Simpleaudio Roomplayer

tino

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Has anyone (possibly a dealer) heard one of these systems? I've noticed that they have just gone on sale at £499 for the non amplified version and £549 for the amplified version. Seems like a small price difference for 50W of Class D amplification. I read somewhere on a dealer forum that they suggested that (and I quote) ... the Roomplayer "sits slightly above the Sneaky DS in terms of performance.". If this is to be believed it makes the Roomplayer a veritable bargain against the £1000 Sneaky ... quite ironic really since the team behind the Roomplayer were also behind tghe DS range :O
 

CnoEvil

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It would be good to get decent competition to the Sneaky, but am I right in thinking that this device does not support UPnP, which would make direct connection to a NAS impossible......or am I mistaken?
 

tino

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Direct connection to a NAS is possible if you read what's on their website. It's not entirely clear what network protocols are being used other than the powerline communications which are based on the HomePlug AV standard. The techonblurb from the HomePlug alliance says ... "The HomePlug AV protocol stack supports a variety of upper layer protocols native to HomePlug AV, 802.3, IP and UPNP.". So in theory it's possible. In practice ... I have no idea unless the details on the web-site are a bit clearer. Either way, the network/server protocols never hindered Sonos and Squeezebox products.
 
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I ordered one, 2 weeks ago!

It will be delivered upcoming Thursday (so excited) I hope it will meet or even conquer my expectations!

BTW, It will be playing via A Arcam A75+ and Linn Majik 109's
 

tino

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Cheese said:
I ordered one, 2 weeks ago!

It will be delivered upcoming Thursday (so excited) I hope it will meet or even conquer my expectations!

BTW, It will be playing via A Arcam A75+ and Linn Majik 109's

Hope to hear your review and maybe beat WHF into describing how it sounds :)

I've seen/read on WHF the unboxing cermony and the plugging in and setup and general usability/reliability. No comments (yet) on the audio performance.
 

ifor

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:)
Cheese said:
It will be delivered upcoming Thursday (so excited) I hope it will meet or even conquer my expectations!

BTW, It will be playing via A Arcam A75+ and Linn Majik 109's

Come on Cheese, it's Thursday evening; how long do you need? :)
 
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:dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :clap: :clap: :clap: :dance: :dance: :dance:

I have to say that I was suprised by the soundquality of this streamer, 2 hours earlier we hooked up a Linn Majik DSM and from my point of view.. oke there is a difference but the Simple Audio is in one word AWESOME!!

If they fix the minor software bugs, which I must admid are there.. than I think it will be the best streamer in it's class!

I also compared the build in amplifier with my existing Arcam A75+ and this is also worth a thumbs up!

Great little system!!
 

WinterRacer

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If I were Logitech I'd take issue with the statement on the web site: "Simple Audio is the first affordable HD sound system that will play your music at 24 bit". The Squeezebox Touch is a lot more affordable, supports 24bit, 96KHz HD music.I thought this "At last, audio over powerline technology" was a strange statement to make as well. Can anyone think of a streamer that doesn't support ethernet (and therefore powerline ethernet)?

If I were Logitech I'd take issue with the statement on the web site: "Simple Audio is the first affordable HD sound system that will play your music at 24 bit". Logitech have supported 24bit for 4 or 5 years with the Squeezebox receiver and 24bit/96KHz for a few years with the Touch.

I also thought this "At last, audio over powerline technology" was a strange statement to make as well. Can anyone think of a streamer that doesn't support ethernet (and therefore powerline ethernet)? I guess they are trying to make a virtue our of a lack of support for wireless.

New entries to the market are obviously good, but it must be tough to compete against Apple, Sonos & Logitech who've been doing it for years.
 

The_Lhc

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WinterRacer said:
I also thought this "At last, audio over powerline technology" was a strange statement to make as well. Can anyone think of a streamer that doesn't support ethernet (and therefore powerline ethernet)? I guess they are trying to make a virtue our of a lack of support for wireless.

