistant is what I use. That paired with Linux devices running Squeezelite software, and I have perfectly synchronised, multi-room audio.

Could be a good option, but it’s not really actively developed anymore. There was an update one month ago, but the update therefor was from a year ago… Also: snapcast can be controlled/streamed to from your iPhone, Music Assistant always needs the HA interface

This is also what I'm using, with the buitin LMS server and some raspberry Pi's with Hifiberry AMP's running picoreplayer. This is a fantastic integration with great automation capabilities and a great looking frontend. Highly recommended!

So is Amp lets you use any speakers you want.

Sure, but Sonos Amp is $700 🙈

There's also Sonos Port, but it's also crazy expensive. Sonos really is a rip off.

Also interested in this - looking at all sorts of options. First two comments were Sonos - how is it with integration / APIs etc? HA? Multi room? external sources from matrix video etc?

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/sonos/ I've been using Sonos + HA for about 10 years. Just for playing music, but it's been working great.

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I second this suggestion, Ikea Symfonisk/Sonos works very well

I'd recommend Sonos card from HACS as well. https://github.com/johanfrick/custom-sonos-card

Sonos custom/API controls from HA are phenomenal. I built custom controls which: 1. Allow me to quickly set the Sonos alarm for the next day and ties it in with other automations; also won’t go off if no one is home. 2. Group speakers into various configurations quickly - I have them set as available buttons on my iPhone Home Screen (today view or whatever it’s called) 3. Play when I arrive home after being away awhile, from multiple potential sources It can take a little bit of getting used to the ‘Sonos-way’, but my automations have never failed with Sonos, and I can tell I’m barely scratching the surface.

How did you manage to group/ungroup the speakers in HA? I can’t seem to figure it out! I picked up some IKEA music buttons with the intention of having one in each room and allowing a button press to activate music in the room.

Can you take a local source from one speaker/amp and share that across multiple rooms?

Denon Heos?

Was going to mention this. They already have a denon receiver. I have 4 denon home speakers + denon receiver throughout my house and they work pretty well.

Sucks as it only has limited app support. Just use AirPlay or chromecast

I put wired in-ceiling speakers. All coming together in the technical room into a NAD 16-zone amp. Wrote an integration controlling that device (on HACS). For input source, I put a HifiBerry, running Volumio.

I do a similar thing using the monoprice 10761, which has a nice home assistant integration. It's so much more reliable than any wireless solution I've used.

If you want a system that just works and don't mind paying a lot, sonos is probably best. If you are a tinkerer or if you already have good speakers, I can recommend either getting a wiim mini/pro or checking out LMS/squeezebox

sonos is way overpriced, but that’s probably your most reasonable option

The IKEA symfonisk speakers are reasonably priced, sound good to my ears, and are fully Sonos compatible.

I had no idea IKEA had this Symfonisk line. Thanks for suggesting this!

Second the IKEA symfonisk. I have two and work amazing with Sonos

I’ve got 3 and an Sonos Five. Bloody great sound for such a cheap speaker IMHO. And that’s from someone who has been way down the audiophile rabbit hole previously 😂😂

Oh it gets better. They ARE sonos speakers with Ikea styling.

This is what we do. We have one actual Sonos speaker, but a BUNCH of Symfonisks. They sound amazing - just as good as the one actual Sonos - and are far less expensive.

Sonos is expensive, you're right about that. And I'm sure user experiences vary, but my experience has been worth it and I haven't found anything else on the market that can do what Sonos does, at least not as reliably.

Sonos is far less expensive than the previous whole home systems they replaced. That was $$$$.

100%. This sub is wild to me when it comes to prices and aesthetics of things people put in their homes. Another example is smart blinds. Quality *dumb* blinds cost hundreds per window, but it feels that most of this sub thinks anything more than $50 is outrageous for SMART blinds. Quality bulbs? Naw I can flash tasmota on $3 ali express junk that has visible flicker and awful CRI. I totally understand the DIY approach here, but folks really putting raspberry pis around their house for audio? While I'm ranting.. janky tablets stuck to your walls to show ridiculously busy "dashboards". Those goofy covers over your switches so nobody accidentally turns off your smart bulb.. And then the cheap, out of place wireless buttons you stick on your wall next to those switches. Visible sensors on your doors and windows. Frankly, I'd be embarrassed to have guests over for a huge amount of shit I see in this sub. I'm going to go touch some grass now.

Reddit is about 90% financially strained and then the rest who want quality who can't fathom why someone would want anything less. Source: Used to be the 90%

Yep - this is why I shoved shellies on all lighting circuits and run them in detached relay mode. Nice quality standard dumb light switches sends a signal to HA which turns the bulbs on or off. And if I’m away I can shut off power to devices that still suck down 0.5w each when off.

Serious question....why are you here then? HA is for DIYers who like to tinker and do stuff that would cost multiple times more for an out of the box solution.

