Tag Archives: bluetooth

Multi-room

Raspberry Pi 3 with WiFi and Bluetooth

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Raspberry Pi 3Raspberry Pi 3 has arrived with the important additions of integrated WiFi and Bluetooth which makes it an even greater multi-room media renderer than the Pi 2. The CPU power has increased 65%. The idle power consumption has dropped to only 2.5W and stays at 3.8W under load. The price stays at 35$.

if you want easy setup of AirPlay, DLNA, digital output of audio, map to network shares, equalizer and more, Max to play has an beta image that supports the Pi 3. You can read more on Max to play on the previous Pi 2 here.

The Raspbian OS and the NOOBS image are updated to support the Pi 3. You can then install Shairport for AirPlay functionality.

Full specs:

  • A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
  • 802.11n Wireless LAN
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
  • 4 USB ports
  • 40 GPIO pins
  • Full HDMI port
  • Ethernet port
  • Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
  • Camera interface (CSI)
  • Display interface (DSI)
  • Micro SD card slot (now push-pull rather than push-push)
  • VideoCore IV 3D graphics core
Multi-room

Multi-room news from CES 2016 part 3

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Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

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Philips has shown four new Bluetooth speakers in the Izzy line that can be paired together to play the same music in different zones or seamlessly switch speaker when changing rooms. Bluetooth is usually used in simpler stand alone speakers and more advanced uses Wifi due to the added range, throughput, network environment with attached devices and obviously an internet connection. So it will be interesting to see if Philips can deliver on a more advanced Bluetooth based system. Comparing it against Sonos is stretching it a bit far, but it can add value compared to a stand alone Bluetooth speaker.
You will of course need your smartphone to play the music that is outputted to the Izzy speakers and it will take a toll on your battery while doing it.

Insteon supports Sonos

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Insteon has added the ability to control Sonos multi-room speakers using Insteon’s connected home system. Through their hubs, remotes, and wall-mounted keypads.

This includes basic functions like volume control and more advanced home-automation scenes so that music can be paired with changes in lighting. A morning scene could open your motorized blinds in the morning, turn on your coffee machine and start to play a Sonos playlist or genre.

Users can assign functions such as volume control and radio stations to buttons on the Insteon remote and other Insteon controllers. They also plan to make dedicated keypad buttons for Sonos functions on new controllers.

Insteon adds this feature to their iOS app first, this week. Android compatibility is in the works but they have no official release date. Sonos integration requires Insteon Hub 2245-222.

Klipsch

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Premium sound brand Klipsch enters the multi-room market with eight devices based on DTS Play-Fi. Three soundbars, an upgraded Stadium desktop stereo speaker, a Heritage-series stereo speaker, a Gate streamer/preamp, an amplified Gate and two active Play-Fi speakers which also can be used as wireless surround speakers if paired with a Play-Fi soundbar.

Mcintosh

Speaking of high end and DTS Play-Fi, the high end brand Mcintosh also announced multi-room products based on Play-Fi. They are the RS100 Wireless Loudspeaker,  the MB50 Streaming Audio Player and the MX122 A/V Processor.

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The RS100 wireless speaker allows you to easily add streaming music capabilities to any room you want. Install the Play-Fi Apple or Android mobile app or Windows desktop app to stream your music. Up to 16 speakers can be connected to a single Wi-Fi network – enough for stereo playback in 8 separate rooms.

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The MB50 Streaming Audio Player should be connected to an existing audio system and the The M​X122 A/V Processor is the heart of your home cinema with support for 4k, Dolby Atmos and DTS X.

Google Cast

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Google announced new partners for its Google Cast audio platform. They include B&O Play, Harman Kardon, Onkyo, Philips, Pioneer and Raumfeld.

Google Cast speakers will also soon get the multi-room playback functionality that Chromecast Audio got in December.

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Multi-room news from ces 2016 part 2

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Read part 1 here.

srs-zr7

Sony has announced two new wireless speakers. The SRS-ZR7 with four built-in speakers, Hi-Res audio playback, support for Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Multi-room capability through the SongPal app. SRS-ZR7 also has HDMI with ARC so it can be connected to a TV to play Dolby Digital/DTS audio.

The SRS-ZR5 is smaller than its big brother but has the same features except that it lacks Hi-Res audio support and instead has Bluetooth with LDAC and NFC support.

They are both available in spring 2016.

