Home WiFi audio options with Bluetooth speakers?

[tinpanalley]

We were looking at Sonos Connect or Port for sending our receiver's audio to WiFi speakers in another room thinking it solved all our problems. And then we realised the Sonos speakers we were looking at didn't have Bluetooth which is something we definitely need for our purposes on that speaker. The only option of any quality becomes the Move which comes in at around $500 CAD. Also portable which we like but still... $500.

So, is there any other similar audio system of good quality whose speakers happen to also be bluetooth?

 

[sdifox]

If it is on wifi why do you need bt?

 

[tinpanalley]

If it is on wifi why do you need bt?

The WiFi on the Sonos would be for sending the signal from the receiver elements (CD, LP). The bluetooth would be needed so that you can ALSO use that wifi speaker in the other room to amplify anything we may be watching, listening to that is on a bluetooth enabled device (phone, tablet, laptop) like a sports game while cooking, a video call, or just some media that happens to be on that particular device.
...unless Ive misunderstood how wifi streaming works from the receiver.

 

[sdifox]

Sonos app doesn't do casting?


This has wifi and bt

Roam 2: Portable Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker | Sonos

Astonishingly lightweight, durable and powerful, Roam 2 makes it easy to enjoy Sonos sound everywhere life takes you.

www.sonos.com

 

[tinpanalley]

Sonos app doesn't do casting?
This has wifi and bt

Roam 2: Portable Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker | Sonos

Astonishingly lightweight, durable and powerful, Roam 2 makes it easy to enjoy Sonos sound everywhere life takes you.

www.sonos.com

Yeah, that's why I was saying in my post that there is one solution which is the Move but it's $500. That Roam has questionable audio quality. Hence, why I'm asking if there's anything else out there that does the WiFi streaming of a Hifi and does it to speakers that are ALSO Bluetooth compatible. I dont know if the Sonos app does casting but I already have apps to play the music on my audio players. I don't want to be forced to use the Sonos app. I've got a very highly customised Poweramp and Foobar app on older phones for digital music including a controller for the music collection on the desktop.

If the Sonos Connect is in the living room tied to the HiFi, and I'm in the dining room down the hall, sure I can hear any CD or LP that is playing in the living room with the Wifi speaker I have in the dining room. But if I want that dining room WiFi speaker to also be an easy speaker to send the game being watched on the tablet to, or a video call, or just some other music that is on my digital audio player... it would be nice for the speaker to have Bluetooth for that quick amplified hookup. And I'm thinking, can I have all that for less than a $500 speaker. That's all.

 

[sdifox]

Well, you could couple movable speakers with stereo in with a chromecast audio if you can find it. Then you can cast to it. Google discontinued it but you should still find stock.

Google Chromecast Audio review

Google turns its hand to music streaming, with predictably impressive results

www.whathifi.com

Or something like this.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0861NLSV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_i_48VGM82Z569KF3983WPV

 

[MrSquished]

So the WiFi speakers you have don't have Bluetooth and you want to get stuff from your phones to play on them without having to buy the new speaker?

 

[tinpanalley]

So the WiFi speakers you have don't have Bluetooth and you want to get stuff from your phones to play on them without having to buy the new speaker?

There is a Sonos system that does its own thing via Wifi. There is a Sonos speaker that is Wifi driven that picks up that signal. Everything good so far.
Then there is me wishing that WiFi speaker could also have a bluetooth antenna so that when we're watching the ballgame over in the dining room/kitchen while making dinner, it would be better to be able to send the audio from the tablet/laptop to that same Wifi speaker on bluetooth. So to answer your question, I don't actually have anything yet. I'm trying to plan and prepare to avoid having an expensive hunk of plastic and metal that doesn't do what I want it to do.

 

[MrSquished]

There is a Sonos system that does its own thing via Wifi. There is a Sonos speaker that is Wifi driven that picks up that signal. Everything good so far.
Then there is me wishing that WiFi speaker could also have a bluetooth antenna so that when we're watching the ballgame over in the dining room/kitchen while making dinner, it would be better to be able to send the audio from the tablet/laptop to that same Wifi speaker on bluetooth. So to answer your question, I don't actually have anything yet. I'm trying to plan and prepare to avoid having an expensive hunk of plastic and metal that doesn't do what I want it to do.

I'm guessing your receiver has no Bluetooth audio input?