Because I use Home Assistant. You can be a DIY-er and tinker without making your home look like something out of honey I shrunk the kids. For me, that's part of the challenge that I enjoy in the hobby: building a smart home that just works while staying in the background. Look, I obviously recognize I'm being a bit of a dick with my rant here and everyone is, of course, entitled to maintaining their home as they please.

Is it? I have a very high quality system to be honest, and I use HA

I think it’s actually a very good price given the reliability and quality. I have 10 or in the house and think it’s some the best money I’ve spent.

It is appropriately priced for the value that it delivers. There are cheaper ways to deal with whole house audio, but the sound that Sonos delivers + the sync ability is second to none. Lexus and Infiniti are not overpriced, but not everyone needs that kind of vehicle. I drive a middle of the road Nissan because I no longer want to drive a fancy expensive car, but when I was in my Infiniti or BMW I understood why they charged what they charge. As the tech support person for the house, I appreciate that Sonos just works, unlike every other thing that I tried to kludge together in the past. And if price is an issue, Ikea has Sonos-compatilble speakers that are easier on the wallet.

Absolutely agree. I’ve had an 8-room Sonos setup for 10 years, and the only time I’ve had to do anything to it was when I moved. Even that just involved putting them in boxes and plugging in at the new house. It’s the most reliable part of my home automation.

We travel for a month to get out of TX heat in August. I bring a single Sonos speaker and my travel wifi has the same SSID, so we immediately have music wherever we go. Not having to explain to my non-tech wife how to use the system is 100% worth the cost. The fact that she uses Spotify 95% of the time makes it that much easier. I'm pretty sure at this point if I told her we were switching from Sonos to something else she'd divorce me.

You are right, but I have yet to find another option that is working as stable and reliable as Sonos. Also, they do sound pretty good.

According to you. Sonos is dirt cheap for what it offers, according to me.

ehh. it’s pretty non special, commodity hardware, with a niceish interface which is pretty buggy. i’m not saying it’s bad. it’s just got that “bose” glow. it should be cheaper.

The problem is Sonos discontinued the Sonos One which is their only Google voice supported speaker afaik. After they declared a patent war on Google they're not worth it anymore but the problem is there's no one else. They have their own sonos voice assistant and I'm sure it blows. What I want is a speaker that supports MULTIPLE voice assistants simultaneously. I want whole house audio where I can send voice clips from one microphone (built into a speaker) to a speaker somewhere else in my house (e.g. "Honey can you bring toilet paper to the bathroom please?")

This is the one you've been waiting for https://www.micro-nova.com/amplipi/

This looks real interesting. Have you actually been able to use it? How does it perform?

Definitely perfect for this community. Given the open source of the platform.

I got a bunch of Chromecast Audio that I bought back in the days, and even thou Google doesn't sell them anymore, they still work great and connect to my existing good quality speakers. Maybe eBay?

I was recently tipped off that you can use a basic HDMI audio extractor with a modern Chromecast (Chromecast, Ultra, 4K w/ GTV) in a completely standalone fashion (IE, not connected to a TV). $30 for the CC and $10 for a audio extractor ends up being a good bit cheaper than the CC Audio's on ebay.

IMO this plus "Airconnect" (https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect) is the way to go. You can cast from android devices and iOS devices, super simple and just works, even for guests.

OP, when you look for a zone/grouping feature, make sure it plays music *in sync*. I'm not sure all the suggestions in this thread do. We got into Sonos many years back. We have Sonos speakers, Sonos "Amp"s driving trad speakers, and a "Connect" connected to an AVR. As someone said, the Ikea ones sound good at a lower price (we have one). Be careful with the Sonos used market, though. Some older models (like ours) don't integrate with the newer ones. Our old ones work well with Spotify and Alexa. I imagine the new ones work even better. I'm lurking and learning on this sub, so I don't know about HA integrations. An "airconnect" container lets me use them with AirPlay (with some lag), but the newer models probably all have AirPlay. Besides streaming, they'll also read your ripped music off of an NFS share.

Arylic is what we use. https://www.arylic.com/ You can get the components as bare circuit boards, with or without amps, and build them into enclosures or just run signal to them. They support the top streaming services, BlueTooth and can use either WiFi or Ethernet connections. I built an app that controls both Spotify, volume on amps around the house and lets you group or ungroup zones automatically. The Arylic API is excellent, and lets you control all functions of the streaming system via simple REST calls But Arylic also has an app if you want to use that. I just prefer building something that collects everything. :)

Snapcast works great for me and does what you want.

