Tag: Sony CMT-MX750Ni micro music system

Originally posted: 5 January 2009, Updated 29 August 2013

Netgear ReadyNAS business-grade NAS working as a DLNA media server

Very often, DLNA and UPnP AV are typically marketed as being for use in the home due to the reduced amount of configuration needed for devices that comply to these standards. But devices based on these standards can appeal to business use, especially to small “mum and dad” shops, community / religious organisations and other similar businesses who don’t have regular access to “big business” IT resources.

The functionality is typically available as low-cost or free software or, in some cases like the Windows regular-computer operating systems since XP, available as part of the operating system. There is an increasing number of “business-grade” network-attached storage boxes that have the functionality for business continuity but also can work as DLNA-compliant media servers, whether out of the box or through the addition of a very=low-cost or free program installed on that device. A good example of this are the Netgear ReadyNAS units such as one I saw in action at the Australian Audio & AV Show 2011, and the QNAP units, including the TS-459U Series 4-disk rackmount “pizza-box” NAS server which would be pitched at the office server room.

The main issue that one will encounter with this kind of setup will be that the network that you intend to connect all of the DLNA-capable equipment to must be on the same subnet or logical network, served by the same DHCP server. This will be fine for most small-business, and SOHO networks, including the “private” segment of networks that provide Internet access to the public such as wireless hotspots and Internet cafes.

If you are concerned about security of business data or the integrity of business systems, you could run a separate server for the DLNA-presented media data rather than use the main server for this purpose. Then you can lock down the main server as tightly as it should be for the data.

Western Digital WDTV Live network media adaptor

As for client hardware, the equipment that you use to play or show the content is available at most good consumer-electronics outlets whether it be the electrical department of a mainstream department store, a store that is part of a popular mid-tier consumer electronics chain like Best Buy or JB Hi-Fi, or a specialist hi-fi or home-AV store. You may find it difficult to buy equipment with this feature at some “big-box” discount chains like Wal-Mart, Target or Big W due to the their goal of satisfying the mass market with “loss-leading” goods where the goal is to take it out the store, plug it in and have it playing.

DLNA content collections listed as sources on a Samsung Smart TV

As for control of your content, you can either “pull” the content up from your DLNA-capable device’s control surface i.e. the display that is integrated in or connected to the device and the controls on the device itself or its infra-red remote control. On the other hand, you can “push” the content to the device using a software-based DLNA media control point for your regular computer or mobile device like TwonkyMedia software (all platforms), Windows Media Player with its “Play To” function (Windows 7 onwards), PlugPlayer (MacOS X, iOS, Android)  or BubbleUPnP (Android).

Visual Merchandising

Sony BDP-S390 Network Blu-Ray Player – a Blu-Ray player that adds DLNA to an existing TV

DLNA-based setups can come in to their own when it comes to all sorts of visual merchandising applications. This is more so for small businesses who cannot afford to buy business-grade “digital signage” solutions or find the “digital signage” difficult to manage due to complex setup and operation requirements.

Pioneer BDP-160 DLNA-capable Blu-Ray player

Similarly, these setups can allow one to simply and quickly update the screenshow to suit different seasons or campaigns without having to recall USB memory keys or SD cards from electronic picture frames or flatscreen TVs to perform thse updates. Places like cafes and bars can benefit from using a DLNA-capable flatscreen TV or a projector connected to both a TV set-top box and a video-based DLNA media player such as the Sony BDP-S390 Blu-Ray player to show live sports or cultural events to their customers but run these sets as a visual-merchandising aid at other times.

You can have images or videos of products that are always kept fresh and up-to-date and can intermingle these images and videos with up-to-date “electronic signage” that you create with programs like Microsoft PowerPoint. The best example of this being used would be the real-estate agent who uses the setup to show pictures of the houses he has currently for sale or a beauty salon showing examples of the most fashionable hairstyles they have done lately.

A DLNA-compliant network electronic picture frame like the Kodak EX1011 or the D-Link DSM-210 can work wonders here as can any DLNA-compliant network media receiver (or games console) hooked up to a large flat-screen TV or monitor. Similarly, a DLNA-compliant flat-screen TV like one of Sony’s recent LCD TVs or the Samsung Smart TVs can fulfil the same needs here, especially now that the cost of these sets in in affordable territory and the sets are available from most electrical retailers. The Samsung smart TVs do the job more elegantly by deeming the DLNA media server as a logical source.