I believe the units have powerline technology built-in or at the very least will supply a bespoke widget to do it for you.

Still needs a PC running or Twonky on a NAS to work though, so I'll stick with Sonos for now.
 

WinterRacer

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The_Lhc said:
WinterRacer said:
I also thought this "At last, audio over powerline technology" was a strange statement to make as well. Can anyone think of a streamer that doesn't support ethernet (and therefore powerline ethernet)? I guess they are trying to make a virtue our of a lack of support for wireless.

I believe the units have powerline technology built-in or at the very least will supply a bespoke widget to do it for you.

Still needs a PC running or Twonky on a NAS to work though, so I'll stick with Sonos for now.

I see, that's a better proposition and quite neat and a USP at the moment I think.

I guess it's targetted at some middle ground between Apple, Sonos, Logitech and Naim/Linn and at people who don't think the lower price options can mix it with hi-fi brands.
 

ifor

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Cheese said:
I also compared the build in amplifier with my existing Arcam A75+ and this is also worth a thumbs up!

Great little system!!

It sounds good. If the amp and DAC are as good as you say, isn't it a shame it doesn't have a useful set of digital and analogue audio inputs? I understand that if you have more that one Roomplayer it's not currently possible to play them in 'party mode'.
 
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Does this system finally close the argument for requiring very expensive cables to transfer digital music - if we can transfer music using the cheap and noisey mains cables around the house, and still experience high quality music. Or am I missing something?
 

Andy Clough

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ifor said:
Cheese said:
I also compared the build in amplifier with my existing Arcam A75+ and this is also worth a thumbs up!

Great little system!!

It sounds good. If the amp and DAC are as good as you say, isn't it a shame it doesn't have a useful set of digital and analogue audio inputs? I understand that if you have more that one Roomplayer it's not currently possible to play them in 'party mode'.

It does have a set of analogue audio inputs. But no, there isn't a simple way to play the same music simultaneously across all zones, as I mentioned in my blog.
 

ifor

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Andy Clough said:
It does have a set of analogue audio inputs. But no, there isn't a simple way to play the same music simultaneously across all zones, as I mentioned in my blog.

In email communication they have told me that they hope to enable party mode in the future. I also asked whether it would be possible to push rather that pull audio from my iTunes library to the Roomplayer. If it were possible this would preserve my current party mode system based on 3 x Airport Express for when I want the same music all round the house. This also is not currently possible, but is something they are considering for the future.
 

amcluesent

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>that's a better proposition and quite neat and a USP at the moment I think. <

I thought so, until I saw that the Simple Audio HomePlug to connect to your router and the mains is sold seperately. Remember how you felt to get a new toy home and then find you needed batteries :(
 

Andy Clough

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amcluesent said:
>that's a better proposition and quite neat and a USP at the moment I think. <

I thought so, until I saw that the Simple Audio HomePlug to connect to your router and the mains is sold seperately. Remember how you felt to get a new toy home and then find you needed batteries :(

You only need the external HomePlug if your 'master' Roomplayer is a long way from your router. Otherwise you can connect the Roomplayer directly to your router using a standard ethernet cable.
 

Crocodile

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amcluesent said:
the Simple Audio HomePlug to connect to your router and the mains is sold seperately.
And there doesn't appear to any reference to it on Simple Audio's product list or on any of the reseller sites, so maybe this is something else that's "coming soon"...
 

The_Lhc

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Andy Clough said:
amcluesent said:
>that's a better proposition and quite neat and a USP at the moment I think. <

I thought so, until I saw that the Simple Audio HomePlug to connect to your router and the mains is sold seperately. Remember how you felt to get a new toy home and then find you needed batteries :(

You only need the external HomePlug if your 'master' Roomplayer is a long way from your router. Otherwise you can connect the Roomplayer directly to your router using a standard ethernet cable.

What do you do about secondary Roomplayers if they're not convenient for wiring to your network?
 