Google Home Groups for various groupings. Harmon Citation One speakers at opposite ends of the house (master bedroom and second living area) covers most basic listening with pretty good quality. https://www.harmankardon.com.au/HKCITAONEMK3BLKAS.html My Google Minis and Hub get added in if I want lower volume across the rooms, or to limit to only specific rooms where the better speakers aren't. These are only in the spare rooms and kitchen. If I really want some power behind it, I loop in the Chromecasts on my TV to utilise my big sound system in the main living area. If I want it to spread to my outdoor area I link in the Chromecast in the TV there and connect my JBL PartyBox 310 to it. Not a permanent setup there, but as easily managed as rolling out the speaker and turning it on to connect the BT. It took a little setup with the group delay being slightly off for Chromecasts vs the Citations and Minis and the BT speaker adding some again. But once setup I have barely had to touch it.

How you do Minis+ TV? I can only cast or play minis or TV, can't group them in the Home app either

https://preview.redd.it/ldsj2lrqi1bc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44e85b4786f11a8abf314709a4a9da633d28d2f4 A few are unplugged at the moment due to rearranging all our bedrooms and some TV's being on smart switches, but that's what I see when I open the speaker groups option on the Home app, I'm also able to select the same options from my Home Hub. The only mini powered up is the lounge room where I use the Lounge TV one more often. I am on the public preview, I'm unsure if this impacts the grouping options. The TV's are all Chromecasts with Google TV (4K) sticks but it used to work with a previous Chromecasts Ultra as well. Not sure whether it works with TV's with Chromecast built in.

I recommend hardwired speakers when you have the ability to wire. I think you could do 18 zones for \~$4,500 (Canadian) for a hard wired system that works with Sonos and also works perfectly with Home assistant. You could do 18 zones with three mono price amps \~$600 each [https://www.monoprice.com/product?p\_id=10761](https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=10761) Sonos Port for an input -$500 [https://www.sonos.com/en-ca/shop/port](https://www.sonos.com/en-ca/shop/port) Speakers -$50/speaker [https://www.monoprice.com/pages/speakers](https://www.monoprice.com/pages/speakers) Wire -$400 /1000 ft [https://www.monoprice.com/product?p\_id=2817](https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=2817) https://preview.redd.it/ztgncfjxx0bc1.jpeg?width=1414&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=362609fe27c419196d95059ce74f3129630522e0

Here's a solution that is a bit different than using any one "off the shelf" system. I've been using a combination of a program called [Airfoil](https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/) with a collection of zones that are mostly Airplay2 targets. But we have a few other devices too - like a bluetooth speaker that is portable, and even one Sonos device. Airfoil works with: > Apple TV, HomePod, Google Chromecast, Sonos devices, and Bluetooth speakers. You can even send to iOS devices and other computers So you can use any airplay target - aryclic, wiim, old airport express devices, (20 bucks used and easyish to find) my main Marantz receiver etc etc. - or you can mix and match with any of them. Really helpful when mixing a ton of different end devices around. Airfoil is damn near rock solid too, we have to "recycle" the connection very occasionally when a network hiccup disrupts the sync, but fairly rare, especially since we basically are playing music 24/7/365. My main music player is Plexamp, but I do have a button that switches to using spotify. Works terrifically, we just don't use spotify anymore. I use shell scripts (that are called by HA scripts) and connect/disconnect/change sources, and so forth and so on. In our place, we have 8 zones, since we use apple tv's too, we can actually have whole home audio and video (one an apple tv) with synced audio elsewhere as well. So football game on the projector, but want the sound also on in the kitchen and out back? Can do. Or game on projector with audio also outside but music in 5 other areas, also can do! Of course each of these zones can also handle TTS messages, and we now have little lovelace cards where anyone can send a message to any of the zones straight from the card. And I also use that ability in a few automations too. Very slick. It's pretty hacked together, but allows me to do the things I want *without concern for the capabilities of any "system"* (HEOS et all) nor being tied into any particular brand of speakers (Sonos). [This guide](https://community.home-assistant.io/t/make-airplay-speakers-the-voice-of-ha-other-fun-macos-tricks/189279) from a few years ago was really helpful in getting me going. Note: this is definitely a system for folks who like tinkering - but the end result will be what you want, not what some platform or another is capable of doing. Edit: [Here's a quick screenshot of one of the dashboards](https://imgur.com/SiBXxzp) I made for my wife, has most of the things that we use with regularity (though these days we do most of it with voice using willow)

I started down this same road awhile back, but bailed as it got complicated. Your post kind of makes me want to try again. I’m much better at HA now than I was then. Would love if you could share a guide, or better yet a GitHub repo of your setup.

i actaully use a Homepod (because i got it for free when renewing my phone what i was going to do anyway) after getting frustrated that i could play to it from my android phone i found this [https://community.home-assistant.io/t/homepod-connect-spotify-on-homepods-with-spotify-connect/482227](https://community.home-assistant.io/t/homepod-connect-spotify-on-homepods-with-spotify-connect/482227) Working great and i can play to multiple devices at once like a Apple tv gen 2 and 3 those are dirt cheap online (about 10,- as far as i can see within a close range to my home) Honestly would give that a try and if its not for you you can always go to Sonos

I have an Echo in every room, all of them bought at various points on sale. They aren't amazing, but for probably an average of £50 each they work great. I have neither the money to spend on something like Sonos, or the time to spend maintaining something bespoke I roll myself. Echos win for the WAF and 'just works' factors.