Select “JPEG File” for exporting PowerPoint slide or presentation for use with DLNA devices

As well, an increasing number of recently-issued Blu-Ray players and Blu-Ray home-theatre systems also work as DLNA media players thus becoming a cost-effective way to add this functionality to a video projector or a large-screen display that doesn’t offer DLNA capability such as most of the “Wal-Mart-special” or “Big-W-Special” flatscreen TVs.

The media server can be part of the file server’s functions or can be hosted on a separate box such as a network-attached storage unit. You just need to add the media to this server by using a standard network file-transfer protocol like SMB or FTP. You will need to make sure that the media server presents the files either by keywords (tags) and / or folders of the file system so that you can file the pictures how you want to file them. Windows Media Player and TwonkyMedia do support working by keywords and folders.

Determine whether to export this slide or the whole presentation as JPEG images

If you use a presentation program like Microsoft PowerPoint to create “electronic signage”, you just need to export all of the slides in your presentation as JPEG files in to a folder available to the media server. This is done in PowerPoint by opening the presentation and selecting “File” – “Save As” and selecting “JPEG” as the file type. You then have the option of exporting the current slide as a JPEG or exporting all the slides in the presentation as JPEG files in a folder named after the title of the presentation.

For that matter, you could create all the “Buy Now” digital signage for a particular campaign using one presentation, then alter the presentation and save and export it again as a new presentation for another campaign. A seasonal campaign can allow you to create a new presentation with material specific to that season but you can “rope in” JPEG files that are general to seasons of a kind like Christmas or Valentine’s Day when you determine what appears in the promotion folder on your DLNA server. Similarly, you can just mix photos you take with the slides you create in that same folder for merchandising food, flowers and the like.

Background Music

Denon CEOL Piccolo DLNA-capable music system

If you are sick and tired of the radio or those business-to-business music services yet want “hands-off” background music, you can use a computer as a music server, with the music playing out through a DLNA-compliant network media player. This can be a unit like one of those Internet radios, a bookshelf music system like the Sony CMT-MX750Ni or a wireless speaker like the Sony SA-NS510.

As I have mentioned in my previous DLNA feature articles, it is very easy to do whether you decide to use a computer or a network-attached storage box as a media server. Most of the network-enabled music players support shuffle-play which can be very useful for this application to avoid predictable music-listening experiences and a lot of them have a line-out connection so you can connect them to a public-address amplifier or music-on-hold interface. Similarly, you could use something like the Yamaha CD-N500 network CD player or a network-enabled radio tuner like the NAD C446 to play music from your media server through your public-address system or an existing music system.

Education, Worship and Allied Applications

Educational institutions, churches, funeral homes and the like can find that DLNA can suit their needs in many ways, not just for a constantly-updated visual display.

The media library

A DLNA-based media system can work well when it comes to education. It doesn’t matter whether the idea is to show a video to a class or whether a student is viewing a video they saw in class “once more” in the library.

A capable DLNA media server with a properly-indexed media collection can work wonders here, with the users selecting the AV material through the DLNA media player’s user interface. Most such players can connect to existing AV equipment or the DLNA functionality can be part of the equipment’s functionality.

Similarly, if the media server provides it, you could allow Web-based access via any computer connected to the facility’s network. This can allow wireless-linked regular computers and tablet devices to be used to “pull up” the learning resources.

Content on demand

A church or similar location can find that they can benefit from having content “on hand” to pull up during the service. Here, you have a system that can grow with the different needs of that facility as it evolves.

For example, a small congregation may work from backing tracks for their worship singing until they have skilled musicians that they can trust or most congregations may show visual material during a service like images and video footage from the mission field.

Similarly, a funeral home may set up a dedicated NAS so that images, audio and video content are placed on to it by the deceased’s family so these can be shown on a “rolling basis” in the foyer before the funeral service, pulled up as required through the eulogy then shown on a “rolling basis” in another hall after the service while the mourners are chatting.

Here, it could be desirable to create a static collection of the content kept on a NAS which can be pulled up using Windows Media Player or VLC on a regular computer or on regular AV equipment. Other worship areas like a Sunday School or fellowship hall may also benefit by being able to “pull up” different content from the same library using the DLNA-capable AV equipment.

Other business-based DLNA applications

DLNA is eventually heading in the direction of a common IP-hosted data system for transferring media between portable and fixed devices including consumer-electronics devices.