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Sony also has two new sound bars that both has Multi-room support in the same way as their wireless speakers. The HT-NT5 sound bar with a wireless subwoofer has Hi-Res Audio playback, support for 4K content,HDR via HDMI HDCP 2.2. The HT-CT790 has similar specs and a few more HDMI inputs.

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Finally Sony upgrades its A/V receiver line with the STR-DN1070 A/V receiver. It has a new DAC with support for DSD native playback of High-res Audio files. It has 8 HDMI ports (6 in/2 out) with HDCP 2.2 for 4K/60p thus supporting 4K and HDR content. It has support for Sony’s other multi-room speakers, AirPlay, Bluetooth, Google Cast and Spotify Connect. So they all play nice together through the SongPal app.

In all, impressive upgrades across the multi-room product line by Sony.

Libratone

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Libratone Zipp now comes in an updated design, the Copenhagen edition. The wireless multi-room speakers technology was updated a few months ago and has 360 audio, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth (APTX) and DLNA. The new covers comes in Salty Grey, Pepper Black, Raspberry Red and Steel Blue.

Samsung

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Samsung has its Radiant wireless multi-room audio speakers and will launch four new sound bars that will be a part of Samsung’s wireless multiroom-audio system. No mention of their product names yet, exempt for the HW-K950 mentioned in yesterday’s post. They have also added support for the streaming services SiriusXM and Tidal.

All multi-room products will become part of Samsung’s home-automation network controlled by their new line of TVs, that will be home automation hubs.

Intel Compute Stick

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If you want to build your own multi-room device based on windows 10, then the new Intel Compute stick line is something to look closer at. The entry level atom has twice the power of last years top device and they have also added the m3 and m5 with even better cpus paired with 4 gig ram and 64 gig on board storage. So with HDMI output and two real USB ports, you can easily play Hi-res audio, stream Spotify and AirPlay, with the right software of course.

Multi-room

Multi-room news from CES 2016 part 1

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CES 2016, in Las Vegas, has started and multi-room audio is, just like last year, one of the bigger areas. So let’s go through the hottest news so far.

Harman Kardon Omni+

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Harman Kardon revealed its new Omni+ multi-room system. It includes the Omni 10+, Omni 20+, OmniBar+, Adapt+, and the Omni 50+. Four speakers, a soundbar and a streamer that connects to existing systems.

They all handle high-definition audio streaming with 24-bit/192KHz quality. The system supports both Spotify Connect, Google Cast, Deezer and Tidal. In the controller app, you can group a pair of Omni+ speakers with the OmniBar+ to build a 3.1 or 5.1 wireless surround system. It has 5G WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, Ethernet and an aux input.

The Adapt+ will cost 129$, The Omni 10+ $199 and the OmniBar+ $999. The Omni+ system arrives in stores in the spring.

Prizm

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The Social music player Prizm is getting ready to launch after a successful kickstarter campaign. It is said to be able to sense the mood in the room and choose music type accordingly. If you hear a song in the room that you like, click on its heart icon, and the song will be added to your connected account.

Prizm will have support for Spotify, Deezer and Soundcloud at launch. It will also support AirPlay, UPnP, DLNA and Bluetooth. Prizm does not have integrated speakers and should be connected to an existing sound system through optical or 3.5mm audio output. The price will be 169$.

MQA hi-res audio

The new hi-res audio technology MQA (Master Quality Authenticated), that consumes less bandwidth without sacrificing quality, is a hot topic at CES 2016.

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Bluesound has announced that all of their products, both 1st-gen and 2nd-gen, will be MQA compatible through a free firmware update later this year.

The music service Tidal showcased its coming MQA support that also will come later this year.

Samsung Dolby Atmos soundbar

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Samsung’s new HW-K950 soundbar supports Dolby Atmos surround. It has three forward-facing front-channel drivers and two upward-firing Atmos height drivers that reflect sound off the ceiling to deliver height channels. The system also includes a wireless subwoofer and a pair of wireless surround speakers with upward-firing drivers, enabling the system to deliver a 5.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos sound field.

More info will come later this week about pricing and compatibility with the other Samsung audio products.