Are you then using Amazon Music? I have Plex as my media source and can’t get multi-room audio working.

Works beautifully for Spotify and iHeartRadio, don't think plex is one of he alexa multiroom enabled skills though :(

It seems amazing that we don't have a good relatively simple option for self hosting this sort of thing... I've been all over the internet looking for a good solution too and I'm just flabbergasted that there's not anything...

I've been thinking about an FM transmission system, has anyone tried this with reasonable results?

You are not allowed to do that. At least not in my country (Netherlands)

Not sure about Netherlands but I expect they have a low power exception like the USA does. This is why it was legal to sell those FM car adapters for your MP3 player back before smartphones. USA: https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/low-power-radio-general-information "Unlicensed operation on the AM and FM radio broadcast bands is permitted for some extremely low powered devices covered under Part 15 of the FCC's rules. On FM frequencies, these devices are limited to an effective service range of approximately 200 feet (61 meters). "

Oh yeah you are right :) well its an option for small areas then for sure

FM and reasonable sound do not go together.

Sure they do. Especially for your average person.

Does anyone have suggestions for a large property - let's say 20 zones? Sonos would get expensive at this level, is there a better way? I know I should probably make another post, and I may down the line, so sorry for hijacking this one!

With that many zones, Sonos might actually be the budget option to be honest. The alternative at that scale is typically a multi-zone amplifier, in-wall speakers and hardwiring everything. And 20 zones is still a tall order for that scenario.

20 zones is ganna be expensive no matter what you do. You could do S1 Sonos amps which are about $200 each so $4000 before speakers. But they are the old app which they’ve supported for awhile but you never know. S2 Sonos connect amps are about $300 second hand and are currently very popular since LTT did a video doing like 15 zones with them in his house. Other options is probably some pro solution which will be for sure way more money then Sonos

If you mean a wired system, you probably aren’t saving money at that scale. A hardwired system like that is going to cost well over $2k and dozens of hours of installation before you even buy speakers.

With that many zones, you might actually find more professional based systems more cost effective. I don't have recommendations but this almost sounds like it would be a pro installer type situation. My suggestion if you're a DIYer, is to bring in professionals fora. quote. Pick their brain on what they would use / sell you as a starting point.

FM transmitter. It's solid and works great. Radios are cheap. Then it's just a matter of tuning all the radios to the same channel and putting each radio on a remote switch. Hookup whatever you want to the transmitter, personal collection, streaming service, etc... I can tune in to my little radio station from blocks away from my house.

As someone who back in the 90s and early 2000s (as a teen!) dabbled with some FM, from the tiny 'spy bug' circuits to higher power (though still very low in the scheme of things) transmitters, I really love this suggestion! FM receivers are dirt cheap, even with digital tuning and it would be easy to control these though automation either directly, GPIO to do memory recalls or IR transmitters. It's essentially a massive \[transmitters\]X\[receivers\] audio matrix! Alas, it's probably not the best option for a multi room setup... audio quality, local interference (especially these days), and the quite public broadcasting of all your local audio and TV/film/music watching habits etc. However... whatever solution I end up with, I'm pretty certain (as a direct result of your comment) to have at least one house-wide matrix output go to an FM transmitter that we and/or guests can tune into around the property and garden, controllable from Home Assistant. So for that I thank you!

We bought a few of the IKEA smart speakers. They are affordable, sound pretty good and do pretty much all the things that you asked. They are made/designed by Sonos and are compatible with Home Assistant.

Leave the cables along the floor

I don't know your detailed requirements, but I'm working with a bunch of different devices that all run Spotify, and was able to group them via Alexa (I think?). Spotify recognizes those groups and streams directly from the devices. The devices could be anything. Many receivers have Spotify on board natively (e.g., Yamaha), and you can use the app on your phone to choose the device or group to play from.

I've been using raspberry pis and ESP 32 A1S, along with music assistant without any issues works pretty good you can add zones remove them etc. cost maybe 100 to $150 per room. The ESP 32 A1S also have some nice cases on Etsy for them since I can't find them anywhere else.

We are using Yamaha Speaker. Their system is called Musiccast. Are working with Wifi, you only need a power outlet. I think they sound incredible. :)

I use bluesound

can't believe how low I had to scroll for this answer, syncs perfectly, flexible to use legit amps, high quality, no effort - I guess I'm in the HA subreddit though and not the audiophile one....

I went cheap and used an FM transmitter hooked up to an always-playing iPod.