A typical application may include uploading images and movies from a digital camera or camcorder to a “base” computer for editing and viewing. Similarly, there may be the application of downloading AV material from a computer to a smartphone using a DLNA-based client like TwonkyMedia so it can be viewed on that phone’s display.

Conclusion

What needs to happen is that DLNA needs to be viewed as not just being for the home but being for business, education and allied purposes as well.

Introduction

Most of us have one or more private spaces in the home that aren’t really where we sleep in but want to retreat to when we want to spend time alone or with a few chosen people. This may, for men, be the classic “men’s shed” or “office-den” but is becoming the so-called “man-cave”. For women, it may be a private lounge area or study with some people purposing these spaces for personal religious activity amongst other activities.

HP Envy 4 Touchsmart Ultrabook – an example of a touch-enabled Ultrabook that can be moved around very easily

Some of these spaces may also be used as a reception space for one’s own group of friends such as a man’s “mates” or a woman’s own “lady friends”, as well as serving as the own space. This is more so if they want to meet with these people away from the rest of the crowd in the house.

In most of these areas, it may be appropriate to be able to engage in online life using the home network. It encompasses access to the resources available via the home network whether it be music and video content held on the NAS or the ability to print out documents on a network-capable printer. The activities may range from personal entertainment in these areas through researching information from the Internet to creating documents and Web content.

What can you use here?

Sony VAIO Tap 20 – an example of an “Adaptive All-In-One” computer

You may want to use a portable computer device whether it be a laptop / notebook or tablet computer so you can take it between your private space and other spaces. For a fixed setup, you may go for an all-in-one or low-profile desktop computer. Some systems like the Sony VAIO Tap 20 may be able to bridge the gap between a large-screen desktop and a laptop computer and some of the regular all-in-one computers may be light enough to be transported from room to room.

The portable computer or easy-to-transport “all-in-one” computer would be more important if you are dealing with a space that is accessible directly from outside and doesn’t do well for security. This is because you can easily take the computer in to your home so it doesn’t tempt thieves when you have finished in that space.

Sony SA-NS510 Portable Wireless Speaker

If you are thinking of online-capable audio or video equipment that can fit well in this space, there is a lot of the equipment that can suit your particular needs. For example, a small Internet radio could be the answer for a shed or garage like as I have seen with the Kogan Internet radio that I reviewed in this site’s early days. Here, a person who was living with me had this radio in the garage playing some content from BBC Radio 4’s Internet feed while he was doing a few repairs at the workbench. A small Blu-Ray-equipped home-theatre system of the same ilk as a Sony BDV-E2100 or Yamaha MCR-755 or a small hi-fi of the ilk of the Sony CMT-MX750Ni or Denon CEOL Series could play its part as an entertainment system for a den.

You can even use the home-theatre systems with an LCD computer monitor as the display device if the monitor has an HDMI input socket or DVI socket that is compliant with HDCP. This can mean that you don’t need to use a TV set with these devices especially if you use a DLNA-compliant broadcast-LAN tuner or just enjoy media held on optical disc or the home network.

On the other hand, you could use a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi wireless speaker system along with your smartphone, tablet or notebook to play audio content from more than the speaker built in to the computer device. Similarly, you could connect a Bluetooth audio adaptor or AirPlay/DLNA-compliant network media receiver to a pair of computer speakers or a small boombox that has a line input to achieve the same goal.

What needs to be done

Network connectivity

Here, I would make sure that you have reliable access to the home network from this space. If the space is located in another building, I would suggest that you pay attention to my article on multiple-building home networks.

The WD LiveWire HomePlug AV switch that fills in the network gap

In some cases, I would make sure there is an Ethernet connection in that area if your place is being wired for Ethernet and you can afford it. On the other hand, you could use a HomePlug AV powerline connection to that space. This is important for detached buildings or rooms with direct outdoor access where they may not be secure because you can take the HomePlug adaptor in to your home. It is also important if you don’t get good Wi-Fi wireless-network reception from your router in that area and this situation can be remedied using an access point connected to the wired backbone.

Access to live TV content

As for access to TV content, if your space doesn’t have a connection for a TV aerial (antenna) or cable / satellite TV, you could use the home network to gain access to TV content. This is facilitated with a broadcast-LAN tuner like HDHomeRun or Devolo dLAN Sat which is connected to the TV aerial, cable or satellite TV depending on the device and transmits your chosen broadcast signal down the home network. Then you use software on the computer or tablet to “tune in” to the broadcasts. For that matter, the HDHomeRun Prime offers access to antenna or US cable TV you subscribe to via DLNA-capable video devices and software.

