Gadgets, Tech, etc. - The Bear and Badger

Facewon

https://youtu.be/ZB413S8KDmo

This appears to be saying that those cheap ikea speakers are basically play 1s.

cockbeard

That's why I steered clear of Sonos, cracking software, never thought the hardware was anything special at all

poprock

Sonos are suing Google. They want to sue Amazon as well but decided they can only afford to take on one of them at a time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/technology/sonos-sues-google.html

g.man

I fail to see how this ends well for them.

poprock

Sonos on the way out, confirmed.

GurtTractor

When I get around to getting a new pair of speakers, it will probably be these - Adam T7V

A decent price for what seems like a very solid studio monitor (they're sold singly so you buy two to make a pair). The Adam A7X and A8X monitors that I've heard before have been quite superb, the A8Xs in particular are the absolute business, I would like to end up with a pair of those.

A properly flat sound profile always sounds the best to me, not sure why anyone would want anything else. Music is (or should be) mastered using a flat sound system, and that's how it should be listened to IMO.

Cheap/midrange professional audio gear always seems to outperform the higher end consumer stuff, like with headphones or audio interfaces/DACs.

MattyJ

I literally picked up a sonos beam this weekend gone. Things great!

Facewon

GurtTractor wrote:

When I get around to getting a new pair of speakers, it will probably be these - Adam T7V

A decent price for what seems like a very solid studio monitor (they're sold singly so you buy two to make a pair). The Adam A7X and A8X monitors that I've heard before have been quite superb, the A8Xs in particular are the absolute business, I would like to end up with a pair of those.

A properly flat sound profile always sounds the best to me, not sure why anyone would want anything else. Music is (or should be) mastered using a flat sound system, and that's how it should be listened to IMO.

Cheap/midrange professional audio gear always seems to outperform the higher end consumer stuff, like with headphones or audio interfaces/DACs.

Want.

Djornson

GurtTractor wrote:

When I get around to getting a new pair of speakers, it will probably be these - Adam T7V A decent price for what seems like a very solid studio monitor (they're sold singly so you buy two to make a pair). The Adam A7X and A8X monitors that I've heard before have been quite superb, the A8Xs in particular are the absolute business, I would like to end up with a pair of those. A properly flat sound profile always sounds the best to me, not sure why anyone would want anything else. Music is (or should be) mastered using a flat sound system, and that's how it should be listened to IMO. Cheap/midrange professional audio gear always seems to outperform the higher end consumer stuff, like with headphones or audio interfaces/DACs.

They look great. I spent a while in the weird world of hi-fi. I realised all this expensive kit is changing the sound for the sake of changing it. My favourite pair of speakers ended up being some old Sony things i purchased second hand and didnt even have banana plugs, shock horror!!

GurtTractor

Yeah I'm using some old Musical Fidelity speakers my Dad gave me, can't even find an image that matches them. There's a little dip in the low mids but overall the clarity is excellent, far better than most modern hi fi stuff.

Facewon

Did swappsies on my big cerwin vegas for 4 smaller ones and subbie. Kept the bookshelves. Gave the small floors to my dad and have the woofer in the cupboard for now.

The bookshelves are awesome.

Skerret

Good bookshelves are a delight. I enjoy my KEFs very much, and try not to think of the $7k active Dynaudio bookies I heard which were astoundingly good.

Djornson wrote:

and didnt even have banana plugs, shock horror!!

get out

b0r1s

Has anyone setup or used a mesh network at home? If so, any recommendations. There are a lot out there and different sites are giving different pieces of kit the top slot (probably due to some back handers).

davyK

Took delivery of a wifi/DAB/FM tuner for my hifi today. Brand is Hama who I think used to make MP3 players way back.

The DAB tuner found a ton more stations than my portable DAB radio so I have that as well as the wealth of content on the internet radio. Listening to a blues station now.

Tried looking for some podcasts but they haven't worked - will need to investigate that though it's the music I'm after which works fine.

It has Spotify built in but I don't have a sub for that - daughter #2 does though.

