UKBouldering.com
technical => computers, technology and the internet => Topic started by: Paul B on August 18, 2015, 05:05:02 pm
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Having moved out of a modern (read poorly built) flat, with little to no interior sound insulation to an 1890s stone built terrace my preferred method of pumping Radio 6 around the dwelling (either via the TV or PC and accompanying [cheap] sound system) no longer works. It doesn't even work from one room into the adjoining kitchen (that's how thick the walls are, a cabled solution wouldn't be ideal based on this).
My music is in multiple places:
PC (still in a box from the move - about the only thing)
NAS drive (ReadyNAS duo - 1st edition)
Phone (Android)
However, mainly I listen to either live Radio 6 or shows via Iplayer Radio etc. and I'd like to continue to do so, preferably in the living room / kitchen (attached).
Is there a reasonably simple ("Just Works") method for achieving this? I'd thought about Bluetooth speakers (a couple of) but they seem to be limited as to only play from one speaker without spending a ridiculous amount on a 'system' (Bose / Sonos) which I don't want to do. I'd rather not spend too many FAs on this either.
:tumble:
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I bought a Logitech Bluetooth Adapter for about 35 notes (unsure of current FA exchange rate) and hooked it into my amp by the spare phono sockets - works a treat in the main room. Obviously the amp can run two sets of speakers if I wanted but it's fine as it is and solved the 'how do I get my laptop/phone hooked into the system'.
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Paul in my house in the peak (an old cottage 18" thick walls that killed any wifi) I used a Home plug and two nodes with wireless antennae to flood the house with wi-fi and it worked a treat. For music I bought a couple of airport express with phono jacks, plugged one in the lounge stereo and the other for the kitchen or upstairs with a pair of PC speakers.
In my current house I just have the two Airport Express'; one downstairs plugged into the hi-fi and one upstairs n the bedroom into a pair of small PC speakers. Wifi everywhere and music in the lounge and bedroom.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXhsUPtsiLU
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I bought a Logitech Bluetooth Adapter for about 35 notes (unsure of current FA exchange rate) and hooked it into my amp by the spare phono sockets - works a treat in the main room. Obviously the amp can run two sets of speakers if I wanted but it's fine as it is and solved the 'how do I get my laptop/phone hooked into the system'.
Last time I visited Stu he showed me a similar setup with a Bluetooth receiver and small (Topping?) T-series amplifier into a pair of passive speakers. It was very neat but he did moan that the receiver had a poor range. This would work well in one room but I'd have to run the cabling for the second set into the kitchen which isn't going to happen.
Strangely WiFi in this place doesn't seem too affected (I'm impressed with my TPLink router), I can stream video from Google play pretty much anywhere in the house, so that shouldn't be the limiting factor.
Am I right in assuming that for the Apple solution you need an Airport express and something capable of doing something with the signal for each room you'd like to stream music to? Cumulatively that sounds a bit expensive.
There's no such thing as one of the smaller (or even slightly larger) Bose Soundlink type speakers that work in pairs from one bluetooth/wifi signal I'm guessing?
Thanks for all of the input. It might just be a case of a BT/Amp solution for one room and a DAB radio/Phone/portable speaker to live in the Kitchen.
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UE Boom bluetooth speaker, link 2 to your android phone with their app, Bubbleupnp for your nas music, Tunein Radio for your radio, job's a carrot for ~£200.
Disclaimer, I haven't tried the linking of 2 speakers at once, I have one in my kitchen linked to an old samsung tab doing internet radio or music from the nas and to my undiscriminating ears the sound is pretty good.
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If you feel a bit Heath Robinson, why don't you go for a Pi based solution and knock up your own little wifi speaker?
What is your electronics like?
Edit: I work in audio electronics, and would be happy to point you in the right direction if you would like.
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If you feel a bit Heath Robinson, why don't you go for a Pi based solution and knock up your own little wifi speaker?
What is your electronics like?
