The goal of this how-to is to turn a Raspberry Pi Zero W into a headless Bluetooth audio receiver utilizing it's onboard Bluetooth module with packages available in the default repositories starting from a fresh Raspberry Pi OS Lite install. When complete your Pi Zero will function more or less like a simple Bluetooth speaker. It will be discoverable when no device is connected and accept all pairing requests via "Just Works" Secure Simple Pairing. Although several devices may be connected to it, only one may stream audio to it at a time.
It is assumed that you have started from a fully updated, unmodified, and fresh Raspberry Pi OS Lite install, have shell access, have very basic Linux knowledge and have some way of getting audio out of the Pi Zero. (The Pi Zero has no analog audio output)
The Raspberry Pi Zero is not a very powerful device and the onboard Bluetooth module is not the greatest, it is known to have Wi-Fi coexistence issues (you may experience audio dropouts with wifi enabled), it is not suitable for low latency aplications and the package used in this how-to (bluealsa) only supports the SBC codec (no AAC, aptX*, or LDAC). If you're looking for an HD audiophile experience, this ain't it.
*The dropout issue can sometimes be mitigated by disabling Wi-Fi and/or forcing turbo mode (the CPU will run full tilt all the time). Forcing turbo will however cause your Pi Zero to use more power and produce more heat. Under normal circumstances though heat is not a concern with a Pi Zero even with force turbo enabled.
Install the packages needed:
sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends git bluealsa bluez-tools
Clone the repo and cd into the repo's folder:
git clone https://github.com/JasonLG1979/PiZero-Bluetooth-Audio-Receiver.git && cd PiZero-Bluetooth-Audio-Receiver
Create the folder that will contain our sounds:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom
Copy the sounds to our new folder:
sudo cp device-added.wav /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom/
sudo cp device-removed.wav /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom/
sudo cp discoverable.wav /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom/
cd back out of the folder and delete it (if you don't plan on contributing to the repo):
cd && rm -rf PiZero-Bluetooth-Audio-Receiver
Create a bluealsa group:
sudo addgroup --system bluealsa
Create an unprivileged bluealsa system user in the bluealsa group:
sudo adduser --system --disabled-password --disabled-login --no-create-home --ingroup bluealsa bluealsa
Add the bluealsa user to the bluetooth group:
sudo adduser bluealsa bluetooth
Add the bluealsa user to the audio group:
sudo adduser bluealsa audio
Create a bt-agent group:
sudo addgroup --system bt-agent
Create an unprivileged bt-agent system user in the bt-agent group:
sudo adduser --system --disabled-password --disabled-login --no-create-home --ingroup bt-agent bt-agent
Add the bt-agent user to the Bluetooth group:
sudo adduser bt-agent bluetooth
Edit /etc/bluetooth/main.conf to disable the discoverable timeout and change our device class to "HiFi Audio Device":
sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf
Change:
#Class = 0x000100
#DiscoverableTimeout = 0
#FastConnectable = false
To:
Class = 0x200428
DiscoverableTimeout = 0
FastConnectable = true
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Create an override for the bluetooth.service that disables unneeded plugins:
sudo systemctl edit bluetooth.service
Paste this into the file:
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd --noplugin=sap,network,hog,health,midi
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Reload the systemd daemon:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Edit /etc/dbus-1/system.d/bluealsa.conf to allow our unprivileged bluealsa system user to run the bluealsa daemon:
sudo nano /etc/dbus-1/system.d/bluealsa.conf
Change:
<policy user="root">
To:
<policy user="bluealsa">
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Override the bluealsa service:
sudo systemctl edit --full bluealsa.service
Delete everything and paste this into it:
[Unit]
Description=BluezALSA proxy
Requires=bluetooth.service
After=bluetooth.service
[Service]
Type=dbus
BusName=org.bluealsa
User=bluealsa
Group=bluealsa
NoNewPrivileges=true
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bluealsa -i hci0 -p a2dp-sink
Restart=on-failure
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
PrivateTmp=true
PrivateDevices=true
RemoveIPC=true
RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX AF_BLUETOOTH
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Reload the systemd daemon:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Enable the bluealsa.service:
sudo systemctl enable bluealsa.service
Create the bluealsa-aplay service:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/bluealsa-aplay.service
Paste this into the file:
[Unit]
Description=Bluealsa audio player
Requires=bluealsa.service
After=bluealsa.service
[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bluealsa-aplay --profile-a2dp --single-audio 00:00:00:00:00:00
Restart=on-failure
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
PrivateTmp=true
RemoveIPC=true
RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX
User=bluealsa
Group=audio
NoNewPrivileges=true
