[XavierItzmann]

As a long time iTunes library holder (owner?), I am not aware of an iTunes library having ever been compatible in the last 20 years with B&O, whether ML nor NL, unless using the long-discontinued/now unusable (because of the death of the e-Sellerate servers) LinkPlayer software.  And even that skipped over any files stored as a copy-protected Apple .m4p files.

I think the alternative has always been to play Apple Music to the B&O system *from* an Apple device (MacOS/iOS/iPadOS).

The downside, of course, is that if the playing device loses connectivity with the B&O system, the music stops.

[XavierItzmann]

Version 6.1 on iOS/iPad iOS is the best version of the B&O app I’ve ever had.

Multiroom volume control still wonky in that sometimes I can JOIN in other rooms, and the joined room will start to play at its default volume, and get a check mark (because it is joined), but its volume bar will not display the currently set volume, unless one increases it or decreases it, using the volume bar slider.  Following such an adjustment, volume is displayed.

[XavierItzmann]

DT79’s question regarding the Core and T1 goes over a topic which, if it has been much discussed, I’ve missed: are B&Os DACs and ADCs transparent, or do they introduce peculiarities?  Are they all the same on all B&O equipment or are there better ones in some B&O products?

[XavierItzmann]

I have two of the cheapest Wiims, which I am no longer using now that my B&O setup is reasonably complete, but which I used for a few months in 2023 and a few weeks in May-Aug recently in 2024 and I can’t really tell any difference in sound quality.

The DAC in the Ultra is supposed to be better.

I’ll also say this: I’ve used the DACs on the Wiims, and on the BS3000, ML/NL converter, BS Essence, Beolink PC2, BeoPlayer, and BS5, and the music always sounded satisfying to me; I am unable to tell the difference.  My wife can’t tell the difference either, except she says her B&O H95’s beat all of the above.

Which, when you think about it, is quite damning, for the H95’s suffer because they employ the lossy/compressed Bluetooth transport (!).

Anyway, I am sure you will enjoy whatever streamer you end purchasing.

[XavierItzmann]

e.a. Powerlink (PL) cable contains stereo sound, no matter the physical interface (round DIN or RJ-45 “ethernet”)

It results therefore that sound coming from one PL outlet on Essence/Core/Converter contains all you need.  If you, like me, need a pigtail to convert from RJ-45 to DIN, it does not matter if the pigtail is one-to-one, or if it bifurcates one-to-two.  If you happen to acquire a bifurcating pigtail use one only, and connect to BL2.

My ML/NL Converter and Essence both have two PL outs.  I use only one.

[XavierItzmann]

If I did not need multiroom features at all, I would do this:

1. Wiim Ultra (available now in US, UK, and possibly in Europe), because of its screen
2. RCA to AUX-IN on the BS9000
3. PL to BL2

Then all you need is to disable Bluetooth in the Wiim, and you are all set.  I would not mess with sending digital out from the BS9000 to the Wiim, and then trying to use RCA from the Wiim subwoofer output to the BL2 and RCA to the BL8000s.  I have never ever achieved good results trying to use RCA with B&O powered speakers: I got buzz, I got speakers which took 1/2 hr to turn off after no sound was present, it was all unpleasant.

Important: why on earth do you have a «?» mark on your BS Core schematic?  Click below.

https://forum.beoworld.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/beoworld_images/58114/uf8fu962ckt3i0v068zuq06zyuc09ghq.png

[XavierItzmann]

Reasons why I now have the Beosound Essence between the BS3000 and the BL2:

1. My default and main setup is the B&O app.

2. There is no need to turn the BS3000 on in order to listen to Deezer, N.MUSIC, N.RADIO, nor B&O Radio.  Guests can Airplay music to the BS Essence, if they have Apple Music or Spotify.  The B&O app picks up the stream and its artwork and it can be re-distributed to other rooms. Bluetooth pairing is disabled.

3.  In the rare event a CD needs to be played, the BS Essence auto-senses it and just plays it via the BL2.  This also applies in the even rarer event someone wishes to listen to AM or FM Radio: if someone wishes to listen to CD/AM/FM in one of the other rooms, they can JOIN.  You can set the BS3000 to output sound at an appropriate, fixed level, so it matches your other sources.

For several months in early 2023, and for a few weeks in mid 2024, as I had re-arranged my system and was waiting for B&O NL devices such as the ML/NL Converter or the BS Essence, I had two Wiim receivers connected to the main rooms.  The Wiim software is better and easier to use than the B&O app software, and these shine as streamers.  But trying to distribute CD/AM/FM/N.MUSIC with them would be quite, quite a kludge requiring many, many Wiims, so these are not true multiroom devices.  So I had the Wiims upstream of the B&O devices.  Old tech like the BS3000 needs to be turned on to AUX-IN the Wiim (Beo4: LIST, LIST, AUX-IN); newer tech like ML/NL Converter simply auto-senses an active Wiim.

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[XavierItzmann]

I took my (now black-sprayed) Mk3 PL cable and connected it upstream of the Beolab2.  The cables downstream of the Beolab2 already were Mk3.

The noise in the Beolab 3’s is gone.

What is the reason why the extra pair of wires limits the noise?

Why is it that my Beolab 6000’s that use the old Mk1 make no noise?

Thanks for any insights, I am curious.

[XavierItzmann]

IR Eye (JOIN button, RJ-45 [8P8C/ethernet connector]) accepts IR commands on Beosound Essence Mk2 under software 2.5.55678.170713653. The IR Eye was configured to A.OPT 2 using a Beo4 while the Essence was on standby.

Before configuring A.OPT2, the Essence had been factory reset and subsequently set to my home’s environment, i.e., network, Deezer password, etc.  Upon plugging in the IR Eye, its buttons activated their respective functions, but it responded to no IR commands.