Many thanks, however, I've gone down that direction with RaspBMC and whilst it's great, currently a severe lack of spare time means I'd rather buy off the shelf. I believe Slackers wrote up his Pi solution.
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Am I right in assuming that for the Apple solution you need an Airport express and something capable of doing something with the signal for each room you'd like to stream music to? Cumulatively that sounds a bit expensive.
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No, your router acts as the transmitter. The airport express acts as a receiver with a line out. You need one for each set of speakers. They are supposed to simultaneously increase wifi range by acting as a repeater but I can't say I noticed a difference.
I would highly recommend some audoioengine active speakers as part of the solution, high quality sound and look like speakers not like star trek gamer noise pipes. I've got the A2 as my computer speakers.
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Thanks for the clarification; that makes more sense.
Peewee bought a UE Boom (in garish blue and red) before departing to SA. I'll see if he'll allow me to give it a test before I commit to anything.
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I bought some Cambridge amplified speakers a couple of years back - that have an inbuilt DAC converter... Anything that comes in to them via the USB sounds amazing - anything via the headphone type socket (from phone or bluetooth dongle) sounds less amazing. Was quite surprised by the difference...
*I'm not sure this is relevant but anyway....
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Thanks for the clarification; that makes more sense.
Peewee bought a UE Boom (in garish blue and red) before departing to SA. I'll see if he'll allow me to give it a test before I commit to anything.
We have a UE Megaboom (in a fetching red) as the sound system for our van and it's absolutely wicked. Really good sound quality and battery life.
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I bought some Cambridge amplified speakers a couple of years back - that have an inbuilt DAC converter... Anything that comes in to them via the USB sounds amazing - anything via the headphone type socket (from phone or bluetooth dongle) sounds less amazing. Was quite surprised by the difference...
*I'm not sure this is relevant but anyway....
The whole thing is proving more tricky than I'd imagined.
I've looked at various wifi solutions (Sonos etc.) and decided that it'll be far too many FAs. Therefore, I'll be going for a system of sorts for the lounge and a speaker/radio for the kitchen. The latter is easily solved, the former less so. I was favouring:
Small Amp (Such as the topping TP-21) ~£40
Speakers (Q-Acoustics 2010) ~£100
Bluetooth receiver (not a rubbish one) ~£30-50
So that all adds up to £170-200. However, I'd seemingly get more functionality (DLNA compatibility = good with my ReadyNAS) out of a mini hifi setup or even a network media player (Teac, Denon etc.) for only a marginal increase in FAs. With these devices it looks as if having iProducts would make my life easier.
Basically I'm confused. The current plan is to go an interrogate some unfortunate member of staff at my local branch of Richer Sounds.
The room is relatively large (high ceilings) and I'm not fond on the idea of having something woefully under-powered.
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and I'm not fond on the idea of having something woefully under-powered.
Last time I changed around my hifi, I gave my daughter my Marantz KE amp and bought an immaculate, classic Pioneer A400 amp secondhand - it's been brilliant. Had it 7 years now, with no issues at all, plenty of power and a decent sound. Might be worth a scout around on ebay for something a few years old, as people often change these things for no reason other than space or boredom.
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I'd noticed a small Marantz system on Ebay that looked very appealing but beyond brand name, I've no idea of what'd be good (ideally it wouldn't be massive either). The same goes with speakers, I'm assuming its possible to pick up something 'good' but older fairly easily if you know what you're looking for?
The Marantz system had no Bluetooth. The BT version was significantly more (and newer).
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Probably totally unsuitable but this (http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/onkyo/crn755/onky-crn755) is the mini Hi-fi that I have and really pleased with it as a network streamer for Radio and also off the NAS but it doesn't have wireless built in and no idea if it has Bluetooth included.
Remote as standard and there is an app to control it (Android but suspect the fruity form has their variant) which is not the greatest thing ever if I am honest - nothing massively wrong with it - just seems a bit clunky.
