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WiiM WiFi Streamer

GChief said:
To get a discount to upgrade to the NEW tech that company is moving forward with to stay competitive. :dunno:





Lud·dite
  1. a person opposed to new technology or ways of working.
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Hey, we took your money. You want those features we sold you, we need more $$$ for it to continue....
 
GChief said:
That thinking means business and morality currently go together. I 100% understand what your saying.
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Right now, I cant think of too many companies that have adopted updates that break their old device's original purpose. Fortunately, it hasn't happened with Sonos, yet. Yes, things go away as new tech is introduced. I remember analog phones going away as digital replaced it. However, that wasn't one company just deciding to abandon its customers. I really can't think of too many situations like that. For most companies, it would probably lead to ruin. However, Sonos has some very avid customers, so maybe a lot of them will complain and pay for the upgrade anyway. Time will tell.
 
I doubt I'll be upgrading my Sonos stuff. The legacy Connect and Connect:Amp will continue to do what they've done so well for years to come; the ROI on them has, for me, been excellent. Their small speakers aren't being isolated, and work brilliantly well in small rooms; I can't think of any alternative of their tiny size that perform as well in a single unit, not even a wall wart to deal with, only a power cord (well, two power cords, as they're far better when stereo-paired). Bi-amped TPA-3116s, room tuning, nearly every music source on the planet, voice control along with a best-in-class app, ability to use just about all major native provider apps. Hard to beat, should have another 10 years of support.

But, having LONG played with just about every (reasonable) WiFi solution on the planet, I'll continue to kick the tires on alternatives. The KEiiD, et al, aren't as well implemented as Sonos in many respects, but the idea of an umbrella company providing all the necessary guts, and integrating all the cloud services via AWS, while allowing OEMs to produce some possibly really good hardware at reasonable cost, is pretty compelling. I wish Sonos would do the same, but so far, they've only allowed IKEA to use their great tech, have forced Denon to license it, are targeting BlueSound to also comply, and are even going after Google, who also infringed their patents. That takes balls, and will be very costly; It could very well bankrupt them. Hope not, but I'll be prepared just in case.
 
NAD is offering an add-on BluOS card. It's specific to NAD/BlueSound. It’s something that the companies offering WiFi music integration ought to be thinking about. A standard slot, not just in NAD receivers, but across all vendors, that could accommodate a card from any of the providers. The slot would merely need to provide power and interfaces for digital audio. The card would have all the "smart" stuff that goes out of date, and a pair of WiFi antennas on the back. Simple. Probably never happen, but I can dream.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_745MDBLU2I/NAD-MDC-BluOS-2i.html

Another issue with BlueSound is that their app is crap (2/5 stars vs 5/5 for Sonos on the App Store), they offer far fewer services, and don’t support anywhere near the 32 nodes Sonos does. The idea of reliably streaming “hi-Rez” audio to even a few nodes without SonosNet is laughable, as well.
 
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SONOS suing Google? Google could reach under their figurative couch cushions, pull out a $100 Million or so, buy SONOS and bury their patents & tech.

I'd laugh but it hurts so I won't.

I'm still looking for a good wi-fi streamer, so now I have @chicks new one to look at.

Mark Gosdin
 
Wow! What a great price! Does it do HiRes?
chicks said:
Looking for alternatives to Sonos, as most of my Sonos devices, which I've had (and loved) for years, will be put into maintenance mode in a few months. Technology moves so fast; the Sonos devices have had a great run for 15 years, but I don't want to continue using expensive devices that will eventually be forced out of date.

This thing is the equivalent of my Sonos Connect, which Sonos has replaced with a new device. It supports Amazon Music and Deezer, the two services I use, along with Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Napster, DLNA, AirPlay, BlueTooth etc. Pretty versatile. Their app (Muzo or 4Stream, which appear to be nearly identical) works on the phone, and on my ChromeBox, which is a big deal for me. Also has a handy dandy remote control (though they didn't include the AAA batteries, grrrr).

Analog RCA and optical outputs, 3.5mm analog input, 3.5mm sub out. I'm currently using it with the optical output into my desktop monitors. Sounds pretty good! $90 minus a 20% discount coupon right now at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WWNQJQK/

I'll update the thread as I test it out further.
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Lo-Fidelity said:
Chicks,
How do you like the Deco M5s?
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Very nice. Uber simple install, was even able to keep the old router’s SSID and pwd, so all devices came right back online, no fiddling required. Very strong WiFi throughout the large two story house.
 
ldatlof said:
So how does it sounds compaed to a SONOS?
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The speakers are really the only thing in the chain that would sound any different with CD quality digital audio, IME. I’m using some fairly flat desktop monitors with the KEiiD, not quite as good as my stereo paired, room tuned Sonos Play:1s across the room, but quite nice.
 
As I suspected, Audio Pro uses the same tech. Their app has been nicely customized, without the dreaded spinning album cover. Yay! Recommend this app for use with the KEiiD, or any of the many other devices using this tech.

D5232016-A4F5-469A-A73A-0ACEF711CC60.png 7657E897-4EFC-475C-90AD-4B8C303D945F.png
 
chicks said:
The speakers are really the only thing in the chain that would sound any different with CD quality digital audio, IME. I’m using some fairly flat desktop monitors with the KEiiD, not quite as good as my stereo paired, room tuned Sonos Play:1s across the room, but quite nice.
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I would be using this hooked directly to a stereo and possibly a subwoofer. The sub out is a nice touch. So long as this has bit perfect playback the SQ should be great.
 
ldatlof said:
I would be using this hooked directly to a stereo and possibly a subwoofer. The sub out is a nice touch. So long as this has bit perfect playback the SQ should be great.
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Yep, no reason one of the digital outputs shouldn't be bit perfect, at least with the volume fully up. Unlike the Sonos Connect, though, there's no way to bypass the digital volume control that I can find.
 
imral3 said:
No indicator of file resolution?
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If you want that, you can use BubbleUPNP as the controller.

Playing around, set up Enable Remote Browsing in BubbleUPNP on my Android tablet for cloud services, so can play uploaded FLAC files from Google Drive, etc through it to the KEiiD using the Audio Pro app as controller. So many possibilities, lol.

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chicks said:
If you want that, you can use BubbleUPNP as the controller.
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Once I switched to streaming services (currently AMHD) exclusively, I've enjoyed having my PC/server not being on 24/7. Not looking to use a bunch of different apps/programs to stream AMHD when I find their app works the best for, well, AMHD. ;)
 
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