Albums, editions & copies
Multi-disc sets stay together. Alternate mixes and remasters remain distinct. Identical copies across Core and Sooloos are counted as copies, not clutter.
BRIMSTONE CORE · BETA 1
Your music.
One library. One Core.
A private music system built around the collection you actually own — local media, Meridian/Sooloos, services, multiple editions and multiple rooms — without turning your library into a pile of duplicate folders.
Self-hosted CoreNative Control appBuilt in the UK
THE COREBrimstone CoreLibrary · metadata · playback · services
CONTROLMac · iPhone · iPad
YOUR MUSICLocal · Sooloos · Services
OUTPUTSRooms · endpoints · players
Beta 1 is real software, not a mock-up. Core and Control are running today, with the architecture feature-frozen while we polish, validate hardware and close the remaining defects.
THE LIBRARY, DONE PROPERLY
One album should still be one album.
Core separates the music from where it happens to be stored. A second copy does not become a second album. A genuine remix, remaster or alternate release stays a real edition.
Artwork that stays put
Selected artwork is stored locally against stable album identity. Metadata edits, rescans and restarts do not throw your covers away.
Your metadata, your call
MusicBrainz, Cover Art Archive, Discogs and source metadata help; manual choices remain authoritative when a database gets it wrong.
CONTROL
One interface for the whole system.
Control is the native Brimstone app for browsing the unified library, choosing rooms and outputs, managing metadata, importing media and controlling playback.
- macOS Beta 1 available now
- Shared iPhone/iPad Swift build compiling from the same source family
- Standalone, Sooloos and Core capability modes without maintaining three different apps
- Core Web provides the same system from a browser
● ● ●Control · Beta 1
Your Music
BETA 1 IN THE REAL WORLD
Not a render. Not a pitch deck.
These are current Beta 1 screens from the running Brimstone estate. The UI will continue to be polished, but the library, metadata and control model shown here is the software itself.
SOURCE TO DAC, WITHOUT THE FAIRY DUST
Core tracks what actually happens to the audio.
Every playback path is resolved as a complete capability chain. If a transport or DAC limits the source, Core reports the conversion and the component that caused it instead of claiming the source format reached the speakers unchanged.
01SourceMaster / stream
→
02CorePolicy / processing
→
03TransportUSB / HDMI / network
→
04EndpointRenderer / room
→
05DACActual negotiated output
AUTOMATIC / BEST
Keep native playback where the full path supports it; otherwise perform only the conversion needed for the highest-quality valid route.
NATIVE / BIT-PERFECT
No resampling or downmixing. If the whole path cannot carry the source unchanged, Core says so and refuses the path.
COMPATIBILITY
Allow the transformations needed to make playback work while preserving the original master and exposing the conversion chain.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Audio-first. Preservation-first.
Beta 1 is deliberately broad about the audio it will accept, but conservative about what it claims to have verified.
Beta 1 software
- Library authority
- PostgreSQL · revisioned logical catalogue
- Lossless / PCM
- FLAC · ALAC · WAV/BWF/PCM · AIFF · WavPack
- Compressed
- MP3 · AAC/M4A · Opus · Vorbis/OGG · APE
- DSD
- DSF · DFF/DSDIFF · native DSD or DoP when the complete endpoint path advertises it
- Cinema audio
- AC-3 · E-AC-3 · DTS · DTS-HD · Dolby TrueHD · MLP
- Containers
- MKV · MP4/M4A/MOV · MPEG-TS/M2TS · VOB/EVO · other FFmpeg-readable audio containers
- Optical ingest
- Audio CD · DVD-Audio · DVD-Video audio · Blu-ray/Pure Audio · readable UHD/data optical media
- Other ingest
- MiniDisc/NetMD · local/removable files · capture-device architecture
Outputs & services
- Native endpoints
- Linux ALSA Core End · macOS CoreAudio End
- Network / ecosystem
- Meridian/Sooloos · Sonos · AirPlay · Chromecast through Core Cast where capability is available
- Provider playback
- Internet Radio · Bandcamp · Qobuz · SoundCloud · Audius · Spotify Soloist · podcasts/RSS
- Provider integration
- TIDAL catalogue search · Apple Music through native MusicKit on supported Apple platforms
- Audiobooks
- Owned/imported files · Bandcamp imports · LibriVox discovery
- Metadata / artwork
- MusicBrainz · Cover Art Archive · Discogs · source metadata · manual override
- Control platforms
- macOS Beta 1 · iPhone/iPad shared Swift build validated
- Database exposure
- PostgreSQL stays private to Core; no customer-facing database port
TREV PRODUCTION HARDWARE TARGET
Built with headroom rather than a tiny audio budget.
The production hardware platform is a target under validation, separate from what Beta 1 software has already proved.
16PCM output channels
8 × stereo I²S TX lanes
8 × stereo I²S TX lanes
8PCM capture channels
4 × stereo I²S RX lanes
4 × stereo I²S RX lanes
2×25GbE SFP28
production network target
production network target
DSDNative clock/data paths
8 DSD TX lines target
8 DSD TX lines target
Extreme-rate target: PCM 1536 kHz and DSD1024 remain architectural targets pending physical DAC/interface validation. Beta 1 does not present them as hardware-certified capability.
CHOOSE HOW FAR YOU GO
One Control family. Three ways to use it.
STANDALONE
Your Mac. Your music.
A local persistent library and stereo playback without needing a Core appliance or Sooloos system.
SOOLOOS
Meridian, without leaving it behind.
Bring an existing Meridian/Sooloos library and zones into the modern Control experience while keeping the system useful in its own right.
CORE
The complete system.
Unified catalogue, multiple users and rooms, Core storage and ingest, services, endpoint routing, management and the full Brimstone experience.
BRING THE COLLECTION WITH YOU
Built around real libraries, not a blank streaming account.
Local filesMeridian / SooloosBandcampInternet radioPodcastsSpotify integrationOptical ingestPlaylistsAudiobooks
Provider availability and playback capabilities vary by service, account, platform and endpoint. Beta 1 reports capability truth rather than pretending an unavailable integration is working.
BETA 1 · SEPTEMBER 2026
Built to be used. Still being finished.
Beta 1 marks the first Brimstone release baseline: the architecture is locked, Core and Control are being polished as a product, and remaining work is focused on defects, validation, packaging and production hardware rather than endless feature churn.
- Core
- Beta 1 live
- Control macOS
- Beta 1 · 2.0.1
- iPhone / iPad
- Beta 1 build validated
- Android / Windows
- Not yet a canonical Beta 1 target
CORE-AUDIO.UK
Keep the collection.
Lose the chaos.
Brimstone Core is developed by Brimstone Cottage in the UK.