Hi-Fi Cast - Music Player

FHDM TECH

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Hi-Fi Cast is a music player that allows you to effortlessly stream music from Internet Radio stations, UPnP/DLNA media servers or your phone to your Chromecast enabled devices (including smart home speakers) or UPnP/DLNA media player (including Sonos speakers).

Key Features:
• Plays music from DLNA/UPnP media servers, SHOUTcast Internet Radio*, Internet Radio playlists or your Android device.
• Plays music to your Chromecast (including compatible smart home speakers), UPnP/DLNA media player (including compatible Smart TVs, PVRs, AV Receivers, Wireless Speakers, Media Streamers, Bose Soundtouch and Sonos speakers) or your local Android device
• Languages: English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Polski, Русский
• Shuffle entire library and/or any combination of albums, artists, genres etc regardless of the size of your music library (when using DLNA/UPnP, this requires a server that supports searching - most do).
• Home screen widget
• Three themes to choose from including an ultra-dark theme designed to reduce battery drain on AMOLED screens.
• Sleep timer
• Last.fm scrobbling
• Android Auto*

Chromecast Features:
• Gapless playback of MP3, AAC, FLAC and WAV files when playing to Chromecast devices (enable this feature via Settings > Chromecast)*
• Volume normalization (ReplayGain) when playing compatible FLAC files to Chromecast devices (enable this feature via Settings > Chromecast)*
• Transcoding of formats not supported by Chromecast devices eg. DSD, ALAC.

UPnP/DLNA Features:
• Fast and efficient searching of your music collection regardless of size. Search for Albums, Artists and Songs (requires your UPnP/DLNA server to support searching).
• Designed for the largest (and smallest) music collections. Effortlessly scroll through thousands of albums, artists or songs at a time. Limited only by the capabilities of your UPnP/DLNA media server.
• Full shuffling capabilities (for UPnP/DLNA servers that support searching)
• Create local playlists
• Access your album booklets from within the app when using Minimserver as your Media Server.
• Playback to UPnP/DLNA renderers. If your renderer supports gapless, enable this via Settings > UPnP/DLNA (even if your renderer does not support gapless, enabling this setting may reduce gaps between tracks).

Internet Radio Features:
• SHOUTcast Radio*
• Create, edit, import and export* radio station playlists
• Add your own custom radio station URLs

Chromecast Information*
• Gapless playback via Chromecast Audio devices is limited to WAV and FLAC files up to 24bit/96kHz and gapless compatible MP3 and AAC files. Gapless playback via Chromecast video devices is limited to 16bit WAV and FLAC files and gapless compatible MP3 and AAC files. Your phone/tablet must remain connected to the local network during Chromecast gapless playback.
• Volume normalization is limited to FLAC files containing ReplayGain tags. Volume normalization via the 'Original' Chromecast is limited to 16bit FLAC files .

SHOUTcast Radio Information*
• When playing SHOUTcast Radio to a UPnP/DLNA media player, the player must support playback of SHOUTcast streams.

In-App Purchase (Premium)*
Upgrading to premium will give you the following features:
• The app will no longer display ads
• Exporting playlists
• Android Auto support

Troubleshooting, Bug Reporting and Feedback
If you are having problems using Hi-Fi Cast or you have found a bug please contact us using the 'Send Feedback' menu item in the app (and tap 'Include system info').

Hi-Fi Cast Help and Discussion Forum:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/hi-cast-help-forum

Become a Beta tester:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.findhdmusic.app.upnpcast

Internet Radio in this app is powered by SHOUTcast Radio:
https://www.shoutcast.com

Images used in the screenshots are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license:
https://www.pexels.com/photo-license/

Ratings and reviews

After troubleshooting, I finally got Hi-Fi Cast to work, but only so long as it is never added to Sleeping Apps. It worked flawlessly on my Samsung S10, but on my new S23 it would stop playing after only 30-seconds - at least until it was removed from the Sleeping Apps list. I'm holding back a star, because that seems like something that should be addressed within the app. Additionally, Hi-Fi Cast get stuck after playing a FLAC file, and does not move on to the next song.

I don't think you can find a better music app out there. Not only can you listen to your own music on your phone but you can cast it to Chromecast without having to go through any web server. You can also listen to all sorts of radios stations through shoutcast and create a favorites list. It is also compatible with Android Auto so it can easily be used in a car. To access all those features you'll need the premium version but it's definitely worth every penny!

If you're wishing to stream your music to a Chromecast audio device with your local music, this is the app to get! I've had great support from the developer when I've needed it also. Give it a try and spend the $ for the paid version if it's working for you. The one issue I had was making sure to back up your local playlists if you upgrade your phone. Fortunately I was able to go back into my old phone and do that and transfer each of the backup files to my new phone and then restore them. All my music is on an SD card in my Galaxy phone.

What's new

* Folders can now be browsed in Android Auto
* Option to specify the max. number of items to display in Android Auto.