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Beoplay A9 and Airplay

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Chris Townsend
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Chris Townsend Posted: Wed, Mar 12 2014 10:06 AM
As a new owner of an A9 I'm curious about what quality of music can be played to it over Airplay. Having looked at the Linn library for example, they sell various unlit ides of music(CD/Lossless etc)

Does Airplay have a technical limit, that would negate the point in buying certain better than Spotify tracks? What if any would the limit be?

I have a new fret on the way from SKINIPLAY, and have to say the A9 has been on constantly since I bought it. The A8 was very convenient, but as the A9 is so much better we have actually reorganised our kitchen diner around it.

Regards Chris

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Millemissen
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A AirPlay-sender/iPad....  converts anything that you play through Airplay to an AirPlay (audio) receiver to ALAC in 16Bit/44.1Khz quality.

(If send to an AppleTV, the ATV then upconverts to 16/48 before passing on the data to the HDMI-out.)

That means - even if your source is higher than 16/44.1, you won't be able to benefit from it.

On the other hand - upconverting from a MP3 file to the ALAC format won't make your files better sounding.

As Spotify is (as Premium) is 320Kbps, this answers your question.

You could either use losless ripped files from your CD's, buy losless files in 16/44.1 quality or start looking for Qobuz (they are streaming in losless - FLAC - quality ) to get the best sound with AirPlay (and your A9).

MM

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Chris Townsend
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Thanks for that. Tried to download a few tracks today to see if there is really that much difference. After two hours i gave up.

If anyone ever wondered wondered why the likes of Spotify and iTunes do so well, it is because they make it so easy to just enjoy the music. Apparently i have downloaded some tracks, but god knows where they have gone to!

Anyway, back to the 70's with Spotify medley Yes - thumbs up

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Jeff
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Jeff replied on Wed, Mar 12 2014 5:16 PM

Chris Townsend:

If anyone ever wondered wondered why the likes of Spotify and iTunes do so well, it is because they make it so easy to just enjoy the music. Apparently i have downloaded some tracks, but god knows where they have gone to!

 

Which is exactly why I love B&O, well one of the reasons at least. I don't obsess over this wire or that amp, I just get enjoyable, great sounding music whenever I turn it on.

Jeff

I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus. Sad

Chris Townsend
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Then you would love the A9. Relatively easy to setup, no dropouts, bags of bass and brilliantly works with the Beo4 Lets have a Party !!!

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Jeff
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Jeff replied on Wed, Mar 12 2014 6:32 PM

Chris Townsend:

Then you would love the A9. Relatively easy to setup, no dropouts, bags of bass and brilliantly works with the Beo4 Lets have a Party !!!

Hey, I'm sure I would. I've got a room that would be perfect for one, if I didn't already have a Beolab 2000 Masterlink setup for it. The A9 would undoubtedly sound better and look cool in the same room that my mid century Saarinen dining set resides. White Saarinen table and chairs, a white A9 would rock.

Now if only someone would give me one!

Jeff

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Mark
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Mark replied on Wed, Mar 12 2014 7:21 PM
I'm intrigued to see it wall mounted.

we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.

moxxey
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moxxey replied on Wed, Mar 12 2014 8:40 PM

Chris Townsend:

Thanks for that. Tried to download a few tracks today to see if there is really that much difference. After two hours i gave up.

If anyone ever wondered wondered why the likes of Spotify and iTunes do so well, it is because they make it so easy to just enjoy the music. 

Completely correct, but somewhat ironically means we don't necessarily need to spend £5K on a pair of speakers to listen to this compressed audio.

Most modern music is poorly produced anyhow, but well-produced music does make a difference as a lossless ripped track (from CD) or as a download. The latest Depeche Mode album is a very good example. You hear nuances in the tracks you just don't get on the Spotify Extreme version.

Little point me buying £5K BL18s, then a Playmaker, a Transmitter 1 and Essence....then limit my listening to iTunes music, which is what I've always done in the past. So, for the albums I love, I've been ordering them from Amazon. Much like I do with movies. I tend to rent them first, via the Apple TV and, if I really love the movie - which is rare - I buy it on Blu-ray and rip to my NAS! The last example was Gravity.

Chris Townsend
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Me too, and Pitch Perfect :-/

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Opman
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Opman replied on Wed, Mar 12 2014 10:56 PM

Two apologies, first for going of topic, second for saying "Gravity"??? I really didn't get why all the hype. First attempt at watching it I turned it off after 15 minutes. Second attempt I persevered to the end but that was 90 minutes I'll never get back :-(

Much preferred the Living with Astronauts on Channel4 tonight. Looking forward to second installment tomorrow and then the live orbit of the earth on Sunday evening. 

Opman

moxxey
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moxxey replied on Thu, Mar 13 2014 7:22 AM

Opman:

Two apologies, first for going of topic, second for saying "Gravity"??? I really didn't get why all the hype. First attempt at watching it I turned it off after 15 minutes. Second attempt I persevered to the end but that was 90 minutes I'll never get back :-(

If you take away the storyline (or lack of it, as I agree that part is relatively poor), it's the entire visual and audio effects. Almost unprecedented in production. If you knew how they did this, you'd appreciate the work involved. And it looks and sounds amazing on my BV11. That's the reason.

I appreciate the production of the film and the result, not what it's about.

Chris Townsend
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Today i received an after market fret from SKINIPLAY.com. My first impressions is that they look better in a photo than the real world. It's not bad, just not £115 goodErm.. 

What i'm saying is that although as appealing as they might seem, just settling for an original in the colour of your choice, will probably be a more satisfying experience(i'm really trying to be diplomatic)

If i can ever work out how to put a pic on this forum i'll try and do it.

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Mark
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Mark replied on Thu, Mar 13 2014 3:47 PM

Chris did you go for one of their generic designs or did you get them to create a custom cover?

 

we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.

Chris Townsend
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Got the spiral design. I'm sure there others are better, but the 3d effect is lost in a kitchen environment unfortunately. Put a pic on Facebook and am getting many varied remarks. Somebody thought it was a chair ffs!

The A9 is a great machine, and for all those who have an A8 I thoroughly recommend looking at upgrading.

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moxxey
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moxxey replied on Thu, Mar 13 2014 9:24 PM

Chris Townsend:

If i can ever work out how to put a pic on this forum i'll try and do it.

It's easy Chris :)

1) Find image URL: https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1/1010123_10203298577408171_1547635419_n.jpg

2) Click "Insert Media" from the toolbar

3) Choose "From URL"

4) Enter URL from 1)

As follows:

Chris Townsend
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Anyway, getting more used to it now :-)

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Jeff
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Jeff replied on Fri, Mar 14 2014 1:23 AM

moxxey:

Chris Townsend:

If i can ever work out how to put a pic on this forum i'll try and do it.

It's easy Chris :)

1) Find image URL: https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1/1010123_10203298577408171_1547635419_n.jpg

2) Click "Insert Media" from the toolbar

3) Choose "From URL"

4) Enter URL from 1)

As follows:

Whoa...trippy!

Jeff

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Mark
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Mark replied on Fri, Mar 14 2014 8:10 AM
I rather like it.

You know you will now have to be prepared to give a Power Point Presentation when any visitors enter the room :-)

we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.

Chris Townsend
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I just wish more frets were available. What ever happened to the design with the Olufsen brothers on it?

The volume control on the rear is very handy(good pun) I'm listening to Radio 4 at the moment, and the vocals are less boomy than the A8. Something i didn't expect. It's a pity that it didn't come with the simple remote that the A8 came with, although the Beo4 will do the job in "CD".

Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.

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