The IR Eye was unplugged from a working ML/NL Converter.  Inconsistency: on the NL/ML, the IR Eye plugs into the slot marked IR IN – RS232, whereas on the Essence it plugs into the slot marked IR-IN.

I was unable to find nor download any newer version sw for Essence, neither using the “modern” B&O app’s “product settings” nor digging into the “configure” menu on the B&O app which takes you to the product’s original web server page and duplicates and expands the B&O app functionality.

[XavierItzmann]

Mads, yes, that’s the only way I “browse” the current forum: looking at fresh.

However, I was pulling menu (forums) and then menu (fresh) and had failed to realize there was a straightforward url, which you posted above!

Bookmarked and from now on my direct entry point to the site.  Much appreciated!

[XavierItzmann]

Thank you all!  So, the sw is still updateable, and furthermore, an update was issued as recently as a few weeks ago!  Most excellent news.

Guy —If I get one of these, my plan is to test it with my “JOIN”-type eye that works perfectly with my ML/NL converter, in order to decide whether to buy one for the Beosound Essence.  I’ll post my results if and when it happens.

[XavierItzmann]

Thanks for the photo, Mads.

OK, so BS5 does put out the metadata on the ML network, it’s just that BS3000, for whatever reason, won’t display it (though it once did, with 3rd-party BeoPlayer software): need newer & compatible hardware, of which BC2 and BS4 are, I suppose, the only ones that do.

Is your BC2 a Mk1 or Mk2 version?

[XavierItzmann]

Pray tell, when you say:

«it will display track info for N.Music in the BS4 display»

and you add

«BS4 displays the track info on its screen», and further «It does also display the radio station name in my BS4 display»

what information, exactly, is displayed?  N.Music used to display scrolling song title, album and singer and N.Radio used to display scrolling radio station name and radio program name on my BS3000, using BeoPlayer software (alas! no longer available).  Standard Beolink software displayed static N.MUSIC and N.RADIO.

I ask because BS5 displays static N.MUSIC and N.RADIO on BS3000, and I wonder if it might display metadata on BS4.

[XavierItzmann]

Better to ask the manufacturer?

[XavierItzmann]

Thank you Guy and Millemisen,

Fortunately, I have an Mk3 around.  It’s just that it is white (because that was the better color in our previous house), so I will lightly spray it black.  So I’ll use that!

Now, even so, I can’t help but wonder: suppose I was connecting my old Beocenter 2300 to the BL2.  The Beocenter used Mk1 cables… but are its internal DIN PL ports wired for an Mk3 cable?  I mean, Mk3 did not exist at the time.

But, I see a flaw in my thinking: if the BC2300 was able to drive Penta speakers, then, for sure the PL DINs are fully wired! (Mk2-level).

[XavierItzmann]

Many thanks, Millemisen, I stand corrected.

It should be noted that since the music identification/ripped files autotagging is no longer online, the rip completes to 98% only, and then a long while passes.

Not sure if the Auto-play functions CD RANDOM and CD REPEAT are worth much at this point, or ever were.

By the way, the reason my CD was not plugged in is that I was missing the short power cable.  I was in Europe a few weeks ago and ordered it at a B&O dealer who ordered it from Denmark and had it ready for me in a few days for €20, post-paid (honor system).

Compare to when I ordered another B&O part earlier this year here in the US from about 1,000 kms away, and it took many weeks, the shipping was almost as much as the item, the “service” grudging, and of course payment was required before the order could even be placed.

[XavierItzmann]

I got the BS5 for its aesthetics and nostalgia value.  I also got a Beo6.  Surprisingly, the Beo6 can be reset and, out of the box, will control the BS5 without further work.  Which saved my bacon because I proved utterly useless at programming even the most basic of functions: getting it to show the battery status without turning off your entire ML setup, which according to the Beoworld guide from 2011, generously written by a German user, is supposed to be elemental (!).

I do not see why a BS4 wouldn’t work with your BS5, but I’d be surprised if there is a lot of integration.  In my case, I’ve ML’d my BS3000 to the the BS5, and I can’t say that they add much value to each other.  Sure, if I hit N.MUSIC on the Beo4, it starts the BS5.  And ditto if I depress CD on the Beo4: the BS5 stops, and the BS3000 starts playing a CD, for example.

But that’s pretty much it.  The BS3000 does not display any N.MUSIC metadata from the BS5, even though it is able to, because that’s what it did, well over a decade ago, playing N.MUSIC from BeoLink PC2, via LinkPlayer software (alas!, RIP).  I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that the BS4 won’t either, though I would very much like to lose that bet.

The BS5 works pretty much exactly like a giant, great-looking iPod would.  I would not recommend it as an incoming digital media player, at all.  You’d be able to hook up your WIIM Pro to it, and all it would display on that gorgeous screen is a detestable AUX IN sign in white letters right in the middle of it.

[XavierItzmann]

Stoobie, that looks like a great practical solution!

[XavierItzmann]

Phil’s remarkable software displayed beautiful scrolling metadata N.MUSIC:song name/artist/album and N.RADIO radio station/song name on BS3000, but not on BL3500.

I think Phil said at the time that the BL3500 just didn’t have the functionality.

[XavierItzmann]

Hello Stan!  Yes, I must say, most B&O equipment tends to be solidly built, but sometimes misfortune happens! I wonder what’s B&O’s designed lifetime.

Mads, I tried using the Beo4, again the (R) now connected to the BL2000 fails to wake up this BLW1 connected as an (R).  And unfortunately I have no other IR Eye.  So I’ve claimed a refund from the seller.

Given the difficulty in ascertaining sw version, this could very well be the end of my explorations into the BLW1 world.

Cheerio!

 

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