Building Mostik Mk1 — a handcrafted open streaming object with Roon as the reference path

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a project I’ve been working on for quite a while.

It’s called Mostik Mk1. The idea is to build a compact open streaming object around Raspberry Pi CM4, with Roon Bridge as the main reference playback path.

I’m based in Prague, and the name Mostik roughly means ‘a little bridge’ in Czech, which felt right for something small, friendly and connective.

What I’m aiming for is not another closed smart speaker, and definitely not another generic plastic wireless box. I want it to be something more personal and more durable than that — a compact speaker with tactile control, a local web interface, open architecture, and the calm presence of a carefully made interior piece.

I also don’t see it as a mass-market product. If the project reaches a finished form, it would be much closer to a custom-built, design-led speaker, made in a small-scale way with attention to both the physical object and the software side.

The project is still in development. At the moment the website mostly shows renders, the design direction, and some glimpses of the control UI while I’m still refining both the final physical form and the software architecture.

On the Roon side, I’m trying to keep things very clear: Roon is the priority reference case, and I don’t want to compromise that path. At the same time, I want the speaker to be practically usable outside Roon too, so the current direction also includes AirPlay, Bluetooth and Lyrion, all feeding into one shared audio control layer.

A big part of the project is trying to make the device feel calm and simple in daily use. That means a physical volume knob, a browser-based local control page, and a system that doesn’t turn into a black box over time.

I’m posting this here because I think some people in the Roon community may immediately understand what I’m trying to do, and feedback from actual Roon users is probably the most relevant feedback I can get at this stage.

The project page is here:
https://www.mostiklabs.com/

I’d genuinely be interested to hear whether this direction makes sense to you, and what you would personally expect from a small open Roon-oriented speaker if it were developed into a finished custom-built product.

Thank you

JP

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Welcome to the community @JP_Mostik.

If you’re going to be advocating on behalf of your company or organization in any way, please be transparent about your affiliation, and edit your profile to include:

  • Your name
  • The name of your company or organization, added to the Title field
  • The URL of your company or organization’s website, when appropriate

Thank you.

I imagine the Roon community would like to know the following about the speaker.

  • Aesthetics: size, finish, controls etc.
  • Specifications
  • OS, Roon Ready status, e.g., will it use an SBC and download Roon Bridge or and established platform such as Ropieee?
  • Measurements
  • Listening tests
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Thanks for the note. I’ve updated my profile name and affiliation details so it’s clear that I’m directly involved with the project. I appreciate the guidance.

At the moment, Mostik Mk1 is being developed as a compact handcrafted streaming speaker, closer to a custom-built interior piece than to a mass-market wireless product. The current design direction is a horizontal stereo format in birch plywood with sandblasted aluminium elements, a physical front knob, and a local browser-based control interface. The current target size is roughly 430 × 152 × 200 mm.

On the platform side, the current reference direction is Raspberry Pi CM4 with integrated amplification. For the software stack, I’m currently developing around a Pi-based Linux system rather than presenting it as a finished certified platform. Roon is the main reference playback path, but I’m being careful not to overstate anything here: this is not a Roon Ready product announcement, and certification is not something I’m claiming at this stage.

Right now the project is closer to an actively developed prototype direction than to a finalized product. The current software work includes Roon Bridge as the priority reference case, alongside AirPlay, Bluetooth and Lyrion, with a shared local control layer and physical knob control.

As for measurements and listening tests: not yet in a final publishable form. That part will matter a lot to me, but I’d rather share it only when it is based on a settled physical prototype and not just on renders or interim iterations.

So at the moment, the most honest description is probably: a compact handcrafted streaming speaker project in development, with Roon as the main reference path, but not yet a finished or certified product.

I’m very happy to share more as it progresses, and I appreciate the push to make the current state clearer.

1 Like
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Thanks for the update, @JP_Mostik. Note that Roon Bridge cannot be distributed with the product, and must be downloaded and installed at first use. This is a Roon licence requirement.

Roon also has a contact email–partners@roonlabs.com–for their hardware partner programme. They can advise on how to proceed.

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Thanks, that’s very helpful.

Understood about the Roon Bridge licensing requirement — I won’t describe it as something bundled with the product.

A big part of what I’m trying to do with Mostik is keep the architecture open, so users can choose the software direction they want instead of being locked into a single fixed platform.

And thanks as well for the pointer to the partner contact. If the project reaches that stage, I’ll follow up the right way.