Anyone else set-up an Android Tablet Stereo?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Back in my prior life in the States, I had a lot of pretty decent stereo equipment and speakers at home, back before the whole digital thing got so big and even audio CDs and video DVDs began to fade away. But when I moved to Thailand, I left all that behind, partly because of the power/AC current issues, and partly for wanting to not be burdened down with a lot of bulky audio stuff in the event I was going to move again after settling in BKK.

 

So, for a long time, I did without any actual stereo at home here, and pretty much played my increasingly digital music and CDs off my desktop PC and through a pair of Logitech stereo PC speakers -- an OK solution, but not the greatest sound by any means. Also, having the music playing through my desktop PC, while it gave me access to the whole online world of audio, always kind of got in the way of other stuff I'd be trying to do on my PC, such as if it needed a restart, or I didn't want other programs running while I was doing something.

 

And then a while back, somewhere, somehow, I got the idea of taking two leftover, unused pieces of hardware I had at home and jury rigging them into a separate Internet-connected tabletop stereo for my living room. First, I had an old tabletop stereo from the U.S. with separate speakers, a remote control and a pair of stereo RCA aux audio input jacks on the back -- one that I'd never really used here because I certainly wasn't listening to Thai radio or playing any audio cassettes [], and increasingly rarely using audio CDs. Then second, I had a leftover, unused Android tablet (happened to be a Kindle Fire) that has a 3.5 mm audio out jack for headphones or external speakers or whatever.

 

Gathered them all on a table top. Got a stereo audio cable with a single male 3.5 mm plug on one end to go into the Android tablet's audio jack, and then a pair of male red and white RCA jacks to go into the stereo AUX input on the table top stereo. Plugged them in together, and suddenly, my old tabletop stereo that I couldn't really do anything useful with now is a window to the entire audio internet -- controlled both by the touchscreen of the Android tablet in terms of selecting the content to play and a remote control for the tabletop stereo that adjusts the stereo's volume, mutes, turns the stereo on/off, etc.

 

 

 

Then suddenly, without spending a bunch of money or filling my living room with a lot of bulky audio equipment, I've got a stereo setup that not only plays my own local music but also gives me easy access to all my online audio content -- Amazon Prime Music, Google Play Music, Spotify, Tune-In, Pandora, etc etc.  I think it's a kind of neat solution for unused stuff I had sitting around the house before pretty much collecting dust.

 

And now lately, it's gotten AFAIC a whole lot more interesting with the arrival of easy, simple voice command functionality both from Google and Amazon. So with the Google app installed on the Kindle Fire tablet and set to function properly, I just walk over to the tablet and say, "OK Google, play the Rolling Stones album 'Let it Bleed' on Google Play Music" and the music starts playing through the stereo. Likewise, now that Amazon has just lately added Alexa voice functionality to its newer Fire Tablets, I can simply press and hold the home screen button on the Fire tablet and say, "Play the Beatles album 'Revolver," and it begins playing from Amazon Prime Music.

 

Of course, you can do the same voice command things solo with any newer Android tablet or smartphone, but the speaker output isn't going to be much for an entire room. So the idea of pairing that functionality with some version of a traditional stereo is pretty appealing. And thus the tablet screen becomes a kind of touch remote control for the stereo system, along with the Alexa or Google voice commands, which I'm finding myself increasingly using.

 

So, I thought I'd share that story, and ask if anyone else is doing anything similar to meld voice control with online audio digital content with traditional stereo output at home??? Be interested in hearing any similar stories out there.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here, courtesy of CNET, is a list of the audio control voice commands that any Alexa-enabled Android device will respond to (newer Fire Tablets, Amazon Fire TV devices, Amazon Echo, Dot and Tap devices):

 

Alexa Voice Commands:

 

Quote

Media controls

• Play music: "Alexa, play some music."
• Queue specific song or artist: "Alexa, play music by [artist]."
• Play Spotify music: "Alexa, play [playlist] on Spotify." [requires Spotify Premium account]
• Play Pandora station: "Alexa, play [artist] station on Pandora."
• Play a radio station: "Alexa, play [radio station] on TuneIn."
• Play an audiobook: "Alexa, play [title] on Audible," "Alexa, read [title]" or, "Alexa, play the book, [title]."
• Resume the last played audiobook: "Alexa, resume my book."
• Skip audiobook chapters: "Alexa, next chapter" or, "Alexa, previous chapter."
• Listen to Alexa read you a Kindle book: "Alexa, read me my Kindle book."
• Set a sleep timer: "Alexa set a sleep timer for 45 minutes" or, "Alexa, stop playing in 45 minutes."
• Song information: "Alexa, what's playing?"
• Music controls: "Alexa, play" or, "Alexa, next."
• Restart song: "Alexa, restart."
• Add a song to your Prime Music library: "Alexa, add this song."
• Like or dislike a song on Pandora and iHeartRadio: "Alexa, I like this song" or, "Alexa, thumbs down."

 

 

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/the-complete-list-of-alexa-commands/

 

 

 

 

[JaseTheBass]

I use my Amazon Fire TV box as my total media device, primarily music or movies on my NAS but also via YouTube and TV from Netflix and ExpatTV.

