finally a competitor for Sonos??????
Discussion
Yes they do represent an investment for sure.
In that case you need some signal sensing relay switches capable of handling mains power.
Something like this:
http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Doesn't say what the price is but could do the job.
ETA Ah, £80 then. http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Anyway, you're looking for an "audio controlled relay" or a "signal sensing relay" if that helps.
ETA again, this one is £12, you just need to mount it in a box :-)
https://www.quasarelectronics.co.uk/Item/cebek-pm-...
In that case you need some signal sensing relay switches capable of handling mains power.
Something like this:
http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Doesn't say what the price is but could do the job.
ETA Ah, £80 then. http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Anyway, you're looking for an "audio controlled relay" or a "signal sensing relay" if that helps.
ETA again, this one is £12, you just need to mount it in a box :-)
https://www.quasarelectronics.co.uk/Item/cebek-pm-...
Edited by Driller on Sunday 8th May 19:31
page3 said:
Not saying CC isn't a great product, just that it doesn't offer anything special for an existing sonos owner.
Agree - if you are heavily invested in the Apple world or the Sonos world it's not always going to be a logical next step.As luck would have it I dragged my feet over digitalising my existing music, dodged iTunes, and had had a brief but unsatisfactory skirmish with DAB and Squeezeboxes. Whilst all the time retaining my various separates in various rooms.
Thne Spotify Premium and Bluetooth dongles came along and I was a happy man. The CC's are then a massivee step up from Bluetoth.
So it all makes sense if you're on a journey like that.
Driller said:
Gramofon works a treat if you're an Apple user (I had a very unsuccessful try with CC) and an added benefit is it has an ethernet port for hard wiring.
Does Gramofon work with iTunes directly or is it more like Sonos? I use Plex with the CCAs for streaming my own files and I have got used to it, but I'd probably prefer to use a single interface for Apple and Spotify like I used to with Sonos.The CCA has an optional ethernet connector that you can buy for £15. This doubles the (current) cost of the unit, but it is still very cheap overall and has the advantage that you don't have to buy ethernet for the zones that work well wirelessly.
Driller said:
Yes they do represent an investment for sure.
In that case you need some signal sensing relay switches capable of handling mains power.
Something like this:
http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Doesn't say what the price is but could do the job.
ETA Ah, £80 then. http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Anyway, you're looking for an "audio controlled relay" or a "signal sensing relay" if that helps.
ETA again, this one is £12, you just need to mount it in a box :-)
https://www.quasarelectronics.co.uk/Item/cebek-pm-...
Thanks! Looked like I should be able to do something with those links.In that case you need some signal sensing relay switches capable of handling mains power.
Something like this:
http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Doesn't say what the price is but could do the job.
ETA Ah, £80 then. http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=130
Anyway, you're looking for an "audio controlled relay" or a "signal sensing relay" if that helps.
ETA again, this one is £12, you just need to mount it in a box :-)
https://www.quasarelectronics.co.uk/Item/cebek-pm-...
Edited by Driller on Sunday 8th May 19:31
I am not that impressed with the sonus for a couple of reasons
sonically they are competent but not great and provide a fairly inoffensive sound but not one that excels for dedicated listening
also the lack of airplay compatibility is a pain
but there is a good alternative. surprisingly from a non Apply fan....in airplay.
I have a Naim Muso, a hi-fi and 2 B&W A5s which are all airplay speakers. using a laptop or pc/mac its very easy to stream to multiple airplay speakers (in sync) using a simple app, there are a couple , but I am using Tuneblade, its just £7.
works super easily, you can play Spotify, tidal, iTunes, basically anything from your pc and chose which devices to stream to and set volumes. You can ofc set volumes from the other devices. So Apple have made a standard that is surprisingly open for them the only apple link in the system is a cheap Apple TV into the DAC for the main Hi-Fi.
see link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e0ywXIY1aQ
sonically they are competent but not great and provide a fairly inoffensive sound but not one that excels for dedicated listening
also the lack of airplay compatibility is a pain
but there is a good alternative. surprisingly from a non Apply fan....in airplay.
