WiiM Sound and BBC Sounds

[jbuzza]

I have a WiiM Sounds which I use with Roon. I also use it to stream from the BBC Sounds app via Chromecast.

I would like to see track information which is available in the BBC Sounds app on the WiiM Sound's display but it's not there.

Is there another way to stream live BBC radio on WiiM Sound that does show the track info ?

 

[BillyBird]

Lyrion Music Server can do this, and your WiiM Sound has Squeezelite built in so it appears as a player to any LMS controller.

 

[jbuzza]

I don't really want to add another server into the mix. Just want track details when either casting from BBC Sounds or playing BBC 6 Music radio (which has metadata) via Roon. Anyone have it working with either of these ?

 

[JasonWithWiiM]

Short answer: not really with your current method, and you’re not doing anything wrong.

When you cast from the BBC Sounds app, it’s using Chromecast. In that model, the app hands off a stream URL to the device, and metadata support depends entirely on what the BBC sends over that stream. In practice, Chromecast often has limited or inconsistent metadata for live radio, so devices don’t always get full track info to display.

You’ll even see similar behavior elsewhere where metadata just doesn’t come through unless it’s explicitly provided in the stream payload.

So:

• Casting BBC Sounds → good audio, limited metadata
• Not really something WiiM can “fix” on its own

If your goal is reliable track info on the display, your options today are basically:

• Use a source that natively supports metadata end-to-end (LMS/Lyrion like mentioned, or certain radio aggregators)
• Or use services where metadata is tightly integrated (Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, etc.)

If you want to keep things simple (no extra server), you’re kind of at the limit of what BBC Sounds + Chromecast can provide today.

 

[jbuzza]

Short answer: not really with your current method, and you’re not doing anything wrong.

When you cast from the BBC Sounds app, it’s using Chromecast. In that model, the app hands off a stream URL to the device, and metadata support depends entirely on what the BBC sends over that stream. In practice, Chromecast often has limited or inconsistent metadata for live radio, so devices don’t always get full track info to display.

You’ll even see similar behavior elsewhere where metadata just doesn’t come through unless it’s explicitly provided in the stream payload.

So:

• Casting BBC Sounds → good audio, limited metadata
• Not really something WiiM can “fix” on its own

If your goal is reliable track info on the display, your options today are basically:

• Use a source that natively supports metadata end-to-end (LMS/Lyrion like mentioned, or certain radio aggregators)
• Or use services where metadata is tightly integrated (Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, etc.)

If you want to keep things simple (no extra server), you’re kind of at the limit of what BBC Sounds + Chromecast can provide today.

Ok thanks, that explains things for Chromecast.

I guess Roon does not send the metadata for the radio stream despite showing the track info within Roon itself. Track info is shown as expected on WiiM Sound when using Roon to play from local library or Tidal.