Category: Network Media Devices

Articles – From the horse’s mouth

Sony Europe

Sony’s expanded High-Resolution Audio line-up brings you musical clarity you’ve always dreamed of (Press Release)

My Comments

Sony’s new entry to the CD-receiver scene

Sony had launched some newer hi-fi components in to the European market including the STR-DN1050 and STR-DN850 surround-sound receivers and the BDP-S7200 optical disc player which can play SACDs or Blu-Ray Discs. All of these can be part of the home network by implementing at least DLNA functionality and access to varying online-content services with the receivers even supporting Bluetooth and AirPlay functionality.

But what drew my attention to this playlist was Sony climbing on to the high-quality network-enabled CD-receiver bandwagon by offering the MAP-S1 CD receiver. These are systems that have a CD player, broadcast-radio reception, amplifier functionality and, now. access to network-hosted and online content like Internet radio but are optimised for high-quality sound. They take on the spirit of the late-1970s music centre or cassette receiver (casseiver) where a very good unit of this class could offer what a baseline component-based hi-fi system of the time offered in both sound quality and functionality.

Previously, I had given a fair bit of space to the network-enabled CD receiver, including my review of the Rotel RCX-1500 as well as a fair bit of commentary about this product type in my coverage of the Australian Audio And AV Show 2013. This is due to the “lifestyle audio” product class becoming more relevant as the small elegantly-furnished apartment becomes more relevant especially for those of us whose children have flown the family nest.

This product is different from their CMT-series micros systems due to the idea of users being optimised for high sound quality. One of the factures was that a user could supply their own speakers for this system or they could purchase a pair of Sony high-grade bookshelf speakers and use them, very much like Onkyo’s FR-435 CD/MiniDisc “music-centre” system.

The Sony MAP-S1 offers the network connectivity for DLNA, AirPlay and access to online music services like Spotify and Internet radio, and also offers the ability to work with Bluetooth smartphones using the NFC pair / connect functionality and the aptX codec. As well you can have it become a USB DAC/amplifier for a computer thus exploiting the high-resolution audio content available for download if you host that on a Windows or Mac regular computer.

One question that can be raised with this class of network-capable AV equipment is whether the equipment will support dual-band wireless networks whether using 802.11n or 802.11ac technology. Similarly, there will also be the issue of network and online functions not being available with developments that offer “headline” Wi-Fi Internet that implements Web-based login. In these situations, the Sony MAP-S1’s Bluetooth and USB Audio functions would come in to their own when it is used with a regular computer or mobile device to “pull in” online music services including Internet radio.

As more of these network-capable CD receivers come on the market and yield the high-quality sound, especially from mainstream as well as boutique AV-equipment manufacturers, a compact hi-fi system for that apartment or house could be about buying one of the CD receivers and buying or resurrecting from the garage a pair of good hi-fi speakers.

Article – French language / Langue Française

Freebox Révolution : InfoMusic et DNLA dans une mise à jour | Numerama.fr

From the horse’s mouth

Free.fr

Press Release (French language / Langue Française – PDF)

My Comments

Freebox Révolution now with Shazam-style abilities

Often when you are watching TV, you may hear that piece of music that was used in that movie or TV show even though it may not be visibly identified.

Normally you could use Shazam or SoundHound on your smartphone or tablet (iOS, Android, Windows 8) to identify the songs but you have to “cock” your device to your TV’s speaker and have Shazam running before you know when that song is to play. Here, it can be difficult if you are watching broadcast TV content in real time rather than from a user-controlled recording like a PVR, optical disc or streamed on-demand service.

In France, the country where the set-top box is not the ordinary set-top box and the pay-TV and Internet service is delivered highly competitively, Free.fr have integrated this function as part of a software upgrade for their Freebox Révolution set-top box. Here, the software version number is 1.2.11 to gain this functionality.

This software, like Sony’s TrackID Android app is powered by GraceNote music-recognition technology and works from any of the video sources passing through the Freebox Révolution Player set-top box. This includes content available on the home network.

