beatnik-pi

Turn a Raspberry Pi into a Snapcast server that accepts AirPlay & Spotify Connect streams (from any smartphone and Laptop / PC) and re‑distributes them to any Snapclients you add later. The server itself also runs the first Snapclient, giving you an instant master room.

The Hardware if have choosen here is to power some biger passive Speakers using Amp4 and some smaller passive Speakers using the miniAmp.

NOTE: This is a basic setup to stream music via airplay (1 & 2) and spotify connect. You ca add more streams follwing the snapcast docs here: https://github.com/badaix/snapcast

Architecture

Software Components

Component	Version / Role
Raspberry Pi OS Lite/Debian	Bookworm / operating system
Snapserver	0.31.0 / recives and distributes streams
Snapclient	0.31.0 / recives and plays streams
Shairport‑Sync	4.3.x  / handles airplay 1+2
Libresport	x.x  / handles spotify connect
Device overlay	HiFiBerry Amp4 Pro / hardware driver (swap for your own overlay if needed)
Beatnik Controller	0.2.1 /Web UI & Ap– grouping, volume & status
Docker	x.x –Containerize & host controller

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Hardware Example

Beatnik Pi Server

Part	Notes	Image
Pi 5	Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64‑bit Bookworm recommended
HiFiBerry Amp4 Pro	Just Plug it on your GPIOs
Power Supply	Amp4 is powered via DC and the pi via GPIO
3d Printed Custom Case	Currently working on cases, check our subbredit r/beatnikAudio to see the progress.

Beantik Pi Client

Part	Notes
Pi Zero 2 WH	Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64‑bit Bookworm recommended
HifiBerry Mini Amp	Just Plug it on your GPIOs
Power Supply	Amp is powered via GPIO
3d Printed Custom Case	Currently working on cases, check our subbredit r/beatnikAudio to see the progress.

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1 · Flash OS & SSH into the Pi

1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager.

2. Select Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64‑bit, Bookworm).

3. In OS customisation:

   • Enable SSH and add your credentials (eg. user: beatnik, pw: changeMe)
   • Hostname: beatnik-server
   • (Optional) enter Wi‑Fi credentials if you plan using Wi-Fi

4. Flash the card, insert it, boot up the Pi.

SSh into the pi

ssh beatnik@beatnik-server.local
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

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2 · Activate Drivers (HIFI Berry Amp 4 example)

NOTE: If you're using a diffent soundcard (DAC/amp) check the soundcard folder in the docs

Based on hifi berry docs: https://www.hifiberry.com/docs/software/configuring-linux-3-18-x/

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Remove the line:

dtparam=audio=on

Add instead:

dtoverlay=hifiberry-amp4pro

Scorll down and find this line:

dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

add "noaudio" and makesure it looks exactly like this:

dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio

Reboot,

sudo reboot

SSH back in,then verify:

aplay -l   # must list "sndrpihifiberry"

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3 · Install Snapcast 0.31

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/releases/download/v0.31.0/snapserver_0.31.0-1_arm64_bookworm.deb   https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/releases/download/v0.31.0/snapclient_0.31.0-1_arm64_bookworm.deb


sudo apt install ./snapserver_* ./snapclient_* -y

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4 Install Steams (at least 1)

4.1 · Install Shairport‑Sync (AirPlay)

sudo apt install shairport-sync -y   # v4.3.x

Keep its systemd service disabled – Snapserver will spawn its own instance.

sudo systemctl disable shairport-sync.service

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4.2 . librespot using raspotify (Spotify Connect - expermintal)

I had some issues with installing librespot on debian boowkworm. To install libresport withouht issues we will workaround using raspotify & afteerwards disable it.

