A — Answer: What problem does it solve?

Pentaton is a HiFi focused iOS music player for your own music collection. It plays your own files, including FLAC, ALAC, MP3, and DSD, and includes a parametric EQ with thousands of headphone presets. Version 2.0 is out, and I wanted to share the five biggest additions.

B — Better: How is it different?

New Precision Audio Engine

Pentaton now has its own audio engine, giving you control over resampling algorithms, quality settings, and sample format conversion. DSD support includes configurable DSD-to-PCM filtering, DSD-over-PCM, and native DSD on supported outputs. You can configure the audio chain yourself or leave the settings alone and just listen.

Streaming to compatible Roon endpoints

You can now stream directly to compatible Roon endpoints from Pentaton, including high-resolution PCM and native DSD at the rates your endpoint supports. Devices appear in the audio route selector, and volume controls work in both directions. This is an independent implementation of RAAT, and some endpoints enforce restrictions that prevent compatibility.

Signal path view

A new signal path view shows every processing step happening on your device and, for supported outputs, beyond it. You can see how your settings affect the audio on its way from the original file to your output.

Much faster NAS library scanning

Pentaton now has a built-in SMB client for connecting directly to your NAS or file server. In our testing, change detection and metadata scanning were 80–100 times faster than the previous Files-based connection. Server discovery and folder browsing are built in, and on iOS 26+, longer library refreshes can continue in the background.

Audio and visuals that stay in sync

Different outputs introduce different amounts of delay. Pentaton now tracks that timing so track changes and the spectrum visualizer follow what you actually hear, whether you’re listening through a USB DAC, Bluetooth, AirPlay, or a compatible Roon endpoint.

C — Cost

You can try all features free for seven days. After that, it requires a $39.99 one-time purchase (or a $19.99/year subscription) in the US App Store. Prices vary by region.

Download on the App Store

Full update post, including the technical details

I have settled on a pair of active speakers (KEF Coda W) and a custom streamer. This is a very convenient setup, it wakes up automatically and can be remote-controlled without ever touching anything.

I auditioned the Cambridge Audio LR/X as well, but for some reason they decided it should not wake up on USB input so I decided to return it.

Hey everyone. 

I always liked to see and touch the cover artwork of the CDs and LPs I bought in the past, but in the end the convenience of digital streaming won me over and I accepted no (or stamp-sized) artwork. Lately I’ve been missing this more and more and ultimately decided to try to do something about it. So I built one.

The hardware

I wanted a device that looks and feels like a vinyl sleeve put on display. Around 12”x 12”, and as thin as possible. I sourced the only display matching my needs: a 17” industrial IPS LCD with a 1920x1920 resolution. This came with an embedded DisplayPort connector and I needed to find a single-board computer in a compute module form that has this connector. Not a lot to choose from, but I managed to find the Radxa CM3. 

Since I wanted the device to be thin, I needed to design a carrier board for the CM3 with as little height-above-the-board as possible. I never did this before so there was plenty to learn, from basic electronics and magnetics to high-speed signal routing. Took me four revisions to get to state where everything works as expected.

The board is powered via USB-C PD, has another USB-C for an external DAC, a Gigabit Ethernet port and a 12V trigger in the shape of a 3.5mm jack. The compute module also has Wifi and Bluetooth.

I designed an enclosure in FreeCAD which was also new to me. Turns out parametric CAD and smooth, curved surfaces don’t work well together. I had to write a custom macro to generate the shape I was after. Once I had the design, I tried to 3D print it on my brand new 3D printer, which turned out to be a disaster. Took me some time to learn more about designing for manufacturing, especially for 3D printing.

In the end, I had a small computer looking like an LP sleeve.

The software

I use AirPlay in my home exclusively, so I needed this streamer to support that. I went for the most popular open-source implementation called shairport-sync and made it work on a very scaled down Alpine linux image. I had to learn quite some things about booting single-board computers, device-trees, compiling kernels, controlling display backlight, power management and more.

This gave me a good base but no artwork just yet. So I made a small application that powers the display based on the metadata that is coming from the AirPlay client. It only shows the artwork and nothing more. This was surprisingly challenging, even though this is the area I am most familiar with. Turns out, cross-fading two 4MP images at 60 frames per second on a moderately powerful single board computer is not so easy. I needed to use GPU acceleration to make it happen and look smooth.

Funnily enough, AirPlay itself only transmits low-resolution artwork (around 500x500 pixels), no wonder why large-display streamers don’t exist. Thankfully, I was able build an out-of-band protocol extension into my audio player app, so that full resolution artwork can be sent and displayed in all its glory.

Usage

The device is always on. When the screen is off, it consumes around 2 watts. It wakes up automatically when streaming starts and turns on the screen and my amplifier via the 12V trigger. At full brightness it needs about 24 watts. I power it using a generic USB-C charger and have my Pro-Ject Amp Box SE connected via a FiiO KA17 DAC. AirPlay does CD quality lossless which is plenty of quality for me.

What’s Next

I am considering creating a Kickstarter for it if there is enough interest, although it is entirely possible that I am the only crazy guy who needed such a streamer :)

UPDATE:

Thank you everybody, I am overwhelmed with the supportive reactions! If you don't want to miss a (likely) Kickstarter, sign up for updates here: https://pentaton.app/lp/

A: What is Pentaton?

Pentaton is an offline audio player for iOS with support for virtually all lossless formats (including FLAC, ALAC and DSD) and a parametric equalizer with 12.000 built-in headphone presets. Our recent v1.9 release completes the package with full playback queue management.

Currently at 4.8 stars of 33 ratings in the US App Store.

B: How is Pentaton better?

• One of the few apps with a parametric equalizer and the only offline player with all OPRA headphone presets built in.
• Imports your library from any location on your device, can scan 1.000 tracks in a single second.
• Uses only 0.16% CPU when playing FLAC files thanks to the lowest-level iOS APIs (animations), GPU acceleration (spectrum analyzer) and SIMD instructions (image processing and waveform generation).
• Supports all playlist formats and automatically keeps them up-to-date.
• Extensive metadata support including multiple artists and custom sorting fields.
• Real iPad support with multi-column drill-down navigation on the larger screen.

C: How much does Pentaton cost?

• $39.99/€34.99 - Lifetime
• $19.99/€16.00 - Yearly

We offer a 7 day free trial.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pentaton-hifi-offline-music/id6711346182