Hi everybody!

Long-time reader, first-time poster. This site is a treasure trove of information. Now, let me cut right to the chase: my two questions center around using Beolab 17 with Beosound Core using the TOSLINK output and Airplay:

(1) Will the Beolab 17 go in and out of standby automatically if I only connect the TOSLINK out from the Beosound Core to the 17s?

(2) When streaming to the Core via Airplay 2, and then setting the volume via a remote, will the volume on the streaming device (e. g. iPad) adjust accordingly/correctly?

A bit of background:

I’m currently using a Raspberry Pi with HifiBerry / BeoCreate OS as a streamer to listen to music via Airplay (from Macs and iPhones) and Bluetooth (from a projector and a Sony turntable).

I’m using the volume-controlled TOSLINK output to connect the Pi and the 17s, and in my humble option, that sounds great! (better than the few DACs I’ve tried with them). I’ve written a little Python script for the Pi that allows me to use a Beosound Essence Remote as a volume control for the Raspberry via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

So far so good! But there are the problems with this setup, and the reasons I’m considering moving to the Beosound Core:

- Sound Quality is great, but like twice a day I get very short and loud "Pops" when I stop playback. It is frighting. It makes me want to use a "non-homebrew" setup.
- The speakers don’t go into standby, ever.
- The Beosound Essence Remote works with the generic Linux bluetooth stack, but it takes a big twist to get it to wake up from standby, and the steps when turning the dial feel to big. There seem to be some unnamed/cryptic Bluetooth settings on the remote that I believe are meant to be used for B&O clients only.
- Lastly, when I change the volume on the Pi, my iPhone/iPads try to adjust their volume, but the sliders in the UI jump around somewhat erratically. Not sure what’s going on there.

So yeah, for those reasons I’m considering switching to the Core, keeping my TOSLINK connection, my Essence Remote, and Airplay and Bluetooth. Will this fix my problems?

Thanks so much in advance!