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Airplay 2 Speaker Options

raysablade

raysablade

pfm Member
My daughter has asked me to suggest an airplay music system. it has to be reliable and
require nothing but a power cable and an iphone with an Apple Music Subscription to work,

She has had a Ruark R1 radio for 10 years and likes it because it is reliable and only needs a power cable to work. That brought the Ruark MR1 system to mind but that doesn't have Airplay compatibility. That in turn led me to suggest a decent sound bar but she does not want a "plank" on her sideboard just a couple of speakers.

These, however, would have to be small enough to sit on the sideboard next to the TV, so decent sized stand mounts are out.

That leaves me with the Kef LSX system or a couple of Sonos One's, does anyone have any other suggestions this side of £1000. I've always found Sonos software super reliable so it seems a clear winner for now.
 
Not sure whether Yamaha’s MusicCast speakers would also fit the bill. Unsure whether they are Airplay 2 ready yet?
 
Del monaco said:
Not sure whether Yamaha’s MusicCast speakers would also fit the bill. Unsure whether they are Airplay 2 ready yet?
Click to expand...

Seems not, they only support Airplay

It is interesting to me that software support is a big part of this and that with my knowledge of her consumer perspective Sonos is proving hard to move from centre stage
.
 
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Sonos is probably the answer. They used to do a 3 & a 5, in fact I think there was a 5 for sale in the classified section?

The Beam is pretty good with music & excellent with TV/Movies.
 
Sonos is easy that’s for sure and added bonus of Alexa enabled. We love our One’s in the kitchen. But you’d get a better sound with some active speakers and a streaming device.

Used I’d say AVI ADM9’s and a Node2i for ~£800.

New, perhaps the baby KEF’s?

https://uk.kef.com/products/lsx
 
JezmondTutu said:
Sonos is easy that’s for sure and added bonus of Alexa enabled. We love our One’s in the kitchen. But you’d get a better sound with some active speakers and a streaming device.

Used I’d say AVI ADM9’s and a Node2i for ~£800.

New, perhaps the baby KEF’s?

https://uk.kef.com/products/lsx
Click to expand...
l’m sure they will sound better but the software is always a worry. I

Today for perhaps the 3rd time in the last 12 months my Auralic streamer disappeared from the network and the Lightning DS app. It needed a power down and a leap into the depths of the control app to reset it. It struck me whilst this was going on that in the same room as I have it and over £5k worth a wonderful sounding audio gear my wife has and happily uses a single Sonos 1.

I was also thinking that in the 4 years since installed a Sonos Playbar and Sub in the Front room, they have looked after themselves and not required any intervention from me at all.

In the past I’ve experienced British HiFi’s memorably miserable efforts at software in the hands of Naim and Monitor Audio. Having been bitten by that i’m loath to recommend the KEF LSX.

Are the KEF or Bluesound apps and hardware more reliable than Auralic?
 
You can get drop outs with Sonos, this week I had two devices going & couldn’t turn them off, this is very rare though. Having said that ApplePlay is pretty faultless with the later gen models.
 
It’s interesting. I’ve always found the Sonos less prone to dropouts than most of the other protocols. It was rock solid at my mates. My problem with Sonos was that it was very plain sounding. Fine but no better than many other secondary streaming systems. And more expensive generally.
 
raysablade said:
l’m sure they will sound better but the software is always a worry. I

Today for perhaps the 3rd time in the last 12 months my Auralic streamer disappeared from the network and the Lightning DS app. It needed a power down and a leap into the depths of the control app to reset it. It struck me whilst this was going on that in the same room as I have it and over £5k worth a wonderful sounding audio gear my wife has and happily uses a single Sonos 1.

I was also thinking that in the 4 years since installed a Sonos Playbar and Sub in the Front room, they have looked after themselves and not required any intervention from me at all.

In the past I’ve experienced British HiFi’s memorably miserable efforts at software in the hands of Naim and Monitor Audio. Having been bitten by that i’m loath to recommend the KEF LSX.

Are the KEF or Bluesound apps and hardware more reliable than Auralic?
Click to expand...

Well both can also connect with bluetooth?

The Play 5 is a good shout and inexpensive. Just depends how much your daughter wants to spend I guess.
 
JezmondTutu said:
Well both can also connect with bluetooth?

The Play 5 is a good shout and inexpensive. Just depends how much your daughter wants to spend I guess.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that Bluetooth doesn’t get the best out of either the new Apple Music bit rates or the BBCs best Radio streams.
The potential to improve Radio sound is what kicked our conversation off.
She has seen the Ruark MR1 and was excited by their fit with her room layout, sadly it seems that they are Bluetooth only.

I fear that a Play 5 would be too big for the space she was planning to devote to this but will ask.
 
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