For that matter, Free has even improved the DLNA abilities for this software by having the Freebox Révolution Player be a DLNA MediaRenderer. This means that, like with the Sony BDP-S390 Blu-Ray player, you can “push” image, audio and video content to this device using software like TwonkyBeam, Gizmoot or BubbleUPnP to appear on your TV.

This is another example of what the competitive telecommunications and Internet market in France is bringing about in a healthy manner.

Article

Aereo to Broadcasters: ‘We’ll See You in (Supreme) Court’ | Mashable

My Comments

In the late 1970s, Sony had brought to the US market the Betamax video-cassette recorder which was the first device that could, for an affordable price, record TV shows. But Walt Disney and Universal City Studios filed suit against Sony citing copyright violation because they feared that consumers would create their own TV content libraries from shows recorded off-air rather than going to the movies.

This case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court who litigated that a technology company wasn’t liable for creating a technology that infringed on copyrights. It underscored the domestic video recorder not just a device for recording TV shows but a tool to “take the content further” such as hiring out videocassettes of the latest movies through the video stores which ended up as the device’s killer application.

Aereo is a cloud-driven TV-streaming / “network DVR” service which has been disrupting the established business models that the US TV networks along with the major sports leagues, especially the NFL, rely on. The TV networks and sports leagues have taken legal action against Aereo but have lost this action to Aereo through every rung of the US legal-appeal ladder. But now it is to face the final test at the US Supreme Court and I see this as being like the Betamax case in some ways especially in relation to innovation.

Australian readers have faced a similar litigation concerning a TV-streaming service offered here due to the main football leagues having an exclusive online partnership with Telstra and both parties fearing that the partnership’s value is diluted due to a TV-streaming service offering the football sportscasts online.

For example, the ability to stream a local broadcast form a known area to wherever you are, a practice undertaken with Internet radio, is being tested. Similarly, the concept of cloud-based DVR services where you can pick shows to record and view wherever you like is also to be tested.  It will also be tested in the context of bringing material in to an area that is not meant to be shown in that area, such as a sports broadcast subjected to a “delay to the gate” rule where the sportscast is not shown live in the city it is played in unless a significant percentage of tickets are sold for that game.

Similarly, the concept of pay-TV companies offering IP-based services whether as a subscription option or add-on to a traditional subscription will be tested. This includes a cloud-based DVR service like what Cablevision is currently offering as a value-added service or simply offering the TV Everywhere service to view TV on your smartphone or tablet as what most cable-TV services are offering the US market.

Let’s hope that this case can shape on-line TV services for the good of the consumer rather than studios and sports leagues setting up environments to exploit the viewing public.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

SiliconDust (HDHomeRun)

HDHomeRun DUAL | Welcome to SiliconDust (Product Page)

My Comments

After SiliconDust have enabled the HDHomeRun Prime 3-tuner and 6-tuner cable-TV broadcast-LAN tuners with DLNA digital-media-server functionality for both standard and premium content, they have taken steps to bring this concept out to more of their range broadcast-LAN boxes.

Here, they are in the throes of issuing the HDHomeRun Dual broadcast-LAN box which has two tuners and is capable of picking over-the-air and unencrypted basic cable TV content and serving it over a home network. This is not just to their software or software that runs particular programming interfaces but to network video equipment that supports DLNA like the PS3 or an increasing number of Blu-Ray players and Smart TVs.

At the moment, as the retransmission fights take place between TV networks and cable companies about how much the cable operators pay the TV networks to package their content, we are starting to see the need for a regular TV antenna in most US homes to pick up the full complement of local TV content. This is even though it would have been available via the cable TV services. Similarly, the trend towards cord-cutting has brought American households back to traditional over-the-air TV alongside Netfilx and Hulu.

This device is intending to either complement the HDHomeRun Prime to bring in the over-the-air content  (including local channels lost to cable in-fighting) to the computers, smartphones, tablets and DLNA devices using the home network. Similarly, it would be an economy solution that could please the most persistent cord-cutter who occasionally dabbles in over-the-air for news and sport.

But what I see of this device is that it could be the start of action to port the DLNA capability to DVB-based HDHomeRun broadcast-LAN boxes that will end up in most of the rest of the world.