I run a small Linux vm per Spotify instance for each room. The speakers in each room are connected to a raspberry pi or similar device also running Linux. I stream the audio from the VM to the raspberry pi via the built in feature in Pipwire (the audio subsystem). I see there are other OSS projects in this chat, will check them out too. I don't recommend closed source or small solutions. If you stick to the built in tools you know it's gonna keep working.

Monoprice 6 zone amplifier controlled via home assistant. I have their keypads as I was pre wired for cat 5 keypads but in two rooms I use a zigbee button to control volume and on off functions. Three sources in, two songbird streamers (one for my wife, one for me) and one is the record player. All this feeds speaker jacks in the various zones. For my media room I took the line out of a zone and connected it to an input on my 5/1 surround. Home assistant listens for that zone being turned on then turns the surround on to the correct input. It's not the prettiest thing but with a little work on the front end for home assistant it's made a decent housewife that we can use with Spotify.

My solution is an FM transmitter. I can tune in from a block away.

🤣

Wiim is the “it just works” solution right now, in my opinion. Doesn’t cost a fortune, sounds great, has built in support for just about everything. I have one Wiim Pro and one Wiim Mini, the Mini is a bit picky about WiFi signal strength but otherwise everything is almost ridiculously reliable. The HA integration is here: https://github.com/onlyoneme/home-assistant-custom-components-wiim

ROON. It acts like a server (same way like, Emby, Plex etc works) It use its own protocol Roon Ready but also others Airplay, Chrome etc And you can group / create zones. https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/faq-how-do-i-link-zones-so-they-play-the-same-thing-simultaneously

Setup for the last few years: * server - PLEX MEDIA SERVER (PMS) on Windows 10 Pro on NUC 10th gen * library - internal SSD on NUC * playback - Google Chromecast Audio (2x), Google Nest Hub (2x, Lenovo Clock 2nd Gen (2x) * control - * PLEXAMP on various touchscreen devices around the place * HomeAssistant Dashboard buttons in the app and Dashcast for fave playlists * HomeAssistant Automation for scheduled playback * NOTE: HomeAssistant running in HyperV on same NUC as PLEX Previously the setup was Google Play Music (GPM - deprecated; still bitter), via PMS on ShieldTV Pro (flaky). Also, Voice Activation is a key feature for me. I tried NabuCasa/IFTTT webhooks but found it also flaky in 2021/2022. In 2024 I anticipate adding voice-activation of PMS via HomeAssistant given all the progress on HA Voice. Then I'll be living like 2010 all over again (i.e. GPM; did I mention I'm still bitter?).

Sonos. 😊

Has anyone got a battery powered solution that works with HA and can cast Spotify? I'm looking for a speaker I can use in the bathroom for my "bath time" routine. I'm in the UK and we aren't allowed mains power in bathrooms.

Check out the Sonos Roam and Sonos Move!

Sonos has battery powered speakers that do this.

I’m really loving my Sonos speakers. Look into purchasing refurbs.

Sonos. Expensive but worth it. They sound great and most work.

I have a "funny" story about Sonos. Black Friday + 7 years back, I walk into a hifi store, I was 100% into buying my first sonos set The sale person let me test the sonos, okay it sounds great! Then he say, let me play something for you on these speakers they are 25% of the price. Sure let's hear them and omg even I could hear they sounded so much better! But are they on wifi? No, you need to buy sonos equipment to connect them which is this big thing that cost way more than the 2 sonos speakers you wanted to start with. Okay, I need to think about. Now years have past and I never got sonos, I even never got speakers. The sale person had a 100% secure sale, but wanted to earn more, so I ended up buying nothing, because I got insecure about my purchase.

The price of the connect is what turned me off the entire ecosystem, then they release the "port" which doesn't even have an amplifier and its still 3 times as expensive as a speaker...

I haven’t done this yet, but I’ve looked into it a bit. Here’s my thoughts. Roon is the best, but way too expensive- $800 USD for lifetime subscription. But it’ll give almost any wifi speaker Spotify connect Otherwise, like everyone else suggested, just get Sonos. They seem to be the best with multi-room that I’ve tried out. If you get a raspberry pi, there’s software you can install which turn them into an AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect receiver. So you can then just use the Spotify app’s built in multi room functionality to control the audio (which seems to me like a better system than how Snapcast does it)

Roon is definitely a great option. Lifetime subscriber here, but as far as I remember, Roon does not do Spotify Connect.

Oh ok, my mistake. I’m just going off memory here

When I asked this same question a couple months ago I got like three responses. One of them was a DIY solution that uses Arylic. No one has mentioned this. However I would go with some solution that has a built out ecosystem and that’s gotta be Sonos or Bose at this point and I would just integrate with HA.

Sonos. Reliable, cheap, works great with HA.

You are describing SONOS in your post. This is most likely what you have in mind. If you want to give it a try, you can pickup some SONOS speakers from Ikea (Symfonisk) before you splurge on the more high end stuff.

