Question DTS PlayFi problems on Audiolab Omnia

[matthewpianist]

The Audiolab sound quality, is probably better than the Bluesound, but the Powernode is rated at 80w per channel and being essentially class D, would be more efficient and cooler. I've not heard the Bluesound Powernode, but many think it's a leaner and more analytical sound, than the Audiolab topology. I think I would prefer this class D sound and it is a very tidy solution. If my Omnia does give up the ghost, under warranty, then I will be looking at the Powernode and DALIs. Also, as you mentioned, the 'mature' platform, does seem to have been released after lengthy testing and many people are delighted with the ease of use and functionality. I watched John Darko's video, with the Powernode and KEF sub and it did seem really flexible.

Have you considered the Roksan Atessa Streaming amp? It has BluOS built in and would easily beat the PowerNode for amplification, though obviously at a higher price.

 

[podknocker]

Roksan Attessa Streaming Amplifier Review | AVForums

Gets a decent review and certainly worth considering, even at £1500

 

[podknocker]

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sonus-faber-omnia

Perhaps I should have waited and bought this Omnia. Same price and I bet it sounds lovely.

 

[Al ears]

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sonus-faber-omnia

Perhaps I should have waited and bought this Omnia. Same price and I bet it sounds lovely.

I was going to post that one myself. Those Italians certainly can make things look good....

 

[manicm]

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sonus-faber-omnia

Perhaps I should have waited and bought this Omnia. Same price and I bet it sounds lovely.

It's the equivalent of a Naim Muso, so just like that product, as long as you don't expect seperates quality stereo seperation it seems to otherwise sound great.

 

[G-man]

I've just bought one of these. No problem with the CD (yet!) and it sounds great.
The DTS Play-Fi is a different matter. Using the Android app but still get the same problems as you. Having done some online research on Play-Fi (after buying unfortunately rather than before) it's hard to find anyone that will recommend it, but plenty of people who have had problems (often with drop outs) and sent the unit back. This seems to apply products from various manufacturers who have used it. Even the reviews of the app on the play store are nearly all very negative. Its obviously caused problems.

I spoke too soon. CD player now stalling. Tried the helpdesk. Obviously not the first with problems with the product.
No doubt the CD mechanism could be replaced but the ongoing problems with Play-fi mean its time to send it back and buy something else. Something that doesn't use DTS Play-Fi!

 

[podknocker]

It really is incredible. The Red Book CD format is now 40 years old and my laptop, my Sony 4k Blu Ray player and many other bits if kit, I used to own, had no problems spinning discs. My Omnia's CD playback has improved, a little, since I received a CD from IAG UK and updated my servo version. It's still not perfect, however and you do wonder how and why a £1600 bit of kit, struggles to read discs, when this technology has been around for years. I remember about 2 years ago, there was a new Cyrus CD transport/player, which retailed at around £2000 and it also struggled to read discs. There is no excuse for this sort of problem. It's not new technology and these parts should have been designed, tested and released with the product able to give years of reliable use. With regard to DTS, I have had zero problems, playing tunes from my laptop, via CAT6 and through WIFI, since I purchased a 'premium' licence key. The DTS/Phorus helpdesk advised all data streams are converted to FLAC container format, at CD quality and at standard mode, it would struggle to pass anything but very low res music, to any device. Upgrading has allowed me to stream music at CD bitrate, to the Omnia and the network input, does show 44.1kHz and it sounds great. I think for the money, Audiolab and DTS could provide this functionality 'out of the box' and avoid people going through the hell, that I went through.

 

[12th Monkey]

Why don't just you return it?

 

[podknocker]

I will return it, within the 3 year warranty period. It's just inconvenient, at the moment. It's better and sounds incredible, but they can give me something newer and better, when it's suits me. Bluetooth lossless products, using BlueOS, are released this year, so I'm waiting for the right product. It won't be Audiolab, Quad, or anything IAG related.

 

[G-man]

I will return it, within the 3 year warranty period. It's just inconvenient, at the moment. It's better and sounds incredible, but they can give me something newer and better, when it's suits me. Bluetooth lossless products, using BlueOS, are released this year, so I'm waiting for the right product. It won't be Audiolab, Quad, or anything IAG related.

Its a repair or replace warranty not a refund warranty. So if you wait two years etc and then try and activate the warranty they will either repair it or give you another Omnia. They won't give you money to spend on another manufacturer's product.

 

[nopiano]

I spoke too soon. CD player now stalling. Tried the helpdesk. Obviously not the first with problems with the product.
No doubt the CD mechanism could be replaced but the ongoing problems with Play-fi mean its time to send it back and buy something else. Something that doesn't use DTS Play-Fi!