I have a Naim Muso, a hi-fi and 2 B&W A5s which are all airplay speakers. using a laptop or pc/mac its very easy to stream to multiple airplay speakers (in sync) using a simple app, there are a couple , but I am using Tuneblade, its just £7.
works super easily, you can play Spotify, tidal, iTunes, basically anything from your pc and chose which devices to stream to and set volumes. You can ofc set volumes from the other devices. So Apple have made a standard that is surprisingly open for them the only apple link in the system is a cheap Apple TV into the DAC for the main Hi-Fi.
see link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e0ywXIY1aQ
Found a snag at the weekend when I strayed outside my normal zone of casting music from Spotify and tried Youtube (some of the more eclectic stuff I try and listen to can sometimes only be found on Youtube or Soundcloud).
Tried casting from Youtube but it's seen as a video service rather than as an sudio stream and so only pairs with the traditional Chromecast in my study rather than the two CCA's elsewhere.
I could of course solve this by plugging a CC alongside the CCA in my amp but I can't be arsed. It would work but I'd have to keep changing the source on the amp (first world problems I know.....) and I wouldn't be able to use an optical connection. And so on.
So probably an integration tick for Sonos there (assuming Sonos can harmess all of these feeds on one platform).
At some point, no doubt, Google will launch a combined dongle but until them I'll stick to Spotify for my music.
Tried casting from Youtube but it's seen as a video service rather than as an sudio stream and so only pairs with the traditional Chromecast in my study rather than the two CCA's elsewhere.
I could of course solve this by plugging a CC alongside the CCA in my amp but I can't be arsed. It would work but I'd have to keep changing the source on the amp (first world problems I know.....) and I wouldn't be able to use an optical connection. And so on.
So probably an integration tick for Sonos there (assuming Sonos can harmess all of these feeds on one platform).
At some point, no doubt, Google will launch a combined dongle but until them I'll stick to Spotify for my music.
I'm becoming a bit fed-up with CCA. I simply cannot cast music stored on my NAS to any of the 5 CCAs I've got. I've tried a number of music players and they will all allow me to cast from music located on my phone but not from the NAS.
I am considering selling all my CCAs and buying more Sonos gear instead.
I am considering selling all my CCAs and buying more Sonos gear instead.
Watchman said:
I'm becoming a bit fed-up with CCA. I simply cannot cast music stored on my NAS to any of the 5 CCAs I've got. I've tried a number of music players and they will all allow me to cast from music located on my phone but not from the NAS.
I am considering selling all my CCAs and buying more Sonos gear instead.
What have you tried? I am considering selling all my CCAs and buying more Sonos gear instead.
I can do this from Plex, Sony Music and ESFile Explorer, I'm sure there's more options out there too. I've added the Music on my NAS to my Google Play account and can then cast the music from Play, by-passing the NAS entirely.
My NAS supplies the music via Samba (SMB), it might be that your NAS isn't operating as a SMB server?
AC43 said:
Found a snag at the weekend when I strayed outside my normal zone of casting music from Spotify and tried Youtube (some of the more eclectic stuff I try and listen to can sometimes only be found on Youtube or Soundcloud).
Tried casting from Youtube but it's seen as a video service rather than as an sudio stream and so only pairs with the traditional Chromecast in my study rather than the two CCA's elsewhere.
I could of course solve this by plugging a CC alongside the CCA in my amp but I can't be arsed. It would work but I'd have to keep changing the source on the amp (first world problems I know.....) and I wouldn't be able to use an optical connection. And so on.
So probably an integration tick for Sonos there (assuming Sonos can harmess all of these feeds on one platform).
At some point, no doubt, Google will launch a combined dongle but until them I'll stick to Spotify for my music.