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Yeah - speakers can be had real cheap. I actually gave a set of decent floor standers away this year, as a mate had given me his B&Ws and stands. They don't seem to hold their value at all despite the fact there's not a lot can go wrong with them.
Until this year, I used to work over at the big audiovisual trade show in Amsterdam that's held at the Rai Centre each January and to be honest, the whole scene is moving along so quickly - going simple, not spending too much and making sure you have easy connectivity (cables and bluetooth) would be my personal way forward. Everything changes so quickly.
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I have one of these.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/marantz/nr1504/mara-nr1504
I mainly bought it to do HDMI switching to the TV with better quality (and surround) audio from the PVR and Xbox.
But it's got wired networking and so is a DNLA box.
You can either play to it from any DNLA app or use its interface to play from a DNLA server or use the internet radio.
I haven't even got as far as adding in surround speakers yet, just using some old quality B&W speakers on the front and I'm very happy with it.
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Probably totally unsuitable but this (http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/onkyo/crn755/onky-crn755) is the mini Hi-fi that I have and really pleased with it as a network streamer for Radio and also off the NAS but it doesn't have wireless built in and no idea if it has Bluetooth included.
I'd seen that one and the below is interesting... Although depending on where it's placed I may also (£££) need the Wifi dongle. Does it deal with shows that have already aired (i.e. iplayer) as I'm usually not listening live.
Another option is the availability of a USB Bluetooth adaptor. This lets you wirelessly stream music from a huge range of devices, including Bluetooth compatible smartphones, tablets and laptops.
mr_j5 - looks a bit bigger than I'm hoping for!
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I'd be wary of using bluetooth. I bought a bluetooth device to stream audio from my laptop to my hifi, firstly I needed to buy a bluetooth dongle to send the signal from my laptop. The signal was poor and the music would cut when anyone walked in from of it. Lots of kids playing on their tablets in the same room also played havoc with it. I eventually gave up and went back to Lager's solution of a very long wire. I recently bought a wifi to hifi thingy http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veetop%C2%AE-HiFi-AirMusic-Box-Streaming/dp/B00JKD09B8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441124682&sr=8-1&keywords=veetop+hifi+airmusic+box that works well, but you'd have to get some secondary speakers for another room, and apparently there might be some problem with the music being out of sync. The second problem is that you need to also buy extra software ( I used airfoil) to stream things like the internet and spotify. Itunes has a built in Airplay system, but every developer wants to use there own system...
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Probably totally unsuitable but this (http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/onkyo/crn755/onky-crn755) is the mini Hi-fi that I have and really pleased with it as a network streamer for Radio and also off the NAS but it doesn't have wireless built in and no idea if it has Bluetooth included.
I'd seen that one and the below is interesting... Although depending on where it's placed I may also (£££) need the Wifi dongle. Does it deal with shows that have already aired (i.e. iplayer) as I'm usually not listening live.
Don't think so and if it has I have never used it - it's currently residing in storage as I am in the process of renovating my house so I can't check .
Couple of points:
The radio stream also has a slight weird thing that if it drops the signal it will sit there until it picks up the signal again (which may take a couple of minutes) and then picks up where it left off. Not an issue unless you are listening to live sport at which point it is really rather annoying. :spank:
Oh and another thing it will do is insert a 3 second pause between tracks off DLNA - not an issue unless it is a mix CD ripped to the NAS or a track that doesn't have definite gaps between tracks.
I'm really selling this aren't I... ;)
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my concern is about what the neighbors will do to Paul B if they don't like his live music
they already don't like his parking and look how that's working out
buy some really good wireless headphones each and a few less expensive spares for when you have guests
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They stuffed so much bunting (for the cycling) through the letterbox I can only presume they were trying to kill me by means of suffocation lagers!
Back on topic (not for long I'd warrant), the Pure Jongo looks interesting in that if you replace the BT adapter in the above setup (barely any increase in FAs) then you'd have the option of adding a Pure speaker in the kitchen or elsewhere.
http://www.pure.com/wireless-speakers/jongo-multiroom-speakers
Any thoughts?
