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This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022

 

Aux/Line in and the Mozart Platform

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Ludodivx
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Ludodivx Posted: Wed, Aug 18 2021 4:26 AM

Hi everyone!

 

I’m new to this forum as well as Bang & Olufsen products so I hope I’m posting my first question right. I used the search feature but couldn’t find my answer.

 

My understanding is that in the new speakers on the Mozart platform (Balance, Level, Emerge…), the multi room features are now managed directly in the connected apps through Chromecast or Airplay, while the Bang & Olufsen apps manages the settings of the speakers.

 

I’m currently in a Sonos ecosystem, but have been looking at B&O products since a long time. I’m probably going to start with a balance or an emerge, and my home will be a mix of B&O speakers as well as a Sony chromecast enabled home theatre system.

 

My question is in regards to the multiroom and the line in sharing in a chromecast ecosystem. Let’s say I have my Sony HT-A9 playing a concert on Blu-ray via the E-Arc, can I share the sound from this room to other rooms on the B&O speakers? In the same idea, can I plug my computer to the line in on a Level as an example, and share that with the other rooms through chromecast? If so, how should I proceed and will I encounter delay?

 

Thanks a lot for your help, I would like to make sure I understand fully how it works before switching ecosystem.

 

matteventu
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No, you can't do that.

Chromecast limitation.

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Wed, Aug 18 2021 2:06 PM

Hi,

 

Thanks a lot for your quick answer. This is definitely disappointing. My understanding is that it used to be possible when B&O was using its own multiroom solution?

 

Would there be any solution to achieve what I would like to do with the new hardware? Either with Airplay 2 if all my products (B&O and others) are Airplay 2 enabled, or within the B&O app?

 

Thanks!

trackbeo
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trackbeo replied on Wed, Aug 18 2021 3:58 PM

If all the products are AirPlay2 compatible, you can broadcast to them all in sync.  BUT only Apple devices can be the *source* for AirPlay2; all 3rd-party licenses are only for output.  That rules out broadcasting your line-in sources, unless you hook them up to a Mac!

N.B: When I tried playing to a Homepod stereo-pair and a Beosound 1 2nd-gen via AirPlay2, they got out of sync.  Not sure why, but it represents a buffering/timing bug somewhere, more likely B&O than Apple. [Edit: Software update August 2021 shows a new "delay" feature for sync on some products.  It is undocumented, typical of B&O, but might fix this.  Should be totally unnecessary, because AirPlay2 calculates & syncs based upon replies from the device, but...  Also note this sync problem is probably related to Wi-Fi drop-outs: When playing to several devices including single Homepods but not the stereo pair, BS1's remained in sync, but rotating sound drop-outs clearly indicated that the buffers were being re-filled to "often" disconnected devices.]

As a current Sonos user, IMO the easiest thing is to purchase a Sonos Port each time you buy another B&O speaker which has line-in.  It's lame, & stupidly more expensive, and ugly boxes you have to hide -- but Sonos really does have the multi-zone, multi-line-input, synchronized, broadcast -- & its user interface -- tamed.  If only B&O had its software act together, or Sonos made higher than mass-market products, or wishes were horses.

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Wed, Aug 18 2021 5:20 PM

Wow, thanks a lot for your very detailed answer, it’s really appreciated.

 

I will carefully consider my next move in terms of new products based on this experience.

matteventu
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matteventu replied on Wed, Aug 18 2021 10:05 PM

Ludodivx:

Wow, thanks a lot for your very detailed answer, it’s really appreciated.

 

I will carefully consider my next move in terms of new products based on this experience.

I highly suggest you to send that (what you were looking for, why you liked B&O products, and why then you decided you unfortunately had to look at other brands) here: https://support.bang-olufsen.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000923538

The only way to get things changed in the future is to make them hear our voice.

Csaba
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Csaba replied on Thu, Aug 19 2021 12:52 AM

Isn’t it an option to wait for Beolink multiroom support for the Level or Balance? We have been told they are coming. I know, for like a year, but it cannot be more than half a year now, can it?

I’ve also put my next acquisition on hold because of Beolink. Of course I could get actual Beolink-supported existing speakers.

In addition, I have just asked B&O for a clarification on if connecting my record player to a Core would work and if it supported streaming to the Balance. I cannot find any info anywhere regarding Core-compatible speakers other than «Beolab», but as we know their documentation could also use some boost.

Stan
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Stan replied on Thu, Aug 19 2021 9:46 PM

Csaba:
I have just asked B&O for a clarification on if connecting my record player to a Core would work and if it supported streaming to the Balance

I can (and do) stream my record player that is connected to the aux-in of my BS2 to my BS1.  This is a capability in the older NetworkLink products - those that came before "Mozart". 