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Enable the bluealsa-aplay service:
sudo systemctl enable bluealsa-aplay.service
Create the bt-agent service to enable "Just Works" Bluetooth pairing:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/bt-agent.service
Paste this into the file:
[Unit]
Description=Bluetooth Agent
Requires=bluealsa-aplay.service
After=bluealsa-aplay.service
[Service]
Type=simple
User=bt-agent
Group=bt-agent
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bt-agent --capability=NoInputNoOutput
Restart=always
NoNewPrivileges=true
KillSignal=SIGUSR1
Restart=on-failure
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
PrivateTmp=true
PrivateDevices=true
RemoveIPC=true
RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Enable the bt-agent service:
sudo systemctl enable bt-agent.service
Create the bt-discovery service to enabe discoverability at startup and be able to toggle it on and off with systemd:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/bt-discovery.service
Paste this into the file:
[Unit]
Description=Toggle bluetooth discoverable
Requires=bt-agent.service
After=bt-agent.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/aplay -q /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom/discoverable.wav
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bluetoothctl discoverable on
ExecStop=/usr/bin/bluetoothctl discoverable off
RemainAfterExit=yes
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Enable the bt-discovery service:
sudo systemctl enable bt-discovery.service
Nuke the useless bthelper service:
sudo systemctl disable bthelper@.service
sudo systemctl mask bthelper@.service
sudo rm /lib/systemd/system/bthelper@.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl reset-failed
Create a udev script so our Pi Zero is only discoverable if no devices are connected:
sudo nano /usr/local/bin/bluetooth-udev
Paste this into the file:
#!/bin/bash
if [[ ! $NAME =~ ^\"([0-9A-F]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-F]{2})\"$ ]]; then exit 0; fi
action=$(expr "$ACTION" : "\([a-zA-Z]\+\).*")
if [ "$action" = "add" ]; then
aplay -q /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom/device-added.wav
systemctl stop bt-discovery.service
fi
if [ "$action" = "remove" ]; then
aplay -q /usr/local/share/sounds/__custom/device-removed.wav
deviceinfo=$(bluetoothctl info)
if [ "$deviceinfo" = "Missing device address argument" ]; then
systemctl start bt-discovery.service
fi
fi
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Set the proper permissions for the script:
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/bluetooth-udev
Create a udev rule to call the scrpit:
sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-bluetooth-udev.rules
Paste this into the file:
SUBSYSTEM=="input", GROUP="input", MODE="0660"
KERNEL=="input[0-9]*", RUN+="/usr/local/bin/bluetooth-udev"
Save and exit nano (ctrl+x, y, enter)
Reboot:
sudo reboot
Your Pi Zero should be discoverable and show up to other devices as a Bluetooth audio receiver. It's name will be whatever your Pi Zero's hostname is.
Find your card
aplay -l
Should output something like this:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac], device 0: HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0 [HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Find your card's supported format(s) and sampling rate(s)
While no other audio is being played:
aplay -Dhw:<card #>,<device #> --dump-hw-params /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Right.wav
For example:
aplay -Dhw:0,0 --dump-hw-params /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Right.wav
The output should look something like this if the card and device combination is correct:
ACCESS: MMAP_INTERLEAVED RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S16_LE S24_LE S32_LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: [16 32]
FRAME_BITS: [32 64]
CHANNELS: 2
RATE: [8000 192000]
...
The above card supports formats S16_LE, S24_LE, and S32_LE, at up to a sampling rate of 192000.
Check to see if your sound card has hardware volume controls
amixer -c<card #> scontrols
For example:
amixer -c0 scontrols
The output should look something like this if your card has hardware volume control:
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
...
So by now we should know the card # the device # the supported formats, sample rates and if the card has hardware volume control.
Now let's do a quick test to see if we're right.
This will be loud so take your headphones off and/or turn down whatever you Pi is connected to!!!
While no other audio is being played:
*speaker-test does not support S24_LE for some reason?
speaker-test -l1 -c2 -Dhw:<card #>,<device #> -r<samplerate> -F<format>
So for example if we wanted to make sure the card used in the above examples supported CD quality audio:
speaker-test -l1 -c2 -Dhw:0,0 -r44100 -FS16_LE
If you don't get any errors and you hear white noise you're all set.
You can use all of your new found information to configure a functional default output with the help of the below asound.conf by changing:
defaults.ctl.card
defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.device
slave.pcm
in
pcm.!default
And optionally installing higher quality sample rate converters and uncommenting defaults.pcm.rate_converter.