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Paul
Having just gone through this, I've ended up with;
Two of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00O0U37HO?ref_=cm_sw_r_awd_KwF1ub09Q2Y2S . Attached to speakers in lounge and bedroom. (No reason why you can't add more - Neet say up to 10).
Control it with the Whaale app ( http://www.whaale.com/ ) from an ios or android device and you can select which speakers play what from which source and the sound is synced across all units. Whaale supports streaming from ios, NAS, internet Radio etc.
That would seem to answer your needs for about £55, plus the cost of the speakers...
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Brilliant thanks!
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For those with an old iPod dock / speaker thing knocking around with no Bluetooth connection (like me) - and no old iPod/phone that works with it then....
I just got one of these for a fiver from eBay. Plugs into the 30 pin socket thingy and pairs with the phone perfect. No external power etc.. Needed - great!
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/06/923ce5e7b133ca0a5bf34626fb017414.jpg)
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Yo, looking to get new stereo or whatever for new gaff. Want to be able to play CDs (remember them?) for ease of use for the binlids, but also have DAB (not essential) and be able to play contents of itunes library from mac via Airplay (essential). Absolutely not interested in any kind of hacked Raspberry Pi/Lunix/NAS nonsense.
Options seem to be get one or more Airport Expresses and plug them into a stereo/s, or, since we'll have to buy a new stereo anyway, just get one that plays CDs/DAB/Airplay natively (seems to limit our choice of stereos a bit). Anyone gone down one or more of these routes, if so, how's it gone?.
I'm imagining the wifi coverage in new house should be decent as its a compact semi, had some downstairs walls knocked through over the years, has some ethernet cabling built in, and I already have a set of powerline wifi repeaters from old house if needs be.
Finally, it has to "just work".
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Airport express are great on paper but definitely do not fulfil the brief of just working. Faff to setup and then continually drop cponnection.
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Is the dropping connection deffo to do with them or to do with your wifi? Does it work better on a different channel or manually assigning IP addresses? I went to manual IP addresses to resolve a lot of dropout issues on the wifi at our old house.
Other question is, would Airplay built into a Pioneer/Sony/whatever unit work any better?
Thinking about it, I think my powerline extender kit has ethernet cable output, so I could probably actually hardwire an Airport Express whcih should solve any wifi dropouts, should that become an issue. Kinds overkill on the kit but I've got the powerline stuff sitting idle at the minute.
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Dunno, but you've still got the wireless connection between the airport and the ipad/ phone used to play the music. There were plenty of people on the web with similar issues. Spec is far superior to bluetooth but seems way flakier.
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If I was playing music from the itunes library on the mac (accessed via Remote app in phone/ipad if need be, works fine for me now) then if the wifi from the phone/ipad dropped it would't make any odds once play had started. Same if I put an album on then left the house. If the mac was ethernetted to the main router (it will be) and the Express was powerlined/ethernetted to the router then it should be pretty bombproof.
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If you're doing that there must be cheaper options than the apple one, as you're not using it's rasion d'etre.
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There are Denon products that meet your spec Dave. Look back at the post by Butters.
Personally I'm going to buy an old amp, speakers and a Chromecast Audio, with the hope they'll add multi-room sync at some point. Can't work out if I need a (better) DAC and to use another output from the CCA into the amp.
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If you're doing that there must be cheaper options than the apple one, as you're not using it's rasion d'etre.
True, but not sure if third party ethernet airplay units actually exist, or be cheaper? Airport looks cheap compared to the brand new washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge freezer, and dishwasher I'm having to buy this week.
Paul, cheers, Ill check those Denons out.
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Out if interest - what's the sound quality like over bluetooth?
Reason for asking is that if I use it on the phone to car stereo - its shit compared to plugging the phone in using the head phone jack.
I'm considering one one of those ipod doc converters.
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Out if interest - what's the sound quality like over bluetooth?
Reason for asking is that if I use it on the phone to car stereo - its shit compared to plugging the phone in using the head phone jack.
