RE: Sonos, Bose or Philips!

["Neil Ball" <neilball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

+1 for Sonos from me too J



Just one thing to watch, the Play:3 does not have the headphone or line-in
sockets so is the only zone player in the range not to support line-in
connections (although you can play the line-in source from any other player
in your system).



The line-in function is quite useful as it is digitised and made available
to any zone in the house and you don't have to play the line-in source on
the connected zone to listen to it somewhere else either. For example I
have
my Sky audio connected to the line-in on one of my zone players and can
then
listen to this anywhere else in the house.



As Paul mentioned, the latest software update has added the ability to play
music direct from your IOS6 device over wifi rather than needing a physical
dock or the Airplay/line-in method. For those familiar with Sonos, it
allows
you to add tracks from your IOS device to the Sonos queue, so you can now
mix and match tracks from your IOS device, or any of the other track-based
music sources (local library, Spotify, Napster etc) into a mixed queue or
save as a playlist. However you can only add music from the IOS device
using
the Sonos App on that device, you cannot use a separate controller
(existing
Sonos CR100, CR200, Desktop Controller, or a different IOS device/App) to
add music from another device.



Neil B.







From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Mark Gardner
Sent: 05 December 2012 10:50
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Sonos, Bose or Philips!





+1 for SONOS from me.

Nothing else compares.

Cheers
Mark

On 5 Dec 2012, at 11:45, "Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx
<mailto:paul_gordon%40hotmail.com>
> wrote:

> I can't comment on any of the Bose or Philips stuff, but I can
certainly
> chime in on the Sonos questions...
>
> Firstly, Sonos is very definitely 100% self-contained... there is no
> "server" app required anywhere for it to run.. All you need
is your
internet
> connection and you have functional internet radio. Then all you need
is
> network access to your music library... Sonos integrates with iTunes,
and
> supports your iTunes library as a source.
> In my case, my music library is 100% MP3 format sitting on a NAS share
which
> I point iTunes to, but I do NOT allow iTunes to manage it... thus I
just
> point my Sonos to the same NAS share...
>
> I guess you may not need to access a local music library at all if you
use
> any of the popular online music services, as Sonos directly supports
all
of
> the popular ones such as Napster/Rhapsody, Deezer, Spotify, Last FM
and so
> on. There's also a new software update just out which adds your local
> iDevice as a music source.. as you probably know Sonos have
discontinued
> their own dedicated hardware controllers in favour of apps for
> PC/MAC/Android/iDevice... now with the controller app installed on an
> iDevice, that local iDevice appears as a source which you can play on
any
> Sonos zone.
>
> AFAIK (I don't have any of the PLAY devices), all of the Sonos players
have
> a line-in to which an external device can be connected... once
connected
to
> any Sonos device in your network that is available as a source on ALL
other
> devices. That much is certainly true of all of the ZP (now called
"connect")
> devices. - I have used this feature to pipe text-to-speech
announcements
> from a PC running HA software all over the house.
>
> The zone synchronisation is unparalleled in my opinion... I have 4
zones
in
> a house in which I can usually hear music from more than one zone at a
time,
> and any drift in synchronisation would be very obvious... when the
zones
are
> linked up that are absolutely rock-solid 100% in sync.
>
> You do NOT need the bridge in order to use the iDevices as
controllers...
> you don't need a bridge AT ALL if you can make sure at least one of
your
> Sonos devices has a wired connection to your home LAN.. - that is the
basic
> rule for a Sonos network... there *must* be a wired point of contact
between
> the Sonos network and your network... - if you only had the portable
PLAY
> devices and didn't want to plug them into a wired Ethernet cable (to
keep
> them portable), then you can use a bridge to fulfil that
requirement... I
> believe there's plenty of offers around that bundle a PLAY device with
a
> "free" bridge... - you connect the bridge to a wired
connection, then hide
> it away and forget it... then all of your zone players can be
completely
> wireless...
>
> One other point which may be worthy of mention is that the Sonos
control
> system is based on UPnP and as such is pretty standard... therefore
there
> are numerous 3rd party controllers that can be implemented to give you
the
> ability to control Sonos functions from other home automation
systems... I
> have a CBUS wall switch in the bathroom that starts/stops the player
in
that
> room...
>
> I would not hesitate to wholeheartedly recommend the Sonos system...
it is
> one of those all too rare treasures that "just works" and as
such has
> extremely high WAF
>
> HTH
>
> Paul G.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx
<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
] On Behalf
Of
> Wayne Harrison
> Sent: 04 December 2012 22:47
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [ukha_d] Sonos, Bose or Philips!
>
> Hi All,
>
> I am looking to replace a mini hifi in the kitchen and would like to
take
> the plunge with WiFi streaming. In-house is starting the move to Apple
(i
> tunes / pads / pods / macs etc) so the library that was PC based is
going
to
> be moving into iTunes at some point.
>
> All was going to be simple until a recent visit to John Lewes and the
> discovery of the new Bose AirPlay speakers ( http://bit.ly/ViRiHz ). The
> plot thickens when I also popped into a Currys Mega store to find now
that
> Philips ( http://bit.ly/UEoe0K ) has got in on the
act. (and yes - the
> assistants in there wouldn't know a Kettle could boil water without
reading
> it off the little price tags in front of them!!)
>
>
> Ideally I would like the ability for the solution to be able to still
play
> 'radio' (BBC, Heart, etc...) either as it has a tuner (looking slim)
or be
> able to get a stream from the net. Airplay (or wired ethernet)
compatibility
> would also be good - as mentioned, most of the media will be in
iTunes.
Also
> the ability to not be tethered to a single computer would be a bonus
> although at some point the 'server' side of my mac's itunes library
will
be
> moved to a permanently 'on' box.
>
> The only downside with Bose / airplay in general would appear to be
that
you
> have to have something pushing out airplay - there is no intelligence
in
> them to go it on there own so to speak. Oh - and the biggie, there are
no
> multi streams to different zones from the same central library (as yet
> anyways).
>
> Anyways, a few questions.
> Has anyone had any experience with the Philips kit at all, as I said -
> Currys were a waste of space... the chap in there just ranted about
wifi
and
> routers - and I dont think he even knew what they were! The 'stickers'
> suggested internet radio but no idea if it does this off its own back
or
you
> need an 'app on a server'?
>
> With Sonos - looking at the video's there seems to be internet radio
built
> in, again, does this need an 'app on a server' or do these things
operate
> independently of a server for radio access? Same for iTunes access -
is it
a
> case of setting it up with said 'app' to connect to itunes or do the
boxes
> connect directly with itunes HomeShareing?
>
> There seems to be a workaround to get airplay to work with Sonos by
using
an
> airport express as a 'feed' into a line in on a 'Play 5' to which you
can
> use that as a source. Can this then be routed to any sonos or will it
only
> play on the box its plugged into?
>
> Controls for these will be via iphone or ipad so I would imaging for
Sonos
> needing the 'bridge' to get it plugged to the lan?
>
>
> I suppose most importantly - this is mainly (at this point) going to
be
used
> by the Wife - so big brownie points for ease of use!
>
> If anyone has any ideas or thoughts that would be a big help.
> Hopefully this makes sense!
> Wayne.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

<*> Join the Automated Home Forums
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbulletin/