Timbre — Bit-Perfect High-Resolution Audio Streaming for Android

⚡

My Changes to BitChord

Audiophile Enhancements

Timbre is an audiophile fork built upon the foundation of BitChord. This project would not be possible without Kushagra's brilliant open-source engineering. Here is what Timbre adds on top:

🎵 Lossless-First (0.5s – 8.0s) & Purist Mode

Queries studio FLAC streams first with a 0.5s–8.0s priority window slider, instant fallback race, and zero-lossy Purist gatekeeper.

⏩ Concurrent Lookahead Engine (3–20 Tracks)

Resolves upcoming tracks in parallel over the network. Rapid skipping never cancels in-flight jobs, ensuring instant playback.

💾 True FLAC Disk Caching & Retention

Background FLAC stream chunk writes aligned under true #alt-noatmos cache keys and protected with Origin.LOSSLESS retention.

🎛️ Timbre Studio Direct Hardware Sink

Direct AudioTrack sink, UsbDirectManager permissions, bit-perfect rate switching (44.1–192kHz), and live Bluetooth A2DP telemetry.

📊 Live Decoded PCM Telemetry

Genuine decoded physical data rates (1,411 kbps for 16/44.1, 4,608 kbps for 24/96, 9,216 kbps for 24/192) in Nerd Stats and Now Playing.

📱 Pure Android Mobile Player

Desktop and TV runtime bloat removed for maximum battery efficiency, snappy memory performance, and pure touch ergonomics.

🎛️ Timbre Studio (v1.8-3 Suite)

The Onboard Audiophile Control Suite

Direct hardware AudioTrack routing, real-time Bluetooth codec telemetry, bit-exact verification, and strict Purist playback controls engineered for mobile audiophiles.

⚡ Direct Bit-Exact Signal Pipeline

How Timbre delivers 24-bit / 192kHz uncompressed studio masters straight to your ears without Android mixer degradation.

Unresampled Bit-Perfect

STAGE 01 · SOURCE

Cloudflare Hi-Res Edge

Lossless 24-bit / 192kHz FLAC queried from 0:00 with 0.5s–8.0s tunable resolution window.

STAGE 02 · CACHING

Predictive Disk Cache

Concurrent 3–20 track lookahead with true #alt-noatmos keys & Origin.LOSSLESS retention.

STAGE 03 · SINK

Precision AudioSink

AndroidX Media3 AudioTrack sink configured for float/packed PCM, bypassing AudioFlinger resampling.

STAGE 04 · HARDWARE

Direct DAC Endpoint

Direct digital transfer to Moondrop Chu II DSP, FiiO KA17, or desktop USB DACs at native sample rate.

💎

Bit-Exact Certification Badge

Live Signal-Path Verification

Live diagnostic badge inside the Audio Pipeline inspector. Displays glowing emerald BIT-PERFECT: Bit-Exact Signal Path when audio bypasses Android's AudioFlinger mixer, or Framework Mixed (A2DP) when passing through system audio.

📶

Bluetooth Codec Telemetry

Real-Time A2DP Inspection

Dynamic detection and inspection of active negotiated Bluetooth codecs (LDAC 990kbps, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, AAC, SBC) with exact negotiated bit depth and transmission sample rate (e.g. 24-bit / 96kHz).

🔌

Direct Bit-Perfect Mode

USB DAC Passthrough

Leverages UsbDirectManager to request Android USB host permissions for external DACs and Type-C DSPs (Moondrop Chu II DSP, FiiO KA11/KA13/KA17). Completely bypasses the Android 48kHz audio resampler.

🛡️

Purist Mode

Lossless or Nothing

Strict audiophile gatekeeper. When enabled, Timbre strictly refuses lossy YouTube audio fallback (128–160 kbps Opus/AAC). If a studio FLAC master cannot be resolved, Timbre automatically skips to the next track rather than playing lossy audio.

⏱️

Priority Resolution Window

0.5s – 8.0s Granular Slider

Granular 0.1s slider controlling how long Timbre waits for Cloudflare edge workers to return 24-bit FLAC streams. Optimized fallback race ensures lossless plays instantly with zero stall if ready before fallback resolution.

🧠

Audio Buffer Sizing

Low Latency · Standard · Stable

Multi-tier buffer control for the Media3 AudioTrack PCM sink. Choose Low Latency (~250ms) for snappy track controls, Standard (~500ms), or Audiophile Stable (~1500ms) for drop-free background listening during OEM Doze.

🔄

Bit-Perfect Rate Switching

Dynamic Sample Rate Sync

Dynamically reconfigures the hardware AudioTrack sink on the fly to match each track's native container sample rate (44.1 kHz to 192 kHz), eliminating non-integer sample rate conversion jitter.

