And some more information.
I discovered a Play-Fi Windows App, I downlaoded and installed the App
and have been exploring the app for the last hour or so.
Play-Fi for Windows is reasonably accessible though the App doesn't
streamm HD files to your Play-Fi compatible device or speakers - in this
case the Rotel T14 Tuner - unless you purchase an unlock key, $14 for
one of those didn't strike me as being too unreasonable -.
The Windows app is best navigated using the Invisible Cursor in JAWS or
navigation mode in NVDA, browsing this way will enable you to see all
the buttons, some are labeled whilst others are not but again not a huge
problem.
A function I picked up on straight away was the ability to have your
favourite media player stream content to your Play-Fi device, you can
select VLC, Windows Media Play etc for this purpose and have your music
coming through loud and clear to the Rotel T14.
I didn't expect a purely smooth ride with any of the Play-Fi Apps, the
IOS version being the absolute worst of the three I've tried thus far.
With Play-Fi its very early days so with good feedback from users things
I'm sure will improve.
On 16/03/2017 1:04 AM, john Gurd wrote:
I really like the sound of this but I only have IOS devices so controlling it
would be an issue for me. It gets good reviews and retails for £699 in the UK.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane
Trethowan
Sent: 13 March 2017 18:35
To: PC Audio Discussion List
Subject: Rotel T14 Tuner Network Streamer
Hi!
I have a Rotel T14 Tuner/Network Streamer here and I do plan to write a
detailed review of this fantastic device when I have more time.
Meanwhile I wrote some notes on the Rotel T14 to a friend which I think are
worth sharing with the list I’ve mentioned the new Rotel T14 tuner I bought?
Well actually its a Network player with the feel of a tuner.
I wired the thing up to my Rotel RA10 Amp this morning so the T14 is now a
permanent fixture of my audio system in the Den.
So for some details.
The T14 is heavy by tuner standards weighing in at 6 kilograms and is very well
built but we are talking Rotel so I guess that’s no surprise.
What is a pleasant surprise however is the very few menu systems on the device,
two in fact and they don’t control much at all.
For example the DAB+ menu has a few options in it which are easy to remember,
options like Scan and so on.
The FM Menu has options to allow the setting of the scan threshold, I don’t
normally use the Scan functions of tuners anyway preferring to manually tune.
The T14 has a keypad on the front though this is used only for entering preset
numbers which is a pity, would have been very nice to have a facility to enter
a FM frequency manually but still I like the idea of each memory preset being
instantly accessed via its own unique number, the T14 has 60 presets from 01-30
on DAB+ and FM bands. No presets on the network player side but that’s by no
means a problem as I’ll explain a little later.
The tuner comes with a rather large remote control which I haven’t fully worked
out yet but I know enough about the layout to get around the tuner, browse up
and down the DAB+ band, move between tracks when using the T14 in Network
Player mode etc.
The audio out of the T14 is as good as my Cambridge tuner and sounds just as
good when I switch to the Tuner on my Rotel DAC.
Switching between stations is amongst the fastest I’ve heard from any Hi-Fi
tuner I’ve tried and the Rotel is very sensitive for all bands.
So now to the Network player side of things and here the Rotel stands out from
the pack.
When you switch to the Network Player mode a message appears on the screen
telling the user to connect to “Play-Fi”. Play-Fi is an App available for
Windows, IOS and Android and all the network functionality of the T14 is
controlled from this App.
With Play-Fi you have the most extensive range of musical sources I’ve ever
seen bundled into one App, everything from being able to browse your own
network for Music, to iHeart and Internet radio, Spotify, Pandora and Tital are
all featured not to mention the ability to stream from HD sources and play HD
audio files - DAC of the T14 supports sampling rates up to 384K 32 Bit -.
I haven’t been able to fully access the IOS version of Play-Fi but I can use
the Android version easily enough.
Along with the Play-Fi App one can stream to the T14 using the conventional
AirPlay system or use the T14 as a DLNA render device, I’ve tried both these
options.
There are other advantages to be had with the idea of using a separate App for
the control of Network Music which I discovered.
As one has to use a computer or a Smart Phone to have the T14 play Internet
radio stations it therefore follows that you can easily put your controlling
device onto a VPN so you may listen to blocked radio stations or audio sites,
I’ve done this myself.
With a conventional Internet radio setup where the Internet radio is part of
the Firmware one has to do some pretty fancy setup work to allow connection of
the Radio to a VPN.
Anyway the Rotel T14 ain’t cheap at around $1300 but its not the most expensive
Network player.
I was looking at what Marantz had to offer and - whilst struck by the quality -
the Marantz players weren’t as flexible as what Rotel had to offer in the T14.
**********
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the
halfwits in this world behind.