Since the Balance doesn't support multi-room (except via Chromecast / Airplay 2), I'm quite sure the Core cannot stream to it today (unless you want to hardwire from the PL out on the Core to the line-in on the Balance).  You will just have to wait to see what B&O releases as "NetworkLink" for the Mozart platform.  I can't imagine B&O saying anything else until it is released.

TWG
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TWG replied on Fri, Aug 20 2021 7:57 AM

Would be wise from B&O NOT to regress and rely solely on Google / Apple for their products functionality! I prefer B&O and their long term solutions!

Did andybody actually try to share the line-input of a "Mozart" based device to other B&O devices? Otherwise it's only speculation.

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Sat, Sep 11 2021 10:05 PM

So for curious people, I ended up buying the beosound balance after a store demo.

I was really amazed by the sound such a compact speaker is capable of giving. I'm definitely not an audiophile with a lot of technical knowledge, having used mostly sonos products, but the balance gave me my first ''wow, this thing is in an other league'' moment. I rediscovered songs in a way I only listened to them on high end headphones, which is amazing.

As you probably noticed, I'm talking in the past because sadly, after two weeks I returned it to the store, after a lot of careful considerations. I wanted a nice versatile speaker, with the ultimate goal of buying two to put in stereo pair and use for music as well as computer use, but the unfixable delay for the line in made that impossible. I spoke with bang and olufsen and they simply answered that the beosound balance is not meant for that usage and that there was no way to disable the delay. For a product at this price I find it unforgivable.

Given that it was already a stretch for me to rebuild my whole sonos ecosystem by replacing every speaker one by one, it was sadly a bad start for me with B&O. 

I will still continue to dream about their products and consider them a different league. I saw a few of their showcases at CES and met some of the team and they are definitely passionate people who master sound and are able to share that passion with people from any levels, but I have to say it appears that the software side, especially since the mozart platform, since unpolished / unfinished and having promises of beolink coming ''soon'' since one year makes the move hard to recommend at the moment for me.

I'll finish this long answer by a question that I hope is not against the rules of this forum, but given that I still think about this speaker very fondly, I'm trying to create a similar approach in the Sonos ecosystem. I'm obviously looking at a sonos amp but it seems there are no currently available ''compact'' B&O passive speakers that would make me still part of the B&O family in the sonos ecosystem. Do you know any? If now, do any of you know of bookshelf speakers that would make me smile while listening to music like the Balance did?

Thanks again for your help and all your previous answers, this community is great :)

Csaba
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Csaba replied on Sun, Sep 12 2021 9:49 AM

Ludodivx:

I wanted a nice versatile speaker, with the ultimate goal of buying two to put in stereo pair and use for music as well as computer use, but the unfixable delay for the line in made that impossible. I spoke with bang and olufsen and they simply answered that the beosound balance is not meant for that usage and that there was no way to disable the delay.

First of all thank you for your feedback! Sad to hear about your experience. I wonder what other speakers you may have from B&O or if you have tried any others with a line-in, such as the Beosound 2.

I would also like to understand better in what specific scenarios you have experienced delays with line-in. It sounded like you only had one Balance, but this cannot have caused a delay by connecting a source directly into the Balance. Nor did you mention having actually tried two Balances in stereo where a delay may have occurred. Could you elaborate? :)

Forgive me for if it is my English but I’d like to know what exact purpose B&O mentioned the Balance was not for? I’d like to make sure I understand. I am also just about to buy a Balance, so this makes me wonder a little.

1990
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1990 replied on Sun, Sep 12 2021 12:39 PM

I think the use case was adding a Balance to a Sonos system through a Sonos Amp/Port. Since the Balance has a line in delay (which prevents usage as a tv speaker), you can’t have Sonos multiroom audio in this scenario. The fixed delay will always be present.

Csaba
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Csaba replied on Sun, Sep 12 2021 12:43 PM

1990:

I think the use case was adding a Balance to a Sonos system through a Sonos Amp/Port. Since the Balance has a line in delay (which prevents usage as a tv speaker), you can’t have Sonos multiroom audio in this scenario. The fixed delay will always be present.

Right, that would make more sense. Thanks, I had no idea about this delay.

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Sun, Sep 12 2021 4:38 PM

Actually, my initial intent was to slowly replace my Sonos ecosystem with Bang and Olufsen products. I loved how the beolink app is similar to the sonos one in the way that it allows you to control your whole home audio, and I figured that in the meantime that B&O develops beolink for their new products I could use both sonos and B&O through Airplay 2 to have some kind of bridge between the two.

