He would rather spend his money in DODGY & BANNANA instead. lol

Paul W wrote:

Being honest Redneck, it's hard to improve on the new Apple AE purely on its design for the money. But a company that sells very expensive products, that is known for good design and then churns out a smoke detector looking product is making a bit of a fool of its customers. It's as though they know that BANG&OLUFSEN customers will buy anything with a BANG&OLUFSEN name of it. An example being the MP3 player that looked identical to the £90 Samsung or the mobile with the Samsung badge on it.

Some of their range is really decent but it's also very very clear for the educated amongst us, that a lot are simply geared for the 'new money' customer.

I have one of the new Apple AE, and use it to extend my Wireless network in the lounge.  But it's thankfully small, so it can be hidden away - generally speaking I don't like utility items out in the spotlight on display.  And apart from sitting there looking small and neat, there's nothing to really do with it once it's set up.

I have another one, the earlier AE design, MK 11 (?) and it streams music from my computer to my Class D digital S Master Pro ES Sony amp via Optical Toslink.  From what I've read re professional review, the output via optical is very good; however that by analogue is actually rather poor.

As the likes of Beolab 3's and 9's have analogue only inputs, then in such a scenario I would think it most likely that the new B&O Playmaker would well outperform the Apple AE when used with it's analogue outputs.

I'm sure that someone, somewhere will do the comparison; hopefully both measured as well as subjective listening, but from professional review/measured results, I don't think the playmaker will have much difficulty in besting an Apple AE using it's analogue outputs in terms of sonic performance.

I agree that the playmaker is not the most elegant design going - but then neither is my V1 either IMHO.

However, for a balance of engineering virtue, performance at the highest level, a relatively pleasing and individualistic design aesthetic - albeit not the last word in elegance - coupled with a high VFM quotient re the asking prices, the likes of the new playmaker and BeoPlay products in general represent an very welcome addition to the market place, and to B&O's portfolio.

PS: KMA - thanks for a most interesting review, and especially for the photos!

Kind regards

John... 😐

Paul W wrote:

Being honest Redneck,

 

You mean Rednik?????

rednik wrote:

Or for people who want good quality sound, from and apple or non apple device

Give it a rest. Seriously. The big difference between "good quality" sound on a Playmaker or AE isn't the AE isn't the calibre of the speakers themselves. Most users use £300 Phillips speakers from Argos. We're using BL3s or higher. I can assure you, they provide "good quality".

The difference between the audio quality between the AE and Playmaker, for most audio tracks you can download from iTunes or rip from your CDs, will be negligible at best.

Any superbly recorded track, played via my AEs, through my BL3/BL11 combo, certainly produces a "good quality" sound.

moxxey wrote:

rednik wrote:

Or for people who want good quality sound, from and apple or non apple device

Give it a rest. Seriously. The big difference between "good quality" sound on a Playmaker or AE isn't the AE isn't the calibre of the speakers themselves. Most users use £300 Phillips speakers from Argos. We're using BL3s or higher. I can assure you, they provide "good quality".

The difference between the audio quality between the AE and Playmaker, for most audio tracks you can download from iTunes or rip from your CDs, will be negligible at best.

Any superbly recorded track, played via my AEs, through my BL3/BL11 combo, certainly produces a "good quality" sound.

On a pair of bl3 connected to an airport, high volumes sound horrible compared to a playmaker.  Have you listened to both?  I have with 320k mp3, apple lossless and wma lossless and much prefer the sound of the playmaker in all cases.

Hi everyone, and thanks for the kind remarks on the review & photos.

As for the debate of AE vs. PlayMaker, there are a couple of things to consider re: value:

1) The possibility to use Beo5 / Beo4: let's say I have a playlist with 100 songs, and want to skip some of them, I can do it with Beo5 -- which in my case is always at hand, contrary to iPad or iPhone, which may be charging in a stand. Same goes for volume AND there are actually more "fine" steps in adjusting volume via Beo5 or hands-on using the PlayMaker than there are steps in iPad's or iPhone's volume control. Go figure, and I like the finer volume adjustment.

If I put the PlayMaker to standby using Beo5, the playback on my iDevice stops. I find this handy when I want to switch to TV: I can just use Beo5 to put the PlayMaker to standby, and not mind or operate the iDevice at all, and I can easily continue listening to music where I left off.

This little function of PlayMaker's/iDevice's volume and status staying in sync when using Beo5 is a minor thing, but something I appreciate when using Beo5, i.e. one device to control my setup.  

2) The Loudness function, which can be turned on in the PlayMaker via Beo5 / Beo4, is well implemented. I played with it, and it makes the sound of the PlayMaker fuller and "rounder", in the similar fashion as Loudness in B&O's other audio systems does. It's also possible to tweak the sound characteristics by adjusting bass and treble. I would NEVER use the Loudness function or other presets found in my iPad's and iPhone's music player, as they are horribly executed. Any other setting than FLAT in an i-thingy just spoils the sound. Not so when tweaking the settings in PlayMaker. I do hope B&O does not disable the sound settings in future firmware updates.

3) As mentioned in this thread, a comparison in sound quality using BL3&AE and BL3&PM has been made, to the advantage of PlayMaker. I will get the necessary plugs/wires from Sounds Heavenly to conduct this test also myself -- just out of curiosity. I have no doubt that the sound processing (DAC) in PlayMaker is better than in AE, though, but I'm interested to hear the difference. B&O speaks very highly of the audio quality of PlayMaker on their website, and I cannot image this would be without merit.

Hands on operation, impeccable sound, sound settings and the possibility to conveniently use Beo5 for basic operations: those are 4 things the AE does not offer. Given that the PlayMaker is less than 400 euros -- and if you happen to need BL3s, PlayMaker is free at the moment -- I find it great value for money. It's the best way to enjoy sound from mobile devices with B&O's speakers, and a simple way at that.

If B&O made a MK II of PlayMaker with a more B&O'ish design, something along the lines that was presented by the concepts in another thread here, I would not mind paying double for the face-lifted version. But that's just me. Yet in my home, the current version does not look exactly horrible either. I'm happy with the setup :)

KMA wrote:

Hi everyone, and thanks for the kind remarks on the review & photos.

As for the debate of AE vs. PlayMaker, there are a couple of things to consider re: value:

1) The possibility to use Beo5 / Beo4: let's say I have a playlist with 100 songs, and want to skip some of them, I can do it with Beo5 -- which in my case is always at hand, contrary to iPad or iPhone, which may be charging in a stand. Same goes for volume AND there are actually more "fine" steps in adjusting volume via Beo5 or hands-on using the PlayMaker than there are steps in iPad's or iPhone's volume control. Go figure, and I like the finer volume adjustment.

If I put the PlayMaker to standby using Beo5, the playback on my iDevice stops. I find this handy when I want to switch to TV: I can just use Beo5 to put the PlayMaker to standby, and not mind or operate the iDevice at all, and I can easily continue listening to music where I left off.

This little function of PlayMaker's/iDevice's volume and status staying in sync when using Beo5 is a minor thing, but something I appreciate when using Beo5, i.e. one device to control my setup.

2) The Loudness function, which can be turned on in the PlayMaker via Beo5 / Beo4, is well implemented. I played with it, and it makes the sound of the PlayMaker fuller and "rounder", in the similar fashion as Loudness in B&O's other audio systems does. It's also possible to tweak the sound characteristics by adjusting bass and treble. I would NEVER use the Loudness function or other presets found in my iPad's and iPhone's music player, as they are horribly executed. Any other setting than FLAT in an i-thingy just spoils the sound. Not so when tweaking the settings in PlayMaker. I do hope B&O does not disable the sound settings in future firmware updates.

3) As mentioned in this thread, a comparison in sound quality using BL3&AE and BL3&PM has been made, to the advantage of PlayMaker. I will get the necessary plugs/wires from Sounds Heavenly to conduct this test also myself -- just out of curiosity. I have no doubt that the sound processing (DAC) in PlayMaker is better than in AE, though, but I'm interested to hear the difference. B&O speaks very highly of the audio quality of PlayMaker on their website, and I cannot image this would be without merit.

Hands on operation, impeccable sound, sound settings and the possibility to conveniently use Beo5 for basic operations: those are 4 things the AE does not offer. Given that the PlayMaker is less than 400 euros -- and if you happen to need BL3s -- free at the moment, I find it great value for money. It's the best way to enjoy sound from mobile devices with B&O's speakers, and a simple way at that.

If B&O made a MK II of PlayMaker with a more B&O'ish design, something along the lines that was presented by the concepts in another thread here, I would not mind paying double for the face-lifted version. But that's just me. Yet in my home, the current version does not look exactly horrible either. I'm happy with the setup :)

KMA

Current setup : BeoVision 10-46 with Apple TV 2 (FireCore), Sony BDP-S780, Mac Mini, PlayMaker , BeoLab 3 , BeoLab 11 , Beo5 , BeoPlay A8 . B&O product history, in chronological order since 1991: BeoSystem 2500, BeoLink 5000, BeoSystem 7000, BeoLink 7000, RedLine 60.2, BeoVox Penta, BeoVision MX4000, BeoCord VX5000, BeoSystem 4500, BeoCenter 9500, BeoLab 8000, BeoLab 6000, BeoVision Avant (original, 28", VHS), BeoCenter 2300, BeoVision 3-32, DVD1, BeoCord V8000, Beo4, BeoSound Overture, BeoVision Avant RF (32", AR, VHS), BeoSound 9000, BeoSystem AV5, BeoVision 1, Beo1, BeoSound Century, BeoCenter 1, BeoSound 1, BeoVision Avant RF DVD (32", AR), BeoVision 7-32, BeoLab 3, BeoSound 2, BeoVision 10-40, BS5 Encore, BeoSound 8, BeoLab 4

Michael wrote:

Regarding DAC quality I want to say that it is a big difference between earlier AE and newer. The older ones uses a burrbrown DAC of very high quality. The sound is so much more detailed and warm/punchy. I try to use old AE connected with Ethernet (because of 802.11b wifi) instead of newer with cheaper soundboards.

Never been a 802.11b version, the first was 11g. But the point is still valid! I think I have both the first and second version - would be interessting to compare!

Hi KMA,

Thanks for posting those pictures and for your additional thoughts on the setup.  I wasn't even aware of this combination deal until I saw your thread and the pictures of the boxed package really out some substance to it.   It's possible that this may finally be the motivator that gets me into a pair of BL3s.  I will say, while I don't like the design aesthetic of the PlayMaker, seeing it in this combination really makes me think that if they just offered it in black in addition to white, I'd likely find it a lot less ugly.  

I do have a couple of questions though:

1 - I assume that the combo package comes with all cabling necessary to connect the PM to the BL3s, but what is that setup like?  Is it newer cable connections with appropriate adapters or is there an additional accessory box in between (to feed power and audio signal to the BL3s Power Link input)?  If you happen to have pictures of that to make things easier to understand, that would be great.  I'm just trying to get a picture in my head of how it all interconnects and how much I would have to or want to hide away.

2 - AirPlay control gives you volume, but you can also control the PM volume via a Beo4/5/6.  So how do those 2 interact?  Does adjusting volume via the latter change the volume slider on the former?  Or, are they 2 totally separate volume controls?

Thanks for the help!

Jeff

Good question rugby, i want to also know about the interconnects and what cables were supplied in the box. 

:-)