You should try to know what is the purpose of this offer. Is it like for the BS8 where they are trying to clear the inventory before they bring a new model?

Hi Phil, that was my initial thought too and as many on here are much more in the loop on B&O developments I thought I'd ask to see if anyone has any inside info.

At this moment in time, personally, I think it's wise to go with the A8 airplay and stick to streaming your iTunes from your iPhone or MacBook - Apple really seem to know what they are doing in that department.

Why would anyone want MOTS? when you can chose to make your own playlist?  I just don't get it! But hey, just my opinion :)

Paul,

If you had MOTS running on your music I think you might find it interesting. I think it is simply fantastic - let me explain why from my point of view. Before I had MOTS I simply played the same music over and over. Of course every so often I would dig into my collection and pull out an older disc and play it, but generally it was the same old artists and tracks.

But now with MOTS I hear music that I haven't heard in a long time. Even some of the tracks I wasn't really interested in before when I now hear them in a different context they sound great. For example if I was listening to an album with mostly fast music and a slow one came along I was not so interested, or of course the opposite could happen. Now I just select a song to suit my mood and let the machine go to work. Also I don't have to worry about preparing a play list. I travel quite a bit and frankly I can't wait to get home these days and chill out to the MOTS.When people come to visit it is also great. They select a song they like and whatever else is in my collection that is similar pops up. My friends also like playing with the Beosound 5 interface.

Of course this is just my opinion and the way I now enjoy music. I am sure other people may have different needs and solutions.

By the way there is one thing I would like to do and I don't know how. I have recently started to rip to FLAC and I don't know how to include the album. Anyone out there who can help.

Stephen

I have bought an Encore this year, after using Airport Express with a Beosound 2300 (A.AUX), and also testing Sonos for more than a year.

I have to say that MOTS is THE key thing in a BS5 system, and it's better for me than Apple's Genius. With Sonos I had everything that I wanted (multiroom, scheduled on/off, Spotify/Deezer integration, nice iPad interface...), but I was always listening to the same songs!

About buying this system today, I would not say that it's too late, I would maybe say that it's too early! (in fact, I find the BS5 outdated, it's just an old PC; 3 cables from BS5 to BM5... The BS5E has almost the same capabilities, and is less bulky...) B&O has launched a totally new platform with the Encore, and this system has to evolve in functionalities, (and he BS5 also), just to meet the functionalities of something like Sonos :

- Maybe one day those systems will integrate Spotify/Deezer/Qobuz for unlimited music streaming (it's now a must have like an A.AUX connector!)
- B&O has to launch the "BeoNet circular controller" for secondary rooms in order to make the Encore something that is not stand alone
- B&O is said to release the BeoNet to ML converter for people that want a BS5 Encore with ML (the BS5 already has ML, it's nice, but it's a bulky solution)
- B&O NEEDS TO PROVIDE QUICKLY AN UPDATE FOR BEO6 2-WAYS WITH THE ENCORE (like the BS5)
- A second interface on iPad (iPhone) would be great to have a cool way to search for a specific song with a keyboard. It's said to be somewhere near the launch for more than one year now...

Hi mbee, When i discussed buying an Encore with my dealer he told me that his understanding is that the Encore would not be adapted/upgraded to allow multi room use or two way remote or have any other major developments. It was this information that stopped me buying an Encore. I can't believe it is true but he is a B&O dealer!

From my point of view one clear answer: Yes, yes, yes ...

FIrst and most important reason is the sound quality of the Beomaster/Beosond 5. It´s far better than listening to music via AppleTV. I think it´s even better than listening to a CD from a BeoCenter 2.

Second reason is the Design of the BeoSound 5.

Most important: correct tagging of the Albums, otherwise it is hard to find the music you are looking for or you have two album covers for one album etc. If the tagging its correct: wonderful (beside of that I am missing the category "Genres" - but being aware of the concept of MOTS the absents of the category "Genres" its quite logical).

MOTS is really interesting and yes, I also like it (MOTS was not the main criteria for me).

Fazit: I will keep my Beomaster/Beosound 5 for a long long time :-)

Michael99

Huwwy wrote:

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts.

I've owned a lot of recent B&O kit, including the BS5/BM5 combo. I hated it. I felt like a fool/fraud/idiot for buying it, it remained here for 3 months, was traded in against other stuff (I didn't lose too much money).

It's a very expensive PC/controller combo. I'd put my money towards an A8 and use the spare cash to upgrade your speakers.

The Encore is ok, it's the combo I didn't like. I still believe the Encore is too expensive for what it offers (a controller for your NAS drive, effectively), but if you can get it discounted as part of an offer, it would be worth some consideration. You also get MOTS with the Encore, too, so it's a much better option. Buying the BM5 sums up everything I don't like about the old-school B&O customerbase :)