thedriver August 15, 2009 09:08
To AJSG:
"Its a good idea, but fundamentally flawed. You still need another stereo or amplifier to drive the speakers.
This problem totally defeats the one box solution.
Cheaper to get an iPod dock, net effect is the same."
It's not intended to be a one box solution.
Whilst some people may store some of their music on an iPod, most iPods aren't capable of storing someone's entire collection of music.
With this, I can stream any of my 1200+ GigaBytes of audio in FLAC over my wireless network. I certainly can't store that much music or that format on an iPod.
It's also a relatively cheap addition to any amp adding what is almost equivalent to DLNA certification.
inicholson May 19, 2009 15:43
@AJSG & AL7478. There are iPod docks with a remote if that's what you want.
Personally I don't want all my music on one portable device - call me old-fashioned but I prefer my portable to be small and cheap so it's no great loss if it's lost, broken or stolen. That and I'm not sure all my CDs will fit on it without being horribly compressed!
Also as I already have amps which are vastly superior to those in any one box system then I'd be bypassing an inbuilt amp. I'm aware that Sonos do systems with and without the amp (there is also a Squeezebox with amp AND speakers - the Squeezebox Boom). You can't criticise this device for not being something else!
Looks like a great idea to me so I can convert all my CDs to lossless format (e.g FLAC) and access them via my hi-fi, rendering my CD player pretty much obsolete.
Next question, where can I find reviews that comment on the audio quality or do I need to track down a dealer willing to dem this and the Sonos side-by-side.
Lastly, are there any other devices which will do a similar job I should consider (Linn devices don't count, although I plan to use it with Linn amps and speakers the arrival of children has put their gear out of my price range!)
stevebla March 18, 2009 14:41
The one caveat with using this product wirelessly is that it is very sensitive to the quality of your home network .. if the effective bandwidth is too low, you will experience frequent failures, especially with uncompressed (e.g. flac) playback. The biggest problem is interference from other devices in the neighbourhood. You need a good router with automatic channel switching, careful positioning of all nodes, etc.
carlt69 February 28, 2009 22:40
Will this let me play music stored on my dlna certified nas through my Arcam??
al7478 October 4, 2008 15:05
AJSG - an ipod dock doesnt have a remote. i think theyre pretty diffrerent things really.
al7478 October 4, 2008 15:01
would have been great if you had opointed out that it supports flac in the main review. leaving it out almost implies the opposite.
AJSG September 14, 2008 21:34
Its a good idea, but fundamentally flawed. You still need another stereo or amplifier to drive the speakers.
Cheaper to get an iPod dock, net effect is the same.
darrenwm1 June 18, 2008 21:29
I am really enjoying my Duet. The controller works well and allows me to play:
-all of my lossless music;
-lots of internet radio;
-podcasts I've subscribed too;
-and RSS feeds to my favourite news sites and forums.
I simply connect the optical output to my AVI ADM9s and it's a whole HiFi system that sounds better than most!