Can't fathom how the Moment makes sense for its price. Please convince me otherwise.

Ok so first this isn't an attack on the Moment. I love the way it looks and I like the idea behind it, I just can't justify getting one for the cost. 

My dealer is selling the Moment for $4300 Canadian. For this I get the Moment, no speakers and no storage, nothing. Basically a tablet with a low resolution screen and wireless capabilities to speakers that cost another $5000 CAN minimum.

For the same cost of the $4300 Moment I can get:

 

• An amazing new iMac
• A Synology diskstation to store thousands of FLAC files
• A high end AV receiver with Airplay support and Preouts to connect B&O speakers
• and FOUR retina iPad Mini's.

 

With all that I can easily replicate all the functions of the Moment and even have many many other pros.

Pros:

 

• I can pick up any of the FOUR iPad mini's with multiple apps to access my music and distribute it to any of my B&O speakers such as my A8, A9 and BL 18's and 3's (Hooked up to my receiver) and stream to them lossless through airplay.
• I can use my iMac to run iTunes to make genius playlists replicating the learning functions of the Moment.
• I can use Deezer on any of the iPads or iPhones.
• I can use Tune-in Radio or many other streaming apps.
• My devices can be used for thousands of other things though apps.
• Guests can jump on my Wifi Network and stream their songs straight from their devices to any of my speakers using airplay.
• I never have to hunt for the moment as there is always one of the 4 iPads around me or my phone in my pocket.
• iPad mini's are much lighter and easy to hold than the Moment

 

Cons:

 

• No wood side with limited functions
• No B&O logo

 

 

The Moment:

Pros:

 

• Mood wheel (which can be easily replicated with smart playlists in iTunes)
• The B&O logo
• The wireless speaker capabilities that are VERY limited.

 

Cons:

 

• The extremely high cost
• Uncomfortable to hold for long periods. Sharp corners, screen on far left makes it a bit awkward. Heavy. Low resolution screen. 
• Extremely buggy software
• Moment is very limited in features compared to any iPad
• Will not stream to Airplay devices

 

What really surprised me is when I went to my dealer and told him that I have a Beolab 18 and 3's hooked up to my home theatre receiver though RCA and that the moment would NOT be able to stream to them through airplay.

That means the moment would render my home theatre speakers totally out of the picture to stream music to which is totally ridiculous since I already do it through airplay.

Now if the moment cost $1200 I MIGHT be able to justify it but you could still do more for $1200 by buying a NAS, a Mac Mini and iPad.

Someone please convince me otherwise. I wanted a Moment until I figured out there would be literally no positives to a setup that costs 1/6 the cost.

You left out the pro/advantage of patternplay ie the learning that ON at 6am on Tuesday's does not mean playing Groovy Tuesday !

Its really quite easy to make Smart Playlists in iTunes that does that same thing. Even not is is worth $4300 for that feature where there are so many other cons?

PS I didn't do the maths of a Total Cost of Ownership like you did but I was uncomfortable and so settled for the Essence Mark 2 with a little bit of B&O Magic

Not so sure now that I should have bought the BLC ... I probably should have settled for integration via the BeoSound 4's AUX connection.

Still the years to come will confirm or deny my strategy of slowly atrophying my ML network instead ruthless wire cutting.

Severed_Hand_of_Skywalker:

Its really quite easy to make Smart Playlists in iTunes that does that same thing. Even not is is worth $4300 for that feature where there are so many other cons?

The difference is their AI versus you doing, but yes I have all four types of Apple playlists

You could still set up smart playlists that take the AI Apple Genius in iTunes to really do the same thing though.  But if someone has 20,000 FLAC files I'm pretty sure they are going to be pretty content making very specific playlists by hand anyway ;)

 

I meant B&O's AI.

And I only have 17,000+ tracks and no FLAC

I came to he same conclusion as you did - Moment just did not make sense at the current price point (perhaps at $1000 it would). And maybe I am in the minority, I was not so keen on the aesthetics with the wood and thickness of the base. I went the MacMini and receiver route instead.

My other problem is the base is big and tally useless without the tablet. I have the B&O 90th anniversary book and they show an earlier concept for the moment where the base also has a control wheel that is exposed when the tablet isn't on it. 

if you are in a house with more than one room it is very inconvenient to only have ONE tablet where you can control all your music. As I mentioned for the same money you could have many many iPad minis in every room of the house doing the same thing and better. 

Listening habits also played a role in my decision for an Essence MkII. Although I loved the idea of pattern play and the mood wheel (that of discovering new music), after taking a hard look at the way I most often listen to music, the Essence made the most sense. Also, I don't quite like the look of the Moment anyway, so that also made the decision easier.

That being said, with all the posts saying that the relatively often released updates to the software have made the Moment a much better product than it was released makes me happy that B&O is paying attention to its products in that fashion.

Severed_Hand_of_Skywalker:

My dealer is selling the playmaker for $4300 Canadian. 

I take my hat off to any dealer, who can sell 'the playmaker for $4300 Canadian.

MM