Surely its just worth trying out the Airport express route, given its so cheap?

In the end you have to take the plunge at some point, and that's a cheap plunge in the grander scheme of things.

Speaking personally, with such a capable speaker as the 90's, I'd always be looking to use a wired source.

Of course, using a non-mainstream source as Primephonic makes life a little trickier, but the point still stands to me.

Though for some 90's owners I'm sure Airplay is perfectly fine.

Hence I'd try it out the AE solution, live with it for a month or so, and only then will you know if its worth trying alternatives.

You can easily disappear down a rabbit hole with this kind of thing.

seethroughyou wrote:

I am deciding between a Core or Airport Express mkii to my BL90 in my lounge.

 

 

Beosound Core to BL90 would be using Toslink or digital powerlink. Core has inbuilt Deezer which I would use 20% of the time. 80% of the time I intend to use Primephonic from iPad to Core via AirPlay 2. Core doesn’t have Primephonic inbuilt only Deezer. Streaming at CD quality. Volume control using Essence remote. Core=£600+.

 

 

or....

 

 

Airport Express mk2. Discontinued but plenty for sale on eBay. It has mini-Toslink digital output which I would connect to Toslink input on BL90. I intend to use Deezer, Primephonic from iPad to Core via AirPlay 2. Streaming at CD quality. Volume control using Essence remote. Airport Express mk2=£100

 

 

The price difference is £500. What does the Core offer that the Airport doesn’t in terms of form and function?

 

 

P.S. I have a Moment on the home network in the upstairs bedroom.

 

I actually have both the Apple AirPort Express MK2 and BeoSound Core. If you don't care about the DAC in the Core, which IMHO is slightly better than the AirPort Express (not by much) the AirPort Express might be a better choice. The AirPort is slightly smaller and the software is rock solid. Well the Core is pretty solid too...but like you said the AE is really cheap and 100% gets the job done.

leosgonewild wrote:

You will miss the physical remote if you take the AE.

You have BL90’s, are you really going to save on the input source???

I think he means the Core might be a few hundred pounds vs 100 for an Airport Express, but given the cost of the 90's, why not just fo for the Core.

Thats his point, not about any performance factors between the two options you are looking at.

The Airport Express will do nothing more than turn your 90's into wireless speakers / Airplay receivers.

Personally I'd struggle to rationalise driving 50 grand speakers using Airplay and an Airport Express. Especially if you are paying for a higher tier of a streaming service. 

I'd probably not even use a Core either, simply because the music browsing experience of the B&O app is so uninvolving.

But then again, I'd be using a combination of ripped CDs / FLAC files and QoBUzz/Tidal, which are native to alot of streamers / network players, and connect the network player wired. So a bit easier than with something like Primephonic.

seethroughyou wrote:

leosgonewild wrote:

 

You will miss the physical remote if you take the AE.

 

You have BL90’s, are you really going to save on the input source???

 

 

 

I have an Essence rotary remote that controls volume using IR direct to the Beolab 90.

 

 

When you say “are you really going to save on the input source???” what are you referring to please? Have I missed a capability or performance advantage if I go with the Airport Express? Thank you Leosgonewild.

leosgonewild wrote:

The airport express DAC is ok, but personally. Chromecast DAC is better.

I would get the Core.

What I meant earlier is that if you have bought that expensive speakers, you should get the proper equipment (core), and not save a few quid on buying the sub par AE

(Did not mean to offend you I any way, if it was received wrong)

If all you are doing is using the AE as an AirPlay 2 streaming device with Optical Out to the BL 90s it has no advantage or disadvantage over BS Core. The AE in my experience has super stable wifi connectivity and will stay connected to your network through thick and thin. However, if you are going to hardware the AE/Core then again it doesn't matter. 

Exactly, if you are doing to control the volume with the remote on the BL 90 and do all the processing on the speaker (which you should) then the AE is just a streaming transport.

Lastly, in my experience, because I was using the internal DAC in the AE and Core, the Core had a slightly longer delay between when I send the music from my ipad and it started playing on the speakers. Not a huge deal but something to consider.

I know people that are using AE with high end gear to enable streaming. It's definitely a bargain for the price. I know a couple of people who work at Apple who still use it with their music set ups. 

You'll be fine with both. I use the core mainly because I use the line-in for the Core as well as AP2 streamer.