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Post by juztaylor on Feb 13, 2011 22:05:34 GMT -5
OK, I know that everyone thinks it is sacrilege to use the iPhone for music, however after various discussions with my wife, she would rather use the iphone for her listening than streaming or any other method that involves her turning the TV on to scroll through menus etc. All our music is on iTunes so a squeezebox was considered but it would require changing this which wouldn't fly with her.
My system consists of an Emotiva XDA-1, XPA-2 and MA Rx6s. Can anyone give me a definitive way to bypass the DAC on the iPhone and use my XDA-1 DAC and have complete control over songs via the iPhone (docked)?
Thanks
Justin
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Post by pdaddy on Feb 13, 2011 22:25:58 GMT -5
If you want to spend $99 more, you could stream your iTunes library from your computer or iPhone via Apple TV (ATV) to your XDA via the optical output on ATV. If you have wifi at home you could also stream from your iPhone library plus Pandora, YouTube and maybe other sources.
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Post by Porscheguy on Feb 13, 2011 22:29:35 GMT -5
I use iTunes>Sonos Zoneplayer 90 that has a digital out. From there you could go to the XDA-1.
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Post by bigred7078 on Feb 13, 2011 23:07:12 GMT -5
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Post by juztaylor on Feb 13, 2011 23:41:11 GMT -5
thanks guys for the quick reply. Can you control the apple tv without turning your tv on? Any thoughts on sound quality? i did a bit of searching around and found that the Onkyo ND-S1 does the docking job reasonably well at about $200. Would it be better or worse than the Apple TV?
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Post by bigred7078 on Feb 13, 2011 23:51:00 GMT -5
thanks guys for the quick reply. Can you control the apple tv without turning your tv on? Any thoughts on sound quality? i did a bit of searching around and found that the Onkyo ND-S1 does the docking job reasonably well at about $200. Would it be better or worse than the Apple TV? well that depends since they work in different ways. The ATV requires your computer to be on since it streams the music from your iTunes. The advantage is that you can have your entire library handy and use the iPhone as a remote control whereas the Onkyo requires the player to be docked and you are limited to the storage space on the iPod itself. Sound quality would probably be about the same IMO. The ATV gives you more perks but you really need to use it with the screen on and computer on which goes against what you wanted to do. |
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Post by bigred7078 on Feb 13, 2011 23:53:51 GMT -5
thanks guys for the quick reply. Can you control the apple tv without turning your tv on? Any thoughts on sound quality? i did a bit of searching around and found that the Onkyo ND-S1 does the docking job reasonably well at about $200. Would it be better or worse than the Apple TV? hmmm according to the Engadget article that Onkyo doesn't support the iPhone...that seems odd since I can't imagine why it wouldnt but I would look into that... www.engadget.com/2009/07/31/onkyo-nd-s1-ipod-dock-feaures-digital-audio-composite-video-an/ |
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harri009
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Post by harri009 on Feb 14, 2011 0:23:38 GMT -5
Actually with the apple tv or a airport express both $99 you could stream straight from the iPhone without the computer open and without docking it. I use the Airport express so not sure about needing the screen on or not with the ATV. If you use optical from these to the DAC it should work. As for docking options Wadia
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Post by juztaylor on Feb 14, 2011 0:38:01 GMT -5
starting to lean towards the ATV now as being able to control it from the phone makes a big difference. then optical out. Cheaper too.
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Post by Topend on Feb 14, 2011 3:04:56 GMT -5
Wadia 170i.