Why not just get this and treat it like any other input on your receiver which should then transmit to all the WiFi speakers you want

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00MHTGZR4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_YKK72ZB62KGD056XJRTA?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[tinpanalley]

I'm guessing your receiver has no Bluetooth audio input?

The receiver isn't where I need the bluetooth. The last reply has the setup I need to arrange.

 

[tinpanalley]

Well, you could couple movable speakers with stereo in with a chromecast audio if you can find it. Then you can cast to it. Google discontinued it but you should still find stock.

Google Chromecast Audio review

Google turns its hand to music streaming, with predictably impressive results

www.whathifi.com

Or something like this.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0861NLSV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_i_48VGM82Z569KF3983WPV

I'm not sure how the whole Chromecast thing works. Ok, no, I'll be honest, I have absolutely no clue how Chromecast works. But I imagine it has no solution for hearing LP or CD streamed to the rest of your apartment? Or am I wrong?

 

[MrSquished]

The receiver isn't where I need the bluetooth. The last reply has the setup I need to arrange.

You want the Bluetooth signal going to the WiFi speaker - the same speaker you are sending CD and LP sounds to from your receiver via a WiFi adapter, is that correct?

 

[sdifox]

I'm not sure how the whole Chromecast thing works. Ok, no, I'll be honest, I have absolutely no clue how Chromecast works. But I imagine it has no solution for hearing LP or CD streamed to the rest of your apartment? Or am I wrong?

Just rip your LPs and CDs to flac, stream from your phone to chromecast audio hooked up to your stereo and portable speakers.

Physical media died a long time ago lol
I setup a dlna music server with foobar 2000. Didn't want to add them to my plex server due to the insane number of meta files per media file.

You can setup a media server with an rpi4 and external hard drive.


You live in an apartment, just crank up the volume on the stereo lol
Get that bt minijack dohikey and a portable bt speaker if you just want to stream from your stereo to the portable speaker. It can be a sender or a receicer.

 

[tinpanalley]

You want the Bluetooth signal going to the WiFi speaker - the same speaker you are sending CD and LP sounds to from your receiver via a WiFi adapter, is that correct?

That's it exactly. Sorry, I know I'm being extraordinarily picky here but we're picky about our enjoyment of our home music listening.

 

[MrSquished]

That's it exactly. Sorry, I know I'm being extraordinarily picky here but we're picky about our enjoyment of our home music listening.

Well your receiver probably doesn't have bluetooth. And if it does, it might not have good bluetooth support - which was my case, my entry level Yamaha only supported the SBC codec and I wanted higher quality audio via AptX, which is why I bought the Audioengine product I linked you above.

But I'm sure your receiver must have another input to feed - you can get the bluetooth device I linked up and hook it up to another input on your receiver. Simply pair all your phones/tablets with it, and use it just like a CD or your record player into your receiver. As long as that input is selected on your receiver, whatever phone or tablet is paired to the Audioengine device will be outputing to your WiFi speakers. It's still not a cheap solution, but, you can keep adding wifi speakers to your receiver if that's something you want to do down the road vs having to by additional hybrid BT/WiFi speakers.

I bought that Audioengine in March and it was the best one out there for the money. If you do go that route, see if anything else has come out since. Maybe a better option.

 

[tinpanalley]

Just rip your LPs and CDs to flac, stream from your phone to chromecast audio hooked up to your stereo and portable speakers.
Physical media died a long time ago lol

600 LPs and 1000 CDs... not even in the slightest interested in ripping. And when you own Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours" on a first pressing vinyl in near mint condition, and it sounds incredible, listening to a rip is like having someone read you a play by play account of a ballgame instead of being at the park. Physical media may have died in the mainstream. Luckily, we don't live there.

 

[sdifox]

600 LPs and 1000 CDs... not even in the slightest interested in ripping. And when you own Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours" on a first pressing vinyl in near mint condition, and it sounds incredible, listening to a rip is like having someone read you a play by play account of a ballgame instead of being at the park. Physical media may have died in the mainstream. Luckily, we don't live there.

You can keep listening to your vinyl and cd, but when you are trying to cast the vinyl content, it will be digitised and by who knows what ADC in the small device. CD rip to FLAC is lossless and vinyl 'warm' sound is just distortion. The mastering is what makes a recording good or bad.


I ripped 2000 CDs, over time. Also, BT is bandwidth limited so it compresses the audio, so high resolution is out the window, there is also latency problem but not much of an issue for music playback.



<------ Grew up in a mid tier electronics retailer/distributor.