Sideloading streaming Music APP's: Aggregated list!

We are in the era where the big global multinationals decide what is good for us. If we like or not does not really matter.

 

I may

I may have been a little premature with this one. Initially it played fine from my Subsonic server but since then I've had app crashes and playback failure. I'm sure if I test a few other versions (most recent Aptoide version currently), it could be reliable. I don't really like this app in any case. A really horrible UI that is difficult to manipulate on the A6 screen. It was reporting hi-res playback when I've gotten it to play. I haven't tested local media, music on the network only, maybe more success this way. Symfonium still far and away the best alternative to the native Music Player despite the few hurdles to pay for it.

 

Ye sorry @Nice Monkey This should be pulled from the list (HiBy). I've tried the last three versions and the most current international version with little success. It won't find local media during scanning. I have been able to have successful playback through Subsonic which has only recently been added as a feature but even this is erratic.

Maybe if someone has the patience to test further versions, they may find one that behaves acceptably. I'm not a fan as I've said of this one with better options already available.

 

Hi, has anybody tried to load and use Roon ARC?. It would be good to be used with A6 in a second residence preventing to have to install a VPN to hook-up to the Roon Server. Thanks.

 

Moved it to that not working list.

 

My favourite radio streaming app is missing

Soma FM

I can’t seem to post a link to the APK but it is on their website somafm dot com.

My own favourites are ‘Groove Salat’ and ‘Lush’ for downtempo/ambient but many genres are represented…

 

Because I am not happy with the local player too (bad GUI-design and annoying scrolling), I tried to install (through APKpure) the following HiRes players: HiBy, Poweramp, AIMP, Onkyo, VLC, FiiO and my personal favourite (because of my Shanling M3X DAP) the Eddict Player. They all behave differently. Poweramp and FiiO aren't able to find the M.2 SSD anyway. Some players find the root in the EverSoloMusic folder, but further access is denied. The FiiO app asks permission to access the DMP-A6, but than nothing happens. VLC makes contact via the Samba server and starts "Processing media" and "Retrieve from smb://xxxxxxxxxx. I don't know what this means and have the feeling that it started a proces I can't control. Can anybody tell me what is going on? But anyway, after this proces VLC works, although the user interface is not the best around. And scrolling remains jumpy. Positive is the fact that in the Genre tab you get a list of albums and not an endless and rather useless list of tracks within the genre like in the local player. Eversolo should do something about that. For me it is dissapointing that the Eddict Player doesn't work. In the setup the app ask which folder has to be scanned. When choosing the root of the M.2 SSD the app starts scanning, but after 2 hours of scanning no music is found. Something (or SOMEONE?) denies access to the EverSoloMusic folder. That's a pitty, because in my humble opinion Eddict is the best player in the market, not only for the Shanling, but for every Android smartphone. So why not for the DMP-A6? Top notch functionality, user friendly, intiutive. And the Graphic User Interface is fantastic; every word, how small the typefont is, is legible, which we can't say from the DMP-A6 GUI. The guys at Eversolo should really pay more attention to this essential topic.

 

@Frans Simple enough these APP's are designed to work with a Smart Phone.
Ever seen a smart phone with wired Ethernet (often taken by APP's for mobile ethernet), have an M2 slot for a memory card, many APP's don't deal with SMB and NFS etc etc

No not all Android versions are the same:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/gu...ct-dune-oppo-clone-zappiti-and-zidoo.2395791/
OS part was written for Android media players but applies also to streamers like this one.
The Android on DMP-A6 looks most like a smartphone but adapted for stationary rack streamer.

 

@Nice Monkey You are an authority on the DMP-A6, so as newbe on this forum I am reluctant to contradict you ;-). But the FiiO, Eddict, USB Audio Player Pro (paid version) and Poweramp players work perfectly on my Shanling M3X Digital Audio Player (DAP) and wife's FiiO DAP. And of course on our Smart Phones. So I think (and for the FiiO and Eddict APP's I'm sure) that these APP's are not specifically designed for Smart Phones. I also don't understand what wired ethernet has to do with this problem. Both the Shanling and the FiiO DAP's run a custom version of Android, so that cannot be the problem. The FiiO R7 (more or less comparable with the DMP-A6) is also capable of running other APP's, my dealer told me. So I am afraid that Nutul's post and your comment from last Monday apply here. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I get the impression that the developers of the DMP-A6 want to block the installation of other musicplayer APPs. Their white list seems to be limited for some reason, I learned from Darko's review on Youtube. But if that is really the case, then I think the DMP-A6 will soon be traded in for a FiiO R7.

