raspotify VS AirConnect

make sure to get a a config file going

then ran sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y and followed with the instructions from raspotify. make sure to get a a config file going I also used this troubleshooting page to tweak my pi's setting to "optimize" the audio quality as much as I could.

You're not going to beat the laptop on quality, but for the same quality you could beat it on size and power, if you wanted. A Raspberry Pi running https://github.com/dtcooper/raspotify will be equally controllable from your phones, and quite compact.

I use a raspberry pi 4 with raspotify connected to a usb dac, it works super well! The config file lets you set the device name, type, and music bitrate.

I don't have any control or library software built into my setup. I'm only running https://github.com/dtcooper/raspotify for Spotify Connect and https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync for AirPlay streaming, so I have no need to interact directly with the Pi during normal usage. It's all controlled from my phone or PC natively.

https://github.com/dtcooper/raspotify Use raspotify on the PI directly, it turns it into a Spotify Connect target. I use that on my PI that runs alot of other crap that is headless. For the amplifier I'd rather get a cheap auto head-unit that has an Aux-in, as those are made to run on 12V directly and are, well, cheap.

Apple Music doesn’t provide AirPlay support so you’d need a hardware bridge such as a Starling Hub or a software bridge such as AirConnect. I’ve tested the latter on Windows and it works, but it’s a bit ‘hacky’. Ideally you’d want it running on a server like a Raspberry Pi.

If you're technical you can check out AirConnect, run it on your Mac in the background and have your Chromecast/Google Products show up as Airplay targets

Not related to HomeKit or Homebridge, but you can do what you want with this app (not mine): https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect

Yeah here’s the GitHub, and the readme has installation instructions. I actually installed it onto a raspberry pi lol https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect

For now, I have been able to create an AirPlay brige for my Chromecast (https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect) but I don't know if this is possible.

Or if you have a computer or a Raspberry Pi you can run this program https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect

https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect this can do it if you have a pc to throw it on (or an rpi)

If you didn't want to get a new speaker and you're handy, AirConnect has worked well for me. Compared to AirPlay, stream startup is less immediate b/c it buffers for 1-2s, and the icon looks a tiny bit different in the AirPlay share sheet (it has a plus after the speaker name). But it sounds the same to me.