Anything new for audio streaming like Sonos and Apple Airplay?

[Kneedragger]

A coworker asked about setting up his house to listen to his music and I told him about both of these solutions. Since I have been using Airplay for a while I have been wondering myself if anything new has come out.

Anything new I should look at?

Thanks

 

[Kneedragger]

Anyone stream their music??

 

[s44]

It's not "new" but I use Serviio (DLNA server), BubbleUPnP (DLNA control app) on various Android devices to control, and various different target devices including a WDTV and an old phone running Bubble (it's also a renderer and, if you want, a server).

Wish iOS had a DLNA app as supported and operational as Bubble.

 

[lagokc]

I don't know about new but this works pretty well:

http://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=850

 

[Anubis]

It's not "new" but I use Serviio (DLNA server), BubbleUPnP (DLNA control app) on various Android devices to control, and various different target devices including a WDTV and an old phone running Bubble (it's also a renderer and, if you want, a server).

Wish iOS had a DLNA app as supported and operational as Bubble.

so with this i am able to play the music stored on my NAS through my AVR while being controlled from my phone?

thats what i want to be able to do, i do not want to play music from my phone on something because i dont store music on my phone

i want to control my AVR from my phone and play music from a different source

like what airplay and the itunes remote ap does without having to use itunes

 

[s44]

so with this i am able to play the music stored on my NAS through my AVR while being controlled from my phone?

Yes, exactly this. Just set up Serviio (or some other DLNA server, but I recommend that one) on your NAS and control with BubbleUPnP if you have Android. I know there are iOS control apps too, just not sure which might be best.

 

[Kneedragger]

so with this i am able to play the music stored on my NAS through my AVR while being controlled from my phone?

thats what i want to be able to do, i do not want to play music from my phone on something because i dont store music on my phone

i want to control my AVR from my phone and play music from a different source

like what airplay and the itunes remote ap does without having to use itunes

This is what I've been wanting.

 

[Kneedragger]

Yes, exactly this. Just set up Serviio (or some other DLNA server, but I recommend that one) on your NAS and control with BubbleUPnP if you have Android. I know there are iOS control apps too, just not sure which might be best.

Thanks for the info. Did you ever try Airplay? I'm wondering how the quality of these two compare.

Also i would be nice to control multiple devices like Airplay and Sonos.

 

[s44]

Thanks for the info. Did you ever try Airplay? I'm wondering how the quality of these two compare.

Also i would be nice to control multiple devices like Airplay and Sonos.

I haven't run my own Airplay installation, though I've tried other folks'. I do know that Airplay is limited to 16-bit and 44/48k, which DLNA isn't. So in theory DLNA has the potential to be better for high-res sources.

You can control a lot of single devices, but DLNA isn't set up to handle simultaneous coordinated playback well.

EDIT --
I wrote my first post in this thread on my phone, so here are some links:
Serviio install on a NAS
BubbleUPnP (Play Store)

I previously used the old version of 2Player as my control app, but it got abandoned for a while so I picked up Bubble. The revision looks promising, but my setup works so I'm not tinkering any more.

 

[_Rick_]

I've just set up a Logitech Media Server/Squeezebox based system. It's a bit fiddly, but quite capable. You can sync multiple players together, you can control them independently, locally, with a remote control, from the servers web interface.
If it was less buggy I would absolutely recommend it, and of course if you like the Logitech physical devices, it's very neat to have, as those will integrate directly.
The ability to include web radio and apps is what makes it stand well above what DLNA offers.

 

[Kneedragger]

I've just set up a Logitech Media Server/Squeezebox based system. It's a bit fiddly, but quite capable. You can sync multiple players together, you can control them independently, locally, with a remote control, from the servers web interface.
If it was less buggy I would absolutely recommend it, and of course if you like the Logitech physical devices, it's very neat to have, as those will integrate directly.
The ability to include web radio and apps is what makes it stand well above what DLNA offers.

Thanks for the info

 

[Kaido]

A coworker asked about setting up his house to listen to his music and I told him about both of these solutions. Since I have been using Airplay for a while I have been wondering myself if anything new has come out.

