Wireless hifi music steaming

[iamthestig]

Was at a party the other week and this guy had this device on his hifi that was picking up the music from his pc and playing it through his hifi. What are these things called? Any makes/models that stand out for a particular price?
Many thanks for your replies, as you may have guessed I'm not that good with computers and appreciate your help!

[oggs]

Plotty your services are req

[TimDarracott]

A friend has a Sonus, pretty nifty piece of kit.

[mindgam3]

Media streamers maybe?

There's a few on the market, most allow movie streaming too.

Quite a common one is the apple airtunes which streams stuff from itunes onto your hifi, but is fairly expensive for only music. Having said that, most others are £150+ but are more flexible in compatability and functionality

[MartinDB]

A friend of mine loves his Roku.
I swear by my Squeezebox in my bedroom.
Philips have their Streamium range, some of which I've seen in Comet.

Martin.

[iamthestig]

Thanks for your help guys, done a bit of searching and looks like Im gonna get this:

www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=109890

Philips SLA5520 Wireless Music Streamer

Does'nt seem too bad for £80 delivered.

[MartinDB]

You'll want to visit Streamiumcafe then, doesn't seem to be many problems with them (wish I could say the same for my SL300i).

Martin.

[vex]

In Plotties absence.

The problem with the Roko and Squeese Boxes is they also need a Hifi to play them through. Great if you have one in every room, bit not so good if you don't.

This is were Sonos is great, wifi audio streaming from any of your wifi devices, Pc, NATS etc. and an amplifier built in so all you need to do is connect them to a set of normal speakers.

Personally it is Sonos every time for me, sexy little PDA/iPod style RF remote as well.

Chris

[Rednut05]

I second Martin, has to be the Squeezebox for the win.

[t5grf]

Second Vex Sonos recommendation, fantastic kit, expensive but very well made and easy to set up and use.

[davidd]

Could I use one of those philips jobbies with a network drive? (Obvisouly something with a brain like a linkstation..0??

D

[tinman0]

got a roku here and its superb.

it comes down to roku if you want a closed system but stylish interface, or squeezebox if you want a more open source interface.

[Plotloss]

tinman0 said:

it comes down to roku if you want a closed system but stylish interface, or squeezebox if you want a more open source interface.

Thats not entirely true.

Roku as a uPnP device is available to be controlled by any uPnP ControlPoint and get its data from any uPnp MediaServer so its open on that basis. The fact that it uses Connect out of the box doesnt mean it HAS to be used with Connect.

SQB isnt uPnP aware but more hacks exist for the software platform that it runs.

Between the three that have been mentioned I would recommend the SQB if you already have a hifi in the room which you plan to stream to. The amplified Sonos is probably the best choice if you dont but be aware that a SQB and amplified speakers will still be less money than a Sonos zone.

There are NAS solutions that work with SQB out of the box so no requirement for a PC. The Sonos can do this also but requires a bit more fiddling to setup.

Edited by Plotloss on Tuesday 10th October 18:07

[MartinDB]

davidd said:

Could I use one of those philips jobbies with a network drive? (Obvisouly something with a brain like a linkstation..0??

D

I don't know if the Philips server software will, but Twonkyvision works with several.

Martin.