I appears to have been released long before it’s bug-free and consumer ready. I think you need to return it while you can, and start over.

 

[podknocker]

I registered the Omnia, the day it arrived and received an email from IAG UK, to confirm the cover etc. The shop I bought it from seems willing to do a swap, for something else. There's nothing similar on the market, however. I do like the Roksan streaming amp, but there's no CD drive. If it behaves for a while and then does let me down, within the 3 years, hopefully, the device is no longer in stock and I can get something else, that works. I will oppose any sort of fix and insist on a better product, to the same value. It's certainly a badly sourced part, or a major design flaw, when an expensive product can't read CDs. There may be many owners, excited about the streaming function, that might not think of playing CDs, until well into the warranty period, only to find it's faulty and too late to get it fixed.

 

[Al ears]

I registered the Omnia, the day it arrived and received an email from IAG UK, to confirm the cover etc. The shop I bought it from seems willing to do a swap, for something else. There's nothing similar on the market, however. I do like the Roksan streaming amp, but there's no CD drive. If it behaves for a while and then does let me down, within the 3 years, hopefully, the device is no longer in stock and I can get something else, that works. I will oppose any sort of fix and insist on a better product, to the same value. It's certainly a badly sourced part, or a major design flaw, when an expensive product can't read CDs. There may be many owners, excited about the streaming function, that might not think of playing CDs, until well into the warranty period, only to find it's faulty and too late to get it fixed.

there's always this...

Technics SA-C600 Network CD Receiver, Silver at AV.com

Technics SA-C600 Network CD Receiver, Silver at AV.com

www.av.com

 

[podknocker]

I really like the look of that and it seems to have every feature, I'm looking for, plus some I wouldn't expect these days, like the FM and DAB tuner. I would love to listen to this somewhere. Be nice if WHF could do a nice long review of this.

 

[Al ears]

I really like the look of that and it seems to have every feature, I'm looking for, plus some I wouldn't expect these days, like the FM and DAB tuner. I would love to listen to this somewhere. Be nice if WHF could do a nice long review of this.

Unfortunately, even if they did it would only be someone's opinion. Did you listen to the Omnia before you bought it?

 

[podknocker]

I bought the Omnia without an audition, but don't regret it, with regards to the sound quality. It sounds incredible, even with the online tunes, at Ogg quality, resampled to FLAC etc. I doubt I could have auditioned the Omnia long enough for it to reveal any potential CD playback issues. It is better after a servo version update and it performs OK with all but 1 brand new CD, but this does play OK elsewhere, so I'll play it on my Sony instead. It's tolerable, at the moment and I do have the 3 year warranty, if it does start to annoy me. I can use it, but it does seem strange to me, that new and expensive kit, doesn't work perfectly. If all this stuff was new tech, then you could expect 'teething issues'. I'll keep it and swap it for something, if it becomes unusable. I mentioned earlier, there are BlueOS devices, released this year, with lossless bluetooth and other stuff, so I will wait. It's alright listening to stuff, at my local shop, but you never know if it's going to be reliable, or not. I will listen to the kit, next time, but, as with all the reviews and forum threads, on this site, it's just someone elses opinion. I doubt there's much new kit these days, that's not capable of giving a decent level of audio quality, it's just the build and longevity that seems to be questionable, to me at least.

 

[Richardhall]

"

It's tolerable, at the moment and I do have the 3 year warranty, if it does start to annoy me.

Are you sure about this? I've never heard of a warranty that lets you have a full refund within the warranty period. As somebody else has said, its usually "repair or replace". You might be lucky to get a refund for a faulty unit within a reasonable cooling-off period (30 days?), but highly unlikely after that.

If there is somewhere out there offering refund warranties I'd be very interested!

 

[SallyB]

"


Are you sure about this? I've never heard of a warranty that lets you have a full refund within the warranty period. As somebody else has said, its usually "repair or replace". You might be lucky to get a refund for a faulty unit within a reasonable cooling-off period (30 days?), but highly unlikely after that.

If there is somewhere out there offering refund warranties I'd be very interested!

Agreed, it would be somewhat of a revolution in consumer rights where I come from to say after a couple of years “I don’t want this anymore, take it back and give me my money back so I can try something else!”

Send the bloody thing back before it’s too late 🙂!!

 

[RoA]

Why does it need to be one box?

The Audiolab 6000A sounds the same and is a third of the price of the Omnia.

Add streamer of choice.

 

[shadders]

Why does it need to be one box?

The Audiolab 6000A sounds the same and is a third of the price of the Omnia.

Add streamer of choice.

Hi,
Agreed. One box solutions are nice, but if the streamer is not updated for a new service, or changes to a service, or the amplifier does fail, then the streamer is possibly defunct etc.

Separates allows for guaranteed upgrades, and no loss of use for a time being (fault) of other parts of the hifi. You can add a DAC if needed too etc.

Regards,
Shadders.

 

[podknocker]

aptX HD Bluetooth: What is it? How can you get it? | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)

Whatever happens to my Omnia, I think I'll get something running BlueOS and buy some better speakers, like the DALI Oberon 5 floorstanders. Hopefully, there will be a new Bluesound Powernode, with lossless bluetooth, this year. A Mk2 Roksan Attessa with better bluetooth and an eARC HDMI, would be a great product, if it appeared. I have no TV at the moment and will probably get the smaller 55" Sony A95K, when released. My Sony 4k Blu Ray player should give a great picture, with this panel. If I get near CD quality, via streaming, then I'd possibly abandon CDs altogether and free up some cupboard space. This Sony panel and the disc player, with a decent and powerful streamer, should be the ideal setup, for quite a few years.

 

[manicm]

aptX HD Bluetooth: What is it? How can you get it? | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)

Whatever happens to my Omnia, I think I'll get something running BlueOS and buy some better speakers, like the DALI Oberon 5 floorstanders. Hopefully, there will be a new Bluesound Powernode, with lossless bluetooth, this year. A Mk2 Roksan Attessa with better bluetooth and an eARC HDMI, would be a great product, if it appeared. I have no TV at the moment and will probably get the smaller 55" Sony A95K, when released. My Sony 4k Blu Ray player should give a great picture, with this panel. If I get near CD quality, via streaming, then I'd possibly abandon CDs altogether and free up some cupboard space. This Sony panel and the disc player, with a decent and powerful streamer, should be the ideal setup, for quite a few years.

Qualcomm is working on true lossless Bluetooth, but don't hold your breath on hi-fi components incorporating it this year. But why are you hung up on Bluetooth when HEOS, BluOS and others support Spotify and Tidal natively/Connect?

Remember Cyrus is also adopting BluOS. Also, I still have my doubts about lossless Bluetooth because it's still susceptible to interference as opposed as streaming directly from the internet.

 

[podknocker]

I've never had any connection issues with bluetooth, on my Canton soundbase, or my new Audiolab Omnia. I would also like a pair of lossless bluetooth headphones, when they arrive, to realise the full potential of the latest iteration. Lossless will also be bitrate adaptive, so it should still be stable, if signal strength is less than optimal. I think it's great that Cyrus has chosen BluOS, for their upcoming streaming products, but I do think Cyrus kit, is massively overpriced and overrated. I've heard older Cyrus CD players and amps, but I wasn't reaching for my wallet, to be honest. Also, as I mentioned earlier, buying a £2000 Cyrus CD transport, doesn't guarantee reliable playback. It's staggering that they could release a product, a few years ago, with a huge price tag and it struggled to read discs. It's shocking and there's no excuse for it. Offering a firmware update, to rectify the fault, is a true reflection of how appalling the industry has become. Making a product, using technology that's 40 years old, only to find it won't read CDs. I think many HIFI companies have lost focus and are so eager to release 'state of the art' devices, like the Omnia, but they fail to get the basics right. I'm very wary of products, with elevated price tags. High prices are not a guarantee of quality and high end performance.

 

[PlastermanOG]

aptX HD Bluetooth: What is it? How can you get it? | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)

Whatever happens to my Omnia, I think I'll get something running BlueOS and buy some better speakers, like the DALI Oberon 5 floorstanders. Hopefully, there will be a new Bluesound Powernode, with lossless bluetooth, this year. A Mk2 Roksan Attessa with better bluetooth and an eARC HDMI, would be a great product, if it appeared. I have no TV at the moment and will probably get the smaller 55" Sony A95K, when released. My Sony 4k Blu Ray player should give a great picture, with this panel. If I get near CD quality, via streaming, then I'd possibly abandon CDs altogether and free up some cupboard space. This Sony panel and the disc player, with a decent and powerful streamer, should be the ideal setup, for quite a few years.

There won't be a new powernode this year as bluesound just released a new version in June last year.
So it'll probably be at least 2024/25 or longer before you'll see a new version of the powernode.

 

[podknocker]

Hope my Omnia lasts that long then.