Multi-room

Bose SoundTouch series III with the new entry level SoundTouch 10

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Bose has upgraded its SoundTouch series to version 3 and added the new entry level SoundTouch 10 to the existing 20 and 30. Bose has implemented a new dual band wifi platform with better performance and now supports b/g/n. Bluetooth has been added, which is fine but AirPlay has been removed for some strange reason. So this is obviously a potential deal breaker if you use AirPlay. The previous version of SoundTouch series will continue to have AirPlay support.

soundtouch_10
The new SoundTouch 10 is a direct competitor to Sonos Play 1 and replaces the previous SoundTouch Portable. It has (like its bigger brothers) support for Spotify Connect and Bluetooth. Bose also has support for internet radio and Deezer through their own app. It also has USB and AUX inputs for external sources. SoundTouch 10 costs 199$/179£ and comes in white and black.

Multi-room

3 Home theater receivers with multiroom and 4k under 499$

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The living room audio Receiver can be the most powerful part of your multiroom setup or its achilles heel. Any decent receiver connected to a pair of decent speakers can output higher quality music than most stand alone multiroom speakers. But what good will it do if they lack multiroom technology?

Im currently in the market for a new home theater receiver and multiroom support is a must. Along with support for 4K UHD, Audio return channel, 7.2 surround, HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2 and decoding of the usual HD audio formats. But without multiroom techniques, it would end up collecting dust for most part. Or i would have to buy an external streaming player and connect it to the receiver.

So let’s take a closer look at three receivers that supports the criterias above:

Denon AVR-X1200W
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AVR-X1200W is part of Denons 2015 lineup and has Spotify Connect, AirPlay, Bluetooth and DLNA 1.5. Denons own Heos system is not built in. X1200W can drive speakers in a second zone if not all 7 speakers are in use for your home theater setup.

The output is 80W at 8 ohm. It has basic support for DTS Atmos (5.2.2), which can bring 3D surround with ceiling speakers. DTS X will come in a firmware update later this year.

Sony STR-DN860

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The STR-DN860 has Google Cast, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth and DLNA. The STR-DN860 is fully integrated with Sonys multiroom system so it can be grouped together with Sony stand alone speakers, in their Song pal link app, to play music in party mode.

The output is 95W at 8 ohm. It also has Miracast. STR-DN860 does not have Dolby Atmos.

Onkyo TX-NR545

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The TX-NR545 has Spotify Connect, AirPlay, DLNA and Bluetooth. Which are the same techniques that the AVR-X1200W supports.

The output is 65W at 8 ohm. TX-NR545 has basic Dolby Atmos support (5.2.2) in that two of its 7 speakers can be used for it. The TX-NR545 does not have DTS X.

Conclusion

From a multiroom perspective, the STR-DN860 is the strongest receiver with its support for Google Cast, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, DLNA and works well with Sonys other multiroom products. The other two supports the same, except Google Cast.

From a home theater perspective, the AVR-X1200W is the strongest receiver with both Dolby Atmos and DTS X support. The TX-NR545 comes second, due to its Dolby Atmos support and the STR-DN860 third. Even though they all support the usual HD formats.

So the AVR-X1200W from Denon seems like the best overall choice, when weighing in both multiroom and home theater aspects. With the STR-DN860 from Sony as close runner up due to its even stronger multiroom support. But maybe the better integration with the other Sony products (and Google Cast) makes me go in that direction. Its a hard choice.

Multi-room

Bluesound Gen 2

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Bluesound has upgraded their multiroom system to generation 2 which brings new design and features. Bluesound has support for Spotify Connect built in and Airplay if you connect an Airport to the analog input. Existing CDs are ripped, stored and played from the VAULT 2. As before, Bluesound support 24-bit high resolution audio.

Changes includes:

  • ARM Cortex-A9 CPU running at 1GHz
  • Improved connectivity with both Analog and Optical Inputs
  • IR Sensor with TV Connect learning function
  • Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX high-fidelity codec support
  • Headphone Output with Dedicated Amplifier
  • Coax Digital Out (NODE 2 and VAULT 2)
  • Gigabit Ethernet speed
  • New advanced Wi-Fi design
  • Industrial design by David Farrage of DF-ID.

The system now consists of:

NODE2
NODE 2 Wireless streaming music player that you connect to your existing music system. ($499/549€)

POWERNODE2
POWERNODE 2 Amplified wireless streaming music player that you connect to speakers of choice. ($799/899€)

Vault2

VAULT 2 Streaming music player, 2TB storage and CD ripper. ($1199/1299€)

PULSE
PULSE 2 Full size all-in-one wireless streaming music player.($699/799€)

PULSEMINI
PULSE MINI all-in-one wireless streaming music player. ($499/599€)

PULSEFLEX
PULSE FLEX all-in-one wireless streaming music player with an optional battery pack that last for 8 hours of streaming. ($299/349€)

Supported cloud services and internet radio

WiMP, Rdio, Slacker Radio, Qobuz, HighResAudio, JUKE, Deezer, Murfie, HDTracks, Spotify, TIDAL, Napster, Rhapsody, TuneIn Radio and iHeartRadio.

