I just purchased a hi-def portable FiiO music player (the M11S). This is really nice to listen to hi-res music with a good pair of headphones. You can actually use it as a DAC and connect it to your stereo system.
You can set up the device as a media server (it gives you an IP) and access it remotely via the FiiOMusic app. This app exists only for mobile phones and it is very limited. This is a problem for me because now my music is divided between two different “systems”: Audirvana and Fiio. I like the FiiO device but I would like to have all my music database accessible via Audirvana.
Whereas when I use headphones, I have no problem using the FiiOMusic app to manage the contents of the device, I’d like to also connect the device to my computer and being able to use Audirvana as the player whenever I’m not using headphones. I know Audirvana has UPnP/DLNA capabilities but I cannot figure out how to access the FiiO device when it is set as a media server.
As far as I can tell, the only way I can access a networked media server from Audirvana is if it shows as if it were a mounted hard-disk on Finder. If it shows in Finder, then all I have to do is to add the folder to the Audirvana Library and it will play its contents.
Is there any other way to do this, though? If I have the IP for the device, is there any way I can give the IP to Audirvana so that it can scan its contents and play them?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer with this.
Maybe I’m missing something… the M11 User Manual doesn’t show media server capabilities… You will use Audirvana as the UPnP or DNLA player/server and the M11 as the connected DAC attached via USB to a network streamer or as your DAC directly connected to your computer via USB.
The FiiO M11S has a function called FiiO Link that allows you to use it as a client or a server. When you activate the server mode, it provides you with an IP address. If you introduce that IP address in the FiiO Music app in your iPhone or Android, you can remotely control the M11S. This is useful if you connect the M11S to your stereo equipment (it has an integrated DAC) and you would get what you get with the Audirvana Remote App.
Essentially what I want is for Audirvana to access the M11S device and scan its contents into its library. I use Audirvana for all my digital music consumption. It is confusing to have your music dispersed into different systems. I’d like to use Audirvana to manage and play the contents of the M11S.
The FiiO M11S can be accessed via Wifi or it can be connected to a computer via USB. Since it is DLNA compliant and can be set to server mode, Audirvana should be able to detect it and connect to it via UPnP. Alternatively, if I connect it to a computer via USB, there should be a way to mount it as an external hard drive which I can then scan with Audirvana to add its contents to its library. Alas, when you connect the FiiO M11S to the computer, the only way to transfer files is using the Android Transfer app. You get a pop up window with the device folders and you can drag and drop your music files into the device. Since Finder doesn’t see it, Audirvana cannot scan and manage its contents.
I’ve contacted FiiO’s technical support and they are not being very helpful with this (they have been helpful with other issues). Being able to mount the M11S as an external drive is a problem that can only be solved by FiiO. Since Audirvana touts DLNA and UPnP capabilities and the FiiO can in principle function as a network server, I thought I could get help from Audirvana to see whether there is a way to access this device via UPnP.
Perhaps I haven’t looked hard enough but I must say I haven’t found any helpful documentation on the DLNA capabilities of Audirvana. I am aware of the fact that this is not the fault of Audirvana. I imagine that if the FiiO DLNA protocols were properly implemented, the FiiO M11S should show up as a networked device on my Mac as soon as I set it to work on server mode. Then Audirvana would detect it and I would go from there. There is not much to it.
Unfortunately, the device is not visible on the network and can only accessed via the FiiO Music app by typing the IP address. I haven’t found any way to mount it as an external hard drive when I connect it via USB.
This forum has been very helpful in the past so I’m trying to get help here again.
It would be possible if M11 creates a standard network share. When you enable this mode, check with your computer if you see some network shares on this device.
Thanks bitracer. This is what I tried to explain in my message. The problem is that when I enable what presumably should in principle be this mode, nothing appears in my computer.
I am by now pretty convinced that the problem is with the FiiO device and with their implementation of the DLNA protocol. It is definitely not UPnP capable because it is not detected by any of the computers in the network. Only with their own app in your phone can you access it and for that you must manually introduce the IP address first.
I thought there might have been a way to manually introduce the IP address in Audirvana to access it but it is clear that this is not the case. It is not Audirvana’s fault. That seems to be clear. If the FiiO device created a proper network share, it should be detectable automatically and I wouldn’t be having this problem.
Unless the tech support at FiiO offers some help, I think I’m stuck here.
Audirvana can’t do DLNA anaway. It can only import libraries from folders and network shares. It can play to a DLNA/UPnP renderer but can’t browse the library.
I don’t understand. If it detects a network share and you add the relevant folders with music to the Audirvana library, wouldn’t you be able then to browse through those contents and play them as long as the network share was connected?
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “retrieve content”. As long as Audirvana can play contents that are physically stored in the device that is visible as a network share (having previously incorporated them in the Audirvana Library/database), that’s all I would need.
