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Topic: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast  (Read 6860 times) previous topic - next topic
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Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

I was looking for a streaming device and found by googling many of them but so far no one that matches my requirements.

I hope some of you can recommend me one. Here are what i want and what is not important for me:

  • It must support Air Play, DLNA, Spotify Sonnect and Chromecast built-in
  • It should not be a dongle but a real device with good build-quality and ethernet connection
  • It should read the content of usb-storage-devices
  • the correspondending app don't have to offer implemented services - i don't care about them

So far the best what i have found are some new devices from onkyo and pionner but for whatever reason the devices are not dlna certfied anymore

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #1
Have a look at the Oppo Sonica
TheWellTemperedComputer.com

 

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #2
Raspberry pi

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #3
Have a look at the Oppo Sonica
What a price! but apart from that: it doesn't Support chromecast-built-in

Raspberry pi
I am to stupid for that! ;)  I am looking for a hifi-device and not a mini-pc

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #4
Raspberry pi
Would you like to elaborate your proposed RasPi scenario in more detail?
Especially your solution for AirPlay and ChromeCast would be very interesting.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #5
Not sure about Chromecast, but otherwise DENON DNP-730AE

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #6
@eldarien:
What's you experience with the DNP-730AE?
The specs look very promising.
Unfortunatelly, there are mixed valuations of this product e.g. at Amazon (most problems reported with bad WiFi connectivity, instability (frequent resets neccessary) and close to unusable apps.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #7
I am only planning to buy such device in the future, so none. But based on my research this one is my favorite so far.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #8
I was looking for a streaming device and found by googling many of them but so far no one that matches my requirements.

I hope some of you can recommend me one. Here are what i want and what is not important for me:

  • It must support Air Play, DLNA, Spotify Sonnect and Chromecast built-in
  • It should not be a dongle but a real device with good build-quality and ethernet connection
  • It should read the content of usb-storage-devices
  • the correspondending app don't have to offer implemented services - i don't care about them

So far the best what i have found are some new devices from onkyo and pionner but for whatever reason the devices are not dlna certfied anymore

One approach would be to obtain one of the Android computers intended for use as an TV set top bpxes, and load it with apps that handle the protocols and formats that you desire. These devices are relatively small and inexpensive, and generally in the form of a small box to which one connects  various interface mediia, including BT , Wifi, Ethernet, HDMI (usually just output), USB, digital audio coax (usually just output), and 5 volt power.  Analog audio  and, toslink interfaces are rare as well as  HDMI and coax audio inputs.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #9
@Arnold B. Krueger
The Problem with android driven boxes is that you cannot realize air-play-functionality in a proper way. And since we have some apple devices that is a important function. Furthermore i need the streaming device as expansion of my hifi-system - means: without a tv as uncomfortable medium.

@eldarien & @sundance
So far the best of my Research:
  • Pioneer N-50AE. But it has not full dlna functionality
  • Yamaha WCX-60. But it has  not chromecast-functionality
As far as i have heard both apps are good

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #10
@q-stankovic:
The Yamaha WXC-50 (did you mean that one? Couldn't find a WCX-60)) looks very promising; it even has BlueTooth. I'm going to download a detailed spec and user manual, if I can find one.
And I could live w/o ChromeCast, if everything else worked fine - adding a ChromeCast-Audio to AUX in doesn't hurt much (add some 39€ and having an extra device, though). Another con is (imho) missing support for AppleMusic.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #11
@Arnold B. Krueger
The Problem with android driven boxes is that you cannot realize air-play-functionality in a proper way.

Exactly what do you  mean by that? I quickly found 3 apps to play Air Play on Andriod boxes. If I can find 3 that easily, there are probably more,

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #12
@Arnold:
You're right, there a heaps of them.
Just out of curiosity, I tried two free Airplay apps on my Nexus 7. While both of them registered as Airplay receiver on my IOS device & I was able to connect to them, one didn't play my music at all (Airplayer), the other one (AirScreen) worked but audio quality was unacceptable because there were frequent little dropouts in the audio stream. Very annoying.
Don't get me wrong: I don't want to lump all these apps together, but what I read from other app's reviews, these problems are not restricted to the ones I tested.
So I guess the OP would like to have a hassle free solution that works flawlessly out of the box. However, these commercial devices have to prove that they do just that...  ;)

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #13
@sundance
yes, i mean the wxc-50
If i don't find a better solution i will have to plugin in a chromecast Audio dongle. I try to prevent such a solution: i need a stable connection and i would have additionally to plugin an ethernet-Adapter to the dongle. That should work but i really prefer a clutter-free way if possible.

