Multiroom

With multiroom, you group two or more Volumio devices on your network, and they play the same music at the same time. One device is the group leader: it plays the music and sends it to the others.

Multiroom is a Premium feature: it's included on Volumio devices, and needs a Premium plan on Raspberry Pi and PC.

Before you start

• All devices must be on the same network.

• All devices must be on the same Volumio version: update them all first.

If you can, connect the devices with an Ethernet cable: multiroom needs a steady network, and Wi-Fi drops can make the music skip.

Group your devices

1. Open the device you want to play the music from, and start playing.

2. In the player, tap ⋮ → Multiroom zones. You can also open it from Inputs and outputs in the player bar.

3. In Zones, tap the options button next to another device and choose Group with (name).

4. Repeat for every device you want in the group.

The device you play from shows group leader, the others show grouped. Control the music from the group leader: the others follow it.

Control the group

In Zones:

• Use the volume slider next to each device to set its own volume.

• To take a device out of the group, tap its options button and choose Ungroup.

• To end the group, tap Disband group on the group leader.

If a grouped device shows This device is playing in sync with a group, you can't control it on its own: ungroup it in Zones first.

Troubleshooting

The music skips or stops on some devices

1. Connect the devices with an Ethernet cable, or move them closer to the router.

2. On the group leader, go to Settings → Sources → My music → Music sources and press the settings button next to Multiroom playback.

3. Under Server configuration, set Buffer (all clients) to 2000ms slow responsiveness (higher quality). If it still skips, set Stream buffer (all clients) to 100ms slow networks or 200ms slow networks.

4. Press Save.

A bigger buffer makes the music more stable, but it takes a bit longer to start after you press play.

The devices aren't perfectly in sync

Some DACs and amplifiers add a small delay. On the device that plays late:

1. Go to Settings → Sources → My music → Music sources and press the settings button next to Multiroom playback.

2. Under Client configuration, enter the delay in milliseconds in Hardware latency, for example 50.

3. Press Save and listen again. Change the value until the devices play together.

A device doesn't show up in Zones

1. Check that the device is on, and on the same network.

2. On that device, go to Settings → Sources → My music → Music sources and check that Multiroom playback is on.

3. Check that it's on the same Volumio version as the others.

4. Restart the device.

DSD and Hi-Res files in multiroom

In multiroom, the music is sent to every device at CD-like quality (48 kHz, 16 bit), whatever the file. DSD files may not play in a group: play them on a single device.

The group doesn't respond, or devices play out of step

Tap Disband group on the group leader, then group the devices again. If it keeps happening, restart all the devices.