Audiogravity
1. Introduction
What Audiogravity is
Audiogravity is a control app for your music streamer. It runs on the small Linux computer next to your hi-fi (a DietPi box, a Raspberry Pi, a NUC…) and gives you a single, beautiful interface — in any browser, on your phone, tablet or laptop — to run every part of your listening chain.
It plays your local library, streams Qobuz, Tidal and HIGHRESAUDIO, tunes internet radio, drives HQPlayer, casts to network renderers, and even tunes the Linux kernel underneath for bit-perfect, glitch-free playback — all from the same screen.
What Audiogravity is not
Audiogravity does not replace the audio engines audiophiles already trust. It orchestrates them. MPD, Roon Bridge, HQPlayer, AirPlay (shairport-sync), the UPnP stack — Audiogravity installs, configures and drives these proven engines rather than reinventing them. Your signal path stays exactly as pure as the tools you already rely on; Audiogravity just gives you one place to conduct them.
How it fits together
Think of your streaming setup as five layers. Audiogravity sits across all of them:
| Layer | What lives here | Audiogravity's role |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | The screens you touch — browser, phone, tablet, installable app (PWA) | It is the interface |
| Orchestration | Switching sources, transport, volume, casting, monitoring | It orchestrates |
| Content sources | Your NAS, Qobuz, Tidal, HIGHRESAUDIO, internet radio, UPnP media servers | It connects to them |
| Audio engine | MPD, Roon Bridge, HQPlayer, AirPlay, UPnP renderers | It installs, configures & drives them |
| OS / kernel | Real-time scheduling, CPU pinning, ALSA | It tunes it |
You never have to touch a config file or a terminal to get any of this working — though everything remains open and inspectable if you want to.
What you can do with it
- Play everything from one place — local files, Qobuz / Tidal / HIGHRESAUDIO, internet radio, and your UPnP/DLNA media servers, with unified transport, cover art and a live hi-fi readout (format, sample rate, bit depth, bitrate).
- Send music where you want — your local DAC, a network UPnP renderer (Marantz, Linn, DLNA speakers), HQPlayer's DSP engine, or an AirPlay receiver.
- Set up your audio stack in a few clicks — a guided setup detects your DAC and music library and generates minimal, bit-perfect configurations for you.
- Tune for sound quality — real-time kernel scheduling, per-core CPU pinning, latency benchmarks, and a live view of your entire signal path (Pro).
- Manage the box — services, users with passkeys, config editing with backups, and one-click updates — no SSH required.
Editions
| Edition | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Trial | Free · 30 days | Everything, including all Pro features |
| Starter | Free · forever | Running and setting up the box — see the table below |
| Pro | €49 · lifetime, one machine | Everything, for good |
Pro is a lifetime licence — no subscription, no renewal. You can start on the free 30-day trial; it activates automatically on first run.
What each edition opens — the trial opens everything:
| Starter | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Profiles — switch between audio scenarios in one tap | ✓ | ✓ |
| Services — watch and control the audio services | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio Software — install, update and remove audio engines | ✓ | ✓ |
| System — the hardware and the audio devices at a glance | ✓ | ✓ |
| Config — each service's own settings, and the guided setup (administrators) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Admin — users and passkeys, announcements, updates, the licence | ✓ | ✓ |
| Push notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
| Now playing — the track, its cover and its format, in the mini-player | ✓ | ✓ |
| DSD at full volume — the volume locked while a DSD track plays | ✓ | ✓ |
| Playback controls — play, pause, skip, seek, volume, and the full-screen player with its sleep timer | — | ✓ |
| Library — browse, search and queue your music, UPnP servers, Roon, Qobuz, Tidal and HIGHRESAUDIO; send it to a network renderer | — | ✓ |
| Internet radio | — | ✓ |
| Outputs and HQPlayer — switch outputs, change HQPlayer's filter and noise shaper | — | ✓ |
| Pipeline — the live signal path, from the source to the DAC | — | ✓ |
| Systemd — real-time priorities and CPU pinning for the audio services | — | ✓ |
| Performance — CPU governors and the latency test | — | ✓ |
On Starter, a Pro tab carries a small lock; tapping it takes you to the licence panel, with the License activation window open (see 7. Administration → Licence).
Note: streaming from Qobuz, Tidal or HIGHRESAUDIO requires your own active subscription to each service. Audiogravity does not provide access to them.
What you need
- A Linux box running Debian 13 (Trixie) or later — DietPi and Raspberry Pi OS included, in their Trixie release — on x86-64 or ARM/Raspberry Pi, next to your hi-fi
- A DAC or audio output the box can see (USB, HAT, HDMI, S/PDIF…)
- Your home network, and any device with a browser to control it
Ready? Head to 2. Installation.