Run the installation script:

sudo apt-get -y install curl && curl -sL https://dtcooper.github.io/raspotify/install.sh | sh

Disable raspotify: (snapcast will spawn its own instance)

sudo systemctl disable raspotify
sudo systemctl stop raspotify

5 · Configure Snapserver

sudo nano /etc/snapserver.conf

In the strream section add your streams as follows: (if you have trouble setting up your streams consult the sample snapserver.conf in this repo docs/sample-configs/sample-snapserver.conf)

5.1 Airplay 1 (uses port 5000)

More details here: https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md#airplay

[stream]
source = airplay:///usr/bin/shairport-sync?name=AirPlay&devicename=Beatnik-Airplay1&port=5000

5.2 Airplay 2 (uses port 7000)

More details here: https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md#airplay

[stream]
source = airplay:///shairport-sync?name=AirPlay2&devicename=Beatnik-Airplay2&port=7000

Find options for device names etc here: https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/blob/develop/doc/configuration.md

5.3 Spotify

[stream]
source = spotify:///librespot?name=Spotify&devicename=Beatnik-Spotify

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6 · Point Snapclient at the AMP

sudo usermod -aG audio snapclient   # grant ALSA access

sudo tee /etc/snapclient.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[snapclient]
host         = localhost
sound_device = hw:0,0        # change if card index differs
# buffer       = 80            # optional client buffer (ms)
EOF

6.1 (OPTIONAL) Check your card number and add it to the conf.

Check for your soundcard number:

 aplay -l 

Should list your soundcard like this:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: vc4hdmi [vc4-hdmi], device 0: MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0 [MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: DigiAMP [RPi DigiAMP+], device 0: Raspberry Pi DigiAMP+ HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0 [Raspberry Pi DigiAMP+ HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

In this example our soundcard is in slot 1 and we want to use that. So we change the snapclient config file:

sudo nano /etc/snapclient.conf

Change the line here:

sound_device = hw:0,0        # change if card index differs

Like this:

sound_device = hw:1,0        

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7 · Start the services

sudo systemctl enable --now snapserver snapclient

Reboot the pi:

sudo reboot

Check live logs:

journalctl -u snapserver -f 
journalctl -u snapclient -f   # “… Connected to … hw:0,0 …”

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8 · Beatnik Controller UI (selhosted)

For more information check the controller repo here: https://github.com/byrdsandbytes/beatnik-controller

Prequesites

Docker & docker compose. If you have trouble setting up docker compose check our guide: DOCKER_INSTALLATION.md

8.1 Install using docker compose

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/byrdsandbytes/beatnik-controller.git
cd beatnik-controller

docker compose up -d

This will build the Docker image and start the application in the background.

8.2 Access the Application

Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8181, http://beatnik-server.local:8181 or http://your-hostname.local:8181. You should now see the Beatnik Controller interface.

8.4 (Optional find the classic snapwebclient UI here)

Open http://beatnik-server.local:1780

• Streams – should list AirPlay
• Clients – should list audiopi with live meters & volume

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9 · AirPlay test

• macOS / appple music → AirPlay
• iPhone / iPad → apple music → AirPlay Snapweb flips to playing and audio starts after ≈ 0.4 s.

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10 · Add more rooms

On another Pi (e.g. Pi Zero 2 W + MiniAmp):

10.1 Flash & first boot

Imager settings

OS           : Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32‑bit, Bookworm)
Hostname     : pizero-mini          # must be unique
SSH          : enabled
Wi‑Fi        : your credentials

ssh pi@pizero-mini.local
sudo passwd pi
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

(Depending on your RAM this could take a while)

10.2 Enable the MiniAmp overlay

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
# add:
dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac           # MiniAmp overlay

Reboot and confirm aplay -l shows sndrpihifiberry.

10.3 Install Snapclient 0.31

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/releases/download/v0.31.0/snapclient_0.31.0-1_arm64_bookworm.deb
sudo apt install ./snapclient_* -y

10.4 Create a snapclient config

sudo usermod -aG audio snapclient

sudo tee /etc/snapclient.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[snapclient]
host         = beatnik-server.local   # hostname of beatnik server pi
sound_device = hw:0,0          # card index from `aplay -l`
buffer       = 120             # Wi‑Fi cushion (ms)
EOF

10.5 Enable & start the client

sudo systemctl enable --now snapclient
journalctl -u snapclient -f   # look for “Connected to beatnik-server.local:1704 …”

10.6 Join the group

1. Open Snapweb → Clients on the main Pi.
2. Drag pizero-mini onto the default group tile.
3. Adjust its volume slider — it plays in sync immediately.

Repeat for as many extra Pis as you like. Just give each one a unique hostname and point host = beatnik-server.local (or your server’s IP) in /etc/snapclient.conf.

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Happy listening! 🎶

Commands cheat sheet