✳ YOLK AUDIO
Hi-fi for
the music you own.
Yolk Audio is built around three ideas, in this order: own your music with a self-hosted player, play it well on hardware you can understand and build yourself, and, later, buy it fairly straight from artists, DRM-free.
PROJECTS
What we are making
Yolk Player
Self-hosted music software for your own files: a server, a web app and iPhone and Mac apps. No subscription.
See the player ↓IN DESIGNRelay
A Wi-Fi hi-fi streamer board: ESP32-S3 and a PCM1794A DAC with a line-level stereo output. Prototypes are being prepared.
Read the build journal →IN DESIGNSpeakers
3D-printed active bookshelf speakers, each with its own Wi-Fi streaming amp. Designed and simulated, not yet built.
See the build guide →Yolk Speaker
The long-term idea: an all-in-one wireless speaker. Nothing is designed yet.
An idea for laterYOLK PLAYER · IN DEVELOPMENT
Yolk Player: your collection, everywhere you listen
Yolk Player is self-hosted software for the music you already own: files you bought or ripped, kept on a server you run. The web app and the iPhone and Mac apps play them with no subscription and no account with anyone else. It is a personal project in development, not a product you can buy. The apps are still being polished and the web app is on hold while the native apps come first.
Recently added
Your library
Point the server at a folder of MP3, FLAC, AAC, Ogg and WAV files. It reads the tags and cover art and keeps stable IDs, so playlists and likes survive a rescan.
Every device
Stream to the web app, iPhone and Mac. Formats an iPhone cannot play are converted on the fly.
Connect
Start music on one device and control it from another, like a remote for your own collection.
Crossfade and AirPlay
Smooth transitions between tracks, AirPlay, and output-device choice on the Mac.
Audiobooks and radio
Audiobooks with transcripts (public-domain recordings such as LibriVox work well) and internet radio, next to your music.
QR sign-in
Already signed in on one Apple device? Show a short-lived code and scan it with your Mac.
Two of the 42 visualizers on the Now Playing screen in the Mac app. They react to the music and take colours from the cover art. The app is dark with a green accent, with playful generated “critter” characters.
Pairs with Relay
The player is software; Relay is the hardware idea it is meant to pair with: a small Wi-Fi streamer board with a hi-fi DAC and line-level output for your amplifier or active speakers. Relay is still in design, so the two are not connected yet.
Honest status: the server, the Mac and iPhone apps and the shared code are built. There is no public release, installer or app-store listing yet. The source will be published once the own-your-music edition is ready.
VISION · PLANNED / EXPLORING
Artists sell directly to listeners
This is an idea we are exploring, not something that exists. No store is open, and there are no artists or labels signed up.
Sold by the artist
Artists would sell their music directly to the people who like it, without a streaming service in the middle.
Yours to keep
Plain files with no DRM. Buy once, keep them, back them up, play them on any device, including Relay.
Most of it goes to the artist
The goal is for most of the money to reach the person who made the music.
DRM-FREE MUSIC · COMING LATER
A catalogue that drops straight into your library
Later, a catalogue of DRM-free music could land in your Yolk library as ordinary files, tagged and with cover art, ready to play like everything else you own. Nothing is available yet, and we will say so here when that changes.
Artists who like the idea: we are not set up to take enquiries yet. Check back here.
PRINCIPLES
How we work
Open design files
Schematics, board layout and notes will be shared openly, including the unfinished parts.
Honest specs
Numbers on these pages are targets until they are measured. We will say so when that changes.
Built around the music you own
A personal collection deserves good playback. Hardware you can understand, repair and build yourself.
Status: nothing is for sale. The player is self-hosted software in development; the store and catalogue are only ideas.