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New Sony devices with Airplay and Spotify Connect

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Sony multiroom

Sony has released three new wireless multiroom speakers that makes them a serious market contender. They are SRS-X77, SRS-X88 and SRS-X99. All three has support for all major streaming technologies: AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, NFC and DLNA. SRS-X88 and SRS-X99 also supports Hi-Resolution audio. They can be used one at a time or grouped together in the Song pal link app for iOS and Android. The HT-ST9 and HT-NT3 sound bars and STR-DN1060 and STR-DN860 A/V receivers also has the same functionality.

SRS-X88 and SRS-X99 support playback of a wide variety of Hi-Resolution audio including MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC and DSD. You can also attach an external hard drive to the speakers through USB. SRS-X77 has a battery so it is mobile.

The SRS-X99 has 154 Watts and seven speakers: Two super tweeters, two front tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a single subwoofer.

The SRS-X88 has 90 Watts and five speakers: Two front tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a single subwoofer.

The SRS-X77 has 40 Watts and three speakers: Two front tweeters, a subwoofer and dual passive radiators.

The HT-ST9 and HT-NT3 sound bars and STR-DN1060 and STR-DN860 A/V receivers supports the same techniques and audio formats as the three new speakers and all seven units can be used together in the app.

So how do we compare this with Sonos? Sony has stronger hardware with support for hi res audio and all major streaming technologies. Sonys app is limited to grouping the speakers. The market leader Sonos has moderate hardware, that lacks hi res audio and manny technologies that Sony supports but instead has strong software that can handle almost any streaming service and scenario out there in a refined manner, with different songs playing in different zones from the same controller. So which of those two are best for a customer that wants to play multiroom music in the easiest and most powerful way? The boring answer is that it depends on how you want to use it. Both will handle the most scenarios but in different ways.

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Odin brings big sound

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Odin

Multi-room speakers have a tendency to favour small form factor over the (possibility of) extra sound quality that bigger form factors enable. The Danish company Cint has addressed that issue with their new Odin speaker, which is part of their Asgard multi-room system. They also have the smaller speaker Freya.

Odin is a 6.9 kg floor speaker that can play Spotify Connect, AirPlay and DLNA. It also has AUX-input for older sources. It has on device controls for basic operations and is also controlled with Cints own app for iOS and Android. Odin is reasonably priced for it’s size around 265£.

Freya

Freya comes in a multi-room version that has the same functionality as Odin. And one version with only Bluetooth. All in one would have been even better. The multi-room version is priced around 160£.

The Asgard line seems promising and covers most peoples needs with both Spotify Connect and AirPlay.

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Ruark Audio R2

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Ruark R2

Ruark Audio has released the third version of their R2 model, which now has Multi-room functionality. The brand has been around for 35 years and the R2 mk3 shows that they know what they are doing. The functionality list is long and includes playing music from the local network through DLNA, Spotify Connect, DAB+ and internet radio.

R2 is controlled in three ways, from your smart phones native Spotify app and for playing Bluetooth, the on device buttons called RotoDial and a small remote. The display shows song information and also helps when interacting with the system. For now, there is no dedicated Ruark app for controlling the unit/s, but a release is planned this year.

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R2 has Bluetooth with aptX support, for maximum quality over Bluetooth.

You can play your local music from Sources that supports DLNA or by simply attached a hard drive or USB memory to the R2. The music can be in a variety of audio codec’s including WMA, AAC, FLAC, MP3, MP2 and Real Audio. R2 supports up to CD quality, 44.1KHz/16-bit.

You can also enhance your TV sound by connecting it to the R2 through its phono sockets. The sound will then play through the R2 which has better sound quality than a TV. A bulkier sound bar if you will.

If you are a Spotify user, or don’t use online services except radio, R2 will suit your needs really good. But if you prefer some other online service, like Google Play Music, Wimp, Rdio, then you are restricted to use them through Bluetooth, which is ok as a compliment now and then, but perhaps not for everyday core usage.