Fun with Roon: turning an old iPod touch into a portable headphone zone

One of my wishes for Roon is a small, portable (headphone) setup for use around the house and outside. Awaiting the arrival of RoonSpeakers, a small DIY idea popped up: could an old iDevice be turned into a Roon zone?

Digging through my drawers turned up an old and dusty iPod touch 4th gen, running iOS6. Since Apple has banned all AirPlay receiving apps from App Store, a quick jailbreak was required. AirFloat appears to be the go-to app for AirPlay streaming, but while it does show up in Roon’s audio settings – it refuses to play.

AirPlayServer however does, with one limitation: once the iPod gets into its lock screen, hiccups arise. Setting the device to never lock leads to a flawless audio stream – if with less battery life since the screen is always on.

Anyway, for now: happily Rooning in the open air with my AKG and an old iPod touch. :smile:

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Clever! Thanks for sharing that. :+1:

After playing with it for a few days, I’m still having fun: it’s been rock solid and audio quality is as good as one may expect from an iPod touch.

I’ll pick up and old 30-pin iPod audio dock on the cheap and have an instant audio zone for the office. Eat that, Sonos! :wink:

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This sounds brilliant. One question though please. How do you charge the touch while it plays? I have a couple of these but they have old batteries and by definition limited battery life.

My 30 pin ipod dock has a 30 pin connector on the back for connecting to a charger. This is an Apple dock not a 3rd party one.

This is an excellent combination as a Roon EndPoint:

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