I'm considering one one of those ipod doc converters.
AFAIK Bluetooth can't handle full FLAC quality without losing a percentage of the data, since it (Bluetooth) doesn't tranfer data at a high enough bitrate.
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There are Denon products that meet your spec Dave. Look back at the post by Butters.
Personally I'm going to buy an old amp, speakers and a Chromecast Audio, with the hope they'll add multi-room sync at some point. Can't work out if I need a (better) DAC and to use another output from the CCA into the amp.
My recommendation (with more that a few caveats) was actually for an Onkyo but feel free to check it out anyway. [emoji6] Currently looking at the CN7050 as an upgrade on the living room unit which I think solves some of the issues I highlighted but is a fair few more fuck alls outlay in the first place. Should be noted that I haven't researched this much beyond an initial stage at the minute.
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Got my Chromecast Audio device yesterday. Seems to work pretty well. Only tried it with Google Music so far, sounds like it should work with Spotify apps etc also but not tried them yet. For £30 seems like a no-brainer if you have existing hi-fi that you want to stream to.
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If I was playing music from the itunes library on the mac (accessed via Remote app in phone/ipad if need be, works fine for me now) then if the wifi from the phone/ipad dropped it would't make any odds once play had started. Same if I put an album on then left the house. If the mac was ethernetted to the main router (it will be) and the Express was powerlined/ethernetted to the router then it should be pretty bombproof.
I use an old Mac laptop as my jukebox on wireless network and have it plugged via an optical cable to amp and speakers - I then have other remote powered speakers plugged into various apple express units/Apple TV - works like a charm and can control everything from an old iPhone using remote app. Have had essentially zero problems with it dropping - but I am in North American timber framed house, so less cement to deal with...
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Got my Chromecast Audio device yesterday. Seems to work pretty well. Only tried it with Google Music so far, sounds like it should work with Spotify apps etc also but not tried them yet. For £30 seems like a no-brainer if you have existing hi-fi that you want to stream to.
Sorry this is a bit lazy; does it have other (none 3.5mm jack-plug) outputs?
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It's very lazy indeed... :P
RCA, 3.5mm and Optical according to the official site (http://www.google.com/chromecast/speakers/).
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It's very lazy indeed... :P
RCA, 3.5mm and Optical according to the official site (http://www.google.com/chromecast/speakers/).
Not quite as simple as that, the only one it appears to have is normal 3.5mm (as well as the micro USB for power), you can of course use a 3.5mm to phono/RCA lead, what is clever is what appears to be a normal 3.5mm jack actually also has an optical output at the back of it, so with the correct Mini-TOSLINK-to-TOSLINK :wank: lead from you can also connect it to an optical input on an amp etc.
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6280276?hl=en-GB
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very interested in this Obi-wan, particulary as my old hifi still has lots of sentimental value (and is still quite good as well)
have you used the optical output as I have a seperate DAC on my system?
Whats the quality like?
Does it still work from music held locally on the phone or do you need a streaming service?
Does it eat you phone battery while streaming and lastly, anything else similar to this to consider?
Word
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Shouldn't eat the phone battery as like chronecast it's streamed to the dongle from the router - phone just controls it.
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I just bought one whilst in the states as it's the same price in dollars as pounds.... It's a very neat little thing!
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can you get radio stations on it as well?
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Using TuneIn I'd imagine?
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says supports tunein online
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just picked a chromecast audio up today and using tunein to listen to R6 craig charles show.
Plugged in to my DAC via optical cable, seems really good so far.
Any recomendations for other apps to use it with?
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No advice, but listening to Craig Charles' show for the first time. Good Saturday toons.
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just picked a chromecast audio up today and using tunein to listen to R6 craig charles show.
Plugged in to my DAC via optical cable, seems really good so far.
Any recomendations for other apps to use it with?
If you go to Chromecast/audio it'll recommend you compatible applications. BBC iPlayer Radio now supports it (which is brilliant news for Steve L's Friday Free for All).