Anything new I should look at?

Thanks

If you like Airplay, Reemote is pretty cool:

http://reemoteapp.com/airfoil/site.html

It lets you control multiple Airplay receivers from your iOS device. And of course, Airfoil lets you turn a Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iTouch into an Airplay receiver:

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/

Only real downside (just to be finicky) is it doubles the lag time, so it takes an extra couple seconds for the song to start playing since it has to bounce to your home server and then out to the Airplay receiver, instead of straight into the receiver directly. But this lets you do a DIY Sonos system for $99 per Airport Express and have better iOS integration. If you want to DIY even more, you can setup Airplay on a $35 Raspberry Pi: (although I haven't tested sync/delay on it, so I'm not sure if there'd be any off-sync issues between multiple units)

http://arstechnica.com/information-...deo-from-ipad-to-raspberry-pi-its-as-easy-as/

Monoprice also has a $99 in-wall Bluetooth amp if you just want local wireless playback:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=1090306&p_id=10222&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

 

[plummer66]

you can setup Airplay on a $35 Raspberry Pi:

I have a wired up RaspPI with XBMC and Airplay enabled......and it works fine for this purpose. But so does my wireless Airport Express bathroom in ceiling speaker setup.

 

[wirednuts]

i fell in love with my raspberry pi running xbian and yatse remote. i dont think there is a better jukebox solution. stream files from network, stream from internet stations like shoutcast and radio.com, and watch youtube videos if you want. and the metadata of what is playing shows up on your phone in yatse remote. its so slick.

the only thing better would be xbmc on a real computer... but it runs great on the pi too, and the power savings are crazy good.

 

[plummer66]

i fell in love with my raspberry pi running xbian and yatse remote. i dont think there is a better jukebox solution. stream files from network, stream from internet stations like shoutcast and radio.com, and watch youtube videos if you want. and the metadata of what is playing shows up on your phone in yatse remote. its so slick.

the only thing better would be xbmc on a real computer... but it runs great on the pi too, and the power savings are crazy good.

Is yatse remote an iOS app?

 

[s44]

Btw, Serviio can redirect/transcode streaming music too. Have only played with that a little bit, though.

 

[Kneedragger]

If you like Airplay, Reemote is pretty cool:

http://reemoteapp.com/airfoil/site.html

It lets you control multiple Airplay receivers from your iOS device. And of course, Airfoil lets you turn a Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iTouch into an Airplay receiver:

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/

Only real downside (just to be finicky) is it doubles the lag time, so it takes an extra couple seconds for the song to start playing since it has to bounce to your home server and then out to the Airplay receiver, instead of straight into the receiver directly. But this lets you do a DIY Sonos system for $99 per Airport Express and have better iOS integration. If you want to DIY even more, you can setup Airplay on a $35 Raspberry Pi: (although I haven't tested sync/delay on it, so I'm not sure if there'd be any off-sync issues between multiple units)

http://arstechnica.com/information-...deo-from-ipad-to-raspberry-pi-its-as-easy-as/

Monoprice also has a $99 in-wall Bluetooth amp if you just want local wireless playback:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=1090306&p_id=10222&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

The Bluetooth in wall setup is a good idea, but watts are too low. 6 watts!?!

 

[Kneedragger]

But so does my wireless Airport Express bathroom in ceiling speaker setup.

Care to elaborate on this?

 

[plummer66]

Care to elaborate on this?

A while back I had a little dock station for my iphone 4 in my bathroom....that i would dock whenever I wanted to play tunes in the bathroom. I upgraded to an iphone 5...and thus rendered my dock stations useless pretty much cause of the different connector. So i had to come up with another solution.

I love the airplay concept therefore decided to use it. Installed an in-ceiling speaker in the bathroom. I ran the speaker wire down my plumbing stack to my storage room in the basement. In my storage room....I have the speaker wire hooked up to a little Lepai T-class amplifier. Then have my apple airport express audio output hooked up to the amp as the audio source. Setup the Airport express to broadcast as 'Bathroom'. Now whenever I play music in my house through my iphone.....i can use Airplay to route it to my 'Bathroom' speaker. It works like a charm and has been flawless.