All goes through my AV amp.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Jase, I have a Fire TV box and Fire TV stick at home as well. But, neither one has any dedicated audio output port. Nor are they connected to anything other than their respective HD TVs at present.

 

So, how is your audio amp connected to play the audio output from your Fire TV-equipped TV?

 

I really like the Fire TV for video. But for music playing, I like using a straight Android device with a touch screen better, in part because the straight Android device is open to the entire universe of Android apps, whereas the Fire TV's compatibility is more limited.

 

Although, fyi, I had read an article recently on how to sideload and successfully enable the Google Music Android app to play on the Fire TV box, I did it, and it works great. The video display on the big screen isn't great since it's meant as a phone or tablet app, but the functionality is fine.

 

And since I have my entire personal music collection uploaded to Google Music, it's great to be able to have all that available directly from my Fire TV.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re the voice-command music-playing controls available via Google Now-enabled devices, it's hard to find a list of commands just focused on playing music, because Google Now does so many other things.

 

But here's a collection of different Google Now voice commands I found that should work with the Google Play Music app (and on some other music apps as well). All beginning with the voice command, "OK Google (pause, then)":

 

 

Quote

 

Play music on all your favorite apps
 

Ask Google to play songs on Google Play Music or other music apps.

1. With Google Play Music on Android, you can ask Google to play music for any situation, activity, or mood. For example, try saying, “Ok Google, play music for working out," "Ok Google, play some jazz," or "Ok Google, play happy music”.
    
2. To play music on other apps, just ask Google to "play" whichever song, artist, or playlist you'd like "on" your favorite app.

 

 

https://get.google.com/apptips/tips/#!/tips/play-music-just-by-asking

 

And then more here with voice commands to control the Google Play Music app (This assumes you're either a paying subscriber to Google Play Music, and thus have access to its entire music catalog, or you're asking it to play music from your own collection that you've uploaded to Google Play Music for free (up to 50,000 songs):

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/42ufyo/play_music_google_now_integration/

 

"Play songs by <Artist>"

"Play <Artist>"

"Play <Song name>"

"Play album <album name>"

 

"Play <Artist name>" -- This starts a shuffle playlist based on that artist

"Play <Playlist name> playlist"

"Play <Artist name> Radio" --  This will play a shuffle list of both that artist and others like them.

 

"Next song"

"Pause music"

"Play music" -- resumes playback

I'm sure there are others, but AFAICT, Google hasn't published a formal list of ALL the commands that are possible via Google Now.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, here's the link for instructions on how to enable the Google Now voice command functionality on Android devices:

 

Turn on "Ok Google" on your Android

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/6031948?hl=en&ref_topic=6032684

 

[JaseTheBass]

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Jase, I have a Fire TV box and Fire TV stick at home as well. But, neither one has any dedicated audio output port. Nor are they connected to anything other than their respective HD TVs at present.

 

So, how is your audio amp connected to play the audio output from your Fire TV-equipped TV?

 

I really like the Fire TV for video. But for music playing, I like using a straight Android device with a touch screen better, in part because the straight Android device is open to the entire universe of Android apps, whereas the Fire TV's compatibility is more limited.

 

Although, fyi, I had read an article recently on how to sideload and successfully enable the Google Music Android app to play on the Fire TV box, I did it, and it works great. The video display on the big screen isn't great since it's meant as a phone or tablet app, but the functionality is fine.

 

And since I have my entire personal music collection uploaded to Google Music, it's great to be able to have all that available directly from my Fire TV.

 

 

 

 

Everything is connected to the AV amp using HDMI cables, then the amp is connected to the TV.

 

The FireTV is also connected to my router as is my NAS which contains all my media.

 

So, when I open a media file on the NAS using ES File Explorer it plays through my AV system. I'm not sure what quality it plays at, but the FTV is capable of 24/96 is some formats although only 24/48 FLACs.

 

There are also apps that let you cast to the FireTV (I think I only have YouTube set up for that on my system at the moment).

 

The weak spot in my system is the TV as it is only a 1080 screen, but seeing as my eyesight isn't great any more, it'll do for now.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm a bit confused by that.... Are you saying something like this???:

 

--You choose to play a music file using the Fire TV interface/ES File Explorer on your TV.

 

--The Fire TV is connected to output to your amp by HDMI and then onward from your amp to your TV by HDMI.

 

--The Fire TV/ES File Explorer calls the music file from your NAS using an Ethernet connection between the Fire TV and your router.

 

 

Edited November 18, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[JaseTheBass]

I'm a bit confused by that.... Are you saying something like this???:
 
--You choose to play a music file using the Fire TV interface/ES File Explorer on your TV.
 
--The Fire TV is connected to output to your amp by HDMI and then onward from your amp to your TV by HDMI.
 
--The Fire TV/ES File Explorer calls the music file from your NAS using an Ethernet connection between the Fire TV and your router.
 
 

I'm a few G&Ts in, but yes, that sounds right.

Obviously when playing music files the TV only shows what's playing. I don't use the crappy TV speakers at all.