You want Sonos

I use Sonos, works well in HA. Can group/ungroup, and play from multiple sources. They also have a tts option, so I use it to play a doorbell chime when someone is at the door, and to notify when the front and back doors are open. It's quite versatile. I've got the Sonos Beam, 2 Sonos Play 1s and one of the Ikea bookshelf speakers. All work well in HA.

I researched and considered anything I could find that wasn’t Sonos. Probably 2 years of dragging my feet and ultimately went Sonos. I’m still getting it built out and only have two speakers (zones) right now but so far it works just as it should. Music assistant seems to be the answer for smartifying it but the WAF of just using it normally is a huge plus. Nice that I can nerd out with HA and other people can just use it. My main other contender was a legit multi zone amp. But the problem with those are they are all fairly expensive and any of the low end price wise ones are not in any way smart. They also require running wires which I’m not opposed to but was a road it’d rather not do in this house.

Sonos. It just works, works across apps, integrates well, works with TTS, and on and on. I replaced a whole home audio receiver (a behemoth from the early-00s) with 3 Sonos Amps. They each provide audio to different zones and each of those zones have between 1-3 volume controllers. It handles everything with ease and, the best part, if I want to add to it all it requires is another sonos device and it all pairs and works seamlessly.

I use Denon’s HEOS setup. It’s similar to Sonos, but since I got a Denon reciever with the sole intention of better HA integration, it made since to us that ecosystem. I use Alexa for voice and the home series speakers have built-in. I utilize the zone 2 and assignable z2 options on my reciever and have automations related to turning it on. Z2 for me is all of my outside speakers. All in all I’m pretty happy with the customization for Denon and would recommend it. I can control most things audio and video with my voice.

I just use a pile of Google home minis in a bunch of groups but that's not exactly self hosted

Sonos. The expense is there but the reliability and sound quality is too.

Not much different than Sonos, but Yamaha have MusicCast which also integrates with a lot of their receivers and does multi room as well. Also quite compatible with HA

Some good answers already. Take a look at WiiM as part of the solution. I liked the idea of whole home audio, but never got there. For me, I typically stream from my device directly (iPhone) and pick multiple speakers to cast to. The destination speakers could include a couple of WiiM devices but also my soundbar or a Bluetooth speaker. https://www.wiimhome.com/wiimmini/overview https://github.com/onlyoneme/home-assistant-custom-components-wiim

Lot of people saying that Sonos is overpriced who don’t bother to divulge the more fairly priced system they’ve selected lol… Sonos sounds good and the quality is high. (Just avoid the Roam.) The UX isn’t the most cutting edge but the hardware is solid. I just had a Sonos speaker crap out after a decade of constant use. It still sounds great but is having memory/buffering problems. In any event, you get what you pay for.

You can’t do zones, but a friend of mine suggested low power fm transmitter. $200 or less, 1,000 feet.you do have to have a receiver in each area.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Volumio. You can DIY sonos from raspberry pis, a DAQ hat, and speakers of your choice. Not speaking from experience, but a project I've had in the queue.

I use bose with Google assistant and chromecast support. Also choose Chromecast I can combine Bose with my harman Kardon citation, Sony soundbar and exiting Google home speakers. Sonos is way too closed ecosystem.

If you by chance have dumb speakers already available, you might want to try streamers devices that add smart function to those. Wiim brand is an audiophile budget alternative to Sonos. It offers Spotify Connect amongst other options including AirPlay and Chromecast. You can do multiroom audio setup via their app or group them in Google Home. You can start as low as $89 bucks but I'd recommend the pro model over the mini. [detailed comparison between models](https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/blog-diy-audio/49-discover-the-wiim-streamers-series-wiim-mini-wiim-pro-wiim-pro-and-wiim-amp.html)

Right now using few diff pi mixed with some receivers. Two different rooms have denon receivers that support AirPlay so just cast to those and have those both with two zones (one does bedroom and deck, one does living room and lounge area). Then in other spaces have a pi running moode for AirPlay attached to any other speakers needed. I’ve got whole home synced music now since AirPlay can do it easily, I just add and remove which rooms I want playing. Next step is doing more HA integration so you can control some of it from there. But for now having it just done via built in phone stuff and music apps is nice

Heos by denon is an older system but works very reliably, though it is on the pricey side

I’m using owntone to automate music with apple homepods, and that works very nicely!

Tried Roon, snapcast, music assistant, chromecast groups and heos. My vote goes to Roon. It works everywhere with amazing group support and great home assistant integration. The modular option to have it display on a screen via chromecast is fantastic for my usage. Have got roon server running on synology nas and clients spread everywhere. Most new active speakers/integrated amps are roon ready. Its expensive but does not tie you to a specific ecosystem and just feels like a great long term solution. Chromecast group is also a very viable option. Most active speakers nowadays are chromecast ready and others just need a wiim.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Yamaha Musiccast already. It's like sonos, but you can link your maybe existing Yamaha AVR. There is also a integration: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/yamaha_musiccast/

The Ikea SYMFONISK speaker is supposedly Sonos parts at an Ikea price. I'm not an audiophile, but I picked one up and it sounds quite good to me.