I already had a plan where Beosound merge / level could replace some of my sonos ones and beosound balance and Beoplay 2 some of my sonos 5. 

For that reason I figured that I would invest in a beosound balance as my first step into the B&O world (my first product, given that I always dreamt about them but never could afford them). The idea was that I would buy a balance, then in a few months add a second one and make for a really versatile pair that would be used for music as well as computer speakers in my guest / work from home room.

Sadly, this unfixable delay prevents me from doing that, since any Youtube / movies or even videoconference or games have a perceptible lag ruining the experience. And this delay also prevents me, as 1990 mentioned, to simply use the Balance as part of a Sonos ecosystem in case I would want to, since the sound would not be in sync with the rest of my speakers via a sonos Amp.

So my original question was, since there does not seem to be a solution to bypass the delay (maybe when beolink is released?), and that I was really amazed by the sound of the balance, if you knew of passive bookshelf speakers that have a similar sound to the balance. But if discussion of other brands here is now allowed I would understand :) It's not that I want to save money, I'd rather use a balance, but in my situation I can't :(

 

And for curious people, here's the exact wording of Bang and Olufsen as an answer to the delay issue : 

With regards to the Line-in issue I would like to apologize here as there was some miscommunication. With Google Voice Assistant enabled speakers the speaker settings are found in the Google Home App however for the Balance, and our other recent speakers, there is no longer an option to disable the Line-in delay as the speakers themselves are designed for music playback not for audio-visual content, such as movies or video games.

We are aware it is possible to compensate for delays in playback via Airplay 2 connections but this workaround, if an option for you, would be one Apple offers via their own proprietary streaming standard and software and thus not one we can ensure in the long term would work though we do not plan on altering how the delay functions at the current time on our latest generation of speakers.

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Sun, Jan 30 2022 4:00 PM

Hi again, amazing community!

 

I'm replying to myself because I saw a few days ago that Beolink finally became compatible with the devices on the mozart platform, which brings me to wonder if some of my questions / problems could be answered / solved with this update. 

Here are the questions : 

- Did this update change anything at all in terms of line-in delays or the ability to remove it?

- Since now everything can be done in the beolink app, is there any advantage to have the non GVA version versus the GVA enabled one? In the past if I remember correctly there was more options regarding sharing sound in another room via line-in?

- Not really related to the update since I think the beosound stage was already compatible with beolink, but if I have a stage playing sound with HDMI, can I share this sound in other rooms, say on a Balance or Emerge?

- Finally bonus question : Does anybody know if there's a supply / hardware issue with the Emerge? In Canada it completely disappeared from B&O's website as well as resellers. Which is a shame since it's the most affordable option to get in the mozart platform.

Thanks a lot :)

Csaba
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Csaba replied on Sun, Jan 30 2022 5:13 PM

Ludodivx:

Hi again, amazing community!

 

I'm replying to myself because I saw a few days ago that Beolink finally became compatible with the devices on the mozart platform, which brings me to wonder if some of my questions / problems could be answered / solved with this update. 

Here are the questions : 

- Did this update change anything at all in terms of line-in delays or the ability to remove it?

- Since now everything can be done in the beolink app, is there any advantage to have the non GVA version versus the GVA enabled one? In the past if I remember correctly there was more options regarding sharing sound in another room via line-in?

- Not really related to the update since I think the beosound stage was already compatible with beolink, but if I have a stage playing sound with HDMI, can I share this sound in other rooms, say on a Balance or Emerge?

- Finally bonus question : Does anybody know if there's a supply / hardware issue with the Emerge? In Canada it completely disappeared from B&O's website as well as resellers. Which is a shame since it's the most affordable option to get in the mozart platform.

Thanks a lot :)

I am not sure about the delay, but a few brief comments:

- as far as I am aware you can only share line-in in a Beolink setup if you have a speaker without Google Assistant.

- yes, you are now sble to start with a pre-Mozart speaker and join a Mozart speaker to it or the other way around, in my test both seem to have worked since the release

- B&O are prioritizing what to make, and the Emerge has lost the supply chain battle against the Beolab 28 and Beosound Level, but will be back this spring, it is the same everywhere for now, you cannot buy it online and they may be sold out in B&O stores as well

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Mon, Jan 31 2022 2:39 AM

Thanks a lot for all the infos. I’ll wait to see if someone has more details on the line in situation to see if I give B&O another chance over Sonos :)

 

Ludodivx
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Ludodivx replied on Mon, Jan 31 2022 2:39 AM

Thanks a lot for all the infos. I’ll wait to see if someone has more details on the line in situation to see if I give B&O another chance over Sonos :)

 

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