DS audio (Android)

Version 3.16

Before using DS audio, make sure you have DSM and Audio Station installed on your Synology NAS. Basic configurations must be managed from a computer with access to Audio Station, such as enabling Personal Library.

DS audio allows you to log in to Audio Station securely and effortlessly. You can protect your connection via SSL/TLS connections and verify the server certificate installed on your Synology server. What's more, logging in to Synology's suite of mobile apps is made a lot easier with the single sign-on mechanism. This only requires you to log in once and then you will be automatically signed in to the other apps without being prompted to enter user credentials.

To log in to Audio Station with DS audio:

1. Do either of the following:
   • Enter the following information on the login page:
     • Address or QuickConnect ID of the Synology server: this can be either the internal or external IP address, DDNS hostname, or Synology QuickConnect ID. Make sure you have enabled QuickConnect at Control Panel > QuickConnect in DSM before logging in with QuickConnect ID.
     • Your user account and password.
   • Tap the arrow button next to the Address or QuickConnect ID field to select previous login credentials from the list of your login history or find Synology servers in your local network. A set of credentials can be removed by tapping on the right of the chosen entry and then Delete.
2. If you want to secure your connection, do the following:
• Turn on HTTPS if you want your connection to be SSL/TLS-encrypted. Before doing so, make sure the HTTPS service is activated at Control Panel > Network > DSM Settings on your Synology server.
• Enable Verify certificate by going to > Login Settings to validate the SSL certificate installed on your Synology server. This verification works if the installed certificate is trusted (you will need to purchase from a third party issuer).

To use one-time password:

When 2-step verification is enabled for your account or enforced by the admin on DSM (6.0 and above), you will need to log in to this Synology mobile application with your user credentials and the 6-digit code retrieved from Synology Secure SignIn or other authenticator applications for safe access.

To simplify logging in:

IP addresses (or QuickConnect ID/hostnames) and user accounts are shared between the login histories of the different Synology mobile apps. To avoid entering user credentials multiple times, tap to enable Remember IP address and account. Disable the option if you do not want to share credentials among apps.

Alternatively, you can enable Remember me on the login page to remember the password of your user account. You will always be automatically logged in until you log out of the app. Note that enabling this option will only save the password for DS audio but will not share it with other Synology apps.

To log out of DS audio:

Simply tap > Logout.

Below is a general introduction to DS audio:

1. Check your login information, configure playback settings, read related documents, send us your comments or suggestions if you have any to make, and log out of DS audio.
2. Browse and play songs downloaded to your Android device for offline playback.
3. Browse and play the pinned songs or playlists from My Pins. Alternatively, switch to the Recommended Genre tab for the songs categorized according to their genres.
4. Browse and play songs stored in your Synology NAS.
5. Quickly access songs organized into personal and group playlists, or play songs by the four default categories.
6. Listen to Internet radios provided by SHOUTCast(TM) or to the ones added by yourself.
7. Select the pinned items to reorder or unpin them.
8. Tap the icon to do the following:
• Search music by entering keywords in the search field. When you are logged in, the search tool applies to all the music on Audio Station; when you are logged out, it applies to downloaded songs only.
• Refresh the page to view the updated music contents.
• Set a sleep timer.

With DS audio, you can stream music directly from your Synology NAS (Library) or songs downloaded to your Android device (Downloaded Songs).

To view music from Home:

When you launch and log into DS audio, you will first see Home where you can easily play the pinned music collections from My Pins, or enjoy the playlists automatically generated in Recommended Genre.

• My Pins:
  • You can pin the music collections you frequently play from Library and Playlists. Tap next to a music category to pin or unpin a music category to My Pins.
  • You can reorder or unpin a music category by tapping from My Pins.
  • You can rename the pinned items by tapping from My Pins.
• Recommended Genre: You can browse and play your music by selected genres.

To view music by category:

When you launch and log into DS audio, you can access music in your Synology NAS Library and download them for offline playback.

• You can browse music by Albums, Artists, Composers, Genres, and Folders in these two sources. Swipe left or right to change the categories to view your music.
• You can view your playlists by tapping Playlists and Downloaded Songs in the menu.

To view your personal music:

1. Activate Personal Library on your Synology NAS (at Audio Station > Settings > Personal Library), and you can view your personal music stored in your homes directory (homes > username > music).
2. Then you can go to to choose your Library source in DS audio: All music, Shared music or Personal music.

To view Internet radio stations:

You can find and listen to Radio configured on your Audio Station (online mode only), including SHOUTCast(TM) and any station added by Audio Station users (under User defined and My favorite).

To view music by ratings:

1. Rate your songs in either way below to help you manage and sort them easily:
• Tap next to your songs and tap Rate to assign stars (1 to 5) to them.
• Rate songs by tapping the grey stars when you are playing a song.
2. From the menu, go to Playlists > Top ratings to find playlists of songs sorted from No rating to 5 stars.