⏩

Queue Lookahead Engine

3 to 20 Tracks Lookahead

Concurrent background resolver that queries upcoming tracks in parallel over the network (~1–2s total). Rapid skipping never cancels in-flight jobs, ensuring subsequent songs are pre-resolved and ready for instant playback.

📡

Lossless Pre-warming Mode

Off · Wi-Fi Only · Any Network

Multi-state selector controlling background audio byte caching. Automatically protects cellular carrier data by restricting heavy FLAC stream downloads to Wi-Fi while keeping playback seamless.

💾

Pre-cached Songs Count

3 to 50 Songs Cache

Configurable slider determining how many upcoming tracks have their initial 1 MB opening and stream chunks verified onto disk cache under true #alt-noatmos keys with Origin.LOSSLESS retention.

⚖️

FLAC Dynamic Normalisation

Dynamics & EBU R128 Peak Safeguard

Multi-tier volume safeguard (Off, Preserve Dynamics, EBU R128 Peak Safeguard) preventing sudden volume jumps across tracks from different mastering eras without flattening transients.

📊

Live Decoded PCM Telemetry

Stats for Nerds HUD

Real-time diagnostic overlay showing genuine physical data rate (e.g. 1,411 kbps for 16/44.1, 4,608 kbps for 24/96, 9,216 kbps for 24/192) alongside active server, container format, and buffer health.

☁️

Cloudflare Edge Health Monitor

Live Round-Trip Edge Ping

Live round-trip ping measurement embedded directly inside Settings to monitor edge worker responsiveness and addon availability in real time.

Engineered for Audiophiles

Timbre transforms everyday mobile streaming into a zero-compromise high-resolution listening experience.

🎵

Bit-Perfect Audio Engine

Engineered for uncompressed high-resolution playback with custom audio addon compatibility, bit-perfect direct output, and an active audiophile Telegram community.

🎯

Configurable Priority Window

Stock players default to lossy Opus and clumsily upgrade mid-track. Timbre queries lossless studio sources first. With the newly introduced 0.5s – 5.0s Playback Slider, you decide the exact safety window before falling back.

🎛️

Direct Bit-Perfect Hardware Sink

Android's default system audio mixer aggressively resamples all audio to 48kHz and truncates bit depths. Timbre leverages AndroidX Media3's direct AudioTrack pipeline, driving USB DACs and Type-C DSPs (such as Moondrop Chu II DSP) at native 96 kHz.

⏩

4-Track Predictive Lookahead

Skip without delays. Timbre increases background queue lookahead from 1 to 4 tracks and optimizes prefetch intervals to 2 seconds. Upcoming album tracks are pre-resolved and primed in memory before you tap Next.

📊

Accurate Bitrate Telemetry

Eliminated upstream telemetry leaks. Timbre's Nerd Stats accurately displays genuine decoded PCM data rates (e.g. 1,411 kbps for 16/44.1, 4,608 kbps for 24/96) matching your hardware sink's physical throughput.

🎨

Aesthetic Modern Player

Enjoy Spotify playlist integration, character-synchronized lyrics powered by lrc.red, beat-matched Automix, high-resolution covers, and a fluid Material 3 Expressive UI with glassmorphic accents.

Hardware / Earphone	Type	Sample Rate	Status
Moondrop Chu II DSP	Type-C Integrated DAC	`96.0 kHz / 24-bit`	Verified Bit-Perfect
Apple USB-C Dongle	Type-C Adapter	`48.0 kHz / 24-bit`	Direct Sink
FiiO KA1 / KA3 / KA13	Portable USB DAC	`Up to 192 kHz`	Direct Sink
iFi Go Link / AudioQuest	Hi-Res Audio Dongle	`Up to 192 kHz`	Direct Sink
Desktop USB DACs (Chord, Schiit)	External Desktop DAC	`32-bit Float / 192 kHz`	Direct Sink

Platform / Setup	Limitation	How Timbre Solves It
YouTube Music / Spotify	Heavily compressed lossy audio (128–160 kbps Opus/AAC). Smeared transients, flat dynamics.	24-bit / 192kHz Studio FLAC Masters from Cloudflare edge workers.
Tidal / Qobuz / Apple Music	$11–20/mo subscription fees, DRM lock-in, heavy battery drain, no YouTube Music playlist integration.	100% Free & Open Source, DRM-free, battery-efficient, seamless playlist import.
Android Audio Pipeline	Default Android system mixer forces 48kHz resampling and truncates 24-bit studio masters down to 16-bit PCM.	Precision AudioSink routes bit-exact unresampled PCM directly to external USB DACs.
Stock Mobile Players	Cold track transitions, buffering stalls during rapid skips, lossy fallbacks.	Concurrent Lookahead & Pre-warming caches upcoming FLAC streams for instant skips.

Pure Studio Masters.
Zero Compromise.