There will also have to be a time where SiliconDust and others who make DLNA-capable broadcast-LAN devices will need to factor in installations where multiple devices of this type are serving the same network at any time in the network’s life. This may be to increase concurrent viewing/recording capacity or to add coverage for particular broadcast bands and modes to an existing setup. Here, it may require the ability to have one logical tuner device representing multiple physical devices when it comes to broadcast-LAN content sources.

Introduction

I am reviewing the Pure Jongo T6 wireless speaker which is a tabletop wireless speaker capable of operating in an open-frame DLNA-based Wi-Fi network or as a Bluetooth speaker. It can be used as part of a pair of stereo speakers with another T6 or as part of a Jongo multi-speaker setup with music from a DLNA media server, Internet radio stream or content on a smartphone.

There are two smaller varieties of this speaker known as the T2 and T4 which have smaller drivers but the same abilities in positioning and the kind of content available to them. These also are part of the Pure Jongo multi-speaker setup which delivers synchronous audio to multiple speakers using a Wi-Fi network.

Price

The unit itself:

RRP including tax: AUD$599

Accessories

Coloured replacement grilles: AUD$35

Form Factor

Single-piece Wireless Speaker System

Functions

Connections

Speakers

The unit itself

The Pure Jongo T6 is a large speaker system that is directly powered from the AC supply rather than using a wall-wart power adaptor. This unit uses an integrated stereo amplifier which drives two 5” full-range speakers. It can be positioned on its side to work as a mono speaker and can be part of a stereo pair with the sound streamed from the same network.

As for powering the speaker from AC power, the Jongo T6 uses an integrated AC power supply like most boom-boxes. Here, it came with the typical “portable-radio” AC cord rather than one of those “wall-warts” that can be annoying when using power boards or even double power outlets.

Like most of the wireless speakers that are currently on offer, the Pure Jongo T6 implements the “own access point plus Web page” for integrating with a Wi-Fi segment that doesn’t implement WPS one-touch setup. This page also allows you to determine vertical or horizontal placement which affects how the speaker will sound. Of course, you can subsequently manage the Jongo speaker from your smartphone using the Pure Connect app.

Side view with main controls

If you are using the Pure Connect app, you have to look for the distinct P logo which shows that the app has detected the existence of Jongo speakers on the network so you can stream the Internet radio and on-device content through your speaker. Of course, this speaker works hand in glove with other third-party DLNA control-point software making it be part of the DLNA Home Media Network.

There is of course the Bluetooth ability where the speaker can be simply paired to your phone when it is turned on and this device didn’t take long to pair up to my Samsung Android phone as a Bluetooth endpoint. Then it was able to yield smooth streaming performance from the smartphone.

The Jongo T6 does yield a powerful sound that has a good tight bass but there isn’t at times much of the treble response. The Pure Connect app offers a treble and bass control but I assessed it based on the tone controls being kept flat.

As for performance on the home network, it works well in most locations when it comes to picking up the Wi-Fi signal and is reliable with streaming content sent to it using DLNA. It can recover quickly from jitter with Internet radio but, like a lot of these devices, “gives up the ghost” too easily if the connection is congested rather than retrying if it loses touch with the host server.

Rear view with Wi-Fi button

I set up a Jongo multi-speaker arrangement with this speaker and the S3, running the Heart London Internet-radio stream through this setup using the Pure Connect app and both the speakers were working in sync with each other. The speakers responded to my settings on the Pure Connect app after just under a second.

I have run this speaker with my smartphone as a Bluetooth A2DP media device and it was responsive when it came to paring and connecting up with the phone. This echoed the same behaviour that the demonstrator Jongo T6 came through with at the Australian Audio & AV Show 2013.

Limitations and Points Of Improvement

I would like to see the Pure Jongo range of products equipped with a “Bluetooth / Wi-Fi” switch which forces them to work either as a Wi-Fi device that is part of the home network or as a Bluetooth speaker. This can work well with “walk-up” usage where someone may play content from their mobile device or laptop on an ad-hoc basis.