I'm really happy with mine, the new CC design means idiots like my Dad won't manage to snap it (too short USB lead, TV on a bracket etc.) and I've plugged the Audio CC into my old Creative powered speakers and they're doing a great job of providing a very neat audio-solution.
If they're discounted on Black Friday I'll buy another and a portable speaker for kitchen/fingerboarding use.
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Without starting another thread.
I'm getting fed up with my wifi connection cutting, so I'm going to go back to wired in. In the past I used 10m of wire directly into the 3mm jack of my hifi, but the sound quality was bad, I'm thinking of going all HDMi, anyone have any idea what the sound quality would be like? (or if it will work)
I'll run it through yet another digital/ analogue converter, into the amp, although I could go directly into the TV (which is already wired into the amp) Any thoughts?
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my thoughts: what is this drivel you've just dumped out of your brain onto the internet!!!
You start off talking about Wi-Fi and then LAN cable, then move swiftly on to headphone jacks (3.5mm BTW) and then onto HDMI all of which do totally different things.
Without trying to decipher exactly what you are trying to do and with what, why not try and fix your Wi-Fi problem by either have a better router, a second router or with a Wi-Fi extender?
perhaps some details of your current setup and what the issue with it is would help
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Made perfect sense to me!
I have a cheap laptop, connected by wifi to one of these, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B010DM7M8W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, which is connected to the amp by RCA cable, the signal is excellent on the box, using a speed tester.
It's not the first product like this I've used and other users have had similiar complaints, just wanted to go back to a direct connection (needs to be 10m of cable) get a decent sound without cutting.
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I don't think it connects to Wi-Fi directly from the laptop to the box, more like it will connect via the router. Sounds like the Wi-Fi card/driver on the box is where it is falling down. Perhaps a firmware update might solve the issue? failing that next logical step would be to hard wire the box to the router with LAN cable, if its the Wi-Fi receiver in the box that is the problem then this should solve it.
Not sure how you're going to use a HDMI cable on that setup, it doesn't have a HDMI output on it?
The best quality output you have on that setup is the digital optical out (SPDIF) but you will need a DAC to be able to use this.
Looking at the reviews on the link, I would suggest that all you're problems are down to the actual box itself and if the solution you end up with costs anything more than a few fuck-alls, then I would replace the box itself
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You are correct, the router is linked to the neetbox, already by LAN, I think the box is the problem too.
I was thinking of using the HDMi output from the laptop, into something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Musou-Extractor-Becoming-Converter-Splitter/dp/B01G6PW280/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1482920758&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=hdmi+to+rca+converter&psc=1, then directly into the amp by RCA.
My TV is already connected to my amp via toslink using one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/PROZOR-Digital-Toslink-Converter-Adapter/dp/B00KNNSKV0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482920977&sr=8-1&keywords=prozor+dac+toslink, no HDMi inputs.
Seems like to much hardwear to me, and I don't really want to have to switch the tv on to listen to music.
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I have just got my Onkyo TX-NR609 back after 4 years of it sitting the flat I rent out (mistake, but live and learn eh?). The HDMI board has gone (common fault) and it's apparently £260 to get the board replaced. I might have a bash repairing it myself at some point.
Anyway, getting to the point.
I listen to music via Spotify and MP3/FLAC from the NAS - currently I do this via the PS3 but I was wondering if there is a nice way of doing this via a wifi streaming music player? What I would like is a device that could connect to the Onkyo receiver and internet/wifi/NAS that has a nice tablet/phone based user interface - I particularly dislike trying to navigate folders full of music by dot-matrix display... The Onkyo is net/DNLA enabled but it's pish for navigation.
Any thoughts?
I'd like mid-range quality and price.
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Bluesound node 2.
I'll add more later
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When I bought a new Rega hifi system a couple of years back (Turntable, CD player, Amp and DAC) I opted for a Sonos Connect box as the streaming/hard drive option going digital I/O into the DAC then audio/analogue cables into the Amp.