On the other hand, if you have pay TV, you could benefit from the provider’s “TV Everywhere” solution which works with regular or mobile computer devices to show live or on-demand pay-TV on these devices using your home network.

Access to your network-hosted content library

For audio, photo and video content, you can use DLNA-capable software media players like Windows Media Player 12, or TwonkyMedia to play the content on your portable computer or mobile device. If you use any of the Apple platforms, you could set your NAS up as an iTunes server for the audio content and have the iTunes music player software on your device pull up this content.

As I have mentioned before, devices with network-media-playback functionality would have to work to DLNA and/or AirPlay standards if you want to use these as your media player for your small space.

Printing from your private space

You may not need to worry about having a printer installed in that “man cave” or similar space if you are using a network-accessible printer. This means that you don’t have to worry about factoring in space for the printer. The only exception to the rule is if you see this space as a home office and you may want to have a heavy-duty machine for turning out work related to your business or similar effort.

Conclusion

Here, you can set up a reliable personal computing and entertainment environment that you can use in your small personal space, with the equipment being more suited to that space.

Introduction

I am reviewing the Sony CMT-MX750Ni Internet-enabled micro music system which is a small-form-factor CD/iPod stereo that can connect to the home network for Internet radio or DLNA-based music playback. It is equipped with a DAB+ digital-radio tuner but there is a version of this system known as the CMT-MX700Ni which doesn’t have this tuner and is available in areas that don’t have Eureka 147 DAB / DAB+  digital-radio services.

From henceforth, I am directing the comments in this review also at the Sony CMT-MX700Ni music system as well as this CMT-MX750Ni, except for any DAB digital-radio comments.

Price

Recommended Retail Price: AUD$449.00

Functions

Connections

Speakers

The system itself

Setup and Connection

The CMT-MX750Ni can connect to a network either via Wi-Fi wireless or Ethernet. This allows for flexibility with wired and wireless network setups, such as working with highly-reliable Ethernet and HomePlug networks. You need to use the remote for setting up the music system on a Wi-Fi network that doesn’t use WPS push-button setup. Here, you use the numeric keypad on the remote to enter the WEP or WPA passphrase for your wireless-network segment in an SMS-style manner.

Sony has “reinvented the wheel” when determining how the speakers should be connected to the main unit. Here, they have used a proprietary Molex-style plug at the system end of the speaker cords like they have done with their DVD home theatre systems. Personally, I would prefer that they use a two-conductor 3.5mm phone plug, or the older 2-pin speaker-DIN plug, both of these connections can allow for easier-to-replace, easier-to-modify speaker connection. Infact a lot of the music systems that were sold through the 1970s and 1980s with supplied “separate-piece” speakers, such as the “detachable-speaker” boom-boxes have used either the 3.5mm phone plug, 2-pin speaker-DIN plug or RCA plug to provide “plug-in” speaker connections and these have just worked as well for plug-and-play operation.

The speakers are a typical bass-reflex two-way setup but aren’t aggressively styled. One thing I am pleased about these speakers is that they are well-built and the enclosures use an all-wood construction rather than a plastic front baffle which shows the quality behind the system.

In use

You have the ability to perform basic content-navigation tasks using the controls on the Sony CMT-MX750Ni’s front panel but you need the remote control to use this music system to the fullest. The system uses an “Inverse” LCD display as its display. This yields readable text but Sony could implement a monochrome OLED or fluorescent display rather than the LCD which makes it look “cheap”.

Other than that, when you operate the Sony CMT-MX700Ni or CMT-MX750Ni music systems, you find that you are operating a well-built music system. The switches and mechanisms don’t exhibit any sort of tackiness that can be noticed in a lot of bookshelf music systems. The remote control is relatively large and with it you have one-touch access to the sources and main functions as well as being able to do advanced functionality.

The FM tuner didn’t perform properly on the “pigtail” aerial that was supplied with the unit, especially as it was on the lower level of a split-level house. Here, I would recommend connecting it to a better FM aerial like an outside one if you want the radio to work properly in a difficult scenario.

This setup didn’t challenge the DAB tuner with it able to survey the DAB+ multiplexes in Melbourne and provide clear and reliable reception from any program on these multiplexes.

