When Johnny Gerber’s beloved sound system became obsolete due to software updates rather than hardware failure, he decided he’d had enough. The Swiss software engineer, fittingly with a background in archaeology, wanted to preserve his perfectly functional speakers, not consign them to e-waste.
Instead, he’s building something revolutionary: Beatnik Audio, an open-source system that transforms any speaker into a smart, networkable audio device using little more than a Raspberry Pi. “I was locked in multiple corporate ecosystems, and one of them was audio. My hardware became obsolete by making the software unusable or painful to use,” Gerber explains from his office outside Bern, Switzerland.
Gerber’s frustration isn’t unique. It’s clear some audio brands have increasingly embraced the internet culture of “enshittification” — the gradual degradation of once user-friendly services. Sonos users will remember the company’s controversial app update that stripped away beloved features, forcing users to essentially start over with their multi-room systems.
“I throw around words like ‘vendor lock-in’ and ‘planned obsolescence’ — which is a great song by the British band Sports Team, by the way,” Gerber reflects. “But enshittification describes the problem very well, especially in the audio space where a simple update ends up making a lot of people very angry.”
The irony wasn’t lost on someone with an archaeological background — here was perfectly preserved hardware being discarded not because of physical decay, but because of artificial software limitations. The experience sparked a lightbulb moment to shift from closed-source cloud technologies to self-hosting solutions.
Beatnik Audio bundles open-source libraries like Snapcast, Shairport, and Librespot on a Raspberry Pi 5 and Pi Zero 2 WH, to enable compatibility with a growing list of streaming sources, such as AirPlay and Spotify Connect, and redistributes them to multiple rooms in perfect synchronisation.
The setup uses HiFiBerry sound cards to ensure audiophile-quality output, proving that open-source doesn’t mean compromising on sound quality. Purists can stream from vintage vinyl turntables, CD players, tape decks and even MiniDisc.
“It receives music (audio streams) and distributes it, like a heart does blood,” Gerber explains. “I tried to understand software, protocols and libraries that can stream music to different rooms, when I started this, and I found Snapcast to be amazing. It does the main job, it’s open source [GPLv3], and gave me a major shortcut to what I wanted to build.”
The system works remarkably simply: your smartphone or laptop streams wirelessly to the Raspberry Pi-powered Beatnik server, just as it would to a Sonos speaker. The difference is that Beatnik then distributes that audio to any number of connected speakers throughout your home, all in perfect synchronisation.
What makes this particularly appealing is the hardware flexibility. Users can power larger passive speakers using an Amp4 hat, smaller speakers with a miniAmp, or connect to existing receivers and amplifiers. It’s the ultimate upcycling project for audiophiles. Importantly, the system isn’t locked to specific hardware. “You do not have to use a Raspberry Pi or HiBerry,” Gerber clarifies. “They both have a very open approach to hardware, though. That’s why I chose to put my focus on them. It’s a suggestion, you can choose something else if you like.”
A charming aspect is its pan-European DNA. Gerber proudly lists the countries contributing to the project, including Germany, Ireland, Britain, Sweden, and Switzerland, with companies and individuals all playing roles in the hardware and software ecosystem. “Europeans seem to love this open approach, and it feels very much like a European ideology now, given that everything is closed source and big business,” adds Gerber.
This philosophy extends beyond nationalism to practical benefits. Because everything is open-source, users get community modifications, and the security of knowing their system won’t become obsolete due to boardroom decisions. The community involvement has already moved beyond just feedback, with members contributing code and documentation improvements to the project.
Gerber envisions three user paths: “As an expert, you can build it yourself, completely design, and order from everywhere. Alternatively, order a bundle from the website and fit it yourself. Or, if you have no idea, but like the idea, you can have it assembled,” says Gerber, admitting he’s yet to work out whether that would take place in Switzerland or through a decentralised network.
“I haven’t found a good balance yet. It’s still very technical,” he says when asked about balancing technical complexity with user-friendliness. “But the first step was to give it a name and a visual appearance. Also, documentation is key. That at least reduces the frustration for ‘experts’. The goal is to make it more accessible step by step. IKEA-like instruction manuals are what I’m aiming for.”
Gerber’s varied career path has prepared him well for this ambitious project. His background spans archaeology (where he learned technical drawing and CAD), founding a web design agency at 20, leading teams on open-source e-learning projects, and, most recently, co-founding a successful IoT startup focused on irrigation systems for flowerpots.
Money remains Beatnik’s biggest challenge. Gerber has self-funded development through to March 2026, after which he’ll need to find sustainable revenue streams. “In March, I will evaluate if I can spend more time on it,” he explains. “But that’s the beauty of open source. The code is public; it’s been forked already a couple of times. Anybody can maintain it or develop it further.” Gerber also points out that the code is already public on GitHub.
Indeed, the audio community has already been crucial to Beatnik’s development, providing both encouragement and technical reality checks. “Beatnik would have stayed a personal project without the interest from certain Reddit communities. In the beginning, I got roasted a lot. This helped to find similar products and other open source libraries the community already uses,” adds Gerber, who even confesses to doing the unthinkable — taking apart his Sonos speakers, giving himself an electric shock in the process.
When it comes to persuading users to abandon vendor ecosystems, Gerber believes the work is already done. “I don’t have to convince them anymore. Like me, they’ve seen the downsides of those closed ecosystems and have lost trust.”
Beatnik represents more than just another DIY project, however. It’s a statement about technological self-determination against a backdrop of increasing corporate control over our devices. With a website due to launch soon, and a project gaining momentum through both community interest and concrete contributions, it may well become a sound way of sticking it to the man.