Similarly, this range of products could work with the Pure mobile-platform app to implement a Wi-Fi Direct or “own-AP” setup with a smartphone or tablet associated with a 3G service for Internet radio and other Internet services when they are used away from a small network or to set up a multi-speaker arrangement away from a small network. But this can be mitigated through the use of the Bluetooth connection between the mobile device and the speaker for 1-to-1 audio streaming.

Pure could also port their Connect app to the Windows 8 and Macintosh OS X platforms to make it relevant to the increasing number of small notebooks and tablets that run these regular-computing operating systems.

As for the T6, it could be improved through Pure offering a “higher-tier” model that has the tweeter speakers to bring out the best for higher frequencies. The app could also offer a loudness function to allow it to sound at its best at softer volumes.

Conclusion

I would recommend the Pure Jongo T6 by itself as a wireless speaker fit for filling a kitchen or other medium-size area with music or competing in a noisy environment in a similar vein to a larger portable radio.

Introduction

I am reviewing the Pure Jongo A2 Wi-Fi / Bluetooth audio adaptor which connects to one’s favourite stereo system or a pair of active speakers to play content from a computer, network or mobile device. This is achieved through Wi-Fi DLNA technology or through Bluetooth A2DP technology.

It is part of the Pure Jongo ecosystem which has integral support for synchronous playback of network-hosted sources over the same network and is managed via a Pure Connect mobile-platform app for iOS and Android.

Price

The unit itself:

RRP including tax: AUD$199

Accessories

Decorative collars (lime green, mango, burnt orange, white): $29

Form Factor

Adaptor for existing audio and AV systems

Functions

 Connections

 The unit itself

The unit is slightly bigger than a 500g (“pound”) block of butter and is shaped like a triangle with curved sides. There is the ability to style it your way using optional decorative collars available from Pure, but this size also makes you want to take it with you to hook up to any sound system at any location.

This adaptor has digital (coaxial and optical) and analogue audio outputs to suit all consumer audio equipment

For connectivity, the Pure Jongo A2 covers all bases as far as consumer audio and AV equipment is concerned.  Here, you have a pair of RCA connections to provide a line-level audio connection to any vacant auxiliary or tape input on your sound system. If you are using a digital-analogue converter, a home-theatre receiver or a digital amplifier, you can connect this network audio adaptor to this digital inputs on that component using the coaxial (RCA) or optical (Toslink) connections. This lets you use the better digital-analogue signal path offered by these devices as well as obviating the risk of electrical noise in the signal that can come about with longer RCA-cord analogue connections.

When it comes to the home network, you have the ability to connect to an 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless segment. This supports WPS push-button setup or you use the “own access point and Web interface” for integrating this device in to your existing small network.

The Jongo plays properly as a DLNA MediaRenderer device where it can reliably accept a run of audio content that it is directed to play via the home network. I had this playing a run of albums through the household stereo system by “finding” the files on my WD My Book World Edition NAS using Twonky Mobile on my Samsung Android phone and using that app to have it play the tracks.

The Pure Connect app provides the multiple-speaker functionality for content held on your device as well as Internet-radio content hosted through the Pure Internet-radio directory service.

As a Bluetooth A2DP endpoint, the Jongo A2 had played its part very well with my Samsung Note 2 smartphone by running the content streamed to it very smoothly even though the phone was two metres from it.

Other comments

If you do want to make sure that this device works at its best, yielding a clean sound from your existing stereo system, make sure that the Bluetooth output volume for your Bluetooth-capable phone is at 75%. Similarly, bypassing any tone controls on your media player software and adjusting the tone on your stereo equipment’s control surface keeps the setup sounding at its best without the risk of sound that is too much like that pub jukebox.

If you are using a UPnP AV / DLNA media controller or Pure’s Connect app to manage this device, make sure that the output volume is no more than 75%-80%. Personally, I use the volume control on the stereo system to adjust the volume to how I want it to sound at a particular moment.

A teenager who lives with us was very impressed by the fact that the Pure Jongo A2 had “all bases covered” and was not being tied to an Apple-only ideal when it came to audio-equipment connectivity.

Limitations and Points Of Improvement

As we see the arrival of other services like Pandora and Spotify, the Pure Jongo system could offer app-level connectivity to these services. This can also be augmented by the use of software for Windows 8.1 and Macintosh OS X so that small notebooks, tablets and similar computers based on these regular-computer operating systems can play along with the Jongo ecosystem.

