Thanks for posting this interesting article and I’ll comment thus. I’ve been using Play-Fi audio devices for nearly a year. The first Play-Fi device I bought was my Rotel T14 tuner/streamer which I love though at the time of purchase I knew nothing about Play-Fi audio and how it work and naturally I negotiated an agreement with the audio store I purchased from for a return of the item if I couldn’t get Play-Fi going due to issues of accessibility, usability and so on, naturally then the first thing I had to do once I got the equipment out of the box was to setup Play-Fi. I found the system to be more user friendly than I expected so there was absolutely no need for me to arrange a return journey for the Rotel Streamer. Now down to the tin-tabs of Play-fi. Several updates to the Play-Fi App have been released over the year which have made it more stable, addressed issues of dropouts etc. The author of the article devotes a large amount of time to discussing the fact that Play-Fi doesn’t directly stream content - apart from Spotify - to your Play-Fi device and this is all true. He bangs on about the disadvantages but doesn’t talk about the very many advantages and I’ve discussed some of these when writing about Play-Fi. Let’s discuss the example the author of the article likes to use as an illustration, Google Cast devices stream audio directly and that they do but therein lies a problem. I like my Chromcast devices very much however I have to double-check them to see that they’ve actually stopped streaming when I’ve commanded them to do so say from Google Home, my xPeria phone or whatever whereas with the Play-Fi system, when I stop streaming - say by dismissing the Play-Fi App - then it all stops. Streaming via your phone opens up the system to all sorts of other possibilities, the ability to use VPN for instance, you could use a VPN on a Google Chromecast but its a lot of mucking about to get that going. I regularly use a VPN on my xPeria phone with Play-Fi in order that I may listen to the 320K stream of BBC Radio 4 or listen to the live 1010 WINS news radio station from New York. Streaming is lossless - or supposed to be - so therefore streaming through your phone etc shouldn’t be a problem in that regard either. Yes, Play-Fi devices are certainly DLNA compatible but to what degree is I think - given the devices here - more determined by the manufacturer rather than by Play-fi App itself. You can log into DLNA servers using Play-Fi and some of the Play-Fi equipment I have here can be directly streamed to from other equipment or Apps that have the ability to stream DLNA. Yes, Play-Fi has been a little frustrating at times for me here with connectivity and Wi-Fi issues - mainly to do with the xPeria phone as far as I can tell - but I resolved those by placing the xPeria phone on my desk rather than the bedside table where it normally resides, perhaps the Wi-Fi signal isn’t as strong there as it should be for whatever reason. Quality audiophile names have signed up to the Play-Fi standard so I doubt whether these company’s would bother if the standard was a bad one. More and more of the “bulk item company’s” as I call them - Pioneer for example - are coming on board and you can see the list of company’s who have signed up on the Play-Fi web site. It is also true to say that all Play-Fi devices are not equal For example, the Polk systems here won’t play files with higher sampling rates than 44.1KHZ, well yes they do play but the sampling rates are down converted to 44.1KHZ for the Polk systems and again, that’s where the streaming through the phone etc comes in as it has to do the sampling rate conversion which is handled by the Play-Fi app. I’m sure the same is true about Play-Fi devices not being equal when it comes to Wi-Fi connectivity. My Rotel Stream has 3 Wi-fi antennas and I barely have any connectivity problems with that device. The Polk Omni S2R portable from Polk Audio is very good too, I use this Play-Fi speaker outdoors. I’ve had no connectivity issues wit the Polk Omni S6 though connection issues have been an irritation with the Definitive Technology’s W9 speaker system which is now hard wired to the Lan. Now having said all that I do have 1 gripe about the system and its simply this, as far as I’m aware the Play-Fi IOS App isn’t accessible and this should not be given just how accessible and usable the Android and Windows Play-Fi Apps are.
********** “For the gardener nothing is more handier than bulbs, I mean the 1’s you put in the ground and not the electric light 1’s.” > On 6 Nov 2017, at 3:24 am, Gordon Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello everybody > > This article might be of interest to those who either use, or are considering > using, Play-Fi hardware. I have to admit that my own success rate with this > platform has been patchy so far. And the reasons for that are probably > contained within this article. > > Yes, it is true that the device I prefer to use is probably not the best, in > terms of its networking support. But with the exception of the new AC > standard, it supports all common Wi-Fi standards, including both 2.4 and 5.0 > GHz networking. Anyway, read on if this interest you. > > <SNIP> > >> https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/dts-play-fi-has-major-design-flaws/ >> >> <https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/dts-play-fi-has-major-design-flaws/> > ======================================== > > My compliments and kindest regards > Gordon Smith: > <[email protected]> > Accessibility & Information Technology Support Specialist.. > > This Message Was Created Using 100% Recycled Electrons. If you can avoid > printing it, please do so. Think of the environment, save a tree! > > Contact: > > • UK Free Phone: > 0800 8620538 > • UK Geographic / Global: > +44(0) 1642 688095 > • UK Mobile/SMS: > +44 (0)7804 983849 > • Vic. Australia: > +61 38 82059300 > • US/Canada: > +1 646 9151493 > > ---------------------------------------- > > > > > > > >
