Hi shoutj74,

have you considered having your files on a NAS?

In this case you don't always have to have the iMac running to listen to music/control the music.

By the way: you want an ATV and the Playmaker? Why both?

How will you connect the Playmaker to rhe BV11?

Or do you have more B&O-devices not written about?

And...congratulations with your new tv and the Lab9's 🙂

Greetings Millemissen

I was wandering why you wanted Apple TV, and a Playmaker. Is there an advantage in audio quality using the Playmaker?

Good choice with the 9's

A few friends have suggested NAS. I think if Playmaker supports FLAC I might do it as the quality I understand would be better. Otherwise I tend to leave the iMac asleep with wake for Network set on power control option which works OK for other AirTunes devices I am running at the moment.

For the lab 9 I am hoping I can run the playmaker to 1 pair of power link connections and the BV11 to the other pair of power link connections.  Therefore not needing the TV to be on for playmaker 2.2 audio. I don't think I need to connect the playmaker to the BV11? Otherwise I will drive the BL9 from AppleTV and I think BV can be set up for 2.2 stereo with the screen off from set devices? Then ill have a spare playmaker but it was free anyway.  Should I be saying 2.2, the subs in each lab seem to qualify for a .1 each

Hi shoutj74

I would not recomend to connct the BL9s to two sources. I once ha a similar solution and sound was very bad. Just connect your sources to BV11, when listening to music turn off the screen by issuing the p.mute command with your remote.

When you descide for the dlna way, FLAC will be the preferred format to rip your music. If you decide to go the apple way, I would recomend apple lossless. This will force you to use ATV to play your music, as the build in dlna player of BV11 cannot play apple lossless files.

hfat

Because NAS storage is so cheap, I now use Max (there are many options here) to convert CD's to WAV files for storage while simultaneously putting a lesser file on my computer for iTunes synching.  But now using Spotify 50% of the time at home, 99% of the time when not.  Times are a changing.    

You can AirPlay FLAC from a iDevice.

If the files are stored on a NAS, it only depends on which server is running on that NAS.

There are many DLNA-apps avaible - most of them allow AirPlaying.

Still, if you go the Mac-way, it would be best to rip to ALAC, and stick with iTunes on the iMac - and AirPlay.

Using a lossy format when ripping your own cd's is a waste of time, since you can have music in 320-quality from Spotify Premium (or others) much easier nowadays.

The Playmaker might be connected to the BV11 via the analog-in port (AV-in) - you will need an adapter for only-audio.

I would suggest this only if you want to play losless files, and if you want to avoid the 48khz sound-upconverting of the ATV.

Otherweise spare your Playmaker for another room with BeoLabs or other active speakers.

Greetings Millemissen

symmes wrote:

Because NAS storage is so cheap, I now use Max (there are many options here) to convert CD's to WAV files for storage while simultaneously putting a lesser file on my computer for iTunes synching.  But now using Spotify 50% of the time at home, 99% of the time when not.  Times are a changing.  

There is absolutely no reason to use wav (or aiff) since you can use a lossless format (yes, it actually is lossless), and if you use a lossless format you gain loads of metadata options, including cover art. Using a lossless format for storage is not only space saving and future proof, but you get to have cover art and other stuff. You can convert as many times you like between Apple lossless, WMA lossless, FLAC, WAV and AIf, and the pcm data (the actual audio data) will be the exact same - not close, not nearly, but exactly the same, bit for bit.

Seriously, I play my lossless files and use them exactly like you use your lossy files. I only use lossy files on my small "mp3" player I use for training/rowing (it's a watertight thingy, so I had  no choice but to buy way less storage than I wanted). My music library is, but for a few exceptions, all in lossless.

@ Electrified  If you had read my post in context (or at all), you might have noticed that I was responding to the concern that Playmaker and ATV offer somewhat different file support.  Any player can play a WAV file.  With Max, you can rip to multiple file types to multiple locations.  So there is plenty of reason for those who want to do something correctly, one time, to consider the process I use....or not.  But for you to say there is no reason is, in fact, inaccurate.

symmes wrote:

Electrified  If you had read my post in context (or at all), you might have noticed that I was responding to the concern that Playmaker and ATV offer somewhat different file support.  Any player can play a WAV file.  With Max, you can rip to multiple file types to multiple locations.  So there is plenty of reason for those who want to do something correctly, one time, to consider the process I use....or not.  But for you to say there is no reason is, in fact, inaccurate.

I did read your post, and my point still stands: If you run Apple gear, you rip to ALAC, and if you run windows (or linux, for that matter), you rip to FLAC or WMA Lossless.  Instead of using wav or aiff, where you have no support for cover art and the like, and in order for that to happen, have your library in a lossy format, the best option is to use lossless for everything. That way you can actually listen to lossless files and have cover art.

If my explanation didn't get through (which it evidently didn't), if you down the line feel like using Apple (or moving away from Apple), you can convert the FLAC files to ALAC  - losslessly - removing the need to have a "back up" in wav or aif. In fact, if you then need a wav file to use in, say, a movie you're editing, you can convert that file to wav, again absolutely lossless.

As for your comment about "doing something correctly". I'm sorry, but since nothing is lost by having it in a lossless format, but much is gained, your "correct" way is not only cumbersome, but time consuming when importing anew into something else, and you will be using lossy formats. So, in order to get that, you have to import (convert) the song, and then download covers and what have you. Whereas if you rip to a lossless format, your backup will have that after the first time you did it.

Your suggestion of having a backup entirely consisting of wav files, and then have a library of lossy files to actually listen to, is naive at best.  Why not listen to the lossless files, when it has metadata support far beyond WAVs and AIFs, including cover art?

This is so confusing, but as I am in an all Apple environment and do not currently have any issues decompressing and streaming ALAC which I understand to be give or take the same quality as FLAC, I think I will stick with the Apple solution at the moment.  At the risk of throwing another curly question into the debate though, what do we think about keeping my basic Denon UD-M31 mini system in the system via the line in socket of the Playmaker.

Initially I thought that for that considering how much all this is costing, I should keep some sort of CD player in the loop for best quality playback, but some of the forums I have read suggest that a DAC in a basic hi-fi system wont be as good as the digital stream all the way to the ICE amps in the BV9 and that ALAC could actually be better in this regard.  I suppose if needs must I could always slam a CD into the Sammy BluRay which will be in the configuration....so many options...