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Labarum
2011-07-02, 08:13
I've tried a search but see nothing.

How is the Controller now working as a player if you plug in a headphone?

I think there were once unresolved issues.
garym
2011-07-02, 08:25
I've tried a search but see nothing.

How is the Controller now working as a player if you plug in a headphone?

I think there were once unresolved issues.

On your controller:
Settings > Advanced > Beta Features > Audio Playback > select Enable Playback (Beta)
Labarum
2011-07-02, 08:32
On your controller:
Settings > Advanced > Beta Features > Audio Playback > select Enable Playback (Beta)

Thanks, but I don't own a Controller, hence my question.

How does it work? How well does it work? Does it achieve about iPod sound quality?
garym
2011-07-02, 08:36
Thanks, but I don't own a Controller, hence my question.

How does it work? How well does it work? Does it achieve about iPod sound quality?

If you have a decent WIFI signal to the controller it works fine. I'd say soundquality as good as an ipod. That said, if don't already have a controller, you'd be much better off buying an iTouch (or iphone or ipad) and ipeng ($9.99) and then use the playback feature of the iphone/ipad (that is, you can use ipeng to control other players OR you can have the iphone/itouch/ipad treated AS IF it is a player and listen via your portable....

you'd probably spend the same money and have something that does way more than just playback music from SbS.

another option. If you just want some portable player capabilities from an existing SB setup, I'd also recommend the RADIO with battery pack. I have two of these that I use for music out on the deck or porch.
Labarum
2011-07-02, 08:51
Good advice, but I may be able to buy a Duet very cheaply.

SBs look expensive these days. I have just bought a

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_IdeaPad_S20_1076388.html

£299 for a small laptop/big netbook - SB Touch £234 - same price as a 10" Netbook.

USB it to my DAC and it will do anything a SB Touch will do and much more. The headphone output is at least iPod quality.
garym
2011-07-02, 08:57
£299 for a small laptop/big netbook - SB Touch £234 - same price as a 10" Netbook.

USB it to my DAC and it will do anything a SB Touch will do and much more. The headphone output is at least iPod quality.

True, but one of the main benefits to many of the SB players is that the Computer running SbS can be in the basement or back closet and far removed from the listening room. With the laptop setup, it must be near the DAC/stereo system.

Also, depending on the software player used on the laptop (and its OS) and how it all works, the soundcard of the laptop may still be involved even when sending bits via the USB out to the DAC. And in this case, many soundcards resample 16/44.1 to 48 automatically. This was an issue with an old Dell laptop I used (with Win XP) feeding a Benchmark DAC I. In comparison, the SB players are truly independent of any soundcard (or whether there is a soundcard at all).
Labarum
2011-07-02, 10:25
Also, depending on the software player used on the laptop (and its OS) and how it all works, the soundcard of the laptop may still be involved even when sending bits via the USB out to the DAC. And in this case, many soundcards resample 16/44.1 to 48 automatically. This was an issue with an old Dell laptop I used (with Win XP) feeding a Benchmark DAC I. In comparison, the SB players are truly independent of any soundcard (or whether there is a soundcard at all).

Been there. Xp was a pain. Windows 7 in WASAPI mode will pass the bitstream unmangled to a DAC. The netbook/laptop I have is utterly silent.

We move on.

SBs still offer advantages, but not as much as previously, and looking at the price of hardware . . .
garym
2011-07-02, 10:31
Been there. Xp was a pain. Windows 7 in WASAPI mode will pass the bitstream unmangled to a DAC. The netbook/laptop I have is utterly silent.

We move on.

SBs still offer advantages, but not as much as previously, and looking at the price of hardware . . .

all relative....all my SB players (Transporter, several Booms, Touches, Radios, etc.) are only rounding error compared to my spending on CDs themselves....(as my wife could tell you in more detail and not from a positive viewpoint ;-)