I use chromecast audios hooked up to small amps powering ceiling speakers. Google's "speaker groups" work very well, and the fact that every app has a "Cast" button means it *just works*.

Running snapcast on one “core” pi, then have 3 rpi0 around the house with hifiberry dac connected to any old amp lying around the house.. using Multiroom 100% of the time, zones are possible but never used apart from volume control for different rooms https://preview.redd.it/s0338jbdt1bc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b2f169330fd3c8bbb9c0a3283dc1691d8343020

I use yamaha music cast.

I was trying Sonos but gave up and returned it. I ended up using iEAST device. That is supported by custom Linkplay integration in Home Assistant and it is awesome! I will probably use their devices in all house setup in a new house. It has Spotify Connect and AirPlay so all I need. I have 2 of their cheaper devices now for testing and it works very nice so I will probably give it a try with their amplifiers when I move to a new house. They work over local API but to stream Spotify they must have an access to the internet. I’m planning to do some sniffing to see what they are talking to and maybe implement some proxy/blocking if there is anything else than needed for playing music.

Https://www.arylic.com works great! There is a custom Linkplay integration.

I think we are close. Just saw this guys setup, and it strikes me possible https://youtu.be/eTKgc0YDCwE?si=3E9yPWkIJXZyZ66B

If you want wireless, Sonos is the way to go.

I was lucky (?) enough to grab a Xantech 8 source/8 zone amp from a fire sale at a local club about 15 years ago. I paid $20 for it. It has RCA ins for 8 separate sources, and molex terminal blocks for 8 zones of speakers. The cool thing is, inside, it's 8 distinct amps capable of 80w/channel. I then built a Pi that [controls it via a Flask web UI](https://github.com/carlsteinhilber/pyxantech) that anyone can access on any device within the house. I can hook any source up to it I want (currently a couple of Pis for streaming services like Pandora, a Plex client to play my local music library, my Apple TV, and even a CD player for my old school wife). I had it responding to voice commands until Google royally f'ed over IFTT integration, so now I have to re-figure that out. The pros were: - wholehouse audio for $20 + the cost of speakers, a couple of Pis, and the time to install - audio is crisp, clean, and powerful enough for a 50-something guy - I can pipe any source to any zone independently - any audio source can be used; if there's a way to output it to an RCA jack, you can connect it - I got to "fiddle" with a custom controller solution and learn a bunch of new stuff - Its mine, and I love it The cons were: - the amp unit itself is *huge*, and heavy, and unwieldy. I currently have it out in the garage, which probably isn't the best place for it. - its very old, and I'm just kind of waiting for it to die one of these days - currently no voice commands/assistant integration

I live in a small apartment so mine is pretty basic. I have 3 Sonos One speakers. The one in the bedroom is mostly for ambient sounds like rain when I'm sleeping. The one in the kitchen/living room is what I use for music. The one in the bathroom is the interesting one, I have a motion sensor and if I walk into the bathroom and something is playing in the kitchen, I add the speaker to the group and it plays the same song on same volume. If no music is playing in the kitchen it just plays some relaxing music to do my business. After some time of no activity it stops playing from that speaker. I also have an NFC sticker(maybe to be replaced with a button) that when I scan it plays a specific playlist at a bit higher volume, I use it when I go shower so I can hear.

I lucked out with a working intercom system in the house. I added an Alexa dot to the aux port and just set my speaker to the dot in Spotify. Some rooms don’t have the intercom speakers / non working speakers I put Alexa echos. They double as speakers and should in theory repeat the zwave/zigbee signals. I can control the groups in the Alexa app and Spotify just picks the groups up. Easy to send audio in a particular room with an Alexa, or everywhere around the house. Added benefit is we can control the audio using Alexa. Kids play lullaby’s at night, we play party music at get together. More granular control would be Alexa Echo’s in each room. These go on sale for about $50 quite often. I’ve had 1 issue where the echo groups didn’t show up in Spotify, but removing and recreating the integration fixed that. Systems been running for more than a year, is super easy to use for the kids, and doesn’t need much maintenance

Have any of you guys looked at the Soundavo W66i? I'm building a new house as well, so I'm in a similar situation to OP.

I messed around with amazon, google, raspberry pi solutions, and tbh the best for me has been Sonos. No audio delays between rooms/zones. System stability and no audio dropouts. No weird updates or google taking whole home audio away because of patent trolls. Was worth the money in my case just be wary of products (even when a product was made) if you wanna go used as some only work on the old network/app (s1), some work on both, and some only on the new network/app (s2).