The Youtube app can support both, it just doesn't. It's deliberate choice (not one I agree with) to keep things simple for the user at the expense of choice. For example, Pocket Casts supports both CC and CCA and will just add a what's playing screen to the CC if you cast to that. Spotify works on CC, but only on CCA if you have a subscription because Google have given the app developers (too much?) control. Have you tried Vevo, no idea if that would help?Tried casting from Youtube but it's seen as a video service rather than as an sudio stream and so only pairs with the traditional Chromecast in my study rather than the two CCA's elsewhere.
I could of course solve this by plugging a CC alongside the CCA in my amp but I can't be arsed. It would work but I'd have to keep changing the source on the amp (first world problems I know.....) and I wouldn't be able to use an optical connection. And so on.
So probably an integration tick for Sonos there (assuming Sonos can harmess all of these feeds on one platform).
At some point, no doubt, Google will launch a combined dongle but until them I'll stick to Spotify for my music.
Similarly, you can't add a CC to a group like you can the CCA, so I have a CCA plugged into my surround sound systems in the living room and workshop so I can multi-cast in there, I should be able to use the CCs that are plugged into the TVs in there.
paulrockliffe said:
Watchman said:
I'm becoming a bit fed-up with CCA. I simply cannot cast music stored on my NAS to any of the 5 CCAs I've got. I've tried a number of music players and they will all allow me to cast from music located on my phone but not from the NAS.
I am considering selling all my CCAs and buying more Sonos gear instead.
What have you tried? I am considering selling all my CCAs and buying more Sonos gear instead.
I can do this from Plex, Sony Music and ESFile Explorer, I'm sure there's more options out there too. I've added the Music on my NAS to my Google Play account and can then cast the music from Play, by-passing the NAS entirely.
My NAS supplies the music via Samba (SMB), it might be that your NAS isn't operating as a SMB server?
For the CCA I use ESFileExporer too. It allows me to open music files from the NAS and play on my phone. If I then try the action to cast to one of the CCAs, it appears to cast but doesn't complete the action. At first I suspected a bug but some of the comments on the ES Google Play site suggested it casts to the Video CC fine so I then thought perhaps it might be just that the CCA was relatively new and they hadn't brought the ES cast product up to date yet.
However, it still doesn't work. I have a Google phone (5X) too, so I'm about as "standard" as it gets in terms of kit.
I've tried from Bubble and Google Play Music too. Bubble had the same problem as ES whereas Google Play Music won't even "see" my NAS - it can cast music from the Google Play account or from the local device but not the NAS.
I can view my NAS from Windows, so I assume it has Samba installed.
I like ESFileExporer - if I could get that to cast to CCA, that would be a nice "integrated" UI for me.
I have had issues with devices not seeing the CCs, it was caused by the router being s
t at WiFi. Once there was a lot of devices on there (there would have been 12 in total) it started losing devices and then finding them again, usually a few seconds later. If you were streaming it very rarely enough to cause the stream to be paused, but it would drop the controlling device so you'd use the remote control access to the playlist.
I've stuck a decent WiFi router on the network and it's fixed all my issues, it might be something to consider?
I think someone mentioned earlier here or somewhere else that there can be issues around 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi networks, see if you can get the router to only let them on one frequency. get the controlling devices on the same frequency too. Short-term you can do this either by turning 5Ghz off, or by giving them both different SSIDs.
I suspect the NAS is more likely to be setup as a DLNA source, though that's a guess. If you open Windows Explorer you will see the NAS as a media server if it's running DLNA. If it's running SAMBA you'll be able to map it as a network drive. I'd test that and if no SMB, Google will tell you how to get it on there. I'm not familiar with NASs in general so don't know how they'd normally be configured.
t at WiFi. Once there was a lot of devices on there (there would have been 12 in total) it started losing devices and then finding them again, usually a few seconds later. If you were streaming it very rarely enough to cause the stream to be paused, but it would drop the controlling device so you'd use the remote control access to the playlist.I've stuck a decent WiFi router on the network and it's fixed all my issues, it might be something to consider?
