I think you'd find the answer with a quick forum search. This has been discussed a few times and the conclusion was that you will be able to buy the BM5 separately (it will fit in to a BV9) and can control this from your computer. Whether you can connect to it wirelessly, which is what I'd require, is another matter.

I understand what you mean, but what is the need for a Beosound 5 then? It's just a screen with a control wheel.

I'm using a Mac mini, happy with it. And it's a tenth of the price of a Beosound 5. Infinite storage, just add a external HD. It upsamples DVD's. It has mail, safari (internet explorer) and all the other bells and whistles. 

Add an iPod touch or iPhone and you have a very nice remote control. I also downloaded a program that let's me control the mac mini's iTunes from any computer in the house.

Bayerische is the sound Quality the same with the mac mini?

I haven't had the chance to do a proper "VS" comparison yet. 

The bass is better controlled IMHO from the Mac mini than from the BS9000, this probably because I'm experiencing less bass from the mini. 

The sound quality is superb from the Mini, but it's also superb from the BS9000. Initial verdict is that the Mini is as good as the BS9000.

Do you connect the mac mini direct to your speakers or through the beosound 9000

The Mini is connected directly to the Beolab5's. Toslink -> optical/coaxial adapter -> beolab5.

avus17 wrote:

I don't understand why BeoSound 5 can only function together with BeoMaster 5. We now have PCs with big storage (1 tera or more) and therefore BeoMaster 5 with 500 GB of storage is no need. Is there a possibility to connect BeoSound 5 directly to a PC?

B&O has had solution for this for quite a while. It is called Beoport. It connects your PC to the ML network and you can stream song to any N.MUSIC compatible device.

BM5 or BM1 are more integrated solutions, where your PC does not have to be available all the time.

p.

I have beoport for a long time and I NOT sastified with the soundQuality🙁

Maybe that answer this thread's question then.

The sound quality does not depend on the Beoport but on your PC's sound card and how you've compressed the songs.

With BM5, B&O know what sound card they are using... and they allow you to use Lossless encoding.

p.