 

@ Frans
It is a complex matter. I am pretty convinced it is not done on purpose. If you want to run certain applications (not on the list) you may need to get a box matching those conditions. A reason for me to start facilitating this list. Not on the list then if might not work as simple as that.

Eversolo calls it a stripped Android. I am sure they needed to do that to get some things working well.
But Google has strict rules as soon as you start fiddling around with their core then things like using the Google kit and using the Google Store is not allowed anymore. I guess dealing with the specific front panel is one of the odd things (the I/O for it does not work like the screen on a phone or table). Many of mentioned APP's including UAPP runs nicely on most Zidoo media players but not on the highend Zidoo Neo models (with an LED front panel similar to Eversolo).
If there is no interface for the original Android Setup then this is a strong indication it is modified Android resulting in restricted App compatibility.

The Google rules are even more rigid for Android TV. In principle no customization of any kind allowed there. I have only one player running native Android TV and that is my Dune Homatics media player which results in excellent compatibility with Android TV App's including the popular Video Streaming services like Netflix. But Google remains Google and they don't e.g. allow some specific advanced Audio formats and neither BD menu processing implemented on them (Dune promised it initially but needed to give those features up). They all can work perfect, but if you try doing so you will get a nice letter from a lawyer (have seen that happening).

To make matter worse the maker of the SOC in fact deals with Google and gets a modular Android version matching their specific HW configurable for various deployment of the SOC they are selling. That result is called the SDK (Software Development Kit) Eversolo may report problems and shortcoming with the SDK but changes need to come from that company which may involve Google.

I am playing around with Media Players for more that 10 years: Xtreamer => Egreat => currently Eversolo/Zidoo & Dune. Have still multiple models of all these brands and wrote reviews for most of them.

 

Are you sure about hi-res on VLC? My testing shows everything upsampled to 192KHz. Maybe you're using particular settings? Or a certain version - I'm using the latest from F-droid.

 

Kodi also working for music playback. Hi-res, matched sample rate too!! Like some of the hi-res players mentioned above by @Frans, Kodi can't access the local filesystem. However you can add the Eversolo's samba share as a source and have all your local music integrated in the app. Kodi has a touch screen skin which works well. I think it works best though with the remote control apps, Yatse or Kore on your phone or tablet. A web interface for kodi can also be accessed at 192.xxx.xxx.xx:8080 for control from the laptop or similar. Pretty cool I think.

 

This really adds some great flexibility and, more importantly, Library Management to the device ...

 

Neil Young Archives does not work. Eversolo suggested I install a vpn on the A6. No clue as to how and no guidance from them.

 

BubbleUPnP working too. Can add local smb share for access to local media like Kodi but just folder structure. Not nicely categorised for library management like Kodi is. Still, another player able to do hi-res and matched sample rate. That's three unsupported apps that can achieve this, by my reading of this thread. Kodi, Symfonium & BubbleUPnp.

For this reason, @Nice Monkey , maybe these three should have their own category in the list?

 

Not planning to split up the overview. Good view though.

 

Posted in your other thread. I've not tried it but use Express VPN on my PC, laptop, and iPhones. This let's me access US streaming services when I'm out of the country. I don't recall how much I paid for ExpressVPN, maybe $100 for a year plus 1 month free.

I'm assuming you just download the VPN APK to your pc and side load it like any of these other apps.

https://www.expressvpn.com/vpn-software/vpn-android
turn on your A6
In a browser, type http:\\xxx.xxx.x.xxx:18888 (xxx IP address of Eversolo)
Use the browse function to select the downloaded APK.
Voila - check your A6 - app should be installed

 

I appreciate this thread is mostly for music apps, but for those like me who prefer a dedicated podcast app over integrating them into Spotify or Amazon, I can confirm that Pocket Casts works faultlessly on the A6 and, being a universal app with a robust tablet interface, provides a really good user experience as well.

 

Thanks--I tried with Proton, using multiple nodes. the VPN and the app just do not play well. Eversolo needs to team with the Archives like Blusound did. NYA worked perfectly with the Bluesound node.

 

Thanks a lot for your elaborate explanation! Doesn't solve my problem, but at leat I know now what caused it.