The CMT-750Ni and CMT-700Ni use an iPod dock that drops down from the front panel. This makes it easier to hide the dock if you are not using an iPod or iPhone with it. As well, the iPod or iPhone can lean against the front panel while plugged in without the need to use any dock adaptors. The only limitation with this is that you need to pull back a hard-to-discover latch before you can close the iPod dock.

The front-panel USB socket allows you to play music of a USB memory key, SD card adaptor or smart phone. But it is “live for power” only when system is in operation and supplies the power when you select other sources so you can charge up your Android smartphone or other USB-connected device. This situation is similarly true for the system’s iPhone dock and it could be tempting for users to dock their iPhone in this CMT-MX750Ni’s dock in order to charge even if the system is not playing. It could have the option to supply power to charge devices connected to the USB socket or iPhone dock even when the Sony music system is in standby.

When the Sony CMT-MX750Ni or CMT-MX700Ni plays Internet radio and loses the connection to the station, it doesn’t try to reconnect to the station unlike the other Internet radio products I have used. Here, it just goes back to the main menu and you have to retune to that station, and this can be annoying with over-subscribed Internet streams. Other than, the Internet radio experience works properly as best as the link can allow.

This system works as an audio device in the DLNA Home Media Network. This includes the ability to play audio content that is “pushed” to it from a DLNA-compliant control point like Windows Media Player or TwonkyMedia Controller. It serves this function properly whether you pull the content up using the unit’s control surface or push the content out using a DLNA control point.

These music systems can work in the “Party Streaming” mode where multiple Sony receivers or music systems connected to the same home network can stream the same content at the same time. The CMT-MX700Ni or CMT-MX750Ni systems can work as either a host or a client system in this aspect.

Sound Quality

There is the ability with these Sony music systems to adjust the tone of the sound system. This can only be done using the remote control and you have to press the EQ button on that controller. Here you have access to bass and treble adjustments but you can also enable a “Dynamic Sound Generator” mode using a separate button. This may add “extra bite” to some recordings but may not yield difference with other recordings and may be about providing “big speaker” sound out of small speakers.

The sound quality is typical for a high-end “micro” form-factor music system but can clip or sound “muddled” around just near the maximum volume point. I have observed this with recent popular RnB music which is tuned for a loud sound with excessive bass but It can “go loud” on recordings that weren’t tuned “loud”, although I have had the CMT-MX750Ni run at “flat” tone settings.

I even ran this system on a DAB+ broadcast of an ABC Radio National program and had noticed that the speech from the show’s presenters came through very clear, crisp and intelligible. This didn’t matter whether it was a man or woman speaking in the show.

Limitation and Points Of Improvement

The “pigtail” aerials (antennas) supplied for DAB and FM use are inadequate for reliable FM or original-specification DAB digital radio (UK, Denmark, etc). As well, these supplied antennas remind you of using the typical clock radio which has this kind of FM aerial and are out of character with this system’s class. It could do better with a “whip-style” aerial similar to what is used for the Wi-Fi network connectivity and could support “single-input” aerial setups through an option.

Other connectivity improvement that It could also benefit from include having a pair of RCA line-input connectors or a “tape-loop” set of input and output RCA connectors on the back of the system for whenever you connect a computer, tape deck or other piece of audio-equipment in a semi-permanent manner. It can also benefit from a headphone jack for private listening purposes. Similarly, it could also benefit from integrated Bluetooth A2DP functionality so it can work with phones and media players that use this medium as a way of transmitting music data.

iPod dock with fiddly latch that needs to be released to close it

I would also improve the iPod dock so that you don’t have to operate any latches to open or close the dock. As well, I would provide the ability to charge smartphones connected to the USB socket or docked in the iPhone dock while on standby as a user-selected option. This can allow the user to keep an iPhone or other smartphone “topped off” when docked or connected to the system.

Another point of improvement would be to allow the CMT-MX750Ni music system to retry Internet-radio streams if the stream it is tuned to “gives up the ghost”.

I would also like to see the Internet-media and home-network-media functionality implemented into most of Sony’s bookshelf-stereo range and / or for Sony to develop a network-connected CD receiver along the same lines as the Rotel RCX-1500 CD receiver I previously reviewed.

Conclusion

I would recommend purchasing the Sony CMT-MX750Ni or CMT-MX-700Ni network-enabled music systems for use in a small room like a bedroom, den or office. It may work well for use in an apartment’s small living area.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t use this music system in situations where it is expected to fill a large room with music or play in a noisy area like a party or cafe.