Beosound Core or Airport Express mkii Airplay2

I am deciding between a Core or Airport Express mkii to my BL90 in my lounge.

Beosound Core to BL90 would be using Toslink or digital powerlink. Core has inbuilt Deezer which I would use 20% of the time. 80% of the time I intend to use Primephonic from iPad to Core via AirPlay 2. Core doesn’t have Primephonic inbuilt only Deezer. Streaming at CD quality. Volume control using Essence remote. Core=£600+.

or....

Airport Express mk2. Discontinued but plenty for sale on eBay. It has mini-Toslink digital output which I would connect to Toslink input on BL90. I intend to use Deezer, Primephonic from iPad to Core via AirPlay 2. Streaming at CD quality. Volume control using Essence remote. Airport Express mk2=£100

The price difference is £500. What does the Core offer that the Airport doesn’t in terms of form and function?

P.S. I have a Moment on the home network in the upstairs bedroom.

Surely its just worth trying out the Airport express route, given its so cheap?

In the end you have to take the plunge at some point, and that's a cheap plunge in the grander scheme of things.

Speaking personally, with such a capable speaker as the 90's, I'd always be looking to use a wired source.

Of course, using a non-mainstream source as Primephonic makes life a little trickier, but the point still stands to me.

Though for some 90's owners I'm sure Airplay is perfectly fine.

Hence I'd try it out the AE solution, live with it for a month or so, and only then will you know if its worth trying alternatives.

You can easily disappear down a rabbit hole with this kind of thing.

 

seethroughyou:

I am deciding between a Core or Airport Express mkii to my BL90 in my lounge.

 

 

Beosound Core to BL90 would be using Toslink or digital powerlink. Core has inbuilt Deezer which I would use 20% of the time. 80% of the time I intend to use Primephonic from iPad to Core via AirPlay 2. Core doesn’t have Primephonic inbuilt only Deezer. Streaming at CD quality. Volume control using Essence remote. Core=£600+.

 

 

or....

 

 

Airport Express mk2. Discontinued but plenty for sale on eBay. It has mini-Toslink digital output which I would connect to Toslink input on BL90. I intend to use Deezer, Primephonic from iPad to Core via AirPlay 2. Streaming at CD quality. Volume control using Essence remote. Airport Express mk2=£100

 

 

The price difference is £500. What does the Core offer that the Airport doesn’t in terms of form and function?

 

 

P.S. I have a Moment on the home network in the upstairs bedroom.

 

 

I actually have both the Apple AirPort Express MK2 and BeoSound Core. If you don't care about the DAC in the Core, which IMHO is slightly better than the AirPort Express (not by much) the AirPort Express might be a better choice. The AirPort is slightly smaller and the software is rock solid. Well the Core is pretty solid too...but like you said the AE is really cheap and 100% gets the job done.

You will miss the physical remote if you take the AE.

You have BL90’s, are you really going to save on the input source???

leosgonewild:

You will miss the physical remote if you take the AE.

You have BL90’s, are you really going to save on the input source???

I have an Essence rotary remote that controls volume using IR direct to the Beolab 90.

When you say “are you really going to save on the input source???” what are you referring to please? Have I missed a capability or performance advantage if I go with the Airport Express? Thank you Leosgonewild.

The later version of AE is regarded as quite okay:

https://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express-audio-quality-2014.htm

I think he means the Core might be a few hundred pounds vs 100 for an Airport Express, but given the cost of the 90's, why not just fo for the Core.

Thats his point, not about any performance factors between the two options you are looking at.

The Airport Express will do nothing more than turn your 90's into wireless speakers / Airplay receivers.

Personally I'd struggle to rationalise driving 50 grand speakers using Airplay and an Airport Express. Especially if you are paying for a higher tier of a streaming service. 

I'd probably not even use a Core either, simply because the music browsing experience of the B&O app is so uninvolving.

But then again, I'd be using a combination of ripped CDs / FLAC files and QoBUzz/Tidal, which are native to alot of streamers / network players, and connect the network player wired. So a bit easier than with something like Primephonic.

 

 

 

 

seethroughyou:

leosgonewild:

 

You will miss the physical remote if you take the AE.

