Playmaker or Essence to play NAS-drive music to BL3 and non B&O sub?

I want to obtain some Beolab 3’s to run with

-          a non B&O sub,

-          streaming from FLAC files on my NAS or Android phone,

-          I assume using the B&O app on my phone as the music selection device

Q1

 Will both Playmaker and Essence Mk1 do this?

-          In particular run one Powerlink to the BL3’s and another (via Powerlink to RCA adaptor) to the sub? I assume you need just the one RJ45 for the BL3’s – which leaves the other free to drive the sub – but how do you tell the Playmaker/Essence to drive BOTH outputs at once?

Q2

In this setup I cannot see any advantage of Essence over Playmaker – am I right?

Thanks

Q1:  As far as I recall only the Mk1 Playmaker will play FLAC (see here: https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/6675.aspx).  And in the Playmaker both RJ45 are driven in parallel by default (as normal Powerlink outputs) - I suspect that the Essence is similar.

Q2:  I have no experience of Essence, but when connected wirelessly my Mk1 Playmaker often lost its network connection.  Others have had better experience with wired network connections

In addition….

Look here for differences in Playmaker MK1 and 2:

https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/p/6675/79394.aspx

I’d definitely run a Playmaker hardwired - but you could try first via Wifi.

The Essence MK1 is more forgiving…….depending on your Wifi setup, of course.

The Playmaker can be volume controlled via a Beo4 or on the device itself.

For the Essence MK1 you’d need an ir-eye in addition or e.g. the Essence Remote to do that.

 

As for apps to use (on the Android phone) for FLAC playback see here:

https://www.maketecheasier.com/best-android-lossless-audio-players/

 

MM

Oups!

Sorry, Guy - same link as you already provided

However, one can find this information in different threads on Beoworld.

MM

Thanks everyone for answers so far

So I understand so far

 - Get a MK1 Playmaker and hardwire it to the network

- No problem to drive the non B&O sub from second set of powerlink outputs

 

And I'm not hearing any reason at all to get Essence MK1 vs Playmaker - can anyone think of a reason to go Essence? I can't.

And I read from the Playmaker manual "It is possible to set up and synchronise  multiple  Playmakers in your home. Contact your Bang & Olufsen retailer for more  information".

So that means I get two Playmakers and can have multiroom?

 

1: no reason…besides what I mentioned about the volume control.

2: as far as I know, it never was possible to make Playmakers play as multiroom …..was not a theme at the time, when the Playmaker came out.

Could you please link to that information?

 

MM

Here it is - look on P8

https://support.bang-olufsen.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041401332-Playmaker

You mean the sentence:

’It is possible to set up and synchronise multiple Playmakers in your home. Contact your Bang & Olufsen retailer for more information.’

I don’t know why they wrote that (still synchonice is not multiroom).

Fact is - and I have dealt with a few of these Playmakers - these is no option there for multiroom as we know it nowadays.

Maybe with ‘synchronise multiple Playmakers’ is meant what is described in this document about the UPnP AV Architecture on page 29/31:

http://www.upnp.org/specs/av/UPnP-av-AVArchitecture-v2-20101231.pdf

 

MM

A few thoughts:

- I think the reference to synchronising multiple PlayMakers refers to Airplaying to them from a Mac (which at the time was the only device that could Airplay to multiple Airplay speakers simultaneously). I think the limit was something like 8 Playmakers on one network.

- PlayMaker and (I think) Essence MkI had 2.4GHz WiFi only. The Essence MkII had 2.4/5 GHz WiFi.

- If you are at all considering expanding your B&O collection with more sources (BeoSounds or BeoVisions) I would suggest getting an Essence MkII; this can form the basis for a true B&O multiroom system, even capable of being controlled by the current and beautiful BeoRemote Halo.

Lawrence

@Lawrence

I guess you are right there - that is so far back, that I did not think of it.

MM

Well I have sent a question to B&O tech support to ask about the synchronising aspect so we'll see what comes back.

It's worth saying that the whole reason for exploring this anyway is to exchange my large (v large) non B&O amp/passive speaker + Chromecast Audio system for the small BL3’s. But keeping the ability to simultaneously stream into the kitchen

So, even if it’s Essence Mk 2, this can’t do Multiroom on its own – if it sits in one room and connects to speakers by Powerlink, the speakers in another room will need their own wireless DAC box to provide connection to those speakers – so do you in fact need 2 x Essence Mk2?

 

Maybe a better (less expensive) solution is to have one Essence Mk1 in the room where I want a sub and turntable – here using the Essence’s built in Chromecast.

I then keep my existing Chromecast setup in the kitchen and use Google Home to group the Essence-Chromecast and the actual Chromecast Audio together – and there we have the Mutiroom ability and all the connections in the living room needed for sub and turntable.

This should work?