diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 69ac8048..163c9e48 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ ncmpcpp-0.7 (????-??-??)
 * Visualizer has now support for two more modes: sound wave filled and sound ellipse.
 * It is now possible to abort the current action using Ctrl-C or Ctrl-G in prompt mode. As a result, empty value is no longer a special value that aborts most of the actions.
 * Directories and playlists in browser can now be sorted by modification time.
+* ~ is now expanded to home directory in mpd_host configuration variable.
 
 ncmpcpp-0.6.1 (2014-11-06)
 
diff --git a/src/settings.cpp b/src/settings.cpp
index 5b2c88cb..55415f21 100644
--- a/src/settings.cpp
+++ b/src/settings.cpp
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ bool Configuration::read(const std::string &config_path)
 	));
 	p.add("mpd_host", assign_default<std::string>(
 		mpd_host, "localhost", [](std::string host) {
+			// host can be a path to ipc socket, relative to home directory
+			expand_home(host);
 			Mpd.SetHostname(host);
 			return host;
 	}));