[Mark]

Sandyb wrote:

But if its Apple’s Music app, as mentioned before, it will get downsampled from 16/44,

What does it get downsampled to?

All my (few) MP3’s show the sample rate of 44,100 kHz, with no sample size, so I don’t know if this (alone) is any indication of lossless or lossy. If lossy what is the bit rate?

[Mark]

I haven’t studied them but I did look through them.  I could have missed it but I didn’t see anything about “bit rate”. The third link does mention “sample rate” but that does not indicate if it is lossy or not.

In my library I have CDs that I ripped to AIFF that shows up as:

bit rate. 1,411 kbps

sample size 16 bit

sample rate  44.100 kHz

and iTunes purchases that show up as

bit rate. 256 kbps

sample rate. 44,100 kHz

If I understand this correctly it is the bit rate that tells you if it is lossy or not…

[Mark]

So according to what I’ve read, Airplay 2 may or may not deliver a lossless file.  Is there any way to determine what bit rate is being delivered to the device?  It would kind of be nice if there was an Airplay 2 device that analyzed the signal to let you know what is being received.   I wonder if B&O is able to decode the Airplay 2 mysteries.

[Mark]

For my system, I rip CDs to iTunes/Music to AIFF.  My understanding is that Airplay converts everything to ALAC or AAC, so I am hoping that means that my AIFF files are converted to ALAC 16/44.1 over Airplay 2.  When I A/B’ed a CD played on my Oppo to Airplay over AppleTV, there seemed to be a slight decrease in quality, but not much.  Certainly acceptable for the flexibility of streaming.  Both used a Bryston DAC.

[Mark]

Millemissen wrote:

And see here for the explanation that Apple Music can not be distributed via AirPlay 2.

It says Airplay 2 is limited to 16/44.1 which is the normal CD format.  It seems to define high-res as above this, so if ALAC is encoded at 16/44.1 then it should be lossless over Airplay 2.  If ALAC is above this, say 24/192 then it would be downgraded.  Is my understanding correct?

[Mark]

Leosgonewild wrote:

If I have understood correctly, Airplay 2 is not lossless.

A google search on this is answered by someone at the RoonLabs community:

AirPlay2 can exist in two forms: lossless 16/44.1 ALAC or lossy AAC. It’s up to the app to decide.

Perhaps Apple Music has its content in AAC?

 

[Mark]

I have a Beogram 8002 with a Soundsmith SMMC1 cartridge and the MMP3 phono preamp and it sounds absolutely wonderful.  I’ve read that the Soundsmith preamps are designed for their cartridges.  There are a lot of opinions regarding vinyl that it is nowhere as near as good as the digital version, but that is not my experience at all.  I guess a lot of it would depend on the quality of the record, cartridge, and preamp.  I could listen to vinyl all day and never tire of the sound, but it some work prepping the album for play.

I think the choice of phone preamp depends on how much enjoyment you want to get from your vinyl, and how revealing your system is to be able to hear small differences. As Mark-sf says, pretty much any moving magnet phono preamp should be able to do the job, and there are budget phono preamps that are very good.  I’ve had several budget preamps (not the ones listed above) but I don’t remember saying “oh wow!” when I listened to albums with them.  The Soundsmith MMP4 is about $800 US, that’s quite an investment, but if you are after the best sound, have a good system, and think you may someday upgrade to one of the other Soundsmith cartridges, that could be a serious contender.

Good luck in your quest!

[Mark]

My first look at this model I was expecting it to be a little cheaper than the base model.  I was surprised to see it quite a bit more!

 

[Mark]

rossr wrote:

Gold tone with light oak is just a bit too bling bling.

I guess that would depend on the surroundings.  My walls are a gold-toned color so the gold and light oak speakers just sort of blend in and doesn’t stick out or look showy at all.  If I paint my walls a different color who knows if I would like it as much.

[Mark]

I had the same problem on my Beolab 14.  I think my problem was the thermal protection circuit because once I would restart it I would get less time before shutdown until I only got 10 minutes of play time. A long rest would start the cycle over again. I took my u it to a B&O repair shop but he was unable to get the boards to replace. Too bad this isn’t my area of expertise to have a go at it myself!

[Mark]

If it is becoming a standard then maybe I will be able to find a good rca to usb c interconnect cable so I don’t need that dongle.

[Mark]

AdamS wrote:

I love them, but why on earth would you provide an analogue line-in using a USB socket? What next? Mains in via an 8 pin DIN socket?!

Is there an advantage to this that I don’t see?  Does USB C need less space than a 3.5mm jack and space is the issue?  In order to connect my turntable to the Theatre I need that USB dongle which has caused issues in the past.  I need to occasionally “re-seat” the connections in order for it to work properly.  I wish I could just plug my phono cable’s 3.5mm jack directly into the Theatre.

[Mark]

Sandyb wrote:

My comment earlier was perhaps not clear

I have a tendency to skip over things or they don’t register in my mind completely at first, but thank you for the clarification.

Having Mozart Beolabs looks like it would offer more flexibility in a BV setup, but if they act like regular Beolabs I would be fine with that too.

 

[Mark]

Sandyb wrote:

This feature only applies for 2.0 music, not when they are part of a surround (e.g Theatre) setup. From what i read.

Does this apply to the Beolab 28 also?

I wonder what other Mozart features are not available when used with the Theatre? I think it would be nice to be able to Airplay to my rear Beolab 8 speakers without having to Airplay it to the Theatre and have a speaker group set up and selected for the Beolab 8’s.

[Mark]

Mark wrote:

Toward the bottom when it compares the Beolab 8 with the 18 and 28, it shows Apple Airplay 2 along with Chromecast built-in.

Interesting, the mention of Airplay and Chromecast has been removed from the speaker comparison chart for Beolab 8.

[Mark]

Although I would probably use the Beolab 8 on table stands, I really like the look of them wall mounted.  To me it has an art-deco feel to it.

The Beolab 17’s that I bought in 2015 did not have a stable WiSA connection in my environment.  I don’t know if a firmware update would fix it, but I can’t do it myself.  I wonder if the Beolab 8 would be more stable for me.  I also wonder how the Beolab 8 compares to the 17 sound-wise.

[Mark]

matteventu wrote:

In that case, it would be serious competition for Beosound 2 as a standalone “Beosound-like” speaker.

An advantage of the Beosound 2 over a single (mono) Beolab 8 (if they can be sold separately) is the Beosound 2 has two midranges in a stereo configuration. That can make a difference is some songs.

[Mark]

kuyttendaele wrote:

Price is per pair.

If you look at the price as reported on some of these press release sites and compare them to the B&O site, the price on B&O is doubled.

[Mark]

It appears that some of the press release sites are reporting the price not for the pair but individually.

T3

The Beolab 8 can be yours from £2199/€2499/$2749,

Forbes

The Bang & Olufsen Beolab 8 is available in Silver/Natural Aluminium, Gold Tone or Black Anthracite, combined with speaker covers in oak, light oak, dark oak, or fabric. Prices start from £2,199 / $2,749 / €2,499.

[Mark]

Toward the bottom when it compares the Beolab 8 with the 18 and 28, it shows Apple Airplay 2 along with Chromecast built-in.

[Author]

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