@Arnold B. Krueger
As sundance already said: there is no hassle-free solution., i assume because there is no certification and the apps are hacks. But apart from that i think using a streaming-box and tv is a usability-nightmare. Ideally i should not use more than an app or a remote

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #14

@Arnold B. Krueger
As sundance already said: there is no hassle-free solution., i assume because there is no certification and the apps are hacks. But apart from that i think using a streaming-box and tv is a usability-nightmare. Ideally i should not use more than an app or a remote

I admit it, I have no Apple hardware.,That may be a path for avoiding hassle, no matter what the hype is.  I also have experienced hassle-free listening in my audio experiences with Android. I multitask at least a half dozen apps and listen to music without unplanned interruptions on many occasions.  I do this on a Samsung S5 phone and a Nvidia Shield tablet which are not high end or hyper-expensive.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #15
I admit it, I have no Apple hardware.,That may be a path for avoiding hassle, no matter what the hype is.

I had an iPod Video (80GB) and I had to convert my Monkey's Audio collection of about a 1200 songs to a format the iPod would except even though I had tons of room on the device.   The device got fried when it got plugged into a broken USB port.  I did experiment with Rockbox (which had support for the format) but was annoyed with a few hardware specific issues.

I have a FiiO X1 now and happier without all the iPod hassles.  A Rockbox port would help a lot when it's done when it comes to some broken implementations of certain features since FiiO discontinued support.  I'm now using a library of about 2000 songs in FLAC.

The latest Apple hassle is a bunch of dongles from what I heard.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #16
@sundance
yes, i mean the wxc-50
If i don't find a better solution i will have to plugin in a chromecast Audio dongle. I try to prevent such a solution: i need a stable connection and i would have additionally to plugin an ethernet-Adapter to the dongle. That should work but i really prefer a clutter-free way if possible.

I was looking for something similar for our bedroom (music over AirPlay and a RokuTV as sources, Soundfield Audio Monitor 1 speakers) and this Yamaha seemed to be the best fit currently on the market. Yamaha also has one with an amp built in. I have a couple excellent little Parasound Zamps from an abandoned active speaker project, so I bought the cheaper preamp version.

It has been problem free, though setup is a little quirky in that you need to use a combination of the iOS app and the website (accessible over Bonjour in Safari) to access all of the settings. Be aware that the volume knob on the front is a nasty piece of plastic with an explicably blade-shaped rim.

I haven't used their app except for initial setup, but I expect it supports Spotify. I don't subscribe to Apple Music, but Apple Music plays in iTunes so it should just AirPlay in from your Mac or iDevice. DNLA seems besides the point in a modern Mac based system, because everything just runs through iTunes and AirPlay.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #17
@sundance
yes, i mean the wxc-50
If i don't find a better solution i will have to plugin in a chromecast Audio dongle. I try to prevent such a solution: i need a stable connection and i would have additionally to plugin an ethernet-Adapter to the dongle. That should work but i really prefer a clutter-free way if possible.

@Arnold B. Krueger
As sundance already said: there is no hassle-free solution., i assume because there is no certification and the apps are hacks. But apart from that i think using a streaming-box and tv is a usability-nightmare. Ideally i should not use more than an app or a remote

Perhaps you can give us more details.  You mention both clutter-free and hassle-free.  Where is this thing going to live? Permanent installed, or do you need to move it around?  I understand hassle-free, I want my family to be able to use my stuff too.  Clutter-free: I can usually hide the clutter easier than I can find everything I want now and in the future in one box.

For me, I needed a chromecast (for me) and airplay (for my wife) system for my kitchen.  I turned out running a separate chromecast audio and an airplay receiver both into a small mixer, then into the amp and speakers.  Everything is on top of my cabinets, which fixed my mess-o-cables issue.

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #18
@q-stankovic:
And another MusicCast device is about to surface (€ 149.-): The Yamaha WXAD-10 (sorry, German only)

Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #19
Just now i have read in a german hifi-forum that the pioneer nc-50dab and probably so the n-30ae admittedly doesn't have a dlna-certificate but nevertheless inofficially support the standard. I will have to verify somehow that information which source is said to be the german support from pioneer. If it is true then the newer devices from pioneer and therefore from onkyo should be complete.

Does anyone here has a newer networkplayer/receiver from pioneer/onkyo without dlna-certificate(-logo) and can confirm that they work properly as dlna-renderer?

EDIT:

In a review on amazom it is said that dlna-apps are not able to recognize the pioneer as renderer.



Re: Looking for a streaming device that supports: DLNA, Air Play, Chromecast

Reply #20
May I add that it would be of interest to learn from MusicCast users (and FireConnect [Pioneer/Onkyo] network players) about some of the promoted features, where I could find official statements like:
a) How does "streaming from NAS" work? Do you need some DLNA server running or is this done via SMB/Samba network access?
b) Is there a limit in the number of indexable tracks (like with Sonos devices)?
c) What about gapless playback and ReplayGain support?

@q-stankovic: I don't intend to hijack your thread - if the above is beyond your interest, let me know and I'll start a separate thread.