Beatsync
Creative
multi-device audio sync
SHOW HN2025
How HN took it
19 positive, 36 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 10 critical, out of 71 comments about the project. Thread score +0.17.
Performance: 5 for, 5 againstIdea: 6 for, 1 againstExecution: 2 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Impressively accurate sync that works instantly in the browser with no install
From 3 comments
Impressively accurate - Android phone in Firefox <-> Chrome on OSX == basically perfect to my ear. That's super cool, thanks for sharing!
Groxx on HNThis is the most impressive demo I've ever seen - no app download, no account sign up, no crap, just works instantly. Well done.
joelkoen on HNPretty cool, just the fact it works instantly in the browser with nothing to download is actually kinda wild to me tbh.
gitroom on HN
Clever use of websockets and no mic needed
From 1 comment
Love it, this is impressive and very smart, no need for mic!
js4ever on HN
Objections
Desync when one device is plugged into external speakers
From 2 comments
Works pretty good. There is noticeable desync when one device is plugged into speakers though (at least on windows). It'd be great if you had some way to get a specific device's…
withinboredom on HNhave you considered using webtransport? When I was developing Glicol (https://glicol.org/) sync, the main challenge is network jitter. Had to give it up eventually. Furthermore,…
chaosprint on HN
Bluetooth latency breaks sync
From 1 comment
Thank you for the kind words! Yeah, I think it gets a lot more complicated once you start dealing with speaker hardware. It pretty much only works for the device's native speaker…
freemanjiang on HN
Not open source until a license is added
From 1 comment
It's not open source until you pick a license. Since there is no license in this repository, it is at best source-available.
rezonant on HN
Requests
Support for uploading long mixes and playlists
From 1 comment
Really cool but issues for me when uploading mixes (MP3's about 90 mins long, 150MB). They never make it to the playlists
_joel on HN
Periodic resync to handle clock drift
From 1 comment
Does this resync periodically? (I mean not only when a new track starts)
RicoElectrico on HN
Volume controls
From 1 comment
Very cool, but lacks volume controls.
krick on HN
Apple Music or Spotify integration
From 1 comment
Any plans to integrate this with Apple Music or Spotify? I would assume your algorithm would work only with files uploaded to the site, but curious if you had plans to attempt…
hackncheese on HN
Questions
How clock drift and ring buffers are handled
From 2 comments
How does it deal with the audio ring buffers on the various devices? Does it just try to start them all at the same time, or does it take into account the sample position within…
Dwedit on HNHow do you handle different playback devices having small clock speed differences between them?
fxtentacle on HN
How sub-millisecond accuracy is achieved across browsers
From 1 comment
how does it achieve millisecond-accurate multi-device audio synchronization across browsers?
badmonster on HN
Alternatives named
Snapcast
From 2 comments
Have you seen snapcast? That's currently my go-to audio sync solution for running whole house audio. Always open to alternatives, but so far nothing beats the performance and…
daredoes on HNSnapcast has a webapp and a native android client. Although I'm not sure how well it handles many, many clients. In theory, if all on the same WiFi they should all play in sync…
nsteel on HN
Airfoil
From 1 comment
Cool, keep it up! For anyone who's curious, Airfoil (a paid app) can play simultaneously from a Mac to a variety of devices: https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/
radley on HN
Strobe audio and Panaudia
From 1 comment
This looks really cool, congrats! Just to share a couple of similar/related projects in case useful for reference: http://strobe.audio multi-room audio in Elixir…
thruflo on HN