I think someone mentioned earlier here or somewhere else that there can be issues around 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi networks, see if you can get the router to only let them on one frequency. get the controlling devices on the same frequency too. Short-term you can do this either by turning 5Ghz off, or by giving them both different SSIDs.
I suspect the NAS is more likely to be setup as a DLNA source, though that's a guess. If you open Windows Explorer you will see the NAS as a media server if it's running DLNA. If it's running SAMBA you'll be able to map it as a network drive. I'd test that and if no SMB, Google will tell you how to get it on there. I'm not familiar with NASs in general so don't know how they'd normally be configured.
paulrockliffe said:
I have had issues with devices not seeing the CCs, it was caused by the router being st at WiFi. Once there was a lot of devices on there (there would have been 12 in total) it started losing devices and then finding them again, usually a few seconds later. If you were streaming it very rarely enough to cause the stream to be paused, but it would drop the controlling device so you'd use the remote control access to the playlist.
I've stuck a decent WiFi router on the network and it's fixed all my issues, it might be something to consider?
I think someone mentioned earlier here or somewhere else that there can be issues around 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi networks, see if you can get the router to only let them on one frequency. get the controlling devices on the same frequency too. Short-term you can do this either by turning 5Ghz off, or by giving them both different SSIDs.
I suspect the NAS is more likely to be setup as a DLNA source, though that's a guess. If you open Windows Explorer you will see the NAS as a media server if it's running DLNA. If it's running SAMBA you'll be able to map it as a network drive. I'd test that and if no SMB, Google will tell you how to get it on there. I'm not familiar with NASs in general so don't know how they'd normally be configured.
The NAS has both - I can map a drive directly to it and copy files as you would any other storage. The Media Server is how the TV sees the content (but bizarrely only the older Samsung TV can actually see the content despite the new TV being able to see the NAS itself).t at WiFi. Once there was a lot of devices on there (there would have been 12 in total) it started losing devices and then finding them again, usually a few seconds later. If you were streaming it very rarely enough to cause the stream to be paused, but it would drop the controlling device so you'd use the remote control access to the playlist.I've stuck a decent WiFi router on the network and it's fixed all my issues, it might be something to consider?
I think someone mentioned earlier here or somewhere else that there can be issues around 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi networks, see if you can get the router to only let them on one frequency. get the controlling devices on the same frequency too. Short-term you can do this either by turning 5Ghz off, or by giving them both different SSIDs.
I suspect the NAS is more likely to be setup as a DLNA source, though that's a guess. If you open Windows Explorer you will see the NAS as a media server if it's running DLNA. If it's running SAMBA you'll be able to map it as a network drive. I'd test that and if no SMB, Google will tell you how to get it on there. I'm not familiar with NASs in general so don't know how they'd normally be configured.
I was a contributor towards the 2.4 vs 5GHz bit earlier in this thread. I had trouble moving already-attached CCAs from 2.4 to 5GHz although one of my CCAs found the 5GHz network "from new" and appears happy there. It's all a bit inconsistent.
I wanted the CCAs to work. I bought 5 of them and the sound quality is excellent. They just need a bit more work. And although I would say that despite their deficiencies they are still amazing value compared with Sonos, I am willing to pay the price for Sonos if I can't get these to work the way I want them to.
More experimentation this coming weekend.
Dunno then, but the 8 I have work perfectly now I've sorted out the WiFi. Mine are on a mix of frequencies and connecting to the router or a WiFi switch in the Workshop too so it's not a simple setup. I do have 6 of the 8 within 2' of the router, one 15' away and the last one in the workshop.
It sounds more like an issue caused by your setup somehow. Have you tried putting them all right next to the router, or a different router?
Someone mentioned there was a LAN adapter for CC, might just be for the TV ones though?
It sounds more like an issue caused by your setup somehow. Have you tried putting them all right next to the router, or a different router?
Someone mentioned there was a LAN adapter for CC, might just be for the TV ones though?
Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff