56 replies to this topic

[splinky]

what's the best way to go? what are my options. i looked at the nad ipd2 when i bought my components but decided to wait a while. i think i'd rather just plug a nano into my system rather than dealing with having to leave itunes open and use airplay and dongles or whatever. what's a gal to do?
how do y'all play your mp3s?

[SLBunge]

Sonos and an external hard drive. It's pricey but it works.

If you have an ipad, you can use that as a controller for the Sonos system. If your wireless router is near your stereo components, all you really need is a single Sonos zone player 90 ($350). If your router is in another room you will also need a zone bridge to allow you to plug into the router ($100). You need one wired connection to your network and the rest is wireless. The zone player plugs into your stereo using either optical or wired outputs.

If you have an AirportExtreme or other wireless router with a USB port you just buy pretty much any old external drive with a USB and plug it into the router which will make it a network drive. Having your mp3s on the external drive will allow Sonos to play and play even if your close your ipad and shut down your other computers. You will also be able to get to music services (Spotify, MOG, Pandora, etc) and play any internet radio station through the Sonos.

The system is easy to set up and customer services is great. I've had my system which is in two rooms plus a portable for three years and haven't had any problems with either music from the library or all the streaming we do.

[splinky]

Sonos and an external hard drive. It's pricey but it works.

If you have an ipad, you can use that as a controller for the Sonos system. If your wireless router is near your stereo components, all you really need is a single Sonos zone player 90 ($350). If your router is in another room you will also need a zone bridge to allow you to plug into the router ($100). You need one wired connection to your network and the rest is wireless. The zone player plugs into your stereo using either optical or wired outputs.

If you have an AirportExtreme or other wireless router with a USB port you just buy pretty much any old external drive with a USB and plug it into the router which will make it a network drive. Having your mp3s on the external drive will allow Sonos to play and play even if your close your ipad and shut down your other computers. You will also be able to get to music services (Spotify, MOG, Pandora, etc) and play any internet radio station through the Sonos.

The system is easy to set up and customer services is great. I've had my system which is in two rooms plus a portable for three years and haven't had any problems with either music from the library or all the streaming we do.

interesting. so this is totally separate from my existing stereo?

[SLBunge]

interesting. so this is totally separate from my existing stereo?

Yep. You can also buy a zone player that drives a set of speakers but I assumed from your post that you already have a component stereo setup.

If you don't have a component stereo right now and you really only imagine using an ipod to play music I would look at an iNova or iDecco from Peachtree which are tube amplifiers with very good D/A converters and iPod docks built in. The downside of this is that you won't be able to stream music or play internet radio unless you add other things.

[splinky]

interesting. so this is totally separate from my existing stereo?

Yep. You can also buy a zone player that drives a set of speakers but I assumed from your post that you already have a component stereo setup.

If you don't have a component stereo right now and you really only imagine using an ipod to play music I would look at an iNova or iDecco from Peachtree which are tube amplifiers with iPod docks built in. The downside of this is that you won't be able to stream music or play internet radio unless you add other things.

i do have a component stereo setup and was thinking i might prefer something that works with that like the nad ipd 2, but i like the idea of something that can be controlled with an iphone or ipad. there are a bunch of extra external hard drives and ipods floating around here. i was also looking at the nad viso 1.i have more cds and albums than digital music but most of my new music is digital. looks like any system for wireless with streaming is going to run close to $600 or $700 and come with its own speakers. is that right?

[GG Mora]

For about $5, you can get an audio input jack and plug your iPod directly into the AUX port on your receiver or amplifier, and then control the music from your iPod. You can use the same method to connect your laptop.

[SLBunge]

i do have a component stereo setup and was thinking i might prefer something that works with that like the nad ipd 2, but i like the idea of something that can be controlled with an iphone or ipad. there are a bunch of extra external hard drives and ipods floating around here. i was also looking at the nad viso 1.i have more cds and albums than digital music but most of my new music is digital. looks like any system for wireless with streaming is going to run close to $600 or $700 and come with its own speakers. is that right?

Note that if you do buy a Sonos zone player 90 to connect to your existing stereo, you can also buy an iPod dock (~$120) so that if your friends come over you can play their iPods/iPhones on your stereo. Again, you can control the whole thing from your iPad/MacBook/iPhone/iPodTouch or from the docked device.

Look carefully at the reviews for the NAD dock you'll see that it might not be quite as user-friendly as it appears. When the device is docked, all you see on the LCD is the NAD logo and you have to have a compatible NAD receiver and use an NAD remote control to figure out what song is playing and to change songs. Seems like a pricey way to go unless you already own the NAD gear.

If I were you and you don't want AirTunes (I'm not a fan of airtunes but it is cheap) I'd keep all your old stereo gear and go with Sonos.

[splinky]

For about $5, you can get an audio input jack and plug your iPod directly into the AUX port on your receiver or amplifier, and then control the music from your iPod. You can use the same method to connect your laptop.

thanks. i tried the jack thing, but the sound quality of the music seemed off to me. is there some other conversion that the players make that a straight jack connection doesn't accomplish?

[Anthony Bonner]

For about $5, you can get an audio input jack and plug your iPod directly into the AUX port on your receiver or amplifier, and then control the music from your iPod. You can use the same method to connect your laptop.

thanks. i tried the jack thing, but the sounds quality of the music seemed off to me. is there some other conversion that the players make that a straight jack connection doesn't accomplish?

If I can read the website correctly Sonos is using the same jack to output the music. The only difference is it connects to the internet to do all sorts of fun stuff.

[splinky]

i do have a component stereo setup and was thinking i might prefer something that works with that like the nad ipd 2, but i like the idea of something that can be controlled with an iphone or ipad. there are a bunch of extra external hard drives and ipods floating around here. i was also looking at the nad viso 1.i have more cds and albums than digital music but most of my new music is digital. looks like any system for wireless with streaming is going to run close to $600 or $700 and come with its own speakers. is that right?

Note that if you do buy a Sonos zone player 90 to connect to your existing stereo, you can also buy an iPod dock (~$120) so that if your friends come over you can play their iPods/iPhones on your stereo. Again, you can control the whole thing from your iPad/MacBook/iPhone/iPodTouch or from the docked device.

Look carefully at the reviews for the NAD dock you'll see that it might not be quite as user-friendly as it appears. When the device is docked, all you see on the LCD is the NAD logo and you have to have a compatible NAD receiver and use an NAD remote control to figure out what song is playing and to change songs. Seems like a pricey way to go unless you already own the NAD gear.

If I were you and you don't want AirTunes (I'm not a fan of airtunes but it is cheap) I'd keep all your old stereo gear and go with Sonos.

my gear is all pretty new nad components. i will definitely look at the sonos. i did not care for air tunes

[SLBunge]

For about $5, you can get an audio input jack and plug your iPod directly into the AUX port on your receiver or amplifier, and then control the music from your iPod. You can use the same method to connect your laptop.

thanks. i tried the jack thing, but the sounds quality of the music seemed off to me. is there some other conversion that the players make that a straight jack connection doesn't accomplish?

If I can read the website correctly Sonos is using the same jack to output the music. The only difference is it connects to the internet to do all sorts of fun stuff.

If you use the headphone output from the iPod you are relying on the D/A converter in the iPod to drive an analog signal into the stereo. That D/A converter is great for ear-buds but sounds pretty harsh when you boost it through an amplifier. The Sonos D/A is much better than the iPod's for using an amplifier. Even better is to input a pure digital signal from Sonos or AirTunes into an amplifier that has an onboard D/A that is matched to the amplifier. Not sure if splinky's NAD amplifier has this capability.

[Anthony Bonner]

For about $5, you can get an audio input jack and plug your iPod directly into the AUX port on your receiver or amplifier, and then control the music from your iPod. You can use the same method to connect your laptop.

thanks. i tried the jack thing, but the sounds quality of the music seemed off to me. is there some other conversion that the players make that a straight jack connection doesn't accomplish?

If I can read the website correctly Sonos is using the same jack to output the music. The only difference is it connects to the internet to do all sorts of fun stuff.

If you use the headphone output from the iPod you are relying on the D/A converter in the iPod to drive an analog signal into the stereo. That D/A converter is great for ear-buds but sounds pretty harsh when you boost it through an amplifier. The Sonos D/A is much better than the iPod's for using an amplifier. Even better is to input a pure digital signal from Sonos or AirTunes into an amplifier that has an onboard D/A that is matched to the amplifier. Not sure if splinky's NAD amplifier has this capability.

aren't you relying on the D/A converter in the airport express? not the sonos? or if its taking the signal off the IP connection why does it want the line out input?
ETA: I thought the sonos sounded interesting so I went and checked out the documentation - I assumed it was doing exactly what you say, but when I read it really quickly it didn't seem to be doing that - so I wasn't interested

[Stone]

I know you said you don't like Air Tunes, but my high-end stereo store told me to replace my old, spotty Airport Express with an Apple TV ($100) instead of the Sonos ($350). (The store sells Sonos, it doesn't sell Apple TV.) They said the Apple TV streams music with the same quality as a Sonos, and Sonus is really only necessary to control different zones. I can stream from my computer (iTunes), iPhone or iPad through Apple TV. And I can use my iPhone/iPad as a remote for the iTunes on my computer. And I got the rest of the functionality from the Apple TV.

[splinky]

For about $5, you can get an audio input jack and plug your iPod directly into the AUX port on your receiver or amplifier, and then control the music from your iPod. You can use the same method to connect your laptop.

thanks. i tried the jack thing, but the sounds quality of the music seemed off to me. is there some other conversion that the players make that a straight jack connection doesn't accomplish?

If I can read the website correctly Sonos is using the same jack to output the music. The only difference is it connects to the internet to do all sorts of fun stuff.

If you use the headphone output from the iPod you are relying on the D/A converter in the iPod to drive an analog signal into the stereo. That D/A converter is great for ear-buds but sounds pretty harsh when you boost it through an amplifier. The Sonos D/A is much better than the iPod's for using an amplifier. Even better is to input a pure digital signal from Sonos or AirTunes into an amplifier that has an onboard D/A that is matched to the amplifier. Not sure if splinky's NAD amplifier has this capability.

my amplifier is the nad C375BEE.

[SLBunge]

aren't you relying on the D/A converter in the airport express? not the sonos? or if its taking the signal off the IP connection why does it want the line out input?
ETA: I thought the sonos sounded interesting so I went and checked out the documentation - I assumed it was doing exactly what you say, but when I read it really quickly it didn't seem to be doing that - so I wasn't interested

You connect the zone player directly to an input on the amplifier. You don't need an airport express if you use the Sonos. The zone players have an optical digital output and an analog output that uses their own onboard D/A.
(The zone players also have an A/D to allow you to connect a component to your Sonos and we use this for our turntable to allow us to play vinyl in all rooms of the house.) The Sonos hardware only connects to your home network in order to find your library of music and to get to internet music services.

I will say that the application that Sonos uses to manage music is much better than iTunes is right now. You can make playlists of that combines music from your own library and any music services that you subscribe to in any order and you can store the playlist and it will remember the source.