WinterRacer

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Andy Clough said:
amcluesent said:
>that's a better proposition and quite neat and a USP at the moment I think. <

I thought so, until I saw that the Simple Audio HomePlug to connect to your router and the mains is sold seperately. Remember how you felt to get a new toy home and then find you needed batteries :(

You only need the external HomePlug if your 'master' Roomplayer is a long way from your router. Otherwise you can connect the Roomplayer directly to your router using a standard ethernet cable.

Hi Andy, I'm a bit confused about the setup here. Is it as simple as the Roomplayer supports ethernet or is some kind of homeplug actually built into the device?
 
http://simpleaudio.co.uk/overview/powerline-communications

Homeplug powerline compatibleWe use the HomePlug Powerline Alliance specification, which has now been adopted by many manufacturers as the standard in Powerline communications technology. This not only gives us the performance level we want, it also ensures that our products interoperate with all other HomePlug compliant devices. It's future proof too, when other HomePlug variants appear, these products will happily co-exist with ours.
 

Andy Clough

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LHC

As long as there's a mains plug socket near to the secondary Roomplayer to plug it in to, you should be fine (all Roomplayers have a built-in PowerLine module). Once you've connected the first Homeplug to your broadband router, all other Roomplayers in the system can communicate with each other over the mains wiring.

There's a YouTube video her showing how it's done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm2hjQ9emGw&feature=youtu.be

WinterRacer

Just to clarify, ALL Roomplayers have PowerLine capability built in, so you only need to connect each one to the mains provided the 'master' unit that controls the system can be connected directly to your broadband router with an ethernet cable.

The optional, external Homeplug is only required if your router is so far away from the 'master' Roomplayer that you can't connect it directly to an ethernet cable. In that instance, the ethernet cable from the router is connected to the Homeplug, which is then 'paired' with the master Roomplayer to provide an internet connection.
 

WinterRacer

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Andy Clough said:
LHC

As long as there's a mains plug socket near to the secondary Roomplayer to plug it in to, you should be fine (all Roomplayers have a built-in PowerLine module). Once you've connected the first Homeplug to your broadband router, all other Roomplayers in the system can communicate with each other over the mains wiring.

There's a YouTube video her showing how it's done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm2hjQ9emGw&feature=youtu.be

WinterRacer

Just to clarify, ALL Roomplayers have PowerLine capability built in, so you only need to connect each one to the mains provided the 'master' unit that controls the system can be connected directly to your broadand router with an ethernet cable.

The optional, external Homeplug is only required if your router is so far away from the 'master' Roomplayer that you can't connect it directly to an ethernet cable. In that instance, the ethernet cable from the router is connected to the Homeplug, which is then 'paired' with the master Roomplayer to provide an internet connection.

Thanks.
 

ifor

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It's really quite clear if you read what they say on their website. They don't use WiFi because it's not as robust as a wired connection, especially when streaming HD audio. You can either have your house hard wired with Ethernet cables or you can use Homeplugs to link Ethernet through the mains wiring. They will sell you Homeplugs if you want them or you can use those from any manufacturer so long as they comply with the Homeplug standard.

Having already failed in my house, with 2 foot thick rock walls, to have a three room wireless audio network based on Airport Express I have already adopted Homeplug technology and can't fault it; it works superbly. I use Devolo units. It was rather expensive to establish my setup because it needs an Airport Express and a Homeplug in each of the three rooms because my players don't have ethernet connections. Homeplug connects to Airport Express by Ethernet cable and the Airport Expresses connect to Arcam rDAC, Denon AV Receiver and Denon mini system either by toslink or phono, depending on each setup's capabilities. I have disabled WiFi on the three Airport Express units because when turned on it just keeps dropping out.

When Simple Audio have sorted out party mode I'll be seriously tempted to start the process on investing in three Roomplayers. I'll either sell or find other uses for the three Airport Expresses.
 

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