[Solved] Understanding what Volumio "IS" and options for use

I’m a Linux newbie, trying to make sure I’ve got my head really wrapped around what Volumio really is, non-technically speaking. And other ways to use it, without incurring negative audio impacts.

From what I gather, Volumio is a bundled set of Linux software that provides a web interface to two different functions. One function is the display of metadata that describes digitally stored music (Album name, Artist, Track, etc.), which could be stored on a USB drive, in RAM, an attached SATA drive, on Network Attached Storage (NAS), or even streamed from Internet radio stations. And that function allows said music to be cued up in a playlist, and played (paused, stopped, etc.) The other function is soliciting/storing/providing the parameters needed for MPD (the Music Player Daemon), which is what actually takes the digital music off the aforementioned sources, and outputs it to some channel, be that SPDIF or USB (connected to a DAC). Or if Volumio is running on a platform that already has a DAC, runs it through that and outputs through something like RCA jacks.

And obviously I left out that Volumio works on multiple platforms, optimized for low memory, low processing power requirements. Did I get all that right?

If so, I’d love to know if there’s any reason for not bypassing Volumio’s web based song queueing function, and queue up music through other MPD clients. If MPD is doing all the critical digital input/processing/output functions, it should be able to be front ended with any number of clients with little-to-no negative audio impacts. Is that right? Examples might be MPod for iPhones, or the Ario MPD client that’s running on my Ubuntu desktop now as I type this. And the tunes it’s queueing up to MPD running on my Cubox-i Volumio box (with Dragonfly DAC) sound pretty good.

In the hopes of gaining a greater understanding for myself - and other - Linux newbies (or even Linux “know-nothings”), replies that limit technical jargon will be most appreciated. :wink:

Thanks in advance for the help!

You can use any MPD client you want… I am using GMPC from Windows (which allows .cue files) and MPDroid from my Android device

Thanks for the reply. I know you can use other MPD clients. What I’m looking to find out is if there is any negative musical impact for doing so?

If so, it means that for the best sound we might need to stick with Volumio’s web interface for song queing.

But if not, then I’ve got to wonder what Volumio’s web interface for song queing is even for, when so many - more functionally robust - MPD music management interfaces already exist.

yeah you got it. the volumio web interface is just another front for mpd. I use it to configure everything and then use an android app to control everything.
The web interface is handy for checking everything’s working though

Right! Got it. That makes sense.

Thank you. :smiley: