Droid Rasr Maxx HD.

michael1947

Hi folks, I need a little advise on what and how to use this new Droid as a music streamer. I am a fairly experienced audioholic but pretty much...old school. I have 5 primary systems in my home. My goal is to be able to walk into the room and push a button or two on my Droid and have it play music through my hi-fi system. 2 of the systems have a blue tooth blue ray disc player and the 5th is my "good 2 channel" which does not have blue tooth so the hook-up will likely be through a usb to the dac, and I can handle that.

I use a yamaha rxv 2700 on 1 system with a samsung blue tooth blue ray, two systems use either an onkyo txsr 805 and onkyo txnr 708 with a 5 channel amp via pre-outs and both are "hard wired" with cat-5 direct to the wi-fi modem. The house is also wired/set-up with wi-fi and my computer which will house all of my music i suppose could supply the music to the systems...but i haven't figured that out yet.

So...to use the Droid I probably need some type of blue-tooth gadget for the two systems hard wired, if I do will I degrade the signal.
Would the signal be better if I just plugged in the Droid to the front side usb on the 2 onkyos and forget the wireless or should I somehow use the computer to talk to the systems and how to do that.

I would really like to walk into my work shop, turn the system on with my Droid and start the tunes, just because it's cool. This is hard for me but I'm learning about this cyber stuff and will eventually get it but could use your help. Thanks, Michael

tonyb

Depends on the budget bro. First, you need to download all your music on the computer into a lossless format such as Flac, apple lossless, etc. Some will then use Itunes or other programs such as Jrivers, Media Monkey to manage those files. The rest depends on budget. Grab yourself a Sonos or Squeezebox touch. Both will work with your wi-fi. The Sonos in my opinion is the easier of the 2 to use and setup and is extremely wife friendly. You plug one of these into a dac and then into a receiver or pre amp, whatever you have, download the control app for free on your phone and your all set. You could by pass the dac if your using a receiver but you'll get better sound with an external dac. Check out their websites for more info and videos.

Cheaper routes exist too but it all depends on what you want it to do and the ease of use factor. Playing tunes straight from plugging the phone into a receiver will yield possibly the worst sound you've heard since your sister came home with that Partridge Family record.

michael1947

So TONY, that was YOU with my sister out there on the street in that 53 Chevy with the windows all steamed up.

Of all the people on this forum to respond to this question I am grateful that you have. I have read a lot of your input and have read that you stream via a sqeezebox or sonos to run your patio/pool speakers. Also, you seem to be an experienced "hi-quality" audio-holic and not a recent high school graduate.

So in response, the budget is usually not an issue, not unlimited, but the dog and I can usually work things out. My wife died 6 years ago and left us in charge, not her best move. Because of another post I was reading last night I started researching the sonos this morning and it looks interesting. In simple terms do I use this devise to act as an interface between my new Droid and my stereo system...kind of plug the sonos into something on the receiver and then stream to the sonos from my Droid my music?

On the computer music I did last winter download media monkey and started playing around with it. I did however just this morning hook-up with Google Play-or-Google Music and transferred some of my music "up" to Google so it will play on my Droid...i think. I believe I can stream my computer music to any DAC via my wi-fi network with the sonos...true? Again, thanks and we'll be talking. Mike

tonyb

Sorry to hear about the wife Mike, sucks when you lose a loved one for sure.

As to your concerns, the sonos sets up it's own wireless network. You can plug the bridge into your router, then the actual sonos zp90 into a dac or receiver. The sonos will grab all your music and stream it to whatever it is plugged into. You control it by your phone, easy as pie. Plus you'll get radio from around the globe too. I subscribe to Rhapsody for 10 bucks a month and get around 12 million songs at my fingertips. Haven't bought a cd since I got the darn thing. My guests love the damn thing too, more than me. There are of course free services too like pandora, songza, and others to enjoy. Really is a nifty device and their software is a step above. Be happy to help ya in anyway I can.

Btw.....your sister.....she wasn't that good.:eek::cheesygrin:

pearsall001

Get the Sonos...you'll thank us later!!

michael1947

I just ordered a sonos connect, will be here on Monday. What's the bridge thing you mentioned, I did look it over, do I need that also to make it all work? Thanks, Mike

michael1947

OK, I just ordered the bridge, fifty bucks or so from the amazon. I like the one click deal-e-o with those guys and if I don't need it they take it right back. Mike

txcoastal1

The bridge is only needed if you dont have network by your system or dac. If you have multiple sonos units only 1 of the units needs to be plugged into network.

I have (2) 90's (have network jack at 2chnl system location) and the play5, I use the play5 in the garage or if I'm vacation or work out of town I take my zone bridge plug it into the router take around the play5 whatever room I wish.

Love the sonos capabilites and ease of use.

tonyb

Good boy, when you get it, read the little info thing that comes with it and let us know if you need help setting it up. Doubt you will, a 10 year old can set this up it's that easy. Now, if you plan on using the dac in a receiver, make sure you have a digital coax cable or if you want to use the analog outs on the sonos, you need 2 rca cables of decent quality to go into the inputs on the receiver such as auxillary inputs or cd, or whatever is available on the back. Once it's all installed you'll need to open the sonos software on the computer and click on the update library link so it knows where to grab the music from. Once thats done, use your droid and and go to their website and download the free controller app for your phone. Your phones wi-fi will obviously need to be turned on and connected and it will ask for a router password. If your like me, you probably forgot it along time ago so look it up somewhere in your pile of router info. Done man, you can now stream to your hearts content on any music on the 'puter.

When you add cd's, you have to click on the update library link or you can schedule automatic updates at any time of the day or night. For me anyway, if your going straight into a receiver, I like the analog outputs sound over the digital coax output. If you have a seperate dac, then the digital output is a must but try it both ways and see which sounds better to you. I'm all jaked up for ya man, your gonna love this thing.

pearsall001

Atta boy Mike...great move!!! Congrats & enjoy, you'll love it. Any questions just fire away.

slider2828

How did everything work out Mike?