HiFi Cast app + USB drive on router + Xbox360 = great music casting solution.

[RazzMaTazz]

I'm posting this as an FYI, just in case it helps anyone else...

I have long wanted the ability to do the following:

1. Cast/stream my mostly lossless WMA music library directly from my NAS (which is just a USB hard drive that is attached to my ASUS WiFi router) to my living-room-stereo-receiver's digital input using an Android app on my smartphone.
2. Control the music via WiFi so that I can control it from anywhere on my property-- even if we're playing croquet in the backyard. (Bluetooth range is too short. My house is wired to distribute analog music from my living room receiver to sound-systems in the other rooms and patio, primarily for parties.)
3. Stream the music without any fidelity reduction from recompression (as is the case with Bluetooth) or transcoding (as is the case for WMA files on Chromecast Audio, which natively supports limited file-types). (This isn't important for parties but it's important for my personal listening in the living room.)
4. Be able to make/take phone calls or receive notifications on the phone without affecting the music stream. (Important for parties.)
5. Not need to have a TV or PC running.

My ASUS RT-N66U WiFi router has the ability to attach USB hard drivers and it has a DLNA media server. (I think that's pretty common on most WiFi routers nowadays. I keep a USB-powered hard drive attached to that acts as backup storage and as a media server that can serve movies to our smart-TVs and music to my stereo system. It spins down when not being accessed so it's very energy efficient.) I already had an XBox 360 in my A/V rack. (I didn't realize that it could be used as a DLNA receiver. I think Playstations can do the same.) The Xbox 360 is connected to my stereo receiver with a digital optical cable. There is no need to turn on the TV at all. I just turn on the Xbox and my stereo receiver and the HiFi Cast can stream to it. Works perfectly.

HiFi Cast isn't as full-featured as many top-tier music-player apps (and so I use a different app in the car). But it's plenty good enough and it's the only app that I found that fulfills the requirements enumerated above.

I have no relationship with HiFi Cast. Interestingly though, after owning Android phones for about 8 years, it's the first app that I've ever purchased--though I've donated to a few developers. (I don't play games and I've always found free apps to meet my needs.)