It also acts as a bluetooth speaker for phones etc and there's a USB port on top of that.

Sounds good through my amp. Wasn't that expensive and it's pleasing having it as a unit instead of just bluetoothing from a phone and apps. The buttons don't feel high quality but the remote is the main way to use it and it's well laid out. There's multi-room capability too - not sure what that's about - there are several output ports on the back of it - must read the manual.

wilsondrake

b0r1s wrote:

Has anyone setup or used a mesh network at home? If so, any recommendations. There are a lot out there and different sites are giving different pieces of kit the top slot (probably due to some back handers).

Even though you might have heard more and more about it these past months, mesh network have actually been around for a while. It is not a temporary tech hype. They have considerable benefits that will bring us a step closer to a seamlessly connected world of people and things. I am still unsure to use it without a VPN service considering the state of cybersecurity.

MattyJ

Sonos is great... Except it also does my fucking head in sometimes. Opened the app and it's telling me it can't connect to anything. Yet if I go to one of my devices, I can press the play button and it resume whatever it was playing before: radio, Apple music stuff, anything. So clearly the sonos is connected to my wifi, so is my phone, yet the app is saying no.

And there is no easy way to resolve it either. Need to take a device, plug it hardwired into my router then set it all up again like it's a new one. Fuckers.

LivDiv

I have been having similar problems this past week or so.
I thought it was because I unplugged everything to have a move around but maybe they have shat themselves with an update or something.

Hardwiring into the router is the exact solution I found.

b0r1s

I had this problem. Have you updated to the S2 app? S1 is really for the legacy stuff. I have a mix of newish and oldish kit but not the really old stuff.

I had to reboot everything. When switching to the new app.

Quick tip if you are redoing all your devices don’t update each time say you want to add another device and then run the updates all at once.

But last week I did lose two speakers from the system (bedroom and office) and had to reboot them again.

LivDiv

That may be it. I have the S1 app. I have no idea if my stuff is legacy or not, I guess not as it is still for sale. Although this is the app I always had.

b0r1s

Yeah screwed up my setup. Suggest switching to S2.

I’ve got the Original sound bar and sub with the original play 1’s (with the physical buttons), a new Play One (with touch controls) and the Ikea lamp speaker they all work on the S2 app.

LivDiv

Nice one. I will give it a go.

MattyJ

I've got the S2 app but no joy. Will have to do the full on set up again I think

davyK

I like a good clock radio me.

Such a simple thing.

A radio. With a clock. And an alarm in it. Buzzer or a radio station.

Easy to hit snooze button in the dark.

Sleep mode - I like drifting off to Radio 4 or the WS with someone prattling on.

Just got myself one that for me - is the King.

The Roberts Sound 48. It has DAB/DAB+/FM. Has a CD player in it. And there's a USB port. And it's got bluetooth.

4 different alarm settings. Weekday, weekend mode etc.

Now I'm sure my smartphone can do it too but fuck that. I like a nice box with an LED display and a big snooze button.

Headphone socket.

I also wanted the CD player as I have LoTR, Hitchhikers and few other items on CD I'd like to listen to in bed. Of course I could rip them onto my phone - have done that before - but I like handling the discs.

You would be surprised how hard I found it to find one that met the spec in a small footprint without looking like something Del Boy would sell you.

All in a neat little cube.

g.man

It's a nice thing that Roberts are still out there making this stuff.

davyK

Yeah - I have DAB radio of theirs. (radios are another weakness) I suspect the overall build quality with them has dropped a bit to meet the competition but this is a nice sounding unit - esp. for a bedside application.

SonicBoomBoy

My mum's into Roberts radios, practically one in every room, she sends them off to be serviced, crazy. She saw one she liked with little dogs on, didn't need it but dogs on, cost hundreds.

davyK

You can spend a lot on them that's for sure.

g.man

High five Sonic! My mum swears by them too.

SonicBoomBoy

retroking1981

Is this a good place to ask advise on buying a new TV?

Or is there a TV thread?

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