Edit to your needs and copy and paste to /etc/asound.conf (the file does not exist by default).
# /etc/asound.conf
###############################################################################
pcm.hqstereo20 {
@args [
SAMPLE_RATE FORMAT BUFFER_PERIODS
BUFFER_PERIOD_TIME VOL_MIN_DB
VOL_MAX_DB VOL_RESOLUTION VOL_NAME
]
# Sampling rate in Hz:
# 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000...
# Defaults to 44.1 kHz (CD Quality).
@args.SAMPLE_RATE {
type integer
default 44100
}
# Format:
# S16_LE, S24_LE, S24_3LE, S32_LE...
# Defaults to S16_LE (CD Quality).
@args.FORMAT {
type string
default S16_LE
}
# Periods per buffer.
@args.BUFFER_PERIODS {
type integer
default 4
}
# Period size in time.
# Defaults to 125ms (0.125 sec).
# BUFFER_PERIODS * BUFFER_PERIOD_TIME = buffer time/size
@args.BUFFER_PERIOD_TIME {
type integer
default 125000
}
# Minimal dB value of the software volume control.
@args.VOL_MIN_DB {
type real
default -51.0
}
# Maximal dB value of the software volume control.
@args.VOL_MAX_DB {
type real
default 0.0
}
# How many steps between min and max volume.
@args.VOL_RESOLUTION {
type integer
default 256
}
# The name of the software volume control.
# If your card does not have hardware volume control
# naming it PCM will cause most apps that use alsa volume
# to use the software volume control.
@args.VOL_NAME {
type string
default Softvol
}
type softvol
min_dB $VOL_MIN_DB
max_dB $VOL_MAX_DB
resolution $VOL_RESOLUTION
control {
name $VOL_NAME
card {
@func refer
name defaults.ctl.card
}
}
slave.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm {
type dmix
ipc_key {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.ipc_key
}
ipc_gid {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.ipc_gid
}
ipc_perm {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.ipc_perm
}
slowptr 1
hw_ptr_alignment roundup
slave {
pcm {
type hw
nonblock {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.nonblock
}
card {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.card
}
device {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.device
}
subdevice {
@func refer
name defaults.pcm.subdevice
}
}
channels 2
period_size 0
buffer_size 0
buffer_time 0
period_time $BUFFER_PERIOD_TIME
periods $BUFFER_PERIODS
rate $SAMPLE_RATE
format $FORMAT
}
bindings {
0 0
1 1
}
}
}
}
###############################################################################
# Change to the card number that you want to be the default control card.
# Default: 0
defaults.ctl.card 0
# Change to the card number that you want to be the default playback card.
# It should usually be the same as defaults.ctl.card.
# Default: 0
defaults.pcm.card 0
# Change to the device number that you want to be the default device on the default card.
# 0 or 1 is usually the correct device number.
# Default: 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
# Change to the subdevice number that you want to be the default subdevice on the default device.
# Should rarely need to be changed.
# Default: -1
defaults.pcm.subdevice -1
# To install high quality samplerate converters on Debian based systems:
# sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends libasound2-plugins
# To list available rate_converter's:
# echo "$(ls /usr/lib/*/alsa-lib | grep "libasound_module_rate_")" | sed -e "s/^libasound_module_rate_//" -e "s/.so$//"
# Uncomment and replace speexrate_medium with the rate_converter of your choice.
# defaults.pcm.rate_converter speexrate_medium
pcm.!default {
type empty
# Optional args:
# SAMPLE_RATE: default: 44100
# FORMAT: default: S16_LE
# BUFFER_PERIODS: default: 4
# BUFFER_PERIOD_TIME: default: 125000
# VOL_MIN_DB: default: -51.0
# VOL_MAX_DB: default: 0.0
# VOL_RESOLUTION: default: 256
# VOL_NAME: default: Softvol
# Example:
# hifiberry dac+ zero on a pi zero.
# slave.pcm "hqstereo20:FORMAT=S32_LE,BUFFER_PERIOD_TIME=250000,VOL_MIN_DB=-48.0,VOL_NAME=PCM"
slave.pcm "hqstereo20"
}
###############################################################################
ctl.!default {
type hw
card {
@func refer
name defaults.ctl.card
}
}
By:
Inspired greatly by the install-bluetooth script by nicokaiser and others in the rpi-audio-receiver repo.
Bluealsa systemd integration adapted from the Arkq/bluez-alsa wiki