To add/delete songs to the playing queue, or download:

With DS audio, you can manage a single song by tapping next to it, or manage multiple songs in the batch mode by tapping to do the following tasks.

• Play: Find playback-related options below:
  • Play: Play songs immediately by replacing all songs in your playing queue.
  • Add to queue: Append songs to the end of the playing queue.
  • Add next to current: Append songs next to the current playing queue and play them immediately after the currently played song.
• Add to playlist: Save songs to an existing playlist.
• Download (online mode only): Download the songs to your DS audio for offline playback.

  Note: The songs being downloaded allow only playback but no other operations.

• Delete (offline mode only): Remove the selected song(s) from Downloaded Songs.

To view the playing queue:

• Tap to view your playing queue, and to display song information.
• You can tap or the menu button to Reorder the songs in the playing queue.

To set a sleep timer:

1. Set a sleep timer by tapping and Sleep timer.
2. Specify the time lapse (up to 120 minutes), and the playback will automatically stop upon reaching the limit.

To manage playlists:

You can manage Audio Station playlists with DS audio in the online mode in four ways:

• Tap over a song to Add to playlist and append it to the selected playlists, or tap above any song list to add its songs to a playlist.
• Save the search result to directly create a playlist or add it to an existing playlist.
• In the playing queue, tap for song management. To create a playlist from the queue, tap and Save. Tick Add as group playlist to share it with other DSM users.
• To download playlists, go to Playlists to find the target playlist, and tap for download.

To share songs publicly:

Go to Audio Station > Settings > Privileges, and tick Public sharing to allow sharing songs via DS audio.

• To share individual songs, tap next to the target, select Share, and enable Public Sharing.
• To share songs as a Shared playlist, tap to select multiple songs, and tap above to find a sharing link for use. Tap Share to disperse it across applications.
• To stop sharing songs, go to Playlist > Shared songs and delete the targets.

To stream music to external players:

You can stream Audio Station music to USB, Bluetooth, AirPlay, Chromecast, DLNA or UPnP players with DS audio.

The default player is your mobile device. If you wish to switch to another player, you can either go to Settings, or simply tap on the Now playing page. Note that a Chromecast will be detected only if it is in the same local network with the Android device, but not the Synology NAS.

You can also pair multiple AirPlay devices so more than one device will play your music at once. You can do this by tapping and then selecting Multiple AirPlay devices and then choosing your devices.

Tap to go to Settings for information (e.g., your login credentials and documents for DS audio) and to manage the settings below:

Append by:

You can manage how the songs are added to the playing queue when tapping them: 

• Add songs to queue: Add songs or playlists to the end of the existing playing queue.
• Replace the entire queue: Add songs or playlists to queue after clearing all songs in the playing queue.

Downloaded Songs:

You can manage automatically and manually downloaded songs on your mobile device.

• Automatic: When a song is played online, DS audio automatically downloads it for offline playback. You can control its amount of storage for use. To ban auto-downloads and clear songs in the Downloaded songs library, select No songs. Note that this will also clear Recently Played and Most Often Played playlists.
• Manual: This allows you to remove all manually downloaded songs and playlists.
• Download path: Select the destination for downloaded music (both automatically and manually) on your device. Note that access to external SD cards may be restricted in certain versions of Android since 4.4.

Transcoding Settings:

Transcoding settings and playback quality can be adjusted to suit your needs.

• Transcoding format: Configure Audio Station to transcode music files to either formats below. To know more about supported formats, please visit Synology's website.
• WAV: It occupies less system resources and has better sound quality, but its file size is larger and bandwidth-consuming.
• MP3: It occupies more system resources and has less impressive sound quality, but its file size is smaller and bandwidth-saving.

Note:

MP3 may not be an available transcoding option on select models. If your NAS only supports WAV, Transcode will not allow you to change the format from WAV to MP3.

• Playback quality: Choose a playback quality to suit the current network connection: Auto, High (for best quality), Medium and Low (for smoother streaming). Auto will offer the best compromise depending on the network capabilities.

Note:

This option is only available on select models. For detailed information about supported models, please visit the Synology's website.

• Always transcode: This option allows your Synology NAS to transcode music files for playback if their formats may not be fully supported by your mobile device.

Sound Effects:

Various sound equalizers are available to fine-tune and enhance the playback quality of your Android device.

• Go to Settings and tap Enable Equalizer. To find a suitable one, tap Select Equalizer.

Android Auto:

To use Android Auto, you need an Android Auto compatible vehicle or vehicle audio system, and a mobile device running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher with the Android Auto app installed. You can then safely enjoy seamless music playback when you are driving. Default playlists can be selected in DS audio on your Android mobile device, and Android Auto will automatically synchronize your playlist settings.