The interface is great and it all runs from the box so the phone is just the controller. I’ve got Spotify and Tidal accounts, a NAS and stuff on the computers and it all runs sweet through the Sonos Connect. You can get all the radio stations and stuff too. Sounds mega...
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And how much is mid-range for you?
On second thoughts why don't you just use Spotify connect from your phone/tablet/pc app. And use another app on the nas for those files.
Seems like a lot of expense just to get a better control app.
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I had totally forgotten that the Onkyo is net enabled and has Spotify built in. The app's not great but it works.
In our current flat I'm not sure I can run cat5 cabk, but aparantly I can get a wee WiFi USB dongle for the amp so that might work.
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And how much is mid-range for you?
Whoops - sorry Fultonius I missed the last sentence. :-[
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And how much is mid-range for you?
Whoops - sorry Fultonius I missed the last sentence. :-[
One man's mid-range might include 200 quid rca interconnects :ohmy:
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Lower range still: I'm about to replace an old Pure dab radio and looking at wireless speakers - possibly smart speakers. Have binned off the Google Home as the audio reviews aren't great, but considering Sonos One as Google integration is promised next year. I'm wondering whether this means it might even link up with a Chromecast audio. Also looked at Sonos Play 1, Bose, Addon etc.
Any recs for this kind of thing, up to max £200? Listen to most music on internet radio and Spotify. Ta.
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Recently got a Home mini (on the Black Friday deal) and the sound is pretty crap however the convenience of using it to play Spotify and Google Play stuff is pretty handy and the kids are loving being able to ask it questions. Kinda of wishing I'd gone for the Home not the Mini. Both are reduced again for Xmas. I might end up getting a Home anyway and putting the mini else where in the house, as being able to 'broadcast' messages such as 'dinners ready' without yelling up two flights of stairs is a big plus. Interesting to see what the Google Max will be like, it's quite large and pricey at the moment (and not yet released in the UK) but early reviews say the sound quality is pretty awesome. Maybe a bit big from kitchen use but will shake up the market a bit with that and the overdue Apple one.
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Another cool feature of the Google system is the ability to group devices together. So I've created a group called 'downstairs' with a Chromecast audio and the Home mini. So when I cast to 'downstairs' it plays through both in perfect sync. :dance1:
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I did wonder about getting a mini for bedside. Not heard about Broadcast, which sounds good. Priority is audio, hence the Sonos, though I'd rather not be stuck with Alexa...
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Anyone know the vagaries of Spotify bitrate?
My understanding is you only get 320 kbps if you pay for premium...but...when playing through PS3, or my Onkyo Amp, or through any of the other streaming players mentioned so far - I can't see anywhere to check/change the setting. I can on the laptop.
Anyone know if you get 320 kbps as standard through streamers?
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I think I read while researching stuff that Spotify Connect defaults to 320.
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You wanna get on neilyoungarchives.com - streaming master files at >4000 kbps 24bit/ 196Khz (CD is only 16 bit/ 44.1Khz). And it's free for now. Sounds INCREDIBLE using my MixPre-3 as DAC/ headphone amp, or as DAC pre-amp for my Audioengine A2+ speakers.
Having been unimpressed with my Airport I'm going to stick with the Audioengine active speakers. Future-proof, and if you insist on wireless a bluetooth dongle is about £10.
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MixPre-3
8) This looks very interesting. I had no idea SD were making things that are so "affordable".
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It's fucking ace! I got mine via the states so 'only' £500. I used Chris Watson's 744T on a workshop a couple of years back and thought 'if only there was something like this but cheaper and smaller'. Word on the street is the pre-amps might even be better than the 7-series too! Let me know if you want to check it out...
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Here's a thing: gapless playback currently doesn't work on Spotify with a Chromecast Audio. Amazing. Thankfully I can use my time machine to go back to 2004 and use iTunes all over again with gaps between songs.
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Not cheap but one day left for a deal on two Sonos speakers...
https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop