need advice about Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6

[admin_exported]

I'm a little confused about what this product can do as I have a traditional setup. I have a hi-fi with speakers amp etc a wireless network that consists of a wired pc and a Macbook Pro. If i buy a stream magic can I play the mp3's and flacs on my Macbook wirelessly through the Hifi? And waht about Internet radio do I need any other equipment?

cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have the identical same problem.......... I just purchased a Cambridge Magic 6 Music Streaming device and I have

fundamentally no concept of what to do with it to produce music...........

If you did any further research on this particular music component, could you kindly email me about any information

you have on the subject? I would really appreciate that! The place where I purchased the device .......... well....... the

technical support staff has absolutely no idea about what this device does or tries to achieve. My personal email is: [MAIL REMOVED BY MODS FOR USER'S PROTECTION] Thanks again!

 

[John Duncan]

I'll try to help you both later...

 

[John Duncan]

Right

The StreamMagic is, put simply, a UPnP client. This means that it can pick up music being served up by a UPnP server, which needs to be running on a PC or NAS, where your music is. If you're running a Mac (as I do), Elgato EyeConnect and Twonky are good servers and work fine (Eyeconnect free for music only, Twonky sub-£20 if I remember) - it really depends on what your music library looks like (if it even exists yet) and in what format the music is. I'm running beta firmware on mine which adds Apple Lossless support which was about the only thing missing from its format support, so you don't need a server that can transcode to WAV on the fly, and FLAC is supported already and will work with pretty much any UPnP server.

As for radio, the SM6 has a number of radio services but I can't say I've explored them fully, since I tend to use it only for BBC Radio (God Bless 'Er ©).

It sounds pretty spectacular by the way...

Any more questions, it's been my main source since the first pre-production units hit the ground so fire away.

 

[Overdose]

It does more besides streaming, but you need to decide perhaps what you want to be able to do, as it is possible to stream your mp3s, radio and other online services, to your existing hifi, far simpler and cheaper, using an Apple Airport Express or better still, an ATV for example.

 

[CambridgeAudioCare]

Right

The StreamMagic is, put simply, a UPnP client. This means that it can pick up music being served up by a UPnP server, which needs to be running on a PC or NAS, where your music is. If you're running a Mac (as I do), Elgato EyeConnect and Twonky are good servers and work fine (Eyeconnect free for music only, Twonky sub-£20 if I remember) - it really depends on what your music library looks like (if it even exists yet) and in what format the music is. I'm running beta firmware on mine which adds Apple Lossless support which was about the only thing missing from its format support, so you don't need a server that can transcode to WAV on the fly, and FLAC is supported already and will work with pretty much any UPnP server.

As for radio, the SM6 has a number of radio services but I can't say I've explored them fully, since I tend to use it only for BBC Radio (God Bless 'Er ©).

It sounds pretty spectacular by the way...

Any more questions, it's been my main source since the first pre-production units hit the ground so fire away.

Thanks John- a very elegant summary.

The Stream Magic 6 is a Digital Streaming Preamp. Placed on a network, it can replay your audio files stored elsewhere. Mine lives with my AV system and communicates with my Twonky based server that once upon at time was a Sony Vaio laptop.

The thinking behind the design is that if your system is exclusively digital, the Stream Magic 6 can act as both main source and preamp- either to a power amp or active speakers. It uses the same DSP based volume as the DacMagic Plus for the best possible results.

Regards

Ed Selley

Cambridge Audio support.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

Thanks so much for your helpful feed-back relating to the Cambridge Magic 6 Music Streaming Device.

I got in touch with the place where I purchased the Magic 6 component and spoke to a number of tech reps.

It seems to be a general consensus that I don't even need any kind of "media Server" (like www.twonky.com).

I've also been in contact with the Cambridge company itself, and the tech help there insists that I would NEED twonky as part of my indispensible softwear to make things work.

Also, John, the Cambridge Magic 6 has a "built-in" feature entitled : "UPnP".... and I'm not sure what the purpose of this is.

I can get computer internet stations via the Magic 6 component no problem..... however, my ONE AND ONLY dilema is: How in the world can I get my personalized/selected stored music (that I have on i tunes) to go to the Magic 6 component and hear it through my powered-amp speakers???? It seems like of all the individuals who I contacted are not knowledgeable enough to respond to this. Your response would be fantastic..... thanks again!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

Thanks so much for your helpful feed-back relating to the Cambridge Magic 6 Music Streaming Device.

I got in touch with the place where I purchased the Magic 6 component and spoke to a number of tech reps.

It seems to be a general consensus that I don't even need any kind of "media Server" (like www.twonky.com).

I've also been in contact with the Cambridge company itself, and the tech help there insists that I would NEED twonky as part of my indispensible softwear to make things work.

Also, John, the Cambridge Magic 6 has a "built-in" feature entitled : "UPnP".... and I'm not sure what the purpose of this is.

I can get computer internet stations via the Magic 6 component no problem..... however, my ONE AND ONLY dilema is: How in the world can I get my personalized/selected stored music (that I have on i tunes) to go to the Magic 6 component and hear it through my powered-amp speakers???? It seems like of all the individuals who I contacted are not knowledgeable enough to respond to this. Your response would be fantastic..... thanks again!

 

[John Duncan]

Hi John,

Thanks so much for your helpful feed-back relating to the Cambridge Magic 6 Music Streaming Device.

I got in touch with the place where I purchased the Magic 6 component and spoke to a number of tech reps.

It seems to be a general consensus that I don't even need any kind of "media Server" (like www.twonky.com).

I've also been in contact with the Cambridge company itself, and the tech help there insists that I would NEED twonky as part of my indispensible softwear to make things work.

Also, John, the Cambridge Magic 6 has a "built-in" feature entitled : "UPnP".... and I'm not sure what the purpose of this is.

I can get computer internet stations via the Magic 6 component no problem..... however, my ONE AND ONLY dilema is: How in the world can I get my personalized/selected stored music (that I have on i tunes) to go to the Magic 6 component and hear it through my powered-amp speakers???? It seems like of all the individuals who I contacted are not knowledgeable enough to respond to this. Your response would be fantastic..... thanks again!

You don't need a UPnP server like Twonky if your music is on an external USB hard drive, but I'd advise it since that's pretty much the StreamMagic's primary purpose - the UPnP option that you mention is what I describe above, a client for a UPnP server running on your network.

You can try a UPnP server right now by downloading a trial version of Twonky here (that's the Windows one) - when you install it it automatically indexes your iTunes library and playlists. When it's finished go to the UPnP option on the StreamMagic, you should then see the Twonky server available as an option; if you select it your iTunes library and playlists will be available. If Twonky works for you, it's fairly reasonably price (under $20 if I remember), but there are other options if you don't get on with it.

Give it a try now and if you have any other problems let me know.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the reply, John. Your response clarifys the theme thoroughly.

I'll certainly let you know how I made out with "twonky for Windows"

Thanks again!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the reply, John. Your response clarifys the theme thoroughly.

I'll certainly let you know how I made out with "twonky for Windows"

Thanks again!