I have a retail premises and I want to play internet radio stations (as well as any music stored on the phone)…

I have an old smartphone, that will be used to connect to a Wi-Fi source.

I’m looking to buy something that will play music from various sources inc ‘line-in’, USB, Bluetooth.

Ruling out buying a dedicated internet radio/hi-fi system for now – what’s the best way of getting the sound from the phone to the amp/hi-fi?

Cheers for reading possible numpty question.

THIS

Cheers – my brain was saying that was the obvious/simple solution, but had sort of ruled it out, through a (flawed??) though process, that the headphone out was amplified (however poorly) already by the phone and not a ‘line out’/’aux out’.

What he said ^^^^

Or you could send it over wi-fi via AirportTVExpress through a 24-bit DAC re-sampler utilising a bluetooth encoder.

I’d go for the wire option. 🙂

[cough] SONOS [cough]

Bear in mind that you’ll need a licence to play music anywhere where employees/members of the public can hear it.

https://www.gov.uk/licences-to-play-background-music

The fines are pretty steep by comparison.

Is it possible to do via micro USB to USB to keep the battery charged at all times?

redpanda – cheers, but well aware of that ta

You can do it with a dac like the cambridge audio dacmagic, depending on what your phone is. That will give you the best quality.

Not fussed about super quality – it’s a shop, just want it to play, simply – phone will be any old POS I have lying about.

Cable from headphone jack to amp – Simplez

Cable from headphone jack to amp – Simplez

Yeah, got your link up there ^^^, but how does the amp cope with an already amplified signal – or does it simply not care?

I use a headphone out from a portable digital radio into my amp at home with no problems, for a few quid I’d give it a go!

EDIT: Headphone jack to phono is noticeably better than headphone jack to 3.5mm line in. HTH

Cheers,
Jamie

A headphone output isn’t amplified, quite the opposite – your choice whether to ramp up the volume on the phone or amp, just pick whichever sounds best to you in-situ.
I do the same at home, and it works fine.

Headphone output isn’t amplified – the amp sees it as a simple +5ve RCA signal the same as a CD/Tape/etc.
It doesn’t care.

3.5mm jack to two phone. Sound is fine. In a retail premises that’s all you need. Oh an Tune in radio app for your smart phone.

Cool – thanks all!

Any views on the USB route?

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member
Any views on the USB route?

I don’t think any android phones autput audio through the USB, I could be wrong and I’d like to be but I think you’d need an iphone for that.

Agreed, even if your stereo has USB in will be for iPod. Another idea is one of those Bluetooth receivers like you use in the car, cheap on ebay, not sure of range though. Another by magic one would be two phones, any old thing with WiFi could act as a dlna receiver over wifi with the right app.

slightly off topic here –

those PPL and PRS licenses are a bit arsey aren’t they. Some of the conditions are quite frankly shit. I’ve never understood the Radio one as it means that there is a double royalty/tax as the broadcaster will pay it, then the cafe/shop/office building. You don’t pay if everyone listenes to the same stuff on headphones, but not a loud speaker what’s the difference?

I use a simple male to male jack plug plugged into “aux in”. IMO its best to keep the phone plugged into a charger as using the wifi all day to stream music can run the battery down. You can find if the phone bets a message or a call it will stop the music.

those PPL and PRS licenses are a bit arsey aren’t they. Some of the conditions are quite frankly shit. I’ve never understood the Radio one as it means that there is a double royalty/tax as the broadcaster will pay it, then the cafe/shop/office building. You don’t pay if everyone listenes to the same stuff on headphones, but not a loud speaker what’s the difference?

Same here, if you’re listening to broadcast radio, where royalties have already been paid, wtf do you need to pay royalties for people listening in a factory or shop? I can understand if it’s music being played, or ‘broadcast’ from tape, CD or whatever, that’s fairy ’nuff, or is this just a ‘you might play a cd every now and again, so we’re going to make you cough up, just in case’ sort of scenario?

By playing radio in a public space you have become a broadcaster of performance yourself, and so liable.

Couldn’t you just listen to the radio on some apple earbuds? Everyone in the shop would be able to hear the music clearly then and you wouldn’t have to pay.