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ratmice
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Post by ratmice on Feb 14, 2011 10:15:03 GMT -5
starting to lean towards the ATV now as being able to control it from the phone makes a big difference. then optical out. Cheaper too. You can use an airport express and control iTunes through the iPhone remote app, too. That also gives you a USB printer to share around the house, which I like. Airport express also allows me to stream DTS encoded files, too. I have a bunch of multi-channel music in DTS format. The other thing I find handy is a program called airfoil (Mac only) it allows you to play ANY audio on your computer through the airport express, also to any other computer in the house, and it will sync all the streams so you don't get that echo effect. |
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gluebben
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Post by gluebben on Feb 14, 2011 10:57:19 GMT -5
thanks guys for the quick reply. Can you control the apple tv without turning your tv on? Any thoughts on sound quality? i did a bit of searching around and found that the Onkyo ND-S1 does the docking job reasonably well at about $200. Would it be better or worse than the Apple TV? These guys are on the money, juztaylor. 1. Yes, you can easily control the AppleTV 2 for music without turning on your TV. You can either stream music stored on your phone to the AppleTV or you can use the phone to control your iTunes library if a client computer is powered on and properly connected to your iTunes library. I do this most mornings while getting ready for work and in the evenings while preparing dinner. It's rather nice. 2. The sound quality does suffer a bit, though I'm not using a DAC. My AppleTV is connected to my Onkyo TX-SR607 via HDMI for video purposes and it connected using the optical out to my Emo LMC-1. I definitely notice a difference, but I'm usually preoccupied when listening in this manner and it doesn't bother me. But it's all up to individual opinion, isn't it?  3. I entertained the idea of the Onkyo dock for my iPod, but canned the idea when the AppleTV 2 came out. For a similar price it offers better features and more media compatability as well as control. 4. While the AppleTV is a good alternative - keep in mind there are a few things which I would consider "spousal roadblocks": * If not using the phone as the data source for the AppleTV you have to use a storage array on your network and you must have a client computer "awake". If your wife isn't computer or network savvy, this could be annoying to her. * Your network obviously has to be working. Definitely a roadblock in some cases. * There are some settings in iTunes and on the phone that can be tricky to figure out to make everything work reasonably. It took me a couple weeks to find the button on iTunes to disable my computer's speakers when playing music through the AppleTV. |
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Post by thielguy on Feb 14, 2011 15:20:36 GMT -5
keeping it simple is huge... even with a harmony one touch pad and many supposed bells and whistles, I sometimes wonder how simple it all really is. Seems like pulling a CD off a shelf and popping it into a player - one and a time - was the easiest, and most carefree way to get to the music with minimal technical bewilderment.
that said - I current use an apple TV, driven by an iphone as the remote, to do my thing. It works as well as anyway I've figured out including dedicated music servers, etc... One thing that helps with the WAF is to help (if needed) in creating a bunch of "hers" playlists. That reduces to burdon of being hit with 60 days worth of obscure music to have to fight through...
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Post by bigred7078 on Feb 14, 2011 16:06:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I forgot about the new Airplay feature. It requires the new appleTV and your phone must be on firmware 4.2.1 but its a sweet way to listen and share music with friends and family. It's super easy to use and more an more devices will become Airplay compatible.
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Post by brubacca on Feb 14, 2011 16:09:23 GMT -5
Why did you reject the squeezebox Idea?
I use a squeezebox with iPeng on my iPod Touch. Works great. Running iTunes on my pc.
Getting my xda this week.
Wadia dock is your best bet for dock.
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Post by juztaylor on Feb 14, 2011 16:45:08 GMT -5
thanks for the input guys. ;D the option for having the Apple TV connected and using your phone to control sounds pretty good. Will the Apple TV 'wake' the computer or would i have to walk into my office and wake it up? Surely they could have this worked out?
I am still interested in the squeezbox from a fidelity point of view and all of the extra apple tv stuff i probably wont use as i use my PS3 for video streaming and the like. Do you have to the squeezebox connected to a LAN via ethernet? that would mean i would have to get a range extender? which would add to the cost.
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Post by pdaddy on Feb 14, 2011 20:08:10 GMT -5
Juz,
You will have to wake your computer and open iTunes to share your computer library. If you are streaming from your iPhone you will have that on and with you. Note again also, that would can stream Pandora from your iPhone to ATV2 as well.
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Post by juztaylor on Feb 15, 2011 0:50:54 GMT -5
having to wake your computer might be a killer here. i am ok leaving the computer on as it is most of the time, but having to walk to the other end of the house kind of defeats the purpose of having streaming.
Anyone know if there is a fix for this??
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ratmice
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Post by ratmice on Feb 15, 2011 10:43:01 GMT -5
having to wake your computer might be a killer here. i am ok leaving the computer on as it is most of the time, but having to walk to the other end of the house kind of defeats the purpose of having streaming. Anyone know if there is a fix for this?? if you use a VNC app, you can control your computer from the iPhone/iPad justr like you were sitting in front of it. It also comes in handy for many other things as well. You can also access it from anywhere, not just your living room. I use VNC viewer, it was 9.99, I think, and I have found it invaluable. I can also access my mom's computer from my house when she has trouble with something. LogMeIn ignition seems popular, as well. |
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Post by pdaddy on Feb 15, 2011 11:03:25 GMT -5
Juz,
If you want to leave it on with iTunes always running you are good, and the vnc option (or a similar functional option of remote access) above is good also should need remote access to control your Mac.
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