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[wombat66]

Another entry in multi-room/whole house synchronized audio to contend with:


Play-Fi from DTS:
http://listen.dts.com/pages/play-fi

"With Play-Fi, you can play different songs in every room or play one perfectly synced track through the entire house. Whatever you choose, you’re always in full-control."

[csimon]

Another entry in multi-room/whole house synchronized audio to contend with:

And another one:

http://www.t3.com/news/musaic-is-a-london-based-rival-to-sonos

(looks neat, nice interface etc)

[jtwrace]

I know this is a bit different but maybe you could speak with Mr. Wang from AURALic and see if you can integrate some of your needs into his soon to be released Aries.  It's quite amazing IMO.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/auralic-aries-digital-analogue-converter-double-direct-stream-digital-over-wi-fi-18798/

I will be buying to try when it's released in May/June.  Instead of waiting for Apple to release a new Mac Mini I'll buy this and hope that it replaces a Mini in time.

[csimon]

And another one (this time from Panasonic): http://www.t3.com/news/panasonic-details-multi-room-sonos-rival

[csimon]

I believe Panasonic's system is using Qualcomm's "open" AllPlay protocol (see http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/128119-panasonic-all-multi-room-speakers-hands-and-ears-on and http://www.qualcomm.com/allplay)

I don't know how this works, it may be a custom mesh network like Sonos. But if it's actually normal IP protocol and therefore requires no special hardware (could work over wi-fi or ethernet), then perhaps JRiver could consider licensing this protocol as both server and client. It looks like there are several manufacturers on board with producing clients, speakers etc.

There's little point in reiventing the wheel and struggling trying to work out how to do it when these protocols are on the market and being adopted by major manufacturers right now.

[fitbrit]

There's little point in reiventing the wheel and struggling trying to work out how to do it when these protocols are on the market and being adopted by major manufacturers right now.

That would depend on the cost of licencing, I suppose.

[6233638]

From my own recent experiences, and continued reports from other people on the forums here, I'd say there's every reason to "reinvent the wheel" and move away from UPnP/DLNA.
 
Most implementations are horrible, and almost nothing does proper audio synchronization.

[jmone]

+1 on reinventing the wheel!  Just gave another go trying to use DLNA renders on my Andriod devices and the Sync was so bad some were even on different tracks.

[6233638]

+1 on reinventing the wheel!  Just gave another go trying to use DLNA renders on my Andriod devices and the Sync was so bad some were even on different tracks.

So far, AirPlay (going through Airfoil) is the only system I have used which manages to let you add/remove devices as you please - even during playback - while keeping the audio in sync.
Sonos has a reputation for working similarly well, though I haven't used it.
 
Both systems are limited to 16/44 though, and I don't think either will properly integrate with Media Center.
Airfoil is certainly a nuisance to use - you can only send audio to a single "Airplay" sound device, which means that you can only do synchronized playback between AirPlay devices, you can't treat them as separate Media Center zones and send different music to each device.
 
It's very disappointing to me that Media Center doesn't have a proper solution for handling sync - not even when using the JRiver id.
It sounded like that was a low priority item, if it's even being considered at all.
 
I want to have fully-featured Media Center clients placed around my house, but there just don't seem to be any good options available.
I didn't care about sync at all until I actually bought a DLNA-enabled speaker and tried sending audio to multiple rooms at once.
Now that I know how bad things get when DLNA is being used and it's not kept in sync, I wouldn't buy any device that lacks proper sync support.
 
 
The speaker I bought actually supported both DLNA and AirPlay, so I was able to compare what synced and un-synced playback was like - the difference is night and day, even when you're in different rooms with the doors shut, as long as it's loud enough that you can hear some of the noise from the other area.
I didn't keep the speaker though - while it kept perfect sync when using AirPlay, the poor integration with Media Center meant it was just too frustrating to use.
 
And it actually makes me feel bad about using a USB connected DAC too - even if they get sync working over DLNA or some other method, there are additional latencies involved with USB which would mean that even if everything else is in sync, it won't be.

[jmone]

The "Adjust Link Timing" works pretty well on your HW based zones to solve any sync issues that are consistent between sessions.   So you should be pretty good with DAC's etc.... but no point on DLNA as it seems to always vary.

I have a mate with the Sonos and he pulls music from a MC server but you really then have two systems. 

I too want to have MC clients around the house (both MC and Gizmo) that can all be part of one big in sync mesh.

[6233638]

The issue that I've found with USB is that it doesn't seem to take a consistent amount of time to "initialize" when you start playback, and if the DAC has to change clock from say 192kHz to 44.1kHz, that takes a second too.
 
That's the sort of thing which seems like it would mean that devices are constantly going in/out of sync with each other.

[JimH]

The "Adjust Link Timing" works pretty well on your HW based zones to solve any sync issues that are consistent between sessions.   So you should be pretty good with DAC's etc.... but no point on DLNA as it seems to always vary.

I have a mate with the Sonos and he pulls music from a MC server but you really then have two systems. 

I too want to have MC clients around the house (both MC and Gizmo) that can all be part of one big in sync mesh.

It's on our list. 

[jmone]

  thanks Jim.  Very exciting.

If the experience with the new ID is going well, you could then team up with an active speaker mfr and have Gizmo+ run on it's embedded andriod OS!  Needs to come in White + a catchy name

PS... Don't let Matt build them

[6233638]

thanks Jim.  Very exciting.

If the experience with the new ID is going well, you could then team up with an active speaker mfr and have Gizmo+ run on it's embedded andriod OS!  Needs to come in White + a catchy name

PS... Don't let Matt build them

I really like how Genelec's active monitors look in white:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/genelec/sets/72157632772865240/

If only more care had been taken with the high-end 8250/8260 to make them all-white.