Impressed with the Playmaker

31 replies
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Chrisreunion (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 13, 2013 at 17:28 GMT
#1994815
You can order a wall bracket from STB, but indeed, I don't know why B&O simply didn't fit 2 holes at the back of the white plastic part, like they did on my old RL35 speakers!
I bought one of the first PM while in Australia, and connected to my BeoVox Pentas with a Rotel IcePower amp, it really rocks.
I had a DAC Magic before, and I would say that the only audible difference is in the channel separation (slightly less on the PM), but all the details are there, and to me this is the cheapest way to use BeoLabs with Airplay AND remote control from your Beo4. If you have a Masterlink setup and with Airplay, you can get perfect sound sync with your Masterlink network , that's how I use my PM.
I am no fan of its design, but painting it in another color is on my to-do list..I'm sure it will already look better after that!
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Hardwriter (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 13, 2013 at 18:42 GMT
#1994816

Useful post, Moxxey. I'll  likely get a PM when I upgrade to active speakers in kitchen (currently drive pasives via Beocenter and an AE 3). Can you say which generation AE you had been using? And does anyone know if there's any significant performance differnce between gen 1, 2 and 3 DACs?

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StUrrock (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 13, 2013 at 20:17 GMT
#1994817
moxxey wrote:

Warning : a thread with positivity. Click away now if you are easily offended.

Bought a Playmaker MK1 over the weekend, as I wanted a device which supports FLAC. Wasn't expecting much of a difference between my old Airport Express and the Playmaker (connected to BL3s), but there's a huge noticeable difference in audio quality.

Sounds are more obvious, separated effectively. Some of the tracks I play frequently sound instantly better via the Playmaker - the DAC clearly makes a difference.

Not had a single dropout streaming audio to the Playmaker, either via iTunes or Airfoil.

Conclusion? Get yourself out now and buy yourself a MK1 Playmaker whilst it still supports FLAC. It's really worth the investment.

Moxxey feeling as if 13th May 2013 will forever be known as positive Monday :)

Just finished an install with 6 Playmakers and 1 x A9, customer loves the ease of use and sound quality.

At the customer's request all the PMs are at the rack end and connect to a third party control system/audio matrix. He can control and listen to a selection of other audio sources through the AAUX connection via an iPad app and have party mode of all these souces in perfect synch.

Lovin these PMs hope MKII is just as good:)
Millemis
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Millemis
Bronze
Posted May 13, 2013 at 22:21 GMT
#1994818

"Lovin these PMs hope MKII is just as good:)"

The PM MK2 is better - if you don't need DLNA/FLAC 😠

Grrr! Millemissen

Location: Flensborg————Danmark

Millemis
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Millemis
Bronze
Posted May 13, 2013 at 22:25 GMT
#1994819

Hi StUrrock,

"l the PMs are at the rack end and connect to a third party control system/audio matrix. He can control and listen to a selection of other audio sources through the AAUX connection via an iPad app and have party mode of all these souces in perfect synch."

What does: "are at rack end" mean, please?

Greetings Millemissen

Location: Flensborg————Danmark

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StUrrock (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 13, 2013 at 22:30 GMT
#1994820
Millemissen wrote:

What does: "are at rack end" mean, please?

In the Rack with the HDMI matrix, control system processor, audio matix, network switch etc

Where all our cat7s terminate!
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PLom (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 14, 2013 at 00:59 GMT
#1994821

I can second Moxxey's findings, a huge improvement over the Airport Express in sound quality. The looks and finish however, is not up to the old B&O standard. But certainly a useful device, thanks also to Millemissen for clarifying various way to use the PM.

Cheers,   -Peter

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Playdrv4me (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 14, 2013 at 02:08 GMT
#1994822

Yeah it's too bad it looks like a pool drain cover, but probably not a huge issue if it's somewhat out of the way anyhow.

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Ehlerz (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 14, 2013 at 10:03 GMT
#1994823

StUrrock wrote:

 ...and have party mode of all these souces in perfect synch.

Hmm, i thought this was only possible from Itunes on a computer?

Can you please elaborate on how the partymode works otherwise, say from Iphone or Ipad? Am i able to stream simultaniously to more than one PM?

 

TIA

 

/Ehlz

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moxxey (archived2)
Bronze
Posted May 14, 2013 at 10:06 GMT
#1994824

Ehlerz wrote:

Am i able to stream simultaniously to more than one PM?

Through Airplay? Yes, of course. The PM's just show up as an Airplay device. You can easily stream to multiple Airplay devices, PM's or not, at the same time.

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