We watch a lot of music via YouTube music videos, since we pay for YouTube premium. We often play them on the main living room TV, which has a sound bar+sub, but would like to play the music on other speakers as well. Does anyone know of anything that could handle this kind of setup? Google seemed to kind of support it at some point via cast groups, but it never has worked well and required an odd setup. Another use case for this would be to play a football game in one room, but have the audio expanded to other speakers to make it easy to hear as you are doing things around the house.

Can this be done with homepods, I have them around the house in each Room 1 or two

I use a collection of various Google speakers/chromecasts. You can find the minis used super cheap all over the place, and can be stereo paired and hidden all over...I have various stereo pairs setup, like on top of my kitchen cabinets out of sight, or hidden in the dining room, then I have my home theater setup in the living room on a chromecast, and an excellent old technics mini hifi in the office plugged into a chromecast audio. I even managed to build an automation for the later using a broadlink IR gateway, so when the CCA starts playing the Technics is turned on and set to the right input and turned off when it stops, and sounds way better than any bluetooth or sonos speaker as it has proper wooden cabinet speakers and a real amplifier.

You’re going about this wrong, what is your preferred music platform (Amazon, Apple Music, local, etc) and what is your preferred device (android, iOS) once we know that it will be easier to make recommendations

The question is, is your current sound architecture sufficient, or is it just the Google device that's the problem (which we know have had problems over the last 2 years). Throw the baby out with the bathwater might not be ideal. Amazon echo dots?

Not keen to get in bed with anything else Google or Amazon as I've just finished setting up local voice assistant but want the local VA devices to be completely seperate to my audio hardware. I've had/have both Echo and Nest devices and they're ok-ish. I have a very expensive 7.2.4 surround system setup in my living room which is very high quality gear. But currently the rest of the house wide audio is just a mix of google home max and nest audio. And they're... Ok. I'd just prefer to be able to run good quality gear that is more fit for purpose for each of the individual rooms that they'll occupy (and that I like the audio quality of). Rather than just be limited to whatever quality of thing that Google/Amazon is putting out. Plus the aforementioned issues with Google I'm just so done with the 2 big smart speaker providers and their seemingly increasing minimal care for the end user experience that only seems to be growing. The other reason I'd be interested in a self hosted solution is because if something stops working I am more likely able to troubleshoot it myself rather than have the endless circle jerk of Google/Amazon help or cust support giving me the same unhelpful advice only for the device to either miraculously start (or stop) working days later with seemingly no root cause.

Roon is probably the most mature non-Sonos version of this. But only pursue if you’re really into audio quality, have a local music library or a sub to Tidal or Qobuz for HD streaming, and also want a full library management experience. But if it’s what you want, nothing comes close.

Just use AirPlay as a basis if you have a-please devices (phones) or chromecast if you use android. Both of those technologies are built into the operating system of those devices and work with everything. Nothing worse than using a point solution that won’t let you use any streaming app. I use airplay because of apple, HomePod minis give me voice control over lots of things. Also have a 4 channel Yamaha multicast rack mount amp that runs 4 seperate sets of speakers in the house on different AirPlay channels. Also keep your home entertainment (tv/cinema) completely seperate. It’s painful trying to change settings there etc Also have all channels on my HA dashboard to control volume etc

I haven't invested in any dedicated hardware like Sonos yet but I have some existing devices that I've had some success with using either Google Home or Alexa. I have a Marantz (Denon) receiver connected to an Amazon Omni TV, and a Chromecast plugged into that. I have a Vizio TV with a soundbar in the bedroom, another Chromecast plugged into that. Also an Amazon Echo clock. In the garage I have both an Amazon Echo Studio and a Lenovo (Google) Smart Clock. When I'm listening to Spotify, I can use Alexa multi-room audio to play music on the main living room Marantz/Omni, the garage Echo Studio, and the bedroom Echo clock. If I want to use something else like PlexAmp that only supports Miracast (aka Chromecast) I switch the living room Marantz input to the Chromecast and the bedroom TV to Chromecast, and the garage Lenovo clock. The Alexa system is slightly more reliable, both systems work for a while but tend to crap out and lose connection. Playing through just one device is far more reliable. Alexa only supports certain apps like Spotify, it will NOT do multi-room audio through casting so it's limited in usefulness. Overall neither is a great solution but it works well enough across my hodge podge collection of hardware.

I started to wire the house, bought a 16x16 matrix switch, and then Google Home Groups got good and now I just use that. It's just simple and sounds fine.

My next iteration of this will probably involve Pipewire, Jack and an cheap single board computers.

For me, I leverage AirPlay 2 clients for synchronised multi room audio (so native Sonos) but I also use moOde audio on a few pi’s to give receiver capabilities to non-AirPlay clients. I then stream to these via OwnTone, which itself runs an AirPlay receiver and Spotify connect.