 

You have BL90’s, are you really going to save on the input source???

 

 

 

I have an Essence rotary remote that controls volume using IR direct to the Beolab 90.

 

 

When you say “are you really going to save on the input source???” what are you referring to please? Have I missed a capability or performance advantage if I go with the Airport Express? Thank you Leosgonewild.

 

The airport express DAC is ok, but personally. Chromecast DAC is better.

I would get the Core.

What I meant earlier is that if you have bought that expensive speakers, you should get the proper equipment (core), and not save a few quid on buying the sub par AE

(Did not mean to offend you I any way, if it was received wrong)

leosgonewild:

The airport express DAC is ok, but personally. Chromecast DAC is better.

I would get the Core.

What I meant earlier is that if you have bought that expensive speakers, you should get the proper equipment (core), and not save a few quid on buying the sub par AE

(Did not mean to offend you I any way, if it was received wrong)

You did not offend at all. It’s important to be open minded and when I raised the original post, I was genuinely interested to hear from diverse perspectives. Your advice is much valued and helpful. Thank you!

If all you are doing is using the AE as an AirPlay 2 streaming device with Optical Out to the BL 90s it has no advantage or disadvantage over BS Core. The AE in my experience has super stable wifi connectivity and will stay connected to your network through thick and thin. However, if you are going to hardware the AE/Core then again it doesn't matter. 

Exactly, if you are doing to control the volume with the remote on the BL 90 and do all the processing on the speaker (which you should) then the AE is just a streaming transport.

Lastly, in my experience, because I was using the internal DAC in the AE and Core, the Core had a slightly longer delay between when I send the music from my ipad and it started playing on the speakers. Not a huge deal but something to consider.

I know people that are using AE with high end gear to enable streaming. It's definitely a bargain for the price. I know a couple of people who work at Apple who still use it with their music set ups. 

You'll be fine with both. I use the core mainly because I use the line-in for the Core as well as AP2 streamer.

Chromecast does not do AirPlay 2 so your post here seems off the mark. Also, if you want to match the price of the speaker to a streaming DAC you can go a lot better than the Core!

 

Here is a discussion from Audiokarma on the topic:

It refers to Ken Rockwell's now famous or infamous AE test and also a couple of counters (interestingly the negative ones were either referring to an older model or never evaluated the SQ at all). Anyway, since you are NOT using the DAC it won't be an issue for you. I'd also be careful about advice that says one is way better than the other since all you need for your application is a solid AirPlay 2 device.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/apple-airport-express-vs-everything-else.729979/

I seem to have a different opinion than others here, but mine is backed up by a number of truly blind listening tests.

The analog out (DAC) on the AE is excellent. Better than all 3 external DACs I've put it up against: Emotiva XDA2 ($300), Emotiva DC-1 ($500), DSPeaker Anit-mode 2.0 ($1,200). And these DACs are no slouches.

All were auditioned in a truly blind test with matched levels, switching from analog out from the AE directly into the amp, to optical out into each DAC, then out to the amp. On almost every pick, the AE was chosen as the winner. Just last week my entire audio club did a blind test against the $1,200 DSPeaker. Everyone agreed the AE sounded better. So I sold off all my DACs and just use the AE analog into my tube integrated. The sound is fuller, more dynamic, and better resolved.

According to my research, if you're just counting sound quality, the Airport Express is a killer. There are other things to consider as noted above (constant on, Airplay requires strong wi-fi infrastructure and drains device battery). I also have a Chromecast Audio which requires a lesser wi-fi network and integrates better in a non-Apple environment with no battery drain. But I would want to use an external DAC with it. With the AE, it doesn't get any simpler. I only stream Tidal Hi-Fi, so the AE is my only source and my DAC. So I have the AE to my integrated to my speakers. Simple signal path, limited amount of cables to degrade the sound. Sounds amazing. For me it's perfect.

Hope this helps.

seethroughyou:

I am deciding between a Core or Airport Express mkii

Same as deciding between an apple (beyond expiration date) and a pear

If you are using to skunk from the AE to the BL90, you can skip my earlier comment about sound quality.

If you are using toslink*from the AE to the BL90, you can skip my earlier comment about sound quality.