The Pure Jongo A2 could offer integral Apple AirPlay support for those of us who want all wireless-connectivity bases covered in one box. Similarly, Pure could offer a variant of this device that has the ability to stream audio content from another sound system into the Jongo speakers that are on the network, which could please those of you who work with vinyl or other legacy formats or who want to stream the output of a PA system used by a band, MC, DJ or similar user to other Jongo speakers.

As for network abilities, it could benefit from dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity and / or Ethernet connectivity to avoid the problems that are becoming associated with a crowded 2.4GHz band. The Ethernet functionality could come in to its own due to the fact that it would be used with equipment that is normally kept in one place.

Conclusion

I would see the Pure Jongo A2 as a tool to provide an “open-frame” bridge between your smartphone, tablet or laptop with Bluetooth or your DLNA Home Media Network using Wi-Fi. You also can add Internet radio to this mix using the Pure Connect app’s access to Pure’s Internet-radio directory. Even if you do have an Apple AirPort Express in place for AirPlay connectivity, you are able to effectively have “all bases covered” with this device.

The digital connectivity effectively lets you use the better digital conversion circuitry in your home theatre receiver or digital amplifier in a way that the Apple AirPort Express and a lot of other similarly-priced devices don’t..

Article

Cyrus Lyric Launches Down Under | Australian Hi-Fi

My Comments

Cyrus’s latest CD receiver

Previously I had reviewed the Rotel RCX-1000 as a network-capable CD receiver capable of high-quality sound from CDs, FM radio, DAB+ digital radio, Internet radio along with access to content held on one or more DLNA media servers. This, along with the Naim Uniti and a few others, was the kind of CD receiver you could pair off with a set of high-quality speakers of your choice, be a pair of new small bookshelf types that are on sale at the hi-fi store or that pair of good bookshelf or furniture-piece speakers that you had dusted off after finding them in your Dad’s garage.

This follows on from the music centres and casseivers of the 1970s and early 80s along with the steady run of high-grade integrated audio systems that Bang & Olufsen turned out i.e. the Beocenter 7000 series LP/cassette systems, the Beocenter 9000 series CD/cassette systems along with the Beosound 9000 6-CD system. This was also augmented with the Proton AI-3000 CD/cassette music system which came on the scene in 1988 and the arrival of the Bose Lifestyle music systems in 1990 and followed on with the Onkyo FR-435 CD/MiniDisc music system of the late 1990s.

Now Cyrus have launched the Lyric “full-width” CD-receiver range to the Australian market. This system which was premiered at the Australian Audio And AV Show which was held at the Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto hotel, is one that follows from this lineage of integrated audio equipment that is about top-quality sound. Here, this unit can play CDs or tune in to FM, DAB+ or Internet radio broadcasts or stream in content from your NAS or PC-based network media server. It also uses Bluetooth with aptX to stream through content held on your smartphone or effectively work as your laptop’s sound-card. Here, I had seen the advance-preview sample in full-flight playing content from a smartphone via Bluetooth and driving a pair of newer “furniture piece” speakers that were being demoed at the show.

Even the way the product was styled eschewed various conventions like the classic “box with knobs and buttons” approach. Rather this used a touch-panel with a colour LCD screen for local control across the top half of the front panel along with a neatly-disguised CD-loading slot. This is similar to how the Bang & Olufsen Beocenter 9000 series was styled with a dynamically-lit-up touch panel below a large aluminium panel that had the CD and cassette bays hidden under doors that slid away.

There are two variants of this music system – the Lyric 5 with a a 100-watts/channel amplifier going for $4000 and the Lyric 9 with a 200-watts/channel amplifier going for $6000. I asked the demonstrator men about how much a decent music system for a small apartment which is based around the Lyric 5 CD receiver and he could call the Lyric 5 with commensurate-standard bookshelf speakers for around $6000.

This is definitely a sign of things to come for “integrated” lifestyle audio solutions that can work with any regular speaker, yet lead the way to a neat sound system that puts up some high-quality music.