MANUAL · 08
Listen with other apps.
The browser player is the front door to SUB/WAVE, but it isn't the only way in. Underneath, the station is a single Icecast MP3 stream — and any app that can open an internet-radio URL can listen along, in perfect sync with everyone else.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED
The stream URL.
Every external player asks for the same thing: the address of the stream. For this station it is /stream.mp3 on the station’s own domain —
https://your-station.example/stream.mp3Paste that into any of the apps below. It is a live broadcast, so there is no pause and no seek — closing the app and reopening it drops you back wherever the station is now, not where you left off.
VLC
VLC, on every screen you own.
VLC is the most reliable way to tune in outside the browser — the safe first choice. It runs on every desktop and mobile platform, opens the stream from a single URL, and buffers generously enough that a shaky connection rarely interrupts the broadcast. It is free and open-source: desktop builds come from videolan.org ↗, and the mobile apps are VLC for Mobile on the iOS App Store and VLC on Google Play.
Whichever device you are on, point VLC at its network stream option — not open file — and give it the URL above:
| Platform | How to open the stream |
|---|---|
| Windows / Linux | Media → Open Network Stream… (Ctrl + N), paste the URL, press Play. |
| macOS | File → Open Network… (⌘ + N), paste the URL, press Open. |
| iOS / iPadOS | Open the Network tab → Open Network Stream, type the URL, tap it to play. |
| Android | Side menu → New stream, enter the URL, tap to play. |
Once it is playing, VLC shows the live track and artist from the stream’s metadata — the same now-playing info the browser player displays. On desktop you can drag the stream into the Playlist and save it as an .m3u for one-click tuning later; on mobile it stays in VLC’s history under the Network tab.
VLC’s default buffer is short. On a weak connection, raise it: desktop users open Preferences → Show All → Input / Codecs and lift Network caching to 3000 ms, or launch from a terminal with vlc --network-caching=3000 <url>. A deeper buffer trades a few seconds of start-up delay for a steadier stream.
CLIAMP
SUB/WAVE in your terminal.
cliamp is a terminal music player with built-in internet-radio support — point it at the stream URL and the broadcast plays straight in your shell, no browser and no window. It is an open-source Go program; grab a release binary from github.com/bjarneo/cliamp ↗, or build it from source:
# build from source — needs Go 1.25+
go install github.com/bjarneo/cliamp@latestOn Linux you also want the ALSA bridge for your audio server — pipewire-alsa or pulseaudio-alsa. SUB/WAVE broadcasts plain MP3, so cliamp plays it natively — no ffmpeg needed.
Pass the station’s stream URL straight to cliamp:
cliamp https://your-station.example/stream.mp3cliamp shows ● Streaming with a non-interactive seek bar — expected, since SUB/WAVE is a live broadcast. Press u to load a different stream, or R to browse cliamp’s own radio directory.
Public SUB/WAVE stations sit behind Cloudflare, which serves the stream over HTTP/2 in bursts. Browsers and VLC paper over that with deep buffers; a lean command-line player like cliamp can underrun between bursts and show buffering. The stream itself is fine — ask the station operator for a direct address that skips Cloudflare (a LAN or Tailscale URL on the Caddy port, usually :4800), which serves a steady HTTP/1.1 stream.
# through Cloudflare — HTTP/2, may stutter in a CLI player
cliamp https://radio.example.co/stream.mp3
# direct to the station on your network — HTTP/1.1, steady
cliamp http://192.168.1.20:4800/stream.mp3
cliamp http://100.x.x.x:4800/stream.mp3 # over TailscaleMORE TO COME
Any MP3 stream player works.
VLC and cliamp are the walked-through examples, but they aren’t special — anything that can open an internet-radio URL can tune in. More client guides will be added here over time. Running the station yourself rather than listening along? That’s covered in the setup guide.