Of course this takes a bit of work to do the install....but it was worth it....and I will be doing one for my kitchen as well. Only thing that i have not experimented with....is trying to get at all the music on my NAS system hooked up to the network. I have just been content with playing whatever I have for tunes on my phone.....which is good enough for me.

 

[Kneedragger]

A while back I had a little dock station for my iphone 4 in my bathroom....that i would dock whenever I wanted to play tunes in the bathroom. I upgraded to an iphone 5...and thus rendered my dock stations useless pretty much cause of the different connector. So i had to come up with another solution.

I love the airplay concept therefore decided to use it. Installed an in-ceiling speaker in the bathroom. I ran the speaker wire down my plumbing stack to my storage room in the basement. In my storage room....I have the speaker wire hooked up to a little Lepai T-class amplifier. Then have my apple airport express audio output hooked up to the amp as the audio source. Setup the Airport express to broadcast as 'Bathroom'. Now whenever I play music in my house through my iphone.....i can use Airplay to route it to my 'Bathroom' speaker. It works like a charm and has been flawless.

Of course this takes a bit of work to do the install....but it was worth it....and I will be doing one for my kitchen as well. Only thing that i have not experimented with....is trying to get at all the music on my NAS system hooked up to the network. I have just been content with playing whatever I have for tunes on my phone.....which is good enough for me.

Thanks for the info.

 

[wirednuts]

Is yatse remote an iOS app?

ewww gross. i have no idea..

 

[dookulooku]

Sonos is really really good, and has probably the best interface of any audio streaming solution out there, but at $300 for the cheapest device and $350 for the speaker-less Connect, it is expensive. Sonos lets you queue tracks from a variety of sources, including NAS devices, Spotify, Amazon Cloud, etc. Your phone/tablet is only used to control the devices, the devices themselves are fully capable audio players.

Squeezebox, or whatever Logitech calls it now, is similar and is a viable (and cheaper) alternative.

 

[d4a2n0k]

I had the squeezebox and it was a nightmare. It never just worked. Logitech would update the firmware and break something else. Every time I turned it on, Id have to play with it to get sound. They have updated the squeezebox but I dont have any experience with the new model/system. Id be very leary of anything Logitech as IMO they have gone downhill in the past few years (ie. Harmony remotes).

A few months back I bought a Sonos Play 5 and was impressed by the sound and ease of use. I bought another play 5 and made a stereo pair and also bought the sub and the sound is incredible. Its also works every time, never had an issue. I recently got the Sonos Connect:Amp and a pair of the Hsu HB-1's and a VTF-2 sub for my computer room. Also have another Play 3 and Play 5 that I move around the house/garage. I have my Sirius/XM and Pandora accounts that play thru everything along with streaming MP3's from my server.

Problem is that Sonos is very addictive. I find myself wondering where else I can put a Sonos box. They are pricy but at this point in my life, I dont want to dick around with making things work. Every time I turn a Sonos box on, it works.

 

[Kaido]

The Bluetooth in wall setup is a good idea, but watts are too low. 6 watts!?!

You can get a line-out converter to run it into a separate amp if you need more power. The trouble with in-wall stuff is heat, so you usually can't get too much wattage into an in-wall unit without either having a large panel or some kind of ventilation system.

 

[Kaido]

Sonos is really really good, and has probably the best interface of any audio streaming solution out there, but at $300 for the cheapest device and $350 for the speaker-less Connect, it is expensive. Sonos lets you queue tracks from a variety of sources, including NAS devices, Spotify, Amazon Cloud, etc. Your phone/tablet is only used to control the devices, the devices themselves are fully capable audio players.

Squeezebox, or whatever Logitech calls it now, is similar and is a viable (and cheaper) alternative.

Not just that, but no native Airplay capability. I know Airplay isn't cheap to integrate into your products, but if you're already paying $300+ per Sonos unit, you might as well spend a little extra and get it compatible across the board. Their current recommendation is to hook up an Airport Express unit to the input jacks on a Sonos box and use it that way, which I don't like, thus why I don't have a Sonos system.

Other than that, they are amazing :thumbsup: