Moxxey, that's a great idea.  When i had the BS5e, I connected that through Power Over Ethernet and find it great.

I've only had success with Power Over Ethernet. 

Hi Harry,

I think you made a wise decision to select on how you want to integrate your system rather than supposed differences in sound quality. Playmaker and AE are similar in what they do but each has some unique functions that may or may not be of significance to an individual user.

I've not heard my system running with a Playmaker, only with AEs. But, to be honest, I don't notice a loss of quality compared with CDs when streaming via an AE. Maybe I've got damaged ears but I suspect they are no worse than those of the average middle-aged male. So I am a little sceptical about the whole DAC argument.

I understand the current AE uses an Asahi Kasei AKM4430 DAC, which is nothing particularly special, and as Apple has decided its only lossless option is 16bit/44.1kHz I suppose it is no good for anyone with a collection of high resolution files.  I don't know what DAC the Playmaker uses or what file formats it can handle, but I'm not convinced I'd hear a benefit from its supposedly  'better' quality with my digital library.

If B&O does, as some have suggested, decide to introduce a better looking Playmaker in the future I may find out! If that happens I'll report back!

Michael wrote:

Moxxey, that's a great idea.  When i had the BS5e, I connected that through Power Over Ethernet and find it great.

I've only had success with Power Over Ethernet. 

But....there's an issue/bug with the PM over ethernet.

Each time you disconnect after playing via AirPlay, when you come to reconnect, the PM has disappeared from the list of AirPlay devices :( Only way to get it to reappear is to turn it off and then back on again. Does it every single time.

Anyone else experienced this?

Hi Hardwriter,

I completely agree with you. Ultimately I chose to go with PM since it offers "superior" functionality and integration with other B&O systems and I can also connect my laptop with PM directly which I find very convenient. I have to say that I have no complaints with the sound quality through PM, but the same could be true with AEE as well so it all depends on what you're looking for.

Having said that, if you hear